Do you have to follow a list of predetermined steps or do you have a set of tasks that you can choose from in order to accomplish your daily work requirements? Do you consider yourself a glorified white-collar assembly line worker or an independent business owner within the construct of someone else’s company? Do you do process or procedure?
You may not have realized it but work really falls into two categories: Process and Procedure-centric work:
- Process-centric work: “structured work”; individual steps predetermined into a hard-coded process using workflow and enterprise content management technology
- Procedural-centric work: “unstructured work”; steps done based on milestones, data or more importantly circumstance using collaboration or case management technology
Michael Hammer started a “work” revolution in 1990 when he published “Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate” in the Harvard Business Review.
The usual methods for boosting performance—process rationalization and automation—haven’t yielded the dramatic improvements companies need. In particular, heavy investments in information technology have delivered disappointing results—largely because companies tend to use technology to mechanize old ways of doing business. They leave the existing processes intact and use computers simply to speed them up.”
After this Business Process Management (BPM), workflow and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) technology vendors prospered right along side Business Process Reengineering consulting firms. For two decades since, we have endured the challenge of making everything into a process because that was where the technology forced us. The exception processes or areas of the business where too many permutations of task order precluded BPM or ECM automation were left untouched.
Enter Dynamic Case Management (DCM) technology to fill the gap. Dynamic Case Management solutions are knowledge-intensive and require knowledge workers to coordinate tasks, processes and services to achieve a positive outcome. They require a large degree of flexibility and adaptability to process the case. DCM understands the unique requirements of procedure-centric work and accommodates the reality of working how and where a knowledge worker desires while meeting the corporate governance and government regulatory requirements that are ever present.
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