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Okay, so who exactly is a business process expert? Well some of you might be saying or thinking of yourselves....I am.
And yes, Im posing this as question in this forum....and yes, as the person who asks the question, I have the privilege of awarding points for interesting answers. That means, obviously more than just simply...answering, I am.
Of course, awarding points for answers in the forums is not an exclusive right of a moderator as many of you, maybe all of you, well know. But since, in this particular thread, I asked the question, ..well...I get to award the points.
In fact anyone who begins a question thread in the community and gets helpful and interesting answers to the question can award points.
But I digress ..
So back to my question. Way back, many years ago, in my SAP career I met a very dynamic woman, helen Sunderland, who spoke with passion and knowledge about Business Processes and Strategic Enterprise Management. When I heard a rumor that SDN was planning a sneak, sneak peek of a Business Process Expert Community,http://bpx.sap.com, I thought Id ask Helen to share just who is a business process expert I guessed she was one.
Helens answer can be found in this blog: <a href="/people/helen.sunderland/blog/2006/05/13/days-in-the-life-of-a-business-process-expert in the Life of a Business Process Expert.
One womans opinion...
Im really interested to hear yours.
Us. It's the users. Both the users on a management level who define (or adopt industry standard) processes
and those people who live this processes or sub-processes in their every-day life.
Business processes exist in the 'real' (physical) world and should be seen as much more than mere technical
issues. They often involve such things as emotions (gut feelings, trust, ...) or inter-person communication
(e.g. negotiations) or social factors (social, political, environmental awareness/responsibility) all
of which are hard to model on a technical basis but very often distinguish sucessful from less sucessful business processes.
Therefore I disagree with Dr. Wolfram Jost's assumption of the CIO morphing into a CPO.
The key to the evolution of sucessful business processes will be the ability of the classically tech oriented CIO to communicate with a newly to establish CPO, who in turn being an expert in the assessment of the business process stakeholder's - aka the process participants or users - daily modes of operation and needs. The CPOs main area of expertise doesn't have to be knowledge of
each and every process in the business but rather provision of the modelling methodology and the skill to identify key process and sub-process users.
Today this role is often performed by external consultants who do a good job applying methodolgies and in effective assessment of processes but IMHO lack empathy/responsibility for the business, the business processes established and the business process users.
From a technology point of view this would pose a challenge for the CIO and CPO to model business processes with an adequate number of degrees of freedom to account for above mentioned technologically intangible factors. Factors which can only be assessed involving the real business process experts. The users. Us.
just my two cents,
Hi Anton,
Nice to see you here and responding.
Now I'm not a BPX nor a Subject Matter Expert, but it is clear that your answer is well thought out and certainly well articulated. It's my pleasure to reward you with the very first BPX points in this forum and encourage others to respond and receive recognition as well.
thanks for jumping in with such intent.
Anton makes a good point. In my opinion one starting point for a business process expert is experience as a USER.
I guess one can get elevated to the position of a business process expert if he/she has spent some time in the disparate departments/positions through which a business process flows through and thereby has come to know what are the important elements for unhindered flow of information from one end to the other.
Certain things like ease of use in filling up of the data forms, simple yet critical piece of information for internal checks, crucial reporting aspects are much better known and understood if one has worked as a user
If such a person can wear thinking hat and be devils advocate and question the necessity of certain things which are being done without anyone really knowing 'why' , in my opinion thats a firm step towards becoming a BPX.
I think Technology is just an enabler and its absolutely not necessary for a BPX to know about Tech though of course its helpful.
Functional consultants who have extensively worked on selected streams for many projects/clients obviously come to acquire lots of business knowldge and are also definitely BPX.
Anton, I like your paragraph about the non-technical aspects of business processes. Can you recommend any online or offline resources to that very topic?
I know those aspects from a software design point of view. To transfer these ideas specifically to process design sounds thrilling to me.
Just a memoir for the ideas that lead to BPX
BPR (Hammer & Davenport)
Time and Methods Engineering
Scientific Management (Taylor)
Industrielle et Generale (Fayol)
And to the great people from Fayol back to the
Pyramids constructors
Best Regards
In my opinion BPX are business users with a process understanding.
I consider people who perform certain jobs on a day to day basis, lets call them users, to a process experts only if they have a bit of deeper understanding of the process side of their jobs.
A process, might be understood in the context of other processes or its tasks and components. Someone might perform a single task in a whole insurance approval process. I would not consider them BPX.
Again summing up, a BPX has broader understanding of various business elements interacting together to get some meaningful job done.
i think Business process expert is the person who actually maps the Business scenerios to the technology. He is the person who actually understand the business with the help of users and sometime moulds the processes to make them fit accoding to the technology.
A BPX may be end user, but there are (at least) two key skills that one must have to be an effective BPX:
1. Vision - how processes (and technologies) fit together to achieve business goals - both in a larger context/framework and over a longer time period.
2. Consulting skills - ability to develop, express, and sell the vision to the various stakeholders
I have not found that these skills to be especially well developed in a large number of true end users.
The end users I know are working in a line of business department and are involved into process innovation project only to small part of their work time. Besides of that, the ones I know tend to come up with solution proposals rather than problem descriptions or requirements. And very often these solutions only make sense in their very own department. In my opinion they are lacking the big picture of which Helen Sunderland spoke./people/helen.sunderland/blog/2006/05/13/days-in-the-life-of-a-business-process-expert
But perhaps there are some end users with a BPX mind/understanding. Might be interesting to work with them.
A Business Process Expert (BPX) believes in and strives to implement process innovation through the use of technology. This definition clearly states that BPX is not just a business user. BPX is also not just an IT person.
A senior business person with technical aptitude is also not enough. In the real world, most business people do not understand intricacies of a proposed technical solution. The technical people take advantage of this ignorance and push back most of the changes proposed by the business people.
A technology person does not enough business clout to implement process innovation. The entrenched business people simply do not allow a technical person to change things around in their area.
In my opinion, a business technologist would be ideal to be in this role. A person who has strong background in Information Technology and now understands business area fairly well and has good rapport with business users would succeed in BPX role.
In my opinion, a BPX is someone who can take business requirements, understand them and translate these requirements into a practical technological solution. This is easier said than done!
I am reminded of when I started in IT many years ago, after struggling with designing a working solution to a business problem someone introduced me to Jackson Structured Programming - bear with me, this is leading to a point. JSP takes the known inputs, the expected outputs and methodically creates a design that satisfies both "constraints". In a similar way, a BPX should understand both ends of the problem, (a) what the business is trying to achieve, (b) has enough confidence in their knowledge of the technology to (c) fashion a innovative solution that works.
The key point is that almost always there is not an "off-the-shelf" solution. If there was, leave the task to the salesman. Unique processes can be made more controllable and efficient using a spectrum of solutions, but sometimes parts of the process should change. A BPX should know when to make that call, and whatever he delivers it should be sustainable (i.e. low maintenance, flexible, works in high volumes), all classic skills based on IT experience.
Best regards
Business Processs Expert is not a person,but an community that consists of Functional Consultants,Technical Consultants,ERP Administrator, Top level Management, Key users and End Users who goal is to Implement an Solution by Re-engineering the business Processes, customising the solution and changingf IT Infrastructure if need be, Managing the change with a objective to achieve the measurable goals of the organisation.
If he was a One Man Army, then did we need a forum?
One who has the job of looking at "Procedures" being called "Processes".
These "Procedures" sometimes need a "BIT" of automation by say SAP Workflow or just plain e-mail. The "BIT" of automation that is required is usually under the direct control of the Business Experts, most of them user with X years of "Procedure" experience.
The Procedure experience has its value, but it can be a major bottleneck when the flexible adaptation is forced on to the company as nothing beyond these procedures was ever used here.
Someone who can look at the Procedure and try to put together a Process from these silo processes without making the Business Experts feel threatened for their jobs rather being able to transform the value from their Procedure experience to create a more appropriate custom Process could be a Business Process Expert.
A large part of the Expertise would be enabling such a transformation as it would require a major management backing to implement it with the feeling of being able to do more across all the parts of the process and avoid the feeling of torn or broken process due to insufficient participation, feeling of loss of power etc, which are usually more tricky and time consuming to deal with that the broken processes.
This would be easier for the foot solider (BPX) if the CIO did morph into a CPO creating a vision of looking at business as the process they are and not just the partsProcedures which they are not.
Talking in terms of ESA, BPX is a person who understands the requirements of a business and tries to address specific problems. He/She not only gives ideas to solve them, but also knows how to leverage the power of ESA by using the available Web Services and other direct solutions to solve the problem in an effective way.
Of course, this cannot be achieved alone by one person. This is done in collaboration with Developers, Consultants and System admins.
This new role seems to be a natural demand which is in-line with SAP ESA initiative.
We have all the enabling technologies.. XI, Enterprise Portals, WebDynpro, ccBPM. But what to build using all this is visualised by a BPX.
In my opinion, Business Process Experts are persons who can align business needs with possible IT solutions and needed user interaction based on the real business process.
