Business Process Management and Automation Books: The Ultimate Guide
Explore the best books on business process management (BPM) & automation (BPA), from fundamentals to advanced tools to streamline & improve operations
The best books on business process management (BPM) and automation (BPA) provide essential knowledge and practical tools to improve business operations. They cover the fundamentals of process management, automation strategies, and real-world examples to help businesses optimize workflows and enhance efficiency.
To get started with BPM and BPA, the right resources are key. Whether you're in operations, project management, or HR, understanding core principles is essential. The right books provide the tools to improve processes and avoid mistakes.
One recommended resource is the Ultimate Guide to BPM and BPA. This book focuses on both the theory and practice of managing and automating business processes. It’s perfect for those managing teams or anyone looking to streamline their work.
The guide also includes a workbook to help you apply what you’ve learned. It provides exercises on creating requirements documents (BRDs) and automating repeatable tasks, helping you improve workflows and reduce manual steps.
BPM and BPA are different but complementary tools. BPM is for overall process management, while BPA automates repetitive tasks. Understanding the difference can help you choose the right tool for your business's needs.
For those considering certifications, the book covers BPMN and other industry standards. These certifications are valuable for anyone advancing in process management and improving team operations.
Best Business Process Management Books
Discover the best books on business process management and improvement. Explore top BPM books for insights on effective process management and business optimization.
1. Business Process Management
Business Process Management: Practical Guidelines to Successful Implementations by John Jeston
Business Process Management, a huge bestseller, has helped thousands of leaders and BPM practitioners successfully implement BPM projects, enabling them to add measurable value to their organizations.
The book’s runaway success can be attributed partly to its overview of all major useful frameworks (such as LEAN and Six Sigma) without over-investment in one over another, and a unique emphasis on BPM’s interrelationship with organizational management, culture, and leadership.
It's a common-sense approach that teaches how BPM must be well-integrated across an entire business if it’s to be successful: augmented and aligned with other management disciplines.
This highly anticipated fourth edition brings Jeston’s practicable frameworks and solutions up to date with the latest developments in BPM, including robotics process automation, digital strategies, and the changes necessary as a result of the impact of the quad generations in the workforce.
This thoroughly revised and updated new edition includes:
- Enhanced BPM House, noting the importance of traceability from strategy to execution activities
- New and revised case studies
- An analysis of the risks and benefits of robotic automation and cognitive computing.
The book highlights that millennials will be 50% of the global workforce in 2020 and 67% by 2025―Jeston warns managers to ignore them at their peril. Business processes and the way work is performed must evolve!
This book will prove to be an indispensable guide to any senior business executive or chief financial officer while providing practical BPM examples to undergraduate and postgraduate students alike.
2. BPM CBOK Version 4.0
BPM CBOK Version 4.0: Guide to the Business Process Management Common Body of Knowledge by Tony Benedict
This Guide to the BPM Common Body of Knowledge is a fundamental reference for anyone who practices Business Process Management. The primary purpose of this guide is to provide BPM practitioners with the fundamental Knowledge Areas, skills, and competencies that are generally recognized and accepted as common, best practices.
The Guide to the BPM CBOK provides a general overview of each Knowledge Area and discusses the skills and competencies necessary to become proficient in the practice of BPM. It also provides links and references to other sources of information that are part of the broader BPM Common Body of Knowledge.
New topics covered:
- Strategic Alignment and Business Architecture
- Strategy to Execution using the BPM Life Cycle Framework
- Leadership, Organizational Design, Project and Change Management
- Evolution of iBPMS:
- Process Mining and Case Management
- Robotic Process Automation
- Big Data Analytics
- Blockchain
- Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning
- Internet of Things.
3. The Ultimate Guide to Business Process Management
The Ultimate Guide to Business Process Management: Everything You Need to Know and How to Apply It to Your Organization by Theodore Panagakos
In this step-by-step guide, former Management Consultant and change management expert Theodore Panagacos walks you through the entire discipline of Business Process Management.
Learn how to fast-track your organization's strategy to govern processes, create a process culture, and measure business performance. Best of all, this crystal-clear, convenient-sized book can be put to work in your organization immediately!
4. Fundamentals of Business Process Management
Fundamentals of Business Process Management by Marlon Dumas
- The book explains the whole Business Process Management (BPM) lifecycle, making it easy to understand each step from start to finish.
- It mixes ideas from business management, computer science, and engineering, providing a well-rounded view.
- The book has lots of examples and over 230 exercises, with many answers included, to help practice and learn.
- New and updated chapters cover important topics like process discovery and automation, with a fresh chapter on BPM as an enterprise skill.
- The book is written by experienced teachers, making it easy to follow and useful for both students and professionals in business and computer science, and its focus is on the fundamentals of business process management concepts and proven methods.
