On-Line Training and Certification Solution for Business Process Managers

M.M. Cruz-Cunha et al. (Eds.): CENTERIS 2011, Part I, CCIS 219, pp. 380–389, 2011.

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011

On-Line Training and Certification Solution for Business

Process Managers

Anca Draghici1, Marian Mocan

1, and George Draghici

2

1 “Politehnica“ University of Timisoara,

Faculty of Management in Production and Transportation,

14 Remus str., 300191 Timisoara, Romania 2 “Politehnica” University of Timisoara, Mechanical Engineering Faculty,

1 Mihai Viteazu Bd., 300222 Timisoara, Romania

{adraghici,gdraghici}@eng.upt.ro,

[email protected]

Abstract. The aim of this paper is to present an opportunity for improving

business process management (BPM) by skills and competencies development.

Trainees will know how to better identify, document, management, measure,

analyze, implement, optimize, automate, maintain business processes in their

companies as a part of their life-long learning and in the context of continuous

improvement processes by using the facilities created on a e-learning platform

for training and certification processes. The proposed approach is linked with

the pedagogical materials development in the field of Business Process

Management (together with the certification procedure using European

Certification and Qualification Association schema) in accordance with the

market needs identification using a marketing survey (applied for companies of

the West part of Romania for new competencies identification). The expected

research results consist of the Business Process Management certification and

qualification program sustained by an e-learning platform.

Keywords: e-learning platform, business process management, skills, certification.

1 Introduction

In the Global Knowledge - TechRepublic 2010 Salary Survey, one of the questionnaire

questions was "What skill set will your company be looking to add in 2010?" The skills

listed by respondents were (related to the information technologies practice

development): project manager, IT security professional, network administration,

specialist on virtualization and cloud computing, business analyst, business process

improvement specialist, web developer, database manager, windows administration

specialist, and desktop support personnel. With project management and business

analysis skills appearing in this skills list, it is no surprise that skills related to business

process improvement are also there [2]. Business process improvement and business

analysis go together when they act in practice. Business analysts identify areas for

improvements to business processes, while business process improvement or

management use specific methods, tools, techniques and technologies to help

On-Line Training and Certification Solution for Business Process Managers 381

companies optimize their business processes [1], [5]. In addition, specialists from the

Aberdeen Group argue that the top reasons business is driving BPM activity is the need

to reduce operating costs and to improve cash flow [6]. The main barrier for the

Business Process Management (BPM) adoptions and implementation was the lack of

knowledge about the concept. The main constrains of the business dynamics are related

to companies need for real-time insights and faster decision making (based

on a powerful information technology solution) to adapt to new business

patterns. According to Gartner Inc. specialists (http://www.gartner.com), among the

competencies required for successful BPM initiatives include process skills, tools and

process assets, and transformation skills.

Business Process Management (BPM) represents a holistic management approach

based on continuous improvement processes, change management theories, and

support by modern information and communication technologies/systems. This

approach aim to attend an optimal balance between organization’s external

environment dynamics and its internal processes functionalities based on innovation,

flexibility and agility [1]. Agile BPM helps organizations achieve business results by

addressing requirements for continuous process optimization, collaborative process

workflows to support team-based initiatives, and to extend business processes beyond

the enterprise. BPM Institute and the Association of BPM Professionals agree on a

common definition of the concept and its relation with the continuous improvement

process [11]. Figure 1 shows the diversity and the complexity of the BPM (process

phases and factors). Wolf and Harmon describe BPM current market situation and

tendencies [10].

Fig. 1. A Business Process Management Framework (adapted from Treat, 2006).

Romanian companies of all sizes need constantly improve their BPM by

optimizing costs, improving efficiency and achieving greater business agility. In the

context of this paper, a possible approach for the BPM development in a company by

382 A. Draghici, M. Mocan, and G. Draghici

taken the advantages of a specific training program in the field (increasing human

resources performance) will be presented [3].

The proposed approach core is linked with the BPM multimedia training materials

development (together with the certification procedure using European Certification

and Qualification Association schema – e-learning facilities) in accordance with the

specific market needs identification (marketing survey applied for companies of the

West part of Romania for the new competencies identification). BPM knowledge

(incorporated in the CertiBPM training program) is not country-dependent, but it is

developing at a global scale. Many European companies train people in various

methodologies of business process management. Existing university and market

courses of this knowledge area are not directly comparable, because they cover

different knowledge areas. The availability of an independent European certification

and self-assessment system, will give the possibility to assess if one meets a certain

level of expertise and competencies that can be used in every EU country.

