Business information

Business Wire and iStockphoto Partner to Encourage Newsmakers to Make Smart News Releases Even Smarter Through the Use of Imagery

2011-12-17T09:22:00.000-08:00

NEWYORK--(BUSINESSWIRE)--Business Wire, the global leader in pressrelease distribution, today announced a promotion with iStockphoto thatwill encourage newsmakers to maximize the impact of their announcements throughimagery. The promotion provides Business Wire customers with a 20% discount ontheir first purchase of 50 or more iStock credits, which can be redeemed forimages that will ensure news releases receive the attention they deserve.

verthe past decade, the news release has evolved from a text document used byorganizations to convey news to members of the media into a powerfulcommunications tool geared toward a variety of audiences including media,investors, bloggers and customers

Today organizations can takeadvantage of Business Wire’s Smart News Release formatto include product photos, executive headshots, video, audio and other types ofcontent to make it easier than ever for an organization to tell their story andgenerate interest from a variety of audiences around the world. The Smart NewsRelease format also now provides search engine optimization benefits, and makesnews more sharable across a wider variety of channels, broadening its reach andappeal.

“On average, a release thatincludes even a single compelling image is five times more likely to be clickedonline to be viewed than one that only includes text,” said Laura Sturaitis, Executive Vice President ofMedia Services and Product Strategy for Business Wire. “As a stock industryleader with a massive collection of imagery and multimedia content, iStockphotoprovides one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to illustrate aconcept, punch up a story and make sure it gets seen.”

About iStockphoto

iStockphoto offers easy,affordable inspiration with millions of vetted, royalty-free photos,illustrations, video, audio and Flash^® files. Using the most advanced searchin the business, customers download a file every second from a collection ofmore than ten million files for business, marketing and personal projects. iStockphotostarted in 2000, pioneering the micropayment photography business model, andhas become one of the most successful and profitable user-generated contentsites in the world. iStockphoto pays out more than $1.9 million weekly inartist royalties. iStockphoto is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

About Business Wire

Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company,celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2011 as the global leader in press releasedistribution and regulatory disclosure. Public relations and investorrelations professionals rely on Business Wire for both broad-based and targetedmarket reach. A recognized disclosure service in the United States, Canada anda dozen European countries, Business Wire handles XBRL tagging, documentformatting and regulatory filing into EDGAR, SEDAR and other systems. BusinessWire provides online newsroom hosting and integration services as well assearch engine optimization, mobile distribution and detailed measurement onevery press release. Its patented NX delivery platform provides simultaneousfull-text posting of Business Wire content to news systems and websites invirtually any country or language. With 31 bureaus worldwide, Business Wireoffers local service and global reach.

Business Opportunity For Passionate Teacher For Sale

2011-12-17T09:20:00.000-08:00

Ideal full-time or part-time business

Home-based

Part of an exciting franchise network

Highly effective teaching materials and resourcesincluded

Established nearly 10 years

Perfect for a relief teacher, retired teacher or personwanting a flexible teaching position.

Fantastic business opportunity for a passionateeducator – this well-established, home-based tutoring business is available forsale. The business specialises in literacy and numeracy programs and providestutoring predominantly for primary and secondary school students who need orwish to improve. The business also provides specialist tuition in year 11 and12 subjects. This tutoring centre uses flexible methods with tutoring thatcomplements the student's school education. The business is part of awell-respected franchise and would be perfect for a teacher looking to take onan exciting business opportunity in addition to, or instead of, their currentteaching commitments.

This exciting business opportunity has huge growthpotential and is an ideal operation to run from home. The business is part of awell-regarded franchise that is recognised for its professionalism and theflexibility in teaching it offers its network of franchisees. The franchiseprovides strong support and excellent teaching materials and resources.Franchise fees are very reasonable, encouraging franchisees to really growtheir business. Whilst the current owners have chosen to run this business on apart-time basis, a new owner could choose to run the business full-time, likeothers in this franchise network.

Within its territory, many schools actively referstudents to this tutoring centre. With multiple opportunities for growth, thisis an exciting business opportunity for a passionate teacher looking to runtheir own business as part of a highly supportive network of like-mindedprofessionals.

Business Information Centers

2011-12-17T09:18:00.000-08:00

Business Information Centers (BICs) are where small business owners canreceive free assistance and advice. They provide you with the latest incomputer hardware and software for you to use onsite for free. They have anextensive reference library of books, publications and video tapes. BusinessInformation Centers can help you do start-up business planning or assist inexpanding your existing business.