The Business Process Expert will investigate and improve business processes. Using <a href="/people/r.eijpe/blog/2006/03/16/road-to-esa-150-the-epi-model-part-3a--approach modeling you can investigate these processes including the manual steps.
IT vendors will provide new IT solutions. These are only valuable if they can be used in a business process step (direct) or if they can help you to improve your users productivity (indirect). The Business Process Expert will facilitate the tactical management to take the right decisions for implementing IT solutions, reorganize the organization and redesign/improve the business processes based on the real business processes. For this, the <a href="/people/r.eijpe/blog/2006/01/23/road-to-esa-150-the-epi-model-part-2 Model can help Business Process Experts.
With Regards
Robert Eijpe
To me a BPX is fearless and does not succumb to either the users or tech geeks 'wants/pressure'. He/She looks at what make sense to the company's bottomline... sometimes coming up with elegant solutions (simple/sleek - KISS) may be a pain to the IT but will resolve lots of the users' headache and vice versa. A BPX is a peacemaker, a project manager, a facilitator, a leader in a standalone department reporting to the operations department lead (VP of OPS or COO)..not under IT and defenitely not directly under users' department..The closer the BPx is to the company's decision makers, the better he/she will be in setting strategies on whats worth looking into and what is not.
BPX is someone who is approachable, open minded and firm...a familiar face in the company.. someone everyone knows they can trust. He/She has enough IT understanding to be dangerous to the geeks yet understand the delicate interdependancies of funtional departments within the company.
A Business Process Expert (BPX) would be :
A person has been in the industry long enough to know the way of the land and can advice companies on thier business processes and how to define / redefine them.
The person would also be expected to be confortable with the systems to implement them. More often than is the case , the person ends up suggesting a particular system that h/she is familiar with rather than what the client actually needs. Also the BPX has the knowledge to appreciate the technical difficulties involved in implementing the business process as is and guides the end user to a more system friendly approach while not compromising on:
User Experience
Ease of use
Compatibility with other systems / processes
The above three I would say should score high on the BPX's mind in designing / architecting solutions around the existing systems.
But playing the devil's advocate , this would mean that the person has to be an internal one , one who knows all the systems and process well enough to be able to design business process / improve them. Which leads to my next question , will an external consultant be able to become a BPX at all?
My 0.02
Arun Varadarajan
A consultant will bring lots of experience in his / her field of process. An internal expert may be stuck in the box and may not have had the breadth of industry that an external consultant has. This experience will save time and money by avoiding mistakes learnt at other implementations.
I agree with earlier comments that empathy and responsibility are paramount and perhaps its time that these qualities are measured?
There are many businesses who continue with unnecessary processes because "its always been that way". Consultants will bring efficiency and can provide evidence of earlier successes.
A consultant??
Hmmm...For an effective change management, the internalization of the change must come.. no... NEED to come from someone who is well respected within the company. How many consultant, whether real or percieve, has the real interest of the company @ heart? Have worked with plenty of consultants and was satisfied with only a few. The consultant as the name suggest is someone I use to bounce my ideas and work with to put forth strategies... the real work is done by employees (BPX, IT techs, super users and users of system).
A GREAT BPX challenge status quo... that should be his/her main focus.
In my opinion there are advantages and disadvantes with both internals and externals. What about combining these two? We often work with consultants/developers from outside the company, which often brings up new ideas that can be evaluated instantly with the insider knowledge of the internal.
There are really good points being made here..
I would like to comment on one aspect, which, in my judgement plays an important role in shaping the abilities and effectiveness of an BPX. I will take it step by step...
First - A BPX should definely possess business domain knowledge, partly through own experience, partly through consulting work, if any. It is obvious that these two (Line exp & Consulting) are complimentary and supplementary, and SHOULD co-exist, to add the breadth of knowledge.
Second - A BPX should be familiar with the IT tools (SAP..!). It could be operational experience, hands-on, or by association, in a managerial role.
Three - (and this is what I want to add..) A BPX must possess the ability to look into the underlying business requirements of the process that he is associated with, and shape the process for the FUTURE requirements of the business. Here his domain experience, his business experience and maturity, his knowledge of the IT tools have to come into play. This is where he would value by addressing the future business process needs, through IT tools available now.
An 'Expert' is no expert, if he cannot address the current, as well as, the FUTURE requirements of the business process.
Perhaps we can step back a little, ie what happens before we start looking at processes. Let's talk about scenario planning.
Pierre Wack of Shell had this wonderful definition of Scenario Planning which he said is "The Gentle Art of Re-perceiving".
Helen Sunderland in her interview with Marilyn summed it well saying "Big picture focus (synthesizing): the ability to identify the impact of the issue on the business and the effect of the solution on the business; as well as the capacity to link the solution into the current business and technical landscape Modeling ability: need to be able to model a solution that meets the business requirement within the confines of the technology" /people/helen.sunderland/blog/2006/05/13/days-in-the-life-of-a-business-process-expert accessed 3 June 2006.
A BPX must understand thoroughly the Business Strategy which starts at SEM. Strategic Enterprise Management (SAP). It is here where the Strategic Initiatives are defined and measured, which are then cascaded into KPIs. It is imperative to start at the top in order 'gently re-perceive the future'. The first step as a BPX is to understand the Organizations strategy, and then to work with Strategic Objective owners to re-engineer the future business scenarios which then can be the base for identifying which processes need to be re-engineered.
After all, BPX should be all be about improving Corporate Performance and improvements should be measured in the relevant strategic perspective- otherwise people will wonder why changes are being made.
I am really thrilled that we have this BPX community. As a SAP Change Management Specialist, I have been saying for years to SAP clients, "The power of SAP is in the processes, not only the system". I think with Solution Manager's strategic positioning in a SAP landscape as the Business Process Platform, Dr. Wolfram Jost ARIS) may be onto something when he says the CIO will morph into a CPO.
A few years back I was working with an SAP team as a Change Management Specialist. The project manager, at the kick-off meeting said "We are only here to configure the system" I was really dissapointed and we argued (out of client's hearing) about what an SAP project should be about. I am really pleased to see that SAP is changing and that it will begin marketing Business Solutions based on client processes and not just an installed/configured system.
With Kindest Regards
Paul Wilson
I am new to the term BPX, but after going through the SDN forums, I am able to make out the need for BPX'ers. I am working in SAP (technical side) for some time and have been to number of implementations. The major problems to be pointed out in the failure of implementations can be summarized as:
1. Poor understanding of Business Blueprint by the consultants who have to ensure the smooth transfer from legacy system to SAP.
2. Poor requirement gathering from customer / client.
3. Poor understanding between the Technical and Functional consultants.
I think the role played by a BPXer can help to minimize these anomalies. The BPXer can be aware of both the sides, business flow in a large extent and technicality of the requirement in a promising aspect. He can help out gathering the genuine user requirements and map into the existing business with all forms of feasibility. He can forecast better methods of business practices and the formulas to implement them. He can bridge the gap between a 'GOOD' implementation and a 'Successful' implementation.
The role of a BPXer is very much welcomed in the community to bring implementations easy and more successful and I think personally that Technical consultants can be shaped easily into BPXers (More easy if he is aware of netweaver concepts or BIW, CRM..)
Harikumar wrote:
"I think personally that Technical consultants can be shaped easily into BPXers"
When looking at the demography of Business Process Management Events (such as the last Gartner BPM summit) one finds a great number of attendees do come from IT departments...and yet...I wonder just how technical this Business Process Expert needs to be.
I'm sure that many in the SDN community may feel that as a developer one needs to have or already does have many of the skills of a BPX. In a recent blog I posted concerning the delineation of the role and various demarcation lines-<a href="/people/marilyn.pratt/blog/2006/06/04/one-community-or-two Community or Two, developerpiers Harding commented: "in todays IT world - a developer is required not only to program (the smallest part of the task) but to articulate, model, design, implement, test, document, and deliver a business requirement. In short - a developer of today, is part programmer, systems analyst, business analyst, change manager, documenter and trainer".
That sounds remarkably like a description of a BPX...yet many functional folks feel it is easier to make a business process expert out of a business-oriented person, than to fashion one from a purely technical person.
Ah...Business Process Expert..
In my opinion any person who makes and innovates such design & measurements; which can enable "people driving the business and not the business driving those people"
"modeling solutions to business issues that can be implemented in technology"<----- I do not agree. I think the bottomline behind this thought is more of a style of streamlining a "business" for the technology and not streamlining the technology for "business"....
I think a "BPX" is itself a very dynamic & complex thought which might refer to the ability to define, model, streamline, analyze and "proactively" improve business processes...
I think that a BPX is someone who is proficient in business processes. It does not necessarily mean that he has to be an expert in SAP or Oracle or any other Enterprise softeare for that matter. What matters at the end of the day is that a BPX should understand the exact need of the business. A user can be a BPX.
I think we should detach a BPX from software. If I want to add some new department in my company, how to exactly go about it for the seamless integration with the rest of the enterprise. These are the sort of questions which a BPX should be able to answer.
A BPX should have a broader vision. He should have indepth knowledge in some area (Example Sales and Distribution) and a vision of addressing problems and bottlenecks.