5. The Power of Business Process Improvement
The Power of Business Process Improvement: 10 Simple Steps to Increase Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Adaptability by Susan Page
Are you baffled by how your department can keep making the same mistakes? Do you feel you have been climbing an unending, uphill battle trying to focus your employees’ limited time on more valuable work? You’re not alone! In fact, these obstacles are so common in business that the solution to getting past them even has a name--business process improvement (BPI).
Thankfully, though, you don’t have to be a BPI expert to resolve these situations and find the results your business needs to find success again. Written by an experienced process analyst,
The Power of Business Process Improvement is the resource you need to find a simple, bottom-line approach to process improvement work. By implementing its proven 10-step method.
You will be able to:
- Eliminate duplication and bureaucracy
- Control costs
- Establish internal controls to reduce human error
- Test and rework the process before introducing it
- Implement the changes, whether you are new to BPI or a seasoned pro,
This user-friendly how-to guide--complete with software suggestions, quizzes, a comparison of industry improvement methods, and examples to help you apply the ideas--is your solution to turning your business into the well-oiled machine you know it can be.
6. Successful Business Process Management
Successful Business Process Management: What You Need to Know to Get Results by Paula Berman
Too few standard procedures within an organization and inefficiency will inevitably ensue. But too many, and creativity is stifled. This catch-22 is enough to make heads spin! How does one settle on the perfect mix that will streamline activities and create smooth workflows?
Successful Business Process Management has done all the homework for you and provides a succinct, accessible overview of the training and tools available for process improvement that fills that gap of being neither too rigid nor too blasé.
Step-by-step instructions explain how to:
- Overcome resistance and apathy to standard procedures
- Take a systematic rather than ad hoc approach to process management
- Design key processes and capture them in documented procedures
- Revise existing processes when feasible
- Roll out the changes so people know what to do
- Embed them in the organization for reliable outcomes. With the increasingly complex organizations of the twenty-first century
Companies must have standard, documented processes and procedures to achieve high levels of quality and productivity--yet they can’t afford to dampen the innovativeness that got them on the map in the first place. In Successful Business Process Management, learn how to get it just right.
7. Business Process Change
Business Process Change: A Business Process Management Guide for Managers and Process Professionals by Paul Harmon
Business Process Change: A Business Process Management Guide for Managers and Process Professionals, Fourth Edition, provides a balanced view of business process change.
Bestselling author and renowned expert in the field, Paul Harmon, offers concepts, methods, and cases for all aspects and phases of successful business process improvement.
Students and professionals will benefit from the comprehensive coverage and customizable, integrated approach to broad business process management that focuses on improving efficiency and productivity.
In this updated Edition, particular attention is paid to the impact of disruptive technology on business and the need for agile transformation.
8. High Performance Through Business Process Management
High Performance Through Business Process Management: Strategy Execution in a Digital World by Mathias Kirchmer
This management book presents value-driven business process management as a successful discipline to turn strategy into people- and technology-based execution, quickly and at minimal risk. It shows how to achieve high performance successfully in a digital business environment.
Static business models do not keep pace with the dynamic changes in our digital world. Organizations need a management approach that fits this environment and capitalizes on its opportunities while minimizing the related risks. They need to execute their business strategy fast and reliably.
In effect, they have to know how and when to modify or enhance their business processes, which processes are the best candidates for intervention, and how to move rapidly from strategy to execution.
This means organizations need to establish business process management as a real management discipline.
The importance of process innovation, digital technology, and people aspects, process governance, internationalization, emerging processes, and the unique situation in mid-market organizations are some of the key topics discussed in this book. It ends with a comprehensive case study and a discussion about what process engineers can learn from jazz musicians.
9. Operations and Process Management
Everyone manages processes ...Everyone is an operations manager
"...integrates services and manufacturing operations further than has been done before in any Operations Management textbook. This makes the book ideally suited for an MBA audience; who come from a multitude of organizational settings." --Par Ahlstrom, Professor of Operations Management, Chalmers University of Technology."This text places operations management clearly in context. I particularly like the emphasis on process management as a means of demonstrating the ubiquity of processes, even outside the traditional operations areas." --Dr. Alison Smart, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester."This comprehensive text shows how persuasive, relevant and exciting Operations Management is to business and everyday life." --Stephen Disney, Cardiff Business School Written by best-selling authors in their field
Operations and Process Management 2einspires a critical and applied mastery of the core principles and processes fundamental to managing business operations.
Approaching the subject from a truly managerial perspective, this brand new text provides clear and concise coverage, whilst the fully updated accompanying CD provides an opportunity to practice and further explore the concepts and techniques introduced.
10. Reimagining Management
Reimagining Management: Putting Process at the Center of Business Management by Roger Tregear
This book provides a straightforward, practical explanation of the theory, practice, and benefits of process-based management.