BICs are partnered with the Service Corps ofRetired Executives (SCORE) to provide you with free business counseling.Retired business men/women volunteer their expertise and experience to assistyou with any issues that may be confronting your business. They can assist youin developing a customized business plan for your speficic business needs.

BICs also have relationships with the SmallBusiness Development Centers (SBDC) to offer your business counseling andtraining.

BICs are free of charge. If you are thinkingabout starting a business the BICs are an excellent place to do your research.If you have an existing business, BICs have many resources to assist in yourbusiness growth.

Business Information Centers are constantlyadding new resources to serve the needs in their local business community. TheBICs are a great place to stay informed about new programs offered by the SmallBusiness Administration (SBA) that may be applicable to your business.

Business Honors Program

2011-12-17T09:16:00.000-08:00

Distinguish yourself withhonors.

If you excel academically and seek an enriched andchallenging learning environment, our Business Honors Program might justprovide the opportunities you’ve been seeking. This highly selective programgives you the benefit of smaller class sizes, leadership development, closeinteraction with faculty, your own honors advisor, and networking opportunitieswith alumni and corporate guest presenters.

By completing the honors program requirements, you will receive recognition for yourachievements on your diploma. As part of these requirements, you will takeHonors Integrative Core (I-Core), unique in its more personalized and creativeapproach to preparing the group-based case at the end of the semester. You’llalso complete an internship or overseas study experience, as well as a seniorcapstone project.

Admissions

Apply online between February 1 and April 1 of your freshman year. The applicationcloses at 5:00 pm on April 1 and late applications are not accepted. Allsupporting application materials must be submitted to BU 234 before thedeadline. You will be notified of your acceptance during the summer. Theadmissions committee places weight on all of the criteria below in making itsfinal decisions.

To be considered for admission students need to:

· Have a minimum cumulative 3.7 GPA and at least 26 credits by May of yourfreshman year.

· Participate in one or more extracurricular leadership activities while afreshman at IU Bloomington.

· Include a resume with the application that makes clear the extent ofyour involvement in extracurricular activities.

· Complete a writing sample on a predetermined topic (part of the onlineapplication).

· Submit one evaluation of your leadership outside the classroom using thesame online recommendation form as above. This evaluation may come from a clubadvisor, organization leader, or campus employer. The recommender should besomeone with an IU username in order to access the online form.

Business Solutions / Marketing / Promotions For Sale

2011-12-17T09:10:00.000-08:00

This enterprising business has been powering on for 15years. The progressive owner has taken stock of the advances in businesstechnology and has moved the focus of the business to include a large range ofservices that business owners require to keep their businesses ticking alongnicely. The business offers marketing solutions, corporate videos, websiteproduction, e-publishing and social media services to a broad range ofbusinesses from the small to medium through to the larger corporateenterprises. The client base is well diversified which will offer you thestability for on-going profitability and income.

The business operates from new, professionally fittedout premises in the heart of Sydney's north shore. Everything that you willneed to continue to provide the clients with their business solutions is here.The set-up is terrific! The business takes advantage of the minimal competitionin the area, and has become the "must go to" place for clients.

If you have experience in the sales / marketing arena,you will easily fit in here. If not, no worries, the business is fullysystemised and of course you will be able to take advantage of the trainingprovided. You will be up to speed on the procedures in no time!

Presently the business has an annual turn over ofapproximately $750,000 and an owner's return of over $120,000 pa. The presentowner has other business interests and has not put all his energies intogrowing the business further. If you intend to be an owner / operator, thebusiness would reap the benefits of this.

Put money in the bank while you are taking advantageof the many opportunities for growth...you've got to love that!

Sources of Business Information

2011-12-17T09:08:00.000-08:00

Content providersget data from a variety of sources. These include primary research via surveysand phone interviews, company websites and annual reports. The quality ofinformation varies from source to source, based on source characteristics.

Regulatory filingsprovide a broad spectrum of data about public companies. The information isaccurate and current as of the last filing date. Because filing requirementsvary by country, the data can reflect a snapshot taken from 45 days in the pastto over a year ago.