2 The CertiBPM Skills Development Process

The motivation for the CertiBPM project lies on the Romanian market training needs

satisfaction in BPM. The competencies improving processes for the employees of

Romanian companies will have a positive impact upon their results. One of the steps

to this improvement is to educate employees, industry representatives in the BPM

field of knowledge. Various BPM courses, books and literature from different vendors

exists, which show different aspects BPM, but there is no coherent course for the

specific Romanian market. The proposed approach is related to the transfer of

innovation process from SI and AT to RO. It consists of: Transfer of Education,

Training and Certification concept of ECQA into the university and manufacturing

domain in Romania. Aspects of the project impact are: (1) CertiBPM will build on

BPM knowledge and competencies in different industrial sectors, which are

represented by the consortium members due to their activities with national and

international enterprises; (2) Transfer of the ECQA concept and platform into the

Romania. (3) Implementing the CertiBPM job-role and examination committees for

certifying training bodies and exam tools in multilingual environment. (4) The

important knowledge of CertiBPM and the important system of an uniform European

certification will be very useful for Romanian manufacturing industry, especially for

automotive and telecommunication industries [3].

The core of the results envisaged is a skill set which clearly fit the competencies

required for becoming a BPM specialist (basic level and advanced level). For all the

skill elements training material will be provided in several languages (English,

Slovenian, Romanian, and Austrian) and will be upload on an e-learning system. A

pool of test questions will be defined, which provides the basis for the trainees’

certification process.

The CertiBPM qualification and certification addresses itself to employees from

companies departments related to: Quality management (as TQM), CRM (Customer

Relationship Management), ERP (enterprise Resource Planning), SCM (Supply Chain


Management), and enterprise information system’s specialists etc. who want to

complement and/or certify their advanced BPM skills. The target group typically has

abilities for self-development and self-learning, creativity, innovative initiatives etc.

One of the biggest challenges is to conceive a training program that covers the

complete skills set that better satisfy the target group specific needs. Table 1 shows

the adopted working procedure for the establishment of the CertiBPM skill card and

Figure 2 shows a knowledge map of the skill set which provides the basis for the

future research and development activities (the training materials development). It is

the result of an initial consolidation of our experiences in research, education, as well

as in collaboration with industrial partners, and other business organizations

(e.g. Chamber of Commerce, students’ organizations, clusters in the business

environment etc.).

Table 1. CertiBPM skill card establishment methodology

No. Stage of work (research developed) Results / Time / Responsibility of

1. CertiBPM specific procedure for transfer

of innovation (from SI to RO)

Kick-off meeting in Timisoara, January

2011 (duty of all partners)

2. Translation of the existing materials from

SI into English; Recommended relevant

references; Collecting and processing

training feed-back on SI market

Preliminary training materials; Training

feed-back report; February – June 2011

(duty of SI partners)

3 Reference collecting; Information about

existing training programs and BPM

organization in RO

Reference data base report; Report

regarding the BPM state in RO February

– April 2011 (duty of RO partners)

4 Training needs identification

(observations, interviews and marketing

research)

The marketing niche definition and

characterization; Project advertizing in

RO; February – April 2011 (duty of RO

partners)

5 Skill card definition: units; elements;

performance criteria

Preliminary definition of the CertiBPM

skill card, May 2011 (duty of all partners)

- Virtual meetings

6 Complete skill card definition and

content description; harmonization of the

partners’ involvement.

Complete skill card definition with brief

description of the components (project

meeting in Maribor SI) – June 2011

As it can be seen in Figure 2, the skill card is represented by a map (using the

MindManager software) with the main branches consists of the skill units and the

second branches that are the correspondent skill elements. The third braches are

allocated to the performance criteria of each element (that are in direct relation with

the questions that shall be settled for the examination process related to the

certification of the job role). This representation of the skill card allowed an optimal

visualization of the completely developed work (in different project stages) and the

harmonization and integration of the partners for attending the project objectives. The

skill set map was a good tool of communication between the partners and the

information technology specialists involved in the project, too.


