Recent literature published by some practitioners, consultants, and researchers in the area of Business Process Management (BPM) identified that BPM is a new and emerging field of research and practice. The objective of this paper is to identify the conceptual framework of BPM, identify if connections exist with prior process improvement concepts such as Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Process Improvement (BPI), and apply BPM in a case study to determine the effectiveness of the current methodology. An extensive literature review was conducted, identifying multiple similarities between BPM and prior process improvement concepts, suggesting an evolving nature of the concept. The BPM methodology was then applied in a controlled case study, identifying a major inefficiency in the methodology. The findings of this paper are useful to researchers, educators, students, and managers to understand the evolution of BPM, and determine how it can be applied.
