What's Your Baseline? Enterprise Architecture & Business Process Management Demystified

We are hundreds of years into thinking about how we do work (insert your philosopher of choice here: Smith, Marx, Plato, etc.), but I get the impression that the most common style is “muddling through.”But why is that? Why has the concept of an Integrated Management System (IMS) not taken hold in many organizations? Is it too complicated? Too much effort? Not worth it?Even though I doubt that anyone will deny the benefits of an organized, integrated, and streamlined way of producing your product and value for your customers, it requires a certain amount of maturity to stand up an IMS.Vassiliki built her experience through numerous operational excellence projects that she has led or participated in. Her strongest competencies include identifying opportunities, specifying and managing customized optimization initiatives within large organizations, usually including specialized process analysis to raise BPM awareness, proposing digitization interventions, and applying change scenarios.She has invested in building her expertise in enterprise architecture methodologies and practices, facilitating process performance-based optimization, optimal systems & data strategy implementation, and compliance with GRC frameworks & practices.In this episode of the podcast, we talk about:Vassiliki's backgroundWhat is an Integrated Management System (IMS)?Benefits of an IMS for an organizationWho needs to be involved?IMS in the era of AIKey topics of an IMS exploredReal-world project examples (telco and banking)Success factors when implementing and operating an IMSVassiliki can be reached via LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassilikispentzou1/.Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or signing up for our newsletter and getting informed when we publish new episodes here: https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe/.

Having lived in two cultures, it is so interesting to see how people cope with big problems. Climate change and sustainability are some of the biggest issues that we have to deal with in our lifetimes, and I see reactions from denial to aimless “do-gooder” activity.But how do you improve this situation and solve the problem to get to more sustainable business practices? Well, process management (and especially the flavor of “Green BPM”) to the rescue.This week we are speaking with Katharina Paulick, who is a creative, engaged, and dynamic professional in life sciences, lab automation, and machine learning. She works in a Green BPM consulting firm and is the right expert for our topic.Katharina’s objective is to help create a sustainable Industry 4.0, and she stumbled (and then dove deep into) process management a few years ago.In this episode of the podcast, we talk about:Katharina’s backgroundThe topic of “Green BPM” and why it is important from economical, ecological, etc., up to regulatory requirementsThe dimensions of Green BPM from economical, ecological, etc., up to regulatory requirementsThe limitations of regulatory approvals of processes and how they can limit process executionWhy is there resistance against green practices?Katharina’s approach to process analysis and figuring out the needed changesThe challenge (and benefits) of working as an external person without the detailed background of the processWhat are the recommendations when you want to implement your sustainable BPM program?If you’d like to reach out to Katharina, simply connect with her on LinkedIn or on Mastodon (@katharinaxxx@social.tchncs.de)Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or signing up for our newsletter and getting informed when we publish new episodes here: https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe/.

We are back with our first episode of the brand-new season 9 of the podcast—and we are starting right into the topic of these days: AI … well, the AI hype that is out there. And we are discussing what you can do to avoid falling into the trap of falling for that hype.Our guest today is Maxwell Smith, who I had the pleasure of working with in a past life. He has years of experience in product management and product marketing in the BPM space with an IT background.Max is a detail-oriented analytical thinker who enjoys empathizing with customers' problems and bringing solutions to market through products and positioning. The attention to detail is always contextualized with the larger vision of the product. The key success factor is his passion for tech and understanding of people's perception of it.In this episode of the podcast, we talk about:Max' backgroundA look at the different forms of AI (and their benefits and drawbacks)How to see through "AI-washing"Guiding questions to help folks to see if the vendor is really using AISecondary questions/guidelines to consider if AI seems to be legit in a vendor's pitchOther concerns to look out for when implementing AI-supported technologyMax can be reached on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwell-smith-1b612b83/.Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or signing up for our newsletter and getting informed when we publish new episodes here: https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe/.

Soooooo … We're a grown-up adult podcast now, and we're approaching our season 9. (Oh, so you claim.) If season 8 was great, will season 9 just be fine? More than fine. The world might be in chaos, but we are a safe harbor. Come join us, full of good friends, good cheer, and excellence in BPM and EA. And of course, even we are changing. So we resisted, for example, the AI topic for long enough. And I think it matured to a point where it's actually worth talking about. Get ready to hear our thoughts and best practices from our rogues gallery of guests. So join us as we continue our journey together, kicking off season 9 of What's Your Baseline? next Monday, July 28, 2025. And we'll see you… in the next one.

Today we have our last “What's Your Baseline?” short during our little summer break. And this time we're looking at something special.This is a Shorts about APQC and we had a long episode with Moritz Berger about what that framework is and all of those things. Moritz put in the APQC reference framework into a tool called The Brain. What I really like with that and the short is mostly a demonstration of what he did and we're talking about what to take in care of when using APQC. What he did was, the tool is not linear; it's not folders and models, etc., but it's connected nodes. And this is where I think the process modeling tools should go. Anyway, enjoy the show. (And here are the show notes from the initial release)This is another What's Your Baseline? Shorts episode and we are following up with the guest from our last episode, Moritz Berger.Moritz took the APQC Process Classification Framework and imported it into “The Brain” to visualize the breakdown and connectivity of processes to each other. Since this Shorts consists mostly of a demonstration, you might want to watch at it on Spotify, YouTube, or on our website. And if you like to click through the Brain for yourself, please go here: ⁠⁠https://bra.in/3qzgr6⁠⁠.Please reach out to us by either sending an email to ⁠⁠⁠hello@whatsyourbaseline.com⁠⁠⁠ or signing up for our newsletter and getting informed when we publish new episodes here: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe.⁠