If such a person is associated with an Enterprise software, he should try to match the software to the business. Not the other way around. At the end of the day, users are the real BPX.
Users can become BPX...no doubt. But the question is how long and efficient it would be. Users will be very much aware about the Business day to days. The User will also be aware about the module he is practicing; like he can be a FI user and he will be really good in the day to day transactions related to FI.
We are aware about lot of User communities coming into SAP. Thinking in a broader level, they have to be trained more in other technologies of SAP like; things that can be done and cannot be done in ABAP for example. Here I am not talking about training in an aggressive level, but at least make them familiar with the very basics.
So here, a BPXer is shaped up from experience he gains, both from the functional and technical side. He has to forecast different changes in the Business as a whole providing cost - time saving solutions and the possibilities of implementing those solutions within the package (ERP).User can be an expert in one module like Sales and Distribution and he can address the problems and bottlenecks within SD. But it will be difficult for the user to forecast business changes and the feasibility of implementing the changes in SD using the relative ERP.
Definitely a User can become a BPXer but the task is not that easy. And a BPXer undoubtedly has to know about the ERP package to make predictions and forecasts. If it is in SAP, he should know what is provided and not provided in SAP. BPXer should not only map software to business; he should map business to software also.
So I cannot agree to the point that by the end of the day users are real BPXers, but they can become BPXers with lot of efforts added.
Hi Gurus,
While going through this thread post by post, point by point, I was wondering about Baconion Philosophy --Knowledge is power. I find today it is -Community -Community is Power.
Anybody who designs the Standard practices is Expert.
Anybody who understands business processes to this level is BPX. Now,who exactly is the X -End User or Developer or External Consultant?
End user is closely watching the process hence he can suggest the BEST adaptable changes ; Developer knows the limit of comlexity of coding hence he can suggest the BEST configurable changes; External Consultants have wider vision as they implement similar chages here and there hence they can suggest BEST prevailing changes.
Now can't we sum all the BEST changes and make a BEST BP? If yes, then BPX is not a person but a community.
Hi All,
My thought on BPXpert...here we go...
Greater understanding at the Business process level,
Capability to model those Business Processess,
Executing of the modeled business process functions.
Hope i have also contributed to the list.
The discussion over whether or not a "user" can be a Business Process Expert is very interesting.
I wonder if any of you have practical experience or knowledge of a user who did become a BPX. Real stories rather than conjecture, would be needed to convince some of us that such a scenario is possible.
The best BPXs I know are working in the planning/architecture/strategy team of IT organizations. They're not from the business units or in the realization or development teams of IT organizations.
They're senior business analysts (grey hair usually) who knows the history of the business processes in their company, their evolution, the people, the politics.
They work in team with senior technical architects to shape enterprise architecture, governance and innovation.
Because of the lack of maturity of the technology (Netweaver as composition platform), the few BPX will need time before enable business analysts to become BPX.
Some companies don't even have EA/Planning/Strategy team. So it's hard for them to nurture the needed BPX. If IT organizations spend most of their resource to implement or realize, it's hard for people to justify to work on innovative topics and build credibility and value proposition for changes.
A bad example of BPX is when business or functional analysts working out of their IT Development or IT Realization or even business units try to behave as BPX using traditional means, approaches, technologies they have on hand. That lead to bad architecture, wrong choices of technologies and costly solutions to develop and maintain.
There're only a few BPXs today for the simple reason that Netweaver as composition platform is so new and only few companies invested in nurturing this needed next-generation of technical and functional Enterprise Architects. Whoever embraces Netweaver as composition platform and deliver composite processes and applications will produce this kind of profile.
All users cannot be termed as Business Process Expert.
You will find many users who just take their work/tasks as their daily job and does not want to understand/visualize the big picture.
It takes a Business Process Expert to help them relaize this and change this attitude. My ex-Solution Architect took such courage and the defined a process which was then better known as Azuhar's Process after his name...
Only those users who really understand their role in a complete process and think about ways to optimize their work or the complete process should be termed as the real Business Process Expert.
I have knowledge of a user who has become a BPX. Just happens to be myself. After working in manufacturing for 17 years, primarily in the materials management and production planning areas, I was assigned to our company's SAP implementation project as team lead. Things were not progressing well so gave up my team lead position for a more "hands on" role and went to training classes learning as much SAP as I could. After a year of doing this and working with the system, I knew more about SAP than the consultants being put onsite by our integrator. Eventually the project failed and I left the company to pursue a career of consulting. Went and passed my certification tests in MM and PP applications, then did SAP consulting for big 6 firms (back then it was big 6) for 7 years. Then hired onto one of my clients as an application lead analyst for 6 years. Today, I hold the position of Sr. SAP Business Analyst because of my extensive background in business and in technology, specifically SAP.
This is the position that I and most likely many others want to be or think they have achieved. In review it is the multiude of all the previous responses. The BPX expert is knowledge of and understanding of Business and Technology ...not only what is happening today but with the vison of tomorrow. They would have the pulse on the bottom line yet the ability to persuade change in the work place.
Yet has focus on the details that is needed to make the business move forward and bend with the tides. Even though a some business practices and processes are steadfast the strategy to be able to handle changes without having to redo or change existing processes to reinvent the same cost again. The ROI is visible and usful for the business. The person has perception to understand the team's or company's strength and weaknesses to evolutionize the business growth.
I feel Business Process Expert can have a relative definition...basically, from user point of view it would be person who performs(knows) the business process from its entry to exit point(basically the whole process) would classify himself as an Expert. While from Technical point of view, a person who understands the process as well as its technicalities(config/interfacing etc) in details would classify himself as a BPX.
So overall, in conclusion the definition can be a person who understands/knows the process from its entry to exit point with respect to his/her role, would classify as a Business Process Expert.
Business Process Expert (BPX) would be the vital link between the ERP products and the Customers in an enterprise set up. I have listed Some of the characteristics of a BPX -
1. Domain Expert - He should have thorough enterprise knowledge in any of the industry verticals such as Retail, Utilities, Automotive etc
2. Technology Expert - He should be able to liaise with the CIO and make them aware of the solution fit and Business assurance.
3. Auditor - By his domain and technology expertise he should be able to audit the solution being built and continually guide the implementation team. He should be able to pro-actively ensure that the solution is in line with the enterprise requirements and also ensure that there is no gold plating.
4. Change Manager - Interface between the implementation team and the customer. This would happen once the customer and the implementer have confidence in the BPX.
5. Charismatic - He should be a person who has the charisma to make the stake holders trust him.
6. Project/Program Manager - Preferably a PMP who understands various aspects of Project/Program management.
7. He should be able to look at customer's overall solution landscape and pro actively help optimize the solution.
In the long term BPX community should be an entity of people for Business Assurance and help companies plunge into ERP projects with greater confidence.
BPX in action when it matters most.
Few years back I was working on an IS - Auto project for a global Auto manufacturer. Two days after joining the project I was challenged to come up with a solution for tracking the CKD kits from port to the plant. Since SAP does not have a solution to track CKD kits with multiple boxes assigned to a KIT, I had to quickly design a new application. After couple of meetings the solution was accepted as the best answer to a long pending issue.
The R&D mind set and automotive industry background helped me develop a solution quickly. Now I am expected to design solutions based on the new technologies available in the market including design of architecture.
So does agility = business process expertise.
In more traditional application models, one gathers requirements from users, refines the requirements, implements them, often works with change requests, modifications and adjustments. The traditional model doesn't really work well in an environment where you change the model even before it is deployed.
But is it just being quick to design a new application that equates to Business Process Expertise?
This sounds like the start of a new thread on the topic of agility, dealing with fast-changing processes.
Is N Rao's scenario one of BPM or a more traditional application solution but just designed more quickly?
There have been a lot of interesting posts about who a BPX is, and many of make the argument that the IT skills are more important than the Business skills . I disagree. I think Ankur made a great point that it is important to detach BPX from software. Business drives the business processes, and the experts are the one who live it day in and day, regardless of whether they can program or implement software. In fact, I would make the argument that a large percentage of the people that should be classified BPXs dont have an IT background and have no real programming skills whatsoever.
How can I say this? This is a description of myself. I came to SAP after being part of an implementation team to install SEM-PA at a large bank. I had worked in banking for 8 years, and prior to the project had no IT experience at all. My value to the project was that I was able to cross the line and define what the business users wanted and needed out of the software. This is the value of a BPX.
Hi Timothy,
> In fact, I would make the argument that a
> large percentage of the people that should be
> classified BPXs dont have an IT background and have
> no real programming skills whatsoever.
So BPXers need unreal programming skills
Sorry, couldn't resist.
> My value to the
> project was that I was able to cross the line and
> define what the business users wanted and needed out
> of the software. This is the value of a BPX.
This is true and I agree you don't need programming skills, but your job is so much easier if you know the limitations of the system and have a feeling of what is possible to implement.
IT knowledge helps on both sides. When talking to the businesses owners to set right expectations and to be taken serious from the IT folks because you come with realistic requests.
Just my two cents, Mark.
Hello there,
Could I say all SAP Functional consultants = BPX?