News releasesprovide updates and signal changes in company status. Changes in personnel,partnerships or financial performance may or may not be announced publicly. Allcompanies will announce good news more often than bad, and private companiesoften remain silent.

Analyst reportsprovide subjective analysis and financial information from consulting andbrokerage firms. These expert opinions are proprietary and fee-based. They arevery up-to-date and one of the few information sources that do not originatefrom the company itself.

Business reports from analyst services evaluate information on subjectssuch as:

§ Companies

§ Industrytrends

§ Globalmarkets and sectors

§ Keyplayers

§ IT investments

§ Economic performance

Whileoften costly, the quantity of information is usually extensive, along with thenumber of sources producing it. They can lag somewhat because of the time ittakes to compile the report.

Blending Multiple Sources

The key to obtaining the bestquality content is to blend data from several sources. This is how a business information service,like OneSource, adds value. Ranked first in its industry, OneSource selectspremier content providers, collects all relevant information, and blends andnormalizes many data streams intoone consistent, easily consumable asset.

“Social technology” will not drive business value- “social business collaboration” will

2011-12-17T09:04:00.000-08:00

“Social technology” is a term that gives businessexecutives heartburn. Based on the increasing level of buzz, I’m bettingRolaids and Alka-Seltzer are enjoying banner sales years. But antacids are notthe answer for company leaders skittish about social in the workplace. Firstoff, basic sociological and demographic data clearly indicates they arefighting a battle they’re destined to lose. More importantly, by ignoringadvances in social collaboration, these executives are missing a majoropportunity to improve how their organization operates – from product andservice quality to customer satisfaction, organizational responsiveness,employee retention and more.

The first step towards removing the fearand realizing the value is to change the terminology. The end-goal is not tolet pure “social technology” run rampant within the organization; it is tounleash the latent intelligence held by a company’s knowledge workers through“social business collaboration.”This requires a different technology approach than is being espoused by themajority of software vendors hoping to jump on the social bandwagon.

I’ll examine a few of the reasons for enterprisereluctance to embrace social technology. Some are quite valid; some less-so.Then, I’ll describe how a social business technology approach obviates thoseconcerns and delivers real business value. First, though, I have to start witha reality check about the inevitability of this new technology wave.

“GetSocial or Get Left Behind”

Social collaboration technology has seepedso deeply into our personal lives that there is no turning back. Facebookattained more than 500 million users in late 2010, and people collectivelyspend more than 700 billion minutes per month on the site.

The generation now entering theworkforce expects the same sort of “always on, always connected” experience intheir professional lives, and that expectation will only increase over time.Social software, with its intuitive interfaces and functions, has alreadysupplanted email as the communication and collaboration method of choice forthe rising generation of corporate workers. According to a recent survey byglobal analysis firm IDC, 48% of respondents indicated they will use socialsoftware more than email in 2011.

Of course, it’s not just employeeexpectations that need to be considered. Analyst firm Gartner has statedthat by 2015, internet-supportedsocial processes will influence at least 80% of consumers' discretionary spending.This has led the firm to conclude that “Either business gets social or it gets left behind.”

Objectionsto Social in the Enterprise

Executive push-back around introducing socialtechnology to the workplace commonly falls into three camps: 1) it willdecrease productivity, 2) it requires a radical change to how we operate, and3) it’s all just hype. Let’s examine all three arguments:

1) Social technologyis just a time-waster

We no longer toil in Dickensian-style sweatshops(well, most of us, anyway), but let’s face it: employees are paid to work.There is no business rationale for investing in a new technology that willsimply provide a platform for employees to plan where to go to lunch, or todiscuss the movie they saw last night. Further, social feeds are oftencluttered, with a low ratio of signal-to-noise. Employees already suffer frominformation overload.

This is a perfectly valid argument. The last thing anorganization needs is more undirected “chatter” distracting employees fromtheir activities and the information they actually need to do their jobs moreeffectively.

2) Adapting to socialwill require a radical change

If you ask any business or IT executive abouteffecting change in their organization, you better be ready for a long tale offrustration. An entire industry of consultants, authors, academics and vendorshas accumulated around the issue of Change Management. As a species, we don’tparticularly like change, and we generally do our best to resist it.

