Current Pitfalls Of Business Process Maturity Models: A Selection Perspective

Business process management is in high demand, but organisations are still struggling to realise it properly. Hence, maturity models have been developed to support the gradual adoption, use and organisational consequences of business process management, and this for both specific business processes and for the whole process portfolio of an organisation. The success of the so-called business process maturity models (BPMMs) is even so widespread, that their number continues to grow. Consequently, organisations risk selecting a BPMM that does not fit their needs or selecting a BPMM that might be of lower quality. Therefore, this paper aims at providing selection advice to make an informed choice about the best matching BPMM, before starting and investing in business process improvements. The most relevant selection criteria were derived and weighed in an international Delphi study. This paper also focuses on how existing BPMMs cover the identified criteria by means of a content analysis of a large sample of BPMMs for generic processes, supply chains and collaboration processes. The findings give strong evidence for the varying quality among BPMMs, and indicate current pitfalls from a selection perspective.