For example: SAP FI = BPX for FI?
Must BPX have IT skills at all? If not, why BPX forum?
And could someone help enlighten why suddenly this new buzzword? how did it come about?
Much thanks,
It could be looked at from two angles...
1. What is the best way to accomplish the necessary action. If it means to produce and sell a widget , what are all the processes involved... and each of the processes will have their own cross linkages between different systems irrespective of the function. You will have FI interacting with PM and SD intracting with PP and FI and so on.
In many cases a mindset is required to look at things from a process perspective - more from , The sales order will get confirmed by finance and then it goes to the inventory department. This is just a flow but the flow has to be well thought of and designed before implementing it in the system.
2. The next step is to look at how best to achieve the same technically and then look at possible deficiencies in the process and arrive at a satisficing solution to achieve the same.
My 0.02
When marilyn and Audrey initially approached the <a href="/people/anita.luu/blog/2006/02/28/the-industryspeak-program gang about the BPX topic, I was excited to see the SDN community grow in more non-technical areas. I'm still fumbling around in the dark for a more precise definition of BPX. I hope to see this one day... =P
this [original link is broken] is a good start but not easy to realize.
There's quite few interesting opinions about who is or what makes a BPX in this thread.
Here's my 2 cents on how to achieve this:::
A Business Process Expert is the ideal marriage between the business user and IT. This would be an individual that understands the specific business requirements and how technology/software can help support these business needs. To a great extent SAP has many developers that have translated these business requirements into software. I would think that many of these developers could easily rise to BPX status, but maybe this is food for thought in another forum thread.
Ideally, Business Process Experts (BPX) becomes an officially recognized professional designation. This concept could be similar to a DBA - Process Integration (PI) & SOA Middleware for "sample questions" results in 752 hits for folks wanting hints on how to pass the XI certification exam. Maybe we see this as a similar BPX Metric or Indicator in the BPX forums, if BPX becomes a certification.
Does anyone share any of these opinions?
[url=https://www.sdn.sap.com:443/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.sdn.businesscard.sdnbusinesscard?u=bp2a84iph%2bk%3d ]james[/url]
I'd say a Business Process Expert is someone who understands the Business and the Business Processes (which from my point of view will directly lead to BPX specialization) and can "convert" or "translate" these to IT requirements through deep ESOA knowledge and understanding. These requirements should then be implemented in the ESOA / NetWeaver landscape by so called ESOA experts, these will as well have a focus in EP, PI, ... but need as well the ESOA understanding - but more from a technical / developers view.
I think that's a mirror of the role of the CIO which will / should be split as well into two roles (CPIO and I think it's CITO) - or at least that's the state of the discussion as far as I know.
Kind regards,
I've been reading a bit lately about Business Process Modeling, and it seems we are moving towards a point where we will have commonly accepted ways to describe business processes. We are not there yet, but business process modeling holds much promise. As with most things, it takes longer than the PowerPoint said. Different standards and methods currently compete (BPEL, WfMC and so on)
I see this as being as important as the move to technical standards and openness that NetWeaver, Websphere (even whoops Fusion) etc is all about.
The business process expert role for me, requires a number of skills.
Firstly. the ability to model processes with a modeling language with a high level of rigour. This skill should not be underestimated. This skill can and should be taught and examined.
Secondly. Knowledge of the business area itself. There will be some people that are able to look at many different processes, but I reckon most business process experts will focus on a particular process area, say treasury, or talent management. This requires a strong interest in the business discipline and a grasp of trends, what other companies have done, academic thinking and so on.
there are many other skills required too. Empathy with users, developers and executives, articulate business benefit, project skills etc....
BPXs should be all about improving business processes. This starts, fundamentally, with learning a common language (or two)
Thank you, Thomas. This post was thoughtful. I also like your book recommendation in another post.
Taken in aggregate, this whole thread of discussion, with ideas and BPX definitions from everyone, is enlightening and helpful, I think. It expands and clarifies.
We (the BPX community team at SAP) will likely take a shot at capturing these thoughts in a more formal way, and then presenting it back to the growing community ... yet also understanding that the definition may morph and further clarify in the future.
Mark Y.
Who exactly is a business process expert?
I think Business Process Expert can be anybody who understands the business processes in details, who is a subject matter expert not required that he should be a manager in an organization. As a roles and responsibilities he should be able to map the standard business processes, subprocesses and should be able to propose the work arounds in the cases when the existing business process is not clearly matching with the requirment. He aligns the business requirements with possible standard business processes to achive the business goals.
Thanks and Regards,
Hello all,
Maybe we should open the discussion a bit beyond a "Human Centric" BPX. The main theme after all IS "The Business Process". There are hundreds, possibly thousands of Business Processes depending upon whether you categorize as micro or macro processes. Any one of these either on a micro/macro level function with or without human beings and may utilize machines that assist or automate value added activities/processes which produce higher value service or products in the age old scenario [input > process > useful output & waste output].
When we talk about Expert or Expertise, we are talking about precise know-how, and narrow domain knowledge wether depth or breadth knowledge.
Referring back to a post by Luis Rincones, regarding ideas and concepts leading to BPX, automation of the business process should be the KEY focus of a BP engineer. Back in the late 80's early 90's, we referred to these BP engrs. as "Knowledge Engineers" and their principal goals were to interview "Experts" in order to extract expert knowledge (sometimes 20+ years of experience) and understand not only the flow of the process, but more importantly the RULES which govern all exceptions and variations encountered within the process, as well as "rules of thumb" in case the RULES don't apply.
This is something which if we are truly to orient our Enterprise SOA architecture towards the goals of BPX mentioned above, will require a common "Rule Based Engine", which lives across all domains of knowledge, Objects, & environments, and works together with the design & development environment for the xAPP (I like to refer to them as "Expert Applications") and thereby enable not only the integration and homogenization of input data (via the technology stack), but also integrate the application of logic via a common rule based engine. In this way, E-SOA can also be enabled on the "useful" outbound process enabling services (actions) which mediate/manage/automate the process back to prescribed operating parameters.
Of course, people can not be eliminated from the process. Lexus factory in Korea back in 2002 operated with approx. 60 or so people, 150 robots, and produced >300 units per day. People were mostly involved in QA and deviation functions.
Automating the Business Process optimizes the output:input ratio and should minimize the waste:useful output ratio. By doing so, the ROI, ROA, and operating margins are maximized and competitive advantage gains against other not so able competitors.
Any one else has a few words on this?
sorry for posting a question for a question. But there has been quite a good number of opinions/ideas exchanged about who a BPX is. Now, my question is who hires the BPX? Will they most probably be hired by the company which is running the IT systems for their business? Or could he/she (BPX) be an employee of the IT services partner? If the BPX should have a deep process understanding the customer would prefer to have a home brewn resource converted into a BPX. And yet economies of scale, core competency retention and outsourcing the rest favour having the BPX from the IT services partner. Will be eager to hear some views about this.
It is the users. Users are the champions of each processes that they are dealing with in everyday life. In corporate world each of the processes can be divided into micro level and the people who actually carry out the jobs are the experts. If all these expert knowledge can be combined and synchronised then only the whole process can be delivered efficiently & effectively. That is why today's technology focuses on People Integration & Process Integration. I believe each & every one of the business are the domain experts and the business process expert is the one who can take advantage out of all these domain experts. This job is humanly impossible. That is why Business Process Expert can be thought of as a system assisted support backed by today's emerging technology.
I have been following this thread with great interest, For me the term expert is a "relative " term,Simiarly the term Business Process Expert is someone who has the capability to understand the Process in depth but at the same time have the vision and competency to tweak the same process for different industry scenarios.
A BP user is a good starting point but he will have the breadth of knowledge restricted to his/her domain.
However without making it sound too complicated!,anybody who has the attitude and the logical skill and knowledge to develop,modify or map a process to an industrial requirement consistently can or shall i say should be called a Business Process Expert.The key word is consistently!!
I am a new member in this SAP BPX community and so, am eager to make an attempt to define this term, based on my understanding on the business experiences thus far. I would like to define a BPX as one, who is able to provide an efficient and effective IT solution (in this case, an SAP solution) for an organization's business process issue and delights the requirement generator (the customer).
Best Regards
Hi All,
Nice to see there are so many angles you can use to describe a BPE. In my opinion BPX comes in many tastes.
When I try to explain BPM, I usually mention two dimentions: Business focus and Automation. Besides these dimentions there are 5 aspects: 1.Business Process Design, 2.Business Process Modeling, 3.Business Process Governance, 4.Business Process Improvement, 5.Business Process Implementation. I guess a BPX can't really be an expert on all aspects and is probably a specialist on one of the aspects, however a BPX should always be aware of the interdependancies and relations between the aspects. Besides this a BPX should have thourough understanding of the added-value of Business Process Management in certain life-cycle stages of target organizations and processes and therefore can translate the methodology into practical steps and actions.


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I am gonna initiate this new forum with a picture of a Farmall with some mean looking rear wheels. Have a look-see.
http://www.roughandtumble.org/rt-albums ... rn_091.asp
Check out these Farmall Wheels.
