Semantic Technologies in Business Process Management

Business process management (BPM) is a key managerial approach to improve competitiveness and organizational performance. The paper addresses the knowledge management aspects of BPM. Starting from several outcomes of process modeling, job role and position related competences, IT requirement specification, organizational learning and knowledge transfer, the common ground of knowledge management, semantic technologies and business process modeling will be discussed. The questions to be answered: how can process models be utilized and integrated with Knowledge Management Systems (knowledge representation, semantic technologies)? How can the knowledge transfer activities be supported, that are central issues in BPM initiatives? How can Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) underpin the long term sustainability and institutionalization of BPM based innovations? Is there a role of process-oriented KMS in BPM-related system development projects? The paper will give an overview of the “big picture” and also outlines a few applications as proof of concept. The final conclusion leads to a high level model and approach that can be used to harmonize BPM initiatives with KM concerns.