Reviewers from across the globe have praised this book. Reimagining Management:
“superb reference book that shows how to establish and implement BPM in any organization”“modern classic for the BPM space!’“Roger has unlocked the mystery of business process management”“Reimagining Management defines the missing link”
Organizations need to step back from day-to-day functional issues and reimagine themselves as value-creation and delivery flows. Management needs its own disruption; the first transformation required is of management itself.
A core principle of Reimagining Management is the primacy of process. This principle says that the only way any organization can create, accumulate, and deliver value to its customers, itself, and other stakeholders is through collaboration across the organization.
Reimagining Management introduces the concepts of the 7 Enablers of BPM and the Tregear Circles as part of a practical framework for the positive and controlled evolution of management practice; an approach to organizational management that focuses on the creation, accumulation, and delivery of value to customers and other stakeholders.
Using this book as a guide, it’s time to reimagine management.
11. BPM Boots on the Ground
BPM Boots on the Ground: How to Implement Strategic Business Process Management: Lessons Learned from one of the World's Largest Organizations by Jim Boots
In the decade after the publication of the seminal book, Business Process Management: The Third Wave, much has been written about BPM concepts and vision. Yet Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us, “Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what is the use of seeing?”
Finally, now comes the first real-world story that shares the lessons learned by doing the work of strategic BPM in one of the world’s largest organizations. Don’t just read this book; apply the hard-earned lessons in your organization.
“Jim Boots makes clear the things that people need to do differently to manage for sustainable excellence. And he does not gloss over the challenges related to behavioral change. Rather, backed up by examples and stories, he explains how to overcome resistance and engage people at all levels to make BPM ‘the way we do things here." --Julie M. Smith, Ph.D., Co-founder of CLG“This book provides the kind of deep and broad coverage of BPM that only an experienced practitioner like Jim could provide. The result is a source of deep learning for BPM professionals and a comprehensive overview of the topic for those who want to learn more about BPM.” --Prof. Brian Donnellan, Co-Director, Innovation Value Institute“They say the key to many challenges, like climbing Mount Everest or running the four-minute mile, lies in knowing for certain it can be done. Once someone has done it, then, suddenly many others are confident enough to do it too. Jim shows how an organization can wring productivity out of business operations with hard work and constant attention to detail. Reading about what Jim and his colleagues at Chevron have accomplished may very well empower you to do something similar at your organization.” --Paul Harmon, Executive Editor, BPTrends“The need for business process management is one constant in an era of continuous change. Jim Boots’ book is a lighthouse to help executives find their way to success.” --Prof. Martin Curley, Vice-President and Director, Intel Labs Europe, Intel Corporation
12. Business Process Management
Business Process Management: The Next Wave by Jim Sinur
Technology marches on, bringing new dangers—and new opportunities. As cloud computing, social, mobile, big data, predictive analytics, and the Internet of Things are baked into more and more business processes, they will rapidly reshape how business gets done today and tomorrow. Today, companies are struggling to come to grips with these forces that introduce unprecedented complexity.
Business Process Management (BPM) has delivered benefits over a long period and continues to do so. But as process scopes expand to meet the nexus of these forces, BPM needs to be enhanced and extended to harness the exploding complexity to gain a competitive advantage.
Using chaordic principles, the astute manager can embrace the chaos and order that make complexity “complex” to build a stronger business. The balancing act between chaos and order must be managed properly, or the organization will fall.
The idea of having all the intelligence centrally managed and delivered is outmoded and challenging, if not impossible. This book provides insights and strategies for transforming current centralized BPM approaches by exploiting decentralized, distributed intelligence in the form of intelligent agent technology.
Agent-oriented BPM (AO BPM) will allow BPM to take on all of what is expected of it, as organizations accelerate growth and connect better with their customers while providing greater agility and near real-time responses.
This book provides a starting point that will help you know what is coming and how to think about addressing it. It’s about your organization’s journey toward the future.
And as William Gibson wrote in The Economist, “The future is already here—it’s just not evenly distributed.” Sinur, Odell, and Fingar, seasoned business-technology thought leaders, are just the right mix to interweave these concepts. The time is ripe for AO BPM, and this book is a telling and timely way to introduce it.
We need to connect the dots between BPM, knowledge management, and analytics, especially in a world in which mobile and social technologies have transformed how people work and live. The authors argue that intelligent agent technology is now needed to manage the new complexities going forward.
I believe the authors are setting the stage for the next wave of BPM, a wave that you cannot afford to miss. Go forth and learn to surf it! Thomas H. Davenport Distinguished Professor of IT and Management, Babson College, Co-Founder and Research Director, International Institute for Analytics, Research Fellow, MIT Center for Digital Business, Senior Advisor to Deloitte Analytics.
13. Business Process Management