Fig. 2. CertiBPM skill set map

3 BPM Training Need Identification – The Case of Romanian

Companies

The aim of this chapter is to present the research methodology and results for the

BPM training needs identification by considering a sample consists of companies

from different industries located in the West part of Romania (Table 2 shows the

research sample structure). Small and medium size enterprises and big companies

were considered for the research sample. Companies were selected randomly and for

each of them one executive was interviewed together with other middle and low-level

managers. 24 organizations were interviewed but 102 questionnaires fill-up were

received and process (sample size n=102). The telephone, e-mail and face-to-face

structured interview method were adopted to obtain responses to the study’s survey

instrument. Although it was a resource intensive option, it was chosen over the

standard methods of administrating paper or online surveys for various reasons: (1) to

be able to clarify respondents’ queries; (2) to avoid the situation whereby a busy

executive or senior manager delegated the task of fill-up the survey to a secretary; and

(3) to ensure that most of the responses collected were complete and usable for data

analysis. The research was developed from September to December 2010 and it is

consider as a preliminary one. Other companies will be included in the research

sample. From this research sample, we expect to form the group of trainees to be

included in the proposed CertiBPM training program.

For the structured interview method approach a questionnaire has been developed.

The questionnaire structure follows the first draft of the CertiBPM skill set (Figure 2,


Table 2. The research sample structure

Field of economic sector or industry No of companies

% No. of respondents

%

1. Automotive 6 25 28 27

2. Telecommuni-cations, Electronics, Energetic

4 16.67 18 18

3. Manufacturing Machinery 4 16.33 13 13

4. IT and software developers 5 21 22 22

5. Logistics Distributions 5 21 21 20

TOTAL 24 100 102 100

as described in the project proposal). In the beginning of the questionnaire, the

research aims and a brief introduction in BPM (based on references) have been

explained. The items considered for the BPM analyst and expert (second branches in

Figure 2) were detailed and then the respondent has to answer the following question:

Do you consider an opportunity for your organization to be involved in a training

program related to …? All questions on BPM training needs identification were

measured on a six point Likert scale (1=”fully disagree” – 6=”fully agree”). In order

to facilitate interpretation, scores were aggregated after data collection as follows:

score 1 or 2 = “Disagree”, score 3 or 4 = “Neither agree nor disagree” and score 5 or 6

= “Agree”. Figure 3 shows a part of the knowledge map developed for building the

questionnaire used in the research.

The research methodology allows a depth analysis of the skills needed to be

trained in a BPM training program (skills analysis method [4]). Table 3 is the skill

matrix build as a quick and effective way of identifying the BPM training needs. For

the results’ presentation there have been consider the respondent structure by their

industry/economic field as shown in Table 2. The survey results have defined the

companies’ needs for specific topics of BPM (in accordance with their practical needs

and their business development) that were expressed as skills need for their

employees. The skills matrix (Table 3) was built by cumulating the responds per each

economic sector (the vertical columns data). As it can be seen companies from

logistics, distribution (total score 11) expressed their total need for the debate subjects

related to the BPM training program. Also, representatives of IT and software

developers companies (total score 9) and from the automotive industry (total score 8)

expressed their training need more related to the BPM Expert. In addition, the skills

matrix has offered information about the training needs related to each

subject/question. The results shown that manufacturing and logistics companies are

interested in BPM Analyst module, but all the companies need training for

maintaining the business processes (A3). The most needed training modules from the

BPM Expert are E1 (BPM project management), E2 (Human aspects of BPM) and E7

(information technology in BPM).


Fig. 3. The questionnaire structure used for the training needs identification

Table 3. The skill matrix with gap indication

Sector*/ Questions 1 2 3 4 5 Total score Specific needs**

A1 - - X - X 2 -

A2 - - X - X 2 -

A3 X X X X X 5 2

E1 X X X X X 5 4

E2 X X X X X 5 4

E3 X X X - X 4 4

E4 X - X X X 4 3

E5 - - - X X 2 1

E6 X - X - X 3 2

E7 X X X X X 5 5

E8 X X - - X 3 1

Total score 8 6 9 6 11

Specific needs** 4 4 2 3 4

*) As shown in Table 2.

**) Results from the individual discussions with industrial representatives from each

company (issues that were related to specific gap problems – qualitative expressed

training needs).

4 The ECQA Qualification and Certification IT System

This chapter gives an overview of the system and the platform proposed and

implemented by the European Certification and Qualification Association [7].