All non-Cub/Cadet/IH/Farmall/Case tractor and machinery discussions.
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Check out these Farmall Wheels.
I am gonna initiate this new forum with a picture of a Farmall with some mean looking rear wheels. Have a look-see.
http://www.roughandtumble.org/rt-albums ... rn_091.asp
Then came Bronson
Sure could be rough on a pair of new shoes, not to mention feet.
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government
to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the
government lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." Patrick Henry
The R&T guys have a massive collection of steam powered stuff and host nice shows throughout the year. Even Miller Tire goes there for their big show in August.
If any of y'all are in the Lancaster, PA area, check out the events calendar. Then drop the lovely wife off at the outlets (or not) and spend the afternoon at R&T. It's well worth a visit.
Rudi came to mind when I seen these wheels. This is him warming up------> getting prepared to install a set ofchains on his frozen Cub. Rudi, Maybe you should invest in a set of rear wheels like these.
Then came Bronson
One thing is for sure - they sure be heavy enough, no sliding there at all! Just wouldn't look right on Ellie though. Now that her shoes are on properly and cleated, I think she will do okay. Gonna find out tomorrow I think. Getting warmer and I got a bunch of snow to move in the driveway going to the shop!
Confusion breeds Discussion which breeds Knowledge which breeds Confidence which breeds Friendship
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Bradford/Hrabik Wedding Plunge by Bradford Plunge! - over 1 year ago
"We traveled to Mexico for my sister's destination wedding. (I just so happen to be the one with my face blocked in the pic.) We gathered up as many of us as we could find at the time and jumped into the pool in our CustomInk shirts. The shirts were a big hit and everyone who attended either bought one or regretted that they didn't. We have used your site before and find it the best design site as far as selection, usabilility, and simple peace of mind knowing you will get exactly what you ordered. Thanks again CustomInk and Viva La Mexico!"


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BOSTON -- Ten pitches, a little help from a Dustin Pedroia dive to secure the final out and another save.
Jonathan Papelbon's days at the office this season combine two qualities that aren't often found together: routine and exciting. He extended his streak of converted save chances to 23 on Tuesday afternoon, when he closed out a 3-1 win over the Rays with a perfect ninth in the first game of a doubleheader.
Papelbon has 28 saves on the season, and of late, 13 has been his lucky number. In his last 13 appearances, Papelbon has gone that many innings and struck out that many batters. Just three baserunners have reached against him in that span -- all via single, none via walk.
When Papelbon traces the success, it was about this time a year ago, in the midst of a disappointing season, that he feels he figured himself out.
"I think all that started in August and September of last year," Papelbon said of an altered delivery. "I kind of realized what I can do to create life and deception, and I wasn't doing that in the early parts of the season last year. I was able to make an adjustment."
Strong as he's been, Papelbon might not be available for the nightcap, as he and manager Terry Francona said shortly after the first game they weren't sure about his status for Game 2.
Papi to miss a few more days with bursitis
BOSTON -- The Red Sox will be without the services of slugger David Ortiz for at least a couple of more games. The designated hitter was scratched just moments before the start of Tuesday's day-night doubleheader against the Rays with bursitis in his right heel.
Just as he does before every game, Ortiz was doing some sprints on the field shortly before Game 1. Only this time he didn't feel right, and he had to come out of the lineup. He also missed Game 2.
Though the club does not expect that Ortiz will have to go on the disabled list, the injury will be treated conservatively.
Ortiz was examined by the team's medical staff during Game 1.
"He got an MRI," said manager Terry Francona. "It showed bursitis in his heel. We're going to get him out of his spikes for a couple of days and get him in a little bit of a walking boot, just to kind of alleviate some of the pressure.
"We'll keep re-evaluating every couple of days. We want to get him off of [the foot] for a little while. It's not going to be DL. We're going to have to keep him out of there for a little bit. We don't know what that is."
Following Wednesday afternoon's contest at Fenway, the Red Sox hit the road for an eight-game trip through Kansas City and Texas.
"It was bothering him on the [last] road trip, and when he went out to run his sprints before the game, it kind of grabbed at him a little bit," Francona said.
The Red Sox managed just three hits in each game of their doubleheader, sans Ortiz, who is hitting .300 with 24 homers and 79 RBIs.
In Game 1, Jed Lowrie served as the designated hitter in Ortiz's place. Carl Crawford got to rest his legs by DHing Game 2, with Darnell McDonald getting the start in left.
The Red Sox were also without Marco Scutaro for the doubleheader, as he's been dealing with back discomfort. Mike Aviles started both games at short.
The Sox are taking a "wait and see" approach with Scutaro.
"[His] back's a little stiff, so that's kind of where we're at," said Francona before Game 1. "It's an early day, so he'll be getting treatment and we'll see how he does later."
Kevin Youkilis has also been dealing with a nagging back and didn't play Game 2. The Red Sox hope he will start on Wednesday against David Price.
Francona skips unpacking during pit stop home
BOSTON -- In what is easily the oddest portion of this season's schedule, the Red Sox are basically making a pit stop home to play the Tampa Bay Rays in the middle of what is essentially a very long road trip.
Aside from these three games against the Rays at Fenway -- two on Tuesday and one on Wednesday -- the Red Sox will have been on the road from Aug. 8-25.
The Sox just completed a six-game road trip through Minneapolis and Seattle. And once they finish their business against the Rays with a Wednesday afternoon game, they will open an eight-game road trip through Kansas City and Texas, starting on Thursday.
Don't look for the Red Sox to be doing much laundry or ironing during this brief homestand.
"Well, the fact that I didn't unpack, yeah, it's weird," said manager Terry Francona. "And the doubleheader makes it more, as you said, wacky. But that's just the way it is. It's just like a long road trip. It's a little weird."
A strong believer that his team should always stay in the moment, Francona is never one to make excuses. Instead, he just wants his team to go out and play, regardless of the circumstances.
"You kind of have your own stories and then you talk to other teams -- it happens to everybody," Francona said. "With the unbalanced schedule, that's just the way it's going to be. Whatever happens the night before, you're supposed to show up the next day and play baseball. That doesn't concern us. If we don't, man, I don't feel like it's because we didn't show up. Sometimes you just don't win."
Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Brownie Points, and follow him on Twitter @IanMBrowne. Evan Drellich is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @EvanDrellich. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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I recently acquired a 154 Low-boy. It works great and looks good too - fresh paint and all. But, late last summer, for no apparent reason the Creeper gear refused to go into high range and it's been like that since. It works well in low range but....... I am not a patient man.
I read in my shop manual that in order to access the creeper I have to split the tractor. I would like to avoid that if I can - do you know of any trick to fix this problem. Do I have to access the gear to address this problem.


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NEW YORK (AP) -- The Fourth of July went off like a dud at the box office, as the Michael Bay sequel "Transformers: Age of Extinction" and the Melissa McCarthy comedy "Tammy" led the weakest summer holiday weekend in at least a decade.
The North American box office was down a whopping 44 percent over the July Fourth weekend last year, when "Despicable Me 2" and "The Lone Ranger" opened.
This weekend sputtered because of numerous factors, including that Hollywood simply didn't aim for big fireworks this year. The holdover "Transformers" led all films with an estimated $36.4 million, while "Tammy" had a below-expectations Friday-to-Sunday haul of $21.2 million.
"This ranks as one of the lowest Fourth of Julys ever," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak. "We always think of Fourth of July being a big weekend. This year, we just have to lick our wounds and look forward to 'Planet of the Apes' and some other films to get us back on track."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released today.
The top 10: 1. "Transformers: Age Of Extinction," $36.4 million; 2. "Tammy," $21.2 million; 3. "Deliver Us From Evil," $9.5 million; 4. "22 Jump Street," $9.4 million; 5. "How to Train Your Dragon 2," $8.8 million; 6. "Earth to Echo," $8.3 million; 7. "Maleficent," $6.1 million; 8. "Jersey Boys," $5.1 million; 9. "Think Like a Man Too," $4.9 million; 10. "Edge of Tomorrow," $3.6 million.


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Hi: 22° Lo:10°
By Ian Dipple Tuesday 28 January 2014 Updated: 28/01 16:41
PLANS to alter the look of Redditch's historic bandstand have been dropped.
But work will get underway on the original £30,000 scheme to improve the surrounding area on Monday (February 3).
The project includes new pedestrian ramps and cycle racks while the area around the bandstand and fountain will be resurfaced and new seating installed.
Some work to cut back trees and bushes has already been completed while the rose arch walkway will be divided into sections and relocated to create attractive entrance points to the area.
It is planned the work will be completed by late March in time for the start of the 50th anniversary New Town celebrations in April.
The scheme is designed to open up the area to support efforts to bring the bandstand back into use.
But the Standard reported in December how concerns had been raised the structure itself was not fit for purpose because it was difficult to see into when performances were taking place.
Because the original scheme has come in under budget, a structural engineer's report was ordered by officers at Redditch Borough Council to see if alterations were possible, which the public would then have been consulted on.
