Process Management
Within the research area of business process management (BPM) it is the aim to provide a comprehensive procedure model, that integrates all sub fields of BPM (e.g. process modeling, analysis, implementation etc.). As a result, a guideline is to be designed that helps financial institutions to establish and continuously enhance their approach to managing their process-centric organization.
Process Architecture / Landscaping
A fundamental part of designing a process-centric organization is to model a business from a management perspective. Within this context, systematic approaches for the development of multi-level process maps, as a communication instrument for BPM, are developed for financial institutions.
Process Modeling
Process modeling is the basis for all areas of BPM. In the area of finance, innovative approaches to business process modeling are developed to make process documentation more efficient and create analyzable business process models.
Process Analysis
Business process models provide a variety of unique analysis possibilities that can be of potential value to businesses. Therefore, this research area deals with new approaches to the IT-supported analysis of business process and process models.
Process Controlling
In addition to process transparency, within the context of process documentation, process cost transparency is also a key to creating efficient business processes. Therefore, research area within the area of process controlling deals with the design of innovative approaches for the effective evaluation of processes from the viewpoint of cost management.
Process Optimization
The goal of many BPM projects is not only the mere documentation, but also the optimization of the existing process landscape. Therefore, this line of research deals with the design of new approaches to IT-assisted identification of weaknesses in processes and the generation and evaluation of alternative process flows to design optimal processes.
Process Benchmarking
In a highly competitive financial sector, benchmarking of business processes is of great importance to organizations as a means of deriving a competitive advantage. This area of research aims to develop new IT-supported approaches to compare processes from an intraorganizational (e.g. across branch offices of a bank) an interorganizational (bank vs. bank) perspective.
Business Process Intelligence
Besides the pure process analysis explorative methods of data analysis are of increasing interests to organizations that want to steer their processes in real-time. This research branch is thus devoted to the transferral and application of business intelligence techniques to BPM with the aims such as the prediction of process flows and their possible outcomes.
Business Process Compliance Management
Adjacent to the highly relevant topic of compliance management for banks, business process compliance management together with business rules management is an area of increasing potential for banks. Thus, this research stem seeks to develop new approaches to ensure compliance with business rules, laws, etc. on the basis of existing process models through IT-based compliance modeling and checking.
Process-oriented Operational Risk Management
Risk management has traditionally been a core area of finance. As a part of risk management, operational risk management builds the bridge to process management. The aim of this research field is not only to document operational risks in existing process landscapes along core business processes, but its aim is also to use process models as a base evaluating operational risks in the financial industry.