This week we release another What's Your Baseline? Shorts for you just to lighten up our summer break a bit. The topic is why simulation should not be in your process mining tool. And I'm fully aware that this is a controversial thing because people might think, “Well, it's convenient to have it in your process mining tool to do some what-ifs and move on.”But I honestly think it's a bad decision because you're limited to your process mining data, and, hand on heart, how many processes have you mined in your organization? So without further ado, have fun with this week's What's Your Baseline? Shorts. See you next week!(And here are the show notes from the initial release)The topic of this What’s Your Baseline Shorts podcast is process simulation and why you should not have this in your process mining tool but rather as part of your design platform.We speak about these topics:Why simulation?What do you need for simulation?What are the outcomes of a simulation?What are the different types of simulation?Please reach out to us by either sending an email to ⁠hello@whatsyourbaseline.com⁠ or signing up for our newsletter and getting informed when we publish new episodes here: ⁠https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe.

Today, we are re-releasing a “What's Your Baseline?” short from about two and a half years ago. And the topic of today is how to create good dashboards. And I do not think about how to do this mechanically with your tool of choice. I'm thinking about what is the thinking behind it. That might be because I'm currently writing on the chapter about dashboarding and storytelling in my upcoming second book, “Successful Processed Mining Projects”. So without further ado, enjoy What's Your Baseline? Shorts 6: How to create a good dashboard.(And here are the show notes from the initial release)Everyone wants to consume and understand large amounts of data. But how do you plan, design, and implement a good dashboard? In this What's Your Baseline Shorts, J-M and Roland walk you through the process and the considerations at each step, so that the next time you create a dashboard (for example as part of your Process Mining analysis) it will be stakeholder-oriented with a clear visual hierarchy that will make your users understand your message easily and quickly.In this episode, we are talking about:Identify your stakeholders and information needsDefine KPI and measuresCreate a solution designBuild the dashboardsIdentify data storiesRoll-out dashboardsPlease reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or sign up for our newsletter and get informed when we publish new episodes here: https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe.

We are off for a few weeks, but instead of leaving you without your regular What's Your Baseline? fix , we decided to do something different this summer.Since we started the podcast almost four years ago, we have grown quite a bit, and back in Season 2 we did a little "side show" and produced the "What's Your Baseline? Shorts" - 15 minutes, one topic, barely an edit. And this week, we are re-releasing Shorts 1, in which we are discussing the age-old question of "EPC versus BPMN". Enjoy!(And here are the show notes from the initial release)This is the first episode of the What's Your Baseline Shorts series. We are talking about the topic of process notations, especially if you should choose the BPMN or the EPC notation.High-level topics include:What are EPC and BPMN?A bit of historySpecialties of each notation, and difficulties that might ariseData exchange with BPMNExternal standardsPlease reach out to us by either sending an email to ⁠hello@whatsyourbaseline.com⁠ or leaving us a voice message by clicking ⁠here⁠.The full show notes, including graphics, further links, credits, and transcript, are available at ⁠whatsyourbaseline.com/shorts1⁠.

The world is changing faster than one might think, or at least it appears this way … and nobody seems to do solution architecture anymore.And plenty of organizations seem to have given up on planning what they are doing and changing in their system landscape, organizations, processes, etc. But that is wrong. You need to describe the changes so that you can agree on things and everyone is on the same page (and understands the direction, goals, and measurements going forward).In this episode of the podcast, we talk about:A quick review of Season 8, and what happens here at What’s Your Baseline?What is solution architecture?How does it fit into the solution lifecycleBenefits of having a solution architectureWhere in the organization should solution architects be located?The network of solution architectures and how to manage thoseWhat do you need to do solution architecture in your organization (tools, approach)?Elements/steps when creating the solution architectureHow do you implement this capability (waterfall, agile, devops)?Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or sign up for our newsletter and get informed when we publish new episodes here: https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe/.

Some folks go to work and are drained before they even turn on their computer, and they cannot figure out why that is when all the aspects of the job seem to be fine — the tasks, the title, the money. What they don't see is that the managers might be the reason, and that the managers miss emotional intelligence — the ability to “read the room” — and cannot adjust their behavior (and therefore are “off”).This challenge is why we speak with Steve Ponting, who is thinking hard about this topic and is a great advocate for org change management and the way how we as humans behave (and he gives us a brief intro into the three major professional steps that brought him there at the beginning of the episode).Steve is a strategically minded go-to-market leader at ARIS, and he guides cross-functional teams to position our capabilities with enterprise clients across multiple regions. He is recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice and featured across leading publications and major platforms including CNBC, Steve combines strategic vision, operational acumen, and industry insight to deliver lasting impact.He's passionate about helping organizations adapt, scale, and lead through change. Having gathered over 10 years' experience in direct and in-direct leadership (managing managers), Steve fosters high-performance cultures, promotes innovation through a fail-fast mindset, and enables cross-functional collaboration.As a technology generalist, Steve's career spans senior roles across both industry and enterprise software. From serving as an IT Director to leading technical sales teams at portfolio software firms, he has developed a practical understanding of how to connect business needs with technical solutions. In this episode of the podcast, we are talking about:Steve's backgroundWhat is Emotional Intelligence (EQ), and why is it important?Is EQ still needed in these times of advanced technology (AI)? What happens with the people, and what are the impacts on the organizations and their customers?How to recognize/measure emotional intelligenceHow to get people to develop EQ and the positive benefits — purpose, belonging, and autonomyWhere will the future go?Steve can be reached via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-ponting/.Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or sign up for our newsletter and get informed when we publish new episodes here: