Business Process Automation for Costume Management in Film Making: An Insight into Processes, Roles, and Document Structures

Film making is in many aspects a very complex business represented by highly non-trivial business processes in which multiple organizational units are involved. Whereas in regular manufacturing and paper factories like insurance companies there is an increasing adoption of information technology (IT) and especially business process management (BPM) technology, there is little adoption of information technology solutions in managing the collaborative aspects of film making. In this article, we elaborate on the process dimension and, in particular, we focus on processes of costume management in film making. We describe the key roles related to costume management in the film business which are used as swim lanes in the BPMN rendering of the process models. A draft of the major document structures currently used in costume management in film making is presented. We discuss candidate artifacts and tasks which are most feasible for support through information technology. The process models presented here are based on experiences collected in several medium-sized German film making projects, and therefore reflect a culture-specific way of work which is not necessarily the same as in films made in Hollywood productions.