While this is undeniable in a broad sense, it is afallacy in regards to social collaboration. The reason social technology hastaken off so rapidly in our personal lives is because it is truly an extensionand facilitation of how we as humans want to operate. We like to discuss, andshare ideas. We need others’ input to broaden our perspectives and to beeffective problem solvers. And we are naturally voyeuristic. We like to seewhat other people are thinking, doing and talking about. Social technology isactually one of the best examples in history of technology that enables us toNOT change our behavior, but rather to translate that behavior into a newrealm.

3) Social in theenterprise will not deliver on its promise

This is a valid point for discussion, aswe’re still in the early stages of adoption and the ROI data has not beencollected en masse. However, there is plenty of evidence suggestion strongvalue that as of yet is largely untapped. Social is a powerful vehicle forreaching and nurturing customers, as more than four in five U.S. online adultsnow participate socially.

In terms of social’s value within theenterprise, the analysts are unanimous in their support. Per Gartner, “Socialsoftware supports virtual environments where participants create, organize andshare information; find, connect and interact with each other; and analyze therelationships among participants. Social software can improve collaboration,spur creativity and facilitate decision making.”

Forrester Research makes the casestating, “Among the new modes of working, greater collaboration betweendesigners and other internal stakeholders — such as manufacturing, sales, andmarketing — has enabled innovation leaders to harness contributions andfeedback from more business perspectives, get the product right the first time,and generate repeatable returns on their new product development efforts.”

TheSolution – “Social Business Collaboration”

Social in the enterprise is inevitable. It holds thepotential for tremendous new value. It also presents some very real concerns.The solution is to focus on “social business collaboration” by utilizing theright purpose-built technology platform.

How do you do that? By grounding your enterprisesocial collaborations strictly within the context of business processes andbusiness events. Bringing social collaboration into corporate processes in acontrolled and actionable way is how you will yield new business opportunities.

An advanced Business Process Management (BPM) softwareplatformwith intuitive social collaboration capabilities puts social in therequired business context across the enterprise, through the supply chain, andout to customers. It gives employees of all levels a filtered, personalizedview of the business events that matter to them. It also delivers the abilityto take immediate business action directly from the social interface, whetherthat means a simple approval, a quick collaboration to resolve an issue, or thelaunching of a new case for further attention.

The platform must also easily integratewith external 3^rd-party enterprise systems, suchas Salesforce.com, and provide the ability to not only read data, but writedata back to the system of record. To be truly effective in harnessing externalinformation and ad hoc events outside of, but impacting, the enterprise, itmust also incorporate pure social systems such as Twitter or LinkedIn directlyinto an employee’s event view. These external social channels represent agrowing and untapped source of new insights into customer sentiment, salesopportunities, support issues and more.

An advanced BPM platform, such as the Appian BPMSuite, leverages the collective knowledge of an enterprise to gain efficiencyand improve the quality of processes through a familiar social interface thatspurs adoption and easy use. The hallmarks of such a platform include:

· Key Event Monitoringto track events from people and systems inreal-time, with auto-generated alerts on hazards that could impact the businessand take immediate action from the feed or mobile interface

· Personalized, Filtered Viewsthat can be subscribed to across relevantapplication or process areas

· Easy Collaborationfor comments, questions and collaborations on businessevents through real-time message posts and ad-hoc updates to targeted groupswithin and outside of pre-planned business processes

· The Ability to Take Action to complete tasks from directly inside theevent feed (or with a truly advanced platform, from a mobile device, usingoptimized mobile forms to capture data and route tasks)

· High Securitymaking all information and data accessible throughrole-based permissions and securely transmitted using SSL to web (and mobile)interfaces

Conclusion

Forrester Research advises, “To thrivein an era of Social Computing, companies must abandon top-down management andcommunication tactics, weave communities into their products and services, useemployees and partners as marketers, and become part of a living fabric ofbrand loyalists." This is what the transformation from “SocialTechnology” to “Social Business Collaboration” enables. It grounds social in theenterprise in a business context, increasing the manageability of socialinteractions, and achieving more meaningful, effective and valuablecollaborations across the organization and outside the four walls.

So, for corporate executives wary of what all thesocial buzz means for their business, my advice is to investigate an advancedBPM Suite platform. Your employees will thank you, your customers will thankyou, and you’ll have one less thing to give you indigestion.