But it is understood any changes would have cost about £45,000 and have now been ruled out. Any work carried out on the bandstand itself will be minor repairs or maintenance.
Coun leader Bill Hartnett said: "Improvements to the bandstand area have been in the pipeline for a while so it's great that they are finally coming to fruition and just in time to start our new town 50th anniversary celebrations.
"When the work is finished I am sure this will be an even better place to sit and relax as well as being a great venue for our festivals and bandstand events. I would encourage anyone to contact us if they are interested in using the bandstand for their own events too."
1 Politician gets the cold shoulder
2 Men charged with ram raid on Redditch business
3 Surprise at 'u-turn' on Asda bid
4 Couple share happy day in Devon
AN ELECTRIC saw was used to cut through
UNDER normal circumstances to lose someone is never
RESIDENTS and dignitaries gathered together to commemorate the
THE FINAL decision on the future of the
POTENTIALLY hundreds of elderly residents across the county are due ...
Visit the Worcester Observer website for the latest.
THOUGHTFUL people willing to help others are being sought by ...
A DRUNK man swore at police because he was angered ...


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|Women's Tennis » News
|» News » Schedule » Roster » Coaches » Statistics » Archive
Saturday's @FGCU_MTEN And @FGCU_WTEN Matches Moved To Noon
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Originally scheduled for Mar. 29 at 6 p.m., the FGCU men's and women's tennis home matches against Mercer will now begin at noon on Saturday, Mar. 29 due to the prediction of afternoon storms in the area.
Prior to the women's match, the team's seniors will be honored as it will be the team's final home match of the season.
For complete coverage of FGCU men's and women's tennis visit www.FGCUAthletics.com where up-to-date information will be available.


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Public Accommodations
The Tennessee Department of Transportation is committed to a policy of full accessibility and non-discrimination in the provision of any of its business activities. We are committed to upholding the intent and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in admission to, access to, or operation of TDOT's programs, services or activities, to the fullest extent possible.
It is the department's responsibility to ensure that no person be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity supported by TDOT, based on a disability. With in TDOT, the Bureau of Engineering manages public accessibility to the Department's facilities, projects and programs. Each and every TDOT employee is responsible for working cooperatively to achieve this.
TDOT Public Accessibility Project
The Tennessee Department of Transportation has completed a self-evaluation for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504). Areas addressed in the self-evaluation were the following:
- Review of Policies, Practices
- Communication Assessment
- Architectural Survey Reports
- Programs and Facility Accessibility
Public Accessibility Office Links
For Public Accommodations or Concerns contact:
Margaret Zeman Mahler
Accessibility Manager
Tennessee Department of Transportation
505 Deaderick St., Suite 400
Nashville, TN 37243
Phone: 615-741-4984 TTY: 615-253-8311


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By Matt Blanchette
If the New England Patriots are going to move to 4-0, they are once again going to have to win without their top two receiving talents, TE Rob Gronkowski and WR Danny Amendola. Neither play made the trip to Atlanta, and both were ruled out on Saturday on the official team injury report.
The Patriots play at the 1-2 Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night.
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Expired Property Listing
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Eagles Nest in Leavenworth
- bedrooms 1
- baths 1
- sleeps 4
- pool no
- hot tub no
- pets allowed no
- type Cabin
- community Plain
rates (USD)
/ night
$ 594 - $ 594 / week
vacation rental description
this is great for that romantic getaway weekend, eagle's nest is perched above the wenatchee river and over looking the valley with big jim moutain in the background.
Eagle's Nest has the best of everything:...10/min to fish lake...20/min to leavenworth....10/min to bike,hiking,horse riding trails and so on.
we have a book filled with testimoney!
99% of our guest's have somthing great to say about eagle's nest!
the other 1%?
diden't say anything,
we need to work on that!
cabin rental amenities
big deck to enjoy the views with BBQ, newly remodeled with cedar to give that true cabin feel! with full size shower and bath, best decribed by our guests as very cute!
activities and attractions in Leavenworth Washington
There is so much to do here!
said one of our guests!she said of the Lake Wenatchee/Plain area,it abounds with activity no matter what time of year. From snowmobiling,fishing(and ice), skiing (stevens pass is just 25/min), to golfing, boating, hiking, horse back riding, and so much more. Leavenworth is just 20 minutes away down the chumstick,
or just walk the many trails right outside your front door!
Most of our guests just enjoy sitting on the deck listing to the sound of the river below and taking in the sweeping view
vacation rental rates
3/nt min on weekends! july - sept
rates do not include tax or cleaning fee ($50)


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Bacon, Mushroom and Beef Stew
After seeing the film Julie and Julia, I was inspired to make Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignonne. But the first order of business was to adapt the original time-consuming recipe to one that fit my hectic schedule, without compromising its rich taste. One step never to skip, however, is thoroughly browning the meat in small batches, which gives the stew so much depth of flavor. You can make this one day ahead -- in fact, it tastes even better that way.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Pat meat thoroughly dry with paper towels and set aside.
- In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the bacon, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon is beginning to crisp. Remove bacon, and set aside in a medium bowl.
- When the bacon fat is very hot, but not quite smoking, place about 1/4 of the meat into it, browning quickly on all sides, taking care not to crowd or it won't color well. Continue cooking the meat in this way, until it is all browned, removing the meat from the pan each time and placing it in the same bowl with the bacon.
- Add the carrot and onion to the pan and cook for 5 minutes, or until slightly tender. Remove to the same bowl as the meat and bacon.
- Drain the fat from the pot. Return the bacon, beef and vegetables to the pan and sprinkle on the flour, salt and pepper and toss to coat.
- Add the wine, broth, tomato paste, garlic, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Place in the oven and cook for 2 1/2-3 hours.
- While the meat is baking, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are golden brown, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
- Add another tablespoon of oil to the skillet. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are tender, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
- After the stew has cooked for 2 hours, stir in the mushrooms and onions. Return to the oven and continue baking until meat is tender and easily pierced with a fork. Taste for seasoning.
- At this point, if you are serving immediately, skim any fat from the top, sprinkle with parsley and serve over noodles, mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes. If you are making it ahead, cool to room temperature and refrigerate. When ready to reheat, skim any fat from the top, and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, over low heat. This should take about 30 minutes.
Find more recipes from Alison Needham on Family.com, or visit her blog at www.agirlamarketameal.com.


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Updated 2:15 p.m. Thursday
Click here to view photos from social media of Ferrell's visit. And here's a video of how he arrived in town, with what appeared to be a box of donuts and a container of beer (that's just how Burgundy rolls).
Want more? Check out Burgundy's segment on the Dan Patrick Show, the reason he was in Milford.
Actor Will Ferrell is in town Thursday for an interview on the Dan Patrick Show, which is broadcast from Downtown Milford.
Ferrell is promoting his new movie "Anchorman 2," in which he plays a 1970s-era news anchor named Ron Burgundy.
The Downtown Milford Connecticut Facebook page shared a photo Thursday morning of Ferrell in his usual Burgundy garb in front of the old Milford Diner.
"He is hosting the (Dan Patrick) show as we speak," a post on the Facebook page read at 11:05 a.m. Thursday. "He may float around downtown after 12pm today when the show is over!"
To listen live, visit the Dan Patrick Show's website here (just click listen live on the top right-hand corner). On the homepage right now (11:05 a.m. Thursday) is a photo of Ferrell with the caption, "Ron Burgundy Invades Milford ManCave."
"Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" is the sequel to "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," which was released in 2004 and co-starred Christina Applegate and Steve Carell.
The sequel hits theaters Dec. 18. Click here to watch the trailer.
Motorists uninterested in catching a glimpse of Ferrell are advised to find an alternate route of travel through Downtown Milford. Police have reportedly closed the lane adjacent to Cafe Atlantique.


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For a glimpse into the lives and careers of starlets and celebrity veterans alike, make a stop in Hollywood. After all, this star-studded Los Angeles hot spot showcases prominent studios, such as the Charlie Chaplin Studios, Paramount Studios, and The Lot. While Hollywood is home to some of the silver screen's most famous faces, there's more to do than track the stars. If you don't witness a celebrity sighting of your own, head over to Madame Tussauds Hollywood, and pose with all your favorite stars at this wax museum. And for those who aren't easily star struck, this L.A. destination also provides plenty of other non-celebrity things to do from touring the Griffith Observatory to hiking the Runyon Canyon Park.
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Smiths Medical Improves Customer Service, Optimizes Global Supply Chain and Drives Growth
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Executive Summary
Smiths Medical wanted to evolve from stand-alone businesses into a global operation and consolidate disparate systems across multiple divisions and acquired companies to streamline operations and share best practices across the diverse global organization. The challenge was to improve ability to effectively manage and optimize inventory at locations around the globe to reduce waste and costs and enhance operational efficiency and improve customer satisfaction by leveraging expanded insight from global business reporting. Smiths Medical worked with Oracle Partner Deloitte Consulting to deploy a single instance of Oracle E-Business Suite across the company's global enterprise - streamlining and aligning more than 120 global processes and tracked and recorded bar-coded information on materials to ensure traceability of product lots.