Fig. 4. Integrated European Skills Acquisition System

The European Certification and Qualification Association has set up a partnership

of experienced partners in 18 European countries to create a pool of knowledge for

specific professions. This pool can be extended to further professions. All the

professions that have been configured in this system up to now, are based in the

information and communication technology (ICT) area, and are thus closely related to

Software Development. As the integrated product development, processes are

increasingly related and/or linked to software development, new job role from the

BPM domain will profit from this basis [8]. Figure 4 gives an overview of the

uncomplicated but efficient skill acquisition process supported by the ECQA

platform: If there is a need, a person can attend a course for a specific job role online

through an advanced learning infrastructure as described in the following. The student

starts with a self-assessment against the skills. Then she/he can sign into an online

course. Here she/he is guided by a tutor and does a homework which is corrected by

the tutor. Finally, the homework and the real work done in her/his project are

sufficient to demonstrate the skills. The learning platform is based on the web-based

public domain learning management system Moodle (www.moodle.com). The so-

called Capability Adviser supports the assessment process, which is a web based

assessment portal system with a defined database interface to connect the systems.

Network Quality Assurance NQA is a web based team-working tool, which was

developed in the previous project EU IST 2000 28162. So far, many professions have

been configured in the platform (www.eu-certificates.org).

The European Certification and Qualification Association platform of knowledge

is enhanced on an annual basis. Existing skills sets are being reworked and new skills

sets are added. Joint knowledge is being configured in form of a job role with

standard content structures like skills set, syllabus, learning materials and online

configuration, as well as sets of test questions. So-called Job Role Committees decide

upon the content for a specific skills set. These committees are composed of

academics and industrialists. The job role committee for the Innovation Manager, for


instance, created a skills set of an innovation manager together with a set of online

courses etc. People can register from their work places [7], [8].

Nowadays and according to the Bologna Process, it is very important that training

courses are internationally recognized and those successful course attendees receive

certificates that are valid for all European countries. The EU supported the

establishment of the European Qualification Network (EQN), from which the ECQA

has evolved, with exactly this target in mind. This has resulted in a pool of

professions in which a high level of European comparability has been achieved by a

Europe wide agreed syllabus and skills set, a European test questions pool and exam

systems (computer automated by portals), a common set of certificate levels and a

common process to issue certificates [7], [8], [9]. Quality criteria to accept new job

roles in the ECQA, to accredit training organizations and certify trainers, as well as to

certify attendees have been developed. The existing skills assessment portals (already

used by more than 5000 students in different learning initiatives) are extended to

cover the new requirements of the ISO 17024 (General Requirements for Bodies

operating Certification of Persons) standard. Among the international certification

organizations that provide ECQA - compliant certification is the ISQI (International

Software Quality Institute, www.isqi.org). Considering the ECQA platform structure

and development, and its specific use for European certification, the Romanian

researchers (from Politehnica University of Timisoara, UPT) have planned to use also

the UPT Virtual Campus facilities for upload the training program in Romanian

language and better access those materials (www.cv.upt.ro). In this context, the

multimedia training materials and other e-learning facilities will be developed in

Timisoara, too.

5 Conclusion

The described approach is a classical one for skill set provision (qualification -

certification) on the ECQA platform (www.ecqa.org). The presented CertiBPM skill

card (training program structure) is the result of many virtual and face-to-face

meetings of the partners involved in the project. The certification procedure allows

total and partial certificates. The defined skill set map is complementary to the

academic programs in the field of production management that exist on the Romanian

market. The main opportunities from the European certification of the BPM

profession/competencies in the case of Romania are: (1) it offers the possibility for

having a EU certificate for the trainees that follow the training program and pass the

examination process successfully (more than 70 percents of the answers are correct).

This certificate offers them competencies that are compatible on the EU labor market.

This opportunity can be attractive for PhD. students and young researchers, too; (2)

the qualification and certification can be used by other employees that want to update

and develop their knowledge in the BPM field for better align themselves to the new

trends (new business processes and requirements of the market); (3) the different skill

units of the training program can be introduced in some master program courses (in

their syllabus) and so, students can be easy trained for being certified. Professors from

academia can become ECQA trainers for CertiBPM, too. Universities and other


training bodies can become collaborators of the ECQA and they can benefit from the

established schema and experience gained.

The presented paper is linked with the research activities of the project: CertiBPM

- Certified Business Process Manager LLP-LdV/TOI/10/RO/010, founded with

support from the European Commission. The presentation of this paper is connected

with the dEUcert project - Dissemination of European Certification Schema ECQA

(contract no. 505101-LLP-1-2009-1-AT-KA4-KA4MP), that has been funded with

support from the European Commission, also. This paper and communication reflects

the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any

use, which may be made of the information contained therein.

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On-Line Training and Certification Solution for Business Process Managers

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