How businesses can manage uncertainty and improve performance through adaptive case management

2011-12-17T08:34:00.000-08:00

As market forces continue to change, business leadersare searching for the best ways to deal with uncertainty and deliver improvedperformance. Most leaders are realizing that human capital represents one oftheir most important assets. In many cases, people are the organization’s bestcompetitive advantage, whether the focus is continuous product innovation,superior service, or faster response time. According to a Workflow ManagementCoalition study, knowledge work now accounts for 25% to 50% of all work, withthe percentage growing. Businesses are taking a hard look at strategies tobetter serve knowledge work requirements, reaching beyond traditionaltechnology and mindset to be more dynamic and collaborative.

In a March 2009 essay by McKinsey’s worldwidemanaging director Ian Davis entitled The New Normal, he wrote“The new normal will be shaped by a confluence of powerful forces—somearising directly from the financial crisis and some that were at work longbefore it began. Through it all, technological innovation will continue, andthe value of increasing human knowledge will remain undiminished.”

Many believe we are experiencing not merely another turn of the businesscycle, but a restructuring of the economic order. The question is, “What willnormal look like?” McKinseysuggests that while no one can say how long thefinancial turbulence will last, what we find on the other side will not looklike the normal of recent years.

Business Challenges in the New Normal

As a result, adapting and improving mission critical processes hasbecome increasingly important to survive and thrive in the new normal. Casemanagement will prove essential to those efforts.

In their research report “DynamicCase Management – An Old Idea Catches New Fire”, Forrester Research, Inc.describes major business drivers behind casemanagement:

Increased need to manage the costs and risks of servicing customer requests — like loans, claims, and benefits
Greater emphasis on automating and tracking inconsistent “incidents” that do not follow a well-defined process
New pressure on government agencies to respond to a higher number of citizen requests
New demands that regulators, auditors, and litigants place on businesses to respond to external regulations
Increased use of collaboration and social media to support unstructured business processes

All of these drivers reveal the increasing need for organizations toadapt to the unpredictable nature of business as it happens.

For bankingand insurance, increasing compliancedemands from federal, state and other regulatory bodies require more agileprocesses that can evolve and adapt on a continuous basis. Process improvementsare needed that leverage the capabilities of existing personnel andapplications, gathering and presenting information from disparate data sourcesfor optimum decision-making to retain profitable customers and attract newcustomers through a myriad of distribution channels.

For the publicsector, there are increasing demands to improve servicedelivery under tightening budget constraints. This is particularly difficultwhere the service requires the ability to adjust guidance in context based onevents that occur as the service experience progresses, particularly in thejustice or social services arena.

The commercial sectoris seeing manufacturersand retailers deal with demands to cut costs without disrupting their supply chain.Retaining key suppliers, delivering new products, and continuing to providehigh quality customer service all require more dynamic and responsive processesalong the value chain. This requires better ways to deal with exceptionprocessing in pursuit of the “perfect order” when orders fail to follow – asthey so often do – the “happy path.” Market drivers are pushingcustomer-to-cash priorities in the financial supply chain and demanding processimprovements that can maximize cash flow while holding risks to acceptablelevels.

Adaptive Case Management Helps Businesses Win inthe New Normal

The essential distinguishing characteristic of adaptive case managementis the “unstructured” progression of a case from initiation to its final state.In case management, human judgment, external events, and business rules don’tdetermine paths through a predefined diagram. Instead those factors determineat runtimewhich activities need to be performed and whether additional steps arerequired.

Moreover, a case is rarely a single process in the conventional BPMsense. It is a collection of processes and isolated tasks, the number and identity of which cannotbe fixed by a predefined template or rules.

Conventional BPM can manage the various individual processes involved ina case, but it has difficulty managing progress of the case as a whole. In casemanagement, the case folder provides overall coordination of the entire case,partially defined in advance, but with the flexibility to change in real-timeas each case proceeds.

Casemanagement solutions enable a shift from the predefined, model-driven approach of traditionalbusiness process management to providing user-focused capabilities that allowpeople to adapt to business in real time. With case management, executivesleverage their workforce to achieve 25-30% productivity gains in their businessunits and across their value chains.

In what is at best an uncertain world, case management presents a betterway to accomplish work, dealing with unpredictable, complex problem areas thatcan provide critical competitive differentiation. The result- case managementsolutions are delivering on boardroom priorities: improving current yearmeasures and driving transformative change.