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Face it, tape backups aren't going anywhere anytime soon
Subject: General Tech | May 1, 2014 - 03:18 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: tape, backup, sony
Sony has just raised the bar on tape backup after creating a new process which can create strings of uniformly orientated nanocrystals in a layer less than five micrometers thick, giving the tape a storage density of 148 Gb per square inch. Compare that to the current market standard of 2Gb per square inch on LTO-6 high-end LTO Ultrium tapes. Unfortunately there are two questions left unanswered by the statement that The Register linked to; what I/O speeds can this media maintain and what its expected lifetime is.
"Researchers at Sony have developed a new kind of magnetic tape that can store 74 times the data of current designs, dramatically cutting the amount of room needed for backup libraries."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Windows XP market share dips just 1.4 percent following April end of life @ The Inquirer
- OpenSSH No Longer Has To Depend On OpenSSL @ Slashdot
- Canonical kills Ubuntu pocket PC for Android @ The Inquirer
- Trying Out The Jetson TK1, NVIDIA's High-End Tegra K1 Board @ Phoronix
- Super-Simple Mod Gives Your DSLR Nine Hours of Battery Life @ MAKE:Blog
- Google in NOT EVIL shocker: Bins student email ad scanning @ The Register
- OpenBSD 5.5 Released @ Slashdot
Non-Replaceable, Defective Batteries in Sony VAIO Fit 11A
Subject: General Tech, Systems | April 15, 2014 - 08:48 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: vaio, sony, battery issue
So it turns out that Sony, after releasing their last VAIO PC refresh before the division is sold to Japan Industrial Partners, have found an issue with Panasonic's custom lithium battery packs. The VAIO Fit 11A models, released February 2014, have the potential to overheat and catch fire, burning itself and the PC. They are in the process of creating a refund, repair, or exchange program but, in the mean time, request users stop using the devices for their safety.
In head-crushing formation. #HandsCheck
The affected products fall under the model number, "SVF11N1XXXX", where Xs are, of course, some random letter or number. This information is printed underneath the display, accessible using the "release-lock" latch when the laptop is open.
Of course, this is all just unfortunate for Sony. The last product they create under their VAIO brand requires what basically amounts to a safety recall -- for a third-party component. Beyond that, Panasonic asserts that the flaw only seems to exist in the batteries that were customized for Sony. Panasonic, like many manufacturers, introduces slight modifications to existing products for a specific customer's needs. They do not believe that their other batteries, even of the same model, is defective outside of the shipment that Sony received.
At some point, you just need to feel bad for them...
Sony Sells VAIO to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP)
Subject: General Tech, Systems | February 6, 2014 - 03:26 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: sony vaio, sony
Oh look, something that was not purchased by Lenovo.
Sony has decided to sell its VAIO brand to Japanese Industrial Partners (JIP). Sony has been developing computers under thO brand since the mid 90's. While never a top-five player in the industry, they had a significant presence in stores and in the possession of people I bumped into on a day-to-day basis. The division was apparently in the red. It currently employs 1,000 people, of which 250-300 are expected to be hired with this deal.
Whether the rest will be laid off or reshuffled within Sony remains to be seen.
As for Sony, they hope to focus on smartphones and tablets. They had a significant presence at last month's CES where they brought multiple Xperia models. VAIO also had its share of the attention though, so I guess that really does not mean much.
The acquisition is expected to complete near the end of July.
Sony Password Reset: Problem or Caution?
Subject: General Tech | December 5, 2013 - 07:33 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: sony, Data Breach
Sony has detected "irregular activity" on their network and, as a precaution, have initiated password resets for several of their customers. Of course the great PlayStation hack is still fresh in our memory. Beyond the potential reference jokes, this time could be a sign that they learned their lesson.
My hands are still in head-crushing formation.
My gut feeling is that Sony has noticed odd traffic from attackers trying to use break into accounts using information compromised from other sources (such as the recent Adobe hack). I actually received a similar email from Blizzard, just a couple of weeks after the Adobe hack, urging me to reset my password. It does not surprise me that whoever has access to the blob (heck it is probably public by now) would be poking gaming services to extort or troll.
I will give Sony the benefit of the doubt (especially considering how probable it is) and say they have learned from their lesson. This is the same practice used by to good security firms: push the big red reset button whenever something looks fishy and keeps your affected customers informed.
Of course I could eat my words if it is found out that Sony knows of a gigantic problem behind the scenes -- but I doubt it. Congratulations on handling the situation properly, Sony, even if it does open you up to misinformed trolls.
The 7 Year Console Refresh
The consoles are coming! The consoles are coming! Ok, that is not necessarily true. One is already here and the second essentially is too. This of course brings up the great debate between PCs and consoles. The past has been interesting when it comes to console gaming, as often the consoles would be around a year ahead of PCs in terms of gaming power and prowess. This is no longer the case with this generation of consoles. Cutting edge is now considered mainstream when it comes to processing and graphics. The real incentive to buy this generation of consoles is a lot harder to pin down as compared to years past.
The PS4 retails for $399 US and the upcoming Xbox One is $499. The PS4's price includes a single controller, while the Xbox's package includes not just a controller, but also the next generation Kinect device. These prices would be comparable to some low end PCs which include keyboard, mouse, and a monitor that could be purchased from large brick and mortar stores like Walmart and Best Buy. Happily for most of us, we can build our machines to our own specifications and budgets.
As a directive from on high (the boss), we were given the task of building our own low-end gaming and productivity machines at a price as close to that of the consoles and explaining which solution would be superior at the price points given. The goal was to get as close to $500 as possible and still have a machine that would be able to play most recent games at reasonable resolutions and quality levels.
Continue reading our comparison of PC vs. PS4 vs. Xbox One Hardware Comparison: Building a Competing Gaming PC!!
Does downloading make a difference?
I posted a story earlier this week that looked at the performance of the new PS4 when used with three different 2.5-in storage options: the stock 500GB hard drive, a 1TB hybrid SSHD and a 240GB SSD. The results were fairly interesting (and got a good bit of attention) but some readers wanted more data. In particular, many asked how things might change if you went the full digital route and purchased games straight from the Sony's PlayStation Network. I also will compare boot times for each of the tested storage devices.
You should definitely check out the previous article if you missed it. It not only goes through the performance comparison but also details how to change the hard drive on the PS4 from the physical procedure to the software steps necessary. The article also details the options we selected for our benchmarking.
- Seagate 1TB Hybrid SSHD - $122 - $0.12/GB
- Corsair 240GB Force GS SSD - $189 - $0.78/GB
Today I purchased a copy of Assassin's Creed IV from the PSN store (you're welcome Ubisoft) and got to testing. The process was the same: start the game then load the first save spot. Again, each test was run three times and the averages were reported. The PS4 was restarted between each run.
The top section of results is the same that was presented earlier - average load times for AC IV when the game is installed from the Blu-ray. The second set is new and includes average load times fro AC IV after the installation from the PlayStation Network; no disc was in the drive during testing.
Continue reading our story on the performance testing of HDD, SSD and SSHD with downloaded and Blu-ray installed games on PS4!!
Load time improvements
On Friday Sony released the PlayStation 4 onto the world. The first new console launch in 7 years, the PS4 has a lot to live up to, but our story today isn't going to attempt to weigh the value of the hardware or software ecosystem. Instead, after our PS4 teardown video from last week, we got quite a few requests for information on storage performance with the PS4 and what replacement hardware might offer gamers.
Hard Drive Replacement Process
Changing the hard drive in your PlayStation 4 is quite simple, a continuation of a policy Sony's policy with the PS3.
Installation starts with the one semi-transparent panel on the top of the unit, to the left of the light bar. Obviously make sure your PS4 is completely turned off and unplugged.
Simply slide it to the outside of the chassis and wiggle it up to release. There are no screws or anything to deal with yet.
Once inside you'll find a screw with the PS4 shapes logos on them; that is screw you need to remove to pull out the hard drive cage.
Continue reading our analysis of PS4 HDD, SSHD and SSD Performance!!
Sony PS Vita TV Supports Vita Games, Online Services, and PS4 Remote Play for $100
Subject: General Tech | September 9, 2013 - 05:07 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: sony, remote play, ps vita, playstation 4, gaming
Today, Sony announced a new Vita-branded product called the PlayStation Vita TV. The small 60mm x 100mm box connects to televisions over HDMI and is able to play Vita games using a while PS3-style controller or a touchpad-equipped PS4 game controller.
The PS Vita TV also connects to your home network over Ethernet and is able to pull down content from various Sony online services including Music Unlimited, Video Unlimited, and Karaoke according to Engadget.
Those features alone make it an interesting product, but the PS Vita TV will also be able to connect to the PlayStation 4 over your home network and remote play PS4 games. Users will be able to play PS4 games on a second TV using a PS4 controller and network-connected PS Vita TV.
The PS Vita TV will be available in Japan in November for 9,954 Yen ($100 USD). Alternatively, a bundle that includes the PS Vita TV, controller, and memory card can be purchased for 14,995 Yen ($150 USD).
