The Impact of Process Visibility on Process Performance

Abstract

Successful monitoring is essential for managing security-critical or business-critical processes. The paper seeks to understand and empirically evaluate benefits of the BPM use case “monitor” in the context of Operations Control Centers (OCCs). OCCs create visibility about critical events and statuses in very sensitive processes. In IT Service Management (ITSM) they support the event management process with real-time monitoring and event analysis of critical systems in complex system landscapes. This special focus of OCCs on visibility is a promising context to study fundamentals of process visibility. The paper develops a Process Monitoring Benefits Framework that draws on the Situation Awareness Theory and the Theory of Constraints. The authors conceptualize process visibility and suggest that it is positively related to process performance. A multiple case study in seven organizations is carried out to examine the framework and its propositions. The case study indicates that the impact of process visibility on process performance is mediated by the situation awareness of the process participants as well as the identification of bottlenecks in processes. Moreover, factors are identified that potentially influence process visibility outcome – namely continuous improvement culture, outsourcing quality, and maturity of the software tool used for monitoring.