Business information

2011-12-17T08:21:00.000-08:00

A complete investigative reportintegrating the most important official data about the company underexamination, with unofficial confidential data, through high-precisionintelligence activities. Every business report includes the comment of ananalyst, highlighting the most important information gathered about the companyunder investigation, the reliability level of the company and the maximum limitof credit recommended.
As regards companies limited by shares, the main data taken from the lastofficial filed balance are reported as well as some of the most importantfinancial ratios.
The sections included in the Business Report on Italian Companies are:

Credit Limit: it underlines the maximum limit of credit suggesteddefined according to the potentiality of the company to be considered
Synthesis of risk: indicators which evaluate “at a glance” the‘riskiness’ of the company (Failure score, Sector Risk Indicator, presence ofProtested bills and Prejudicial events)
Financial data (only forcompanies limited by shares): main balance sheet items and ratios compared withthe average of the product reference sector

Analyst ‘s comment: explanation and comment on themain information gathered regarding the company
Company identification: taken from the Italian Chambers of Commerce(company name, company type, company address and any branches, fiscal code,date of foundation, registration at the Chambers of Commerce, business status,etc)
Executives: names of the company people in charge (managers, members,etc) completed with their personal data and positions held in the company
Company shareholders: detailed list of members and the percentage ofshare capital held by each
Economic activity: description of the company object and activitiesundertaken
Employees: number of individuals employed by the company

Company Premises/Structure: description of the premisescomprising the company registered office and any branch offices (type ofpremises, dimension, location, trade sign), telephone and effective number ofemployees
Trade structure: field of operation and activities carried out by thecompany, names of possible customers and/or suppliers (if available), otherinformal information gathered during checks
News on the company members and directors: it reports possible positionsheld by the company members and directors in other companies, plus any news involvingthem
Historical data: checks on all company events which are registered bythe Italian Chambers of Commerce

Real estate properties: official controls carried outnationwide by competent offices in order to identify real estate registeredunder the name of the investigated company and of its main company members anddirectors jointly and severally

Protested bills and prejudicialevents: search forprotested bills, insolvencies and prejudicial events (by Italian Court and RealEstate Registers), imputable to both the company, the company members anddirectors, shareholding members and companies in which they hold leadingpositions
Press Cuttings: any financial news items found relating to the companyunder investigation (obtained from daily consultations of about 150 nationalnewspapers)
Relations with Banks: it specifies, where available, the banks withwhich the company has business relations

: Business Modeling and Integration Domain Task Force

2011-12-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

The Business Modeling &Integration Domain Task Force mission is to develop specifications ofintegrated models to support management of an enterprise. These specificationswill promote inter- and intra-enterprise integration and collaboration ofpeople, systems, processes, and information across the enterprise, includingbusiness partners and customers. Main areas of interest for the taskforce are

§ Business planning andmotivation modeling

§ Business ProcessManagement,

§ Business rules

§ Business modeling,

§ Business language and vocabulary In support of

§ Business governance

§ Business performancemonitoring and measurement

§ Business InformationManagement,

§ Business Integration,

§ Business to Businesscollaboration,

§ Business to Customercollaboration

§ Business serviceagreements

§ Business security policy and management.

To achieve itsmission, the task force will prepare requests for proposals, evaluate responsesand recommend proposals for adoption as OMG specifications. It willfacilitate and promote:

Use of MDA(Model Driven Architecture) in specifying specialized meta models, and platformindependent integration specifications; Collaboration withother OMG subgroups to identify opportunities for business models;Collaboration with the BPMI Steering Committee for industry insight andstrategic direction; Collaboration with other industry groups to identifyopportunities for Business models; Simplicity in specifying, using anddeploying business models for business owners, planners, managers, analysts andapplication developers; Interoperability between independently developedcomponents that support business modeling and integration. The task force isfocused on business semantics and recognizes that it needs to coordinate withother task forces and standards bodies focused on execution in informationsystems

StrategicDirection

Most of the work of BMI hasfocused on specification of metamodels (i.e., modeling languages). Theseinitiatives have been driven by identification of market demand or opportunityfor consistent representation of some aspect of the management or operation ofa business. The following specifications have been adopted:

§ Business MotivationModel (BMM)

§ Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Rules (SBVR)

§ Business Model and Notation (BPMN)

§ Business Process Definition Metamodel (BPDM)

§ Production RulesRepresentation (PRR)

§ Business Process Maturity Model (BPMM)

§ Workflow ManagementFacility