If it works as advertised, the PS Vita TV looks to be an excellent companion product to the PS4 which will allow users to play their PS4 and PS Vita library and access streaming content in multiple rooms without needing to pony up for multiple PlayStation 4 consoles.
I hope that the PS Vita TV comes to the US as it should shake up the decision of Xbox One or PS4 in favor of the latter, as the $100 Vita TV will bring the two consoles to the same price, but with the PS4 having remote play and more powerful hardware. In short, I believe the PS Vita TV to be a much more desirable add-on over Microsoft's bundled Kinect.
Does the announcement of the PS Vita TV affect your pre-order decisions at all?
Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) will NOT utilize AMD hUMA with Kabini-based SoC
Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards, Processors | August 22, 2013 - 01:39 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: sony, ps4, playstation 4, Kabini, hUMA, amd
UPDATE: I have added new info at the bottom of this post with more commentary from AMD (kind of).
You might have seen some reports in the last couple of days claiming that the upcoming Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) will have a big advantage over the Xbox One thanks to its unique ability to support AMD's hUMA memory architecture. hUMA, heterogeneous unified memory architecture, is an exciting new memory technology that AMD has built into upcoming APUs.
Josh published a story on hUMA that sums it as so:
The idea behind hUMA is quite simple; the CPU and GPU share memory resources, they are able to use pointers to access data that has been processed by either one or the other, and the GPU can take page faults and not rely only on page locked memory. Memory in this case is bi-directionally coherent, so coherency issues with data in caches which are later written to main memory will not cause excessive waits for either the CPU or GPU to utilize data that has been changed in cache, but not yet written to main memory.
There's just one problem with these various reports (VR-Zone, ExtremeTech): they're incorrect. After sending some emails to our representatives at AMD I was told that "Kabini doesn't support hUMA" which is the APU that both the PS4 and Xbox One processors are based on. AMD further clarified with us:
Our spokesperson made inaccurate statements about our semi-custom APU architectures and does not speak for Microsoft, Sony or the AMD semi-custom business unit responsible for co-developing the next generation console APUs.
So while the PS4 will still be a faster system thanks to its higher SIMD processor (GPU core) count, there is no support for a true heterogeneous unified memory architecture in either upcoming console platform.
NOTE: I have had several people point out that it's possible Sony and Microsoft worked on their own custom memory architectures that will perform similar functionally to hUMA. That is entirely possible but means that official hUMA support isn't on the SoCs.
UPDATE: AMD contacted me again to make another comment. Essentially, they said that the correction statement to the original statement claiming hUMA was part PS4 was "inaccurrate" but that this correction does NOT mean the opposite claim is true. Even when pressed for a more specific and debate-ending comment, AMD wouldn't give us any more information.
So does the PS4 have support for some type of heterogeneous unified memory? Maybe. And the Xbox One? Maybe. At this point, I'd stop listening to anything AMD has to say on the subject as they are likely to recant it shortly thereafter. Many readers have emailed me with their thoughts and I personally feel that its more likely the original statement from AMD (that the PS4 will have the edge with a hUMA design) will turn out to be the truth in the long run...
Sony Xperia Z Ultra 6.4" Smartphone Coming Later This Year
Subject: General Tech | June 26, 2013 - 11:52 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: xperia z, xperia, triluminos, sony, Android
Sony has a new smartphone on the way called the Xperia Z Ultra. This 6.4" tablet-sized smartphone uses high end hardware and will be available in Q3 2013.
The Xperia Z Ultra measures 17.9 cm x 9.2 cm x 0.65 cm and weighs in at 212 grams (approximately 0.47 lbs). The front of the device is dominated by a large 6.4" Triluminos display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080p (342 PPI). Users will be able to use touch or a capacitive stylus to interact with the screen. The back of the smartphone includes an 8MP camera (no flash). The chassis is IP55 and IP58 rated as being dust resistant and waterproof.
Hardware.info was able to get some hands-on time with the upcoming Sony phablet.
Internally, the Xperia Z Ultra features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC clocked at 2.2 GHz along with Adreno 330 graphics, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and support for microSD cards. Wireless radios include 4G, NFC, and 802.11ac Wi-Fi. A 3,000 mAh battery provides power to the smartphone, which Sony rates at 14 hours of usage per full charge. It will run Google's Android operating system.
Hardware.info managed to get some hands on time with the Xperia Z Ultra, and it looks like a promising device. The crew stated that the display had some of the best viewing angles they have seen on Sony devices, for example. According to the site, Sony will be releasing the Xperia Z Ultra in the third quarter of this year for 719 Euros, which works out to about $940 USD. However, keep in mind that if/when the smartphone does come to the US, it will likely be subsidized to a much lower price point.
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Perched on a rocky precipice atop the Kehlstein Mountain in Berchtesgarden, the Kehlsteinhaus is surely one of the world's most spectacularly situated residences, looming 6,017 foot over the surrounding Bavarian Alps. Evocatively nicknamed the 'Eagle's Nest' for its cliff top perch, the lofty retreat is equally famous for its remarkable engineering as it is for its notorious former owner – none other than Adolf Hitler – and visiting the Eagles Nest in Berchtesgarden makes a popular day trip from Munich or Salzburg.
Category: Things To Do
7 of the Best Road Trips in Bavaria
March 5, 2014
From hair-raisingly steep mountain passes dusted with snow to winding country lanes flanked by medieval villages and hilltop fortresses, Germany's southernmost state offers a blissful backdrop for a driving tour. Whether you want to escape to the Alps or pick up some speed on the motorway (Germany notoriously has no speed limits on its autobahns), now's the time to hire a car, pack up a picnic and hit the road. Here are 7 of the best road trips in Bavaria to give you some inspiration.
40 Unforgettable Experiences to Have in Munich
February 5, 2014
Think of Germany's southernmost state and images of beer-swilling, lederhosen-wearing revelers probably come to mind, but there's much more to the Bavarian capital than its stereotypes suggest. From Segway city tours to urban surfing, here are 40 unforgettable experiences to have in Munich and don't worry, we've included plenty of options for beer lovers too!
Passau, a City on Three Rivers
January 8, 2014
All-too-often overlooked by travelers heading south to the Alps or north to the Bavarian Forest, the historic town of Passau is one of Bavaria's most interesting off-the-beaten-track destinations. An easy trip from Munich or Salzburg, Passau's unique selling point is its inimitable location – flanked by the Austrian and Czech borders and set on the meeting point of three rivers – the Ilz from the north, the Danube from the west, and the Inn from the south.
Visiting Bavaria in Winter
December 11, 2013
With its fairytale castles dusted with snow and medieval villages lit up with Christmas lights, Bavaria is an enchanting place to pass the winter months. You can't visit Germany in wintertime without stocking up on festive goods at one of Bavaria's traditional Christmas markets and there are plenty to choose from. Munich is host to over 20 Christmas markets and some spectacular lights displays, including the Christmas Village at the Royal Palace, the Tollwood Winter Festival and the historic Christkindl Markt in Marienplatz. Alternatively, the huge Nuremberg Christmas market is one of Germany's oldest and biggest, with festive huts dotted throughout the Old Town; Rothenburg ob der Tauber hosts a medieval-themed market; and the Bamberg Christmas market is renowned for its local crafts.
German Christmas Markets in Munich and Bavaria
November 10, 2013
With millions of colored fairy lights brightening up the cities and the snowy peaks of the Bavarian Alps in the background, Christmas is an enchanting time to visit Bavaria and the southernmost state wastes no time in getting in the festive mood. With so many seasonal events and atmospheric Christmas markets taking place around the state, Bavaria's Christmas spirit is infectious, so warm your hands on a cup of Glühwein (hot mulled wine) and brush up on your carol singing, before setting out on the ultimate Christmas shopping trip.


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Legal Ethics
$50K in car service rides leads to suspension for former Sidley partner
Posted Oct 30, 2013 7:32 AM CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A former partner at Sidley Austin has been suspended for a year for improperly charging clients for $50,000 in car services rides taken by himself and his family.
Ralph Lerner was accused of improperly billing clients for 448 car rides over a 10-year period, according to the Oct. 29 opinion by New York state's Appellate Division. He is a well-known art lawyer in New York who was listed as of counsel at his current firm, Withers Bergman, the Am Law Daily reports.
Lerner joined Withers Bergman after Sidley confronted him about the car rides in 2008 and he resigned. Sidley reimbursed the clients and charged the cost of the rides to Lerner's capital account, the opinion says. Lerner reported himself to the ethics committee.
A hearing panel had recommended a six-month suspension, but the appeals court said the longer one-year suspension was warranted.
Lerner has also been in the news for his dealings with a foundation board. A Delaware lawsuit accuses him of charging inflated legal fees to the foundation of the late artist Cy Twombly, the Am Law Daily says. According to a New York Times story on the suit, Lerner, who is also a foundation director, was accused of charging unauthorized legal fees and hiding the bills from board members.
Lerner's lawyer says the allegations are "completely unfounded" and he is seeking to dismiss the suit. Lerner's law office said in a statement to the Times that legal fees were disclosed in regular financial statements.
Hat tip to the Legal Profession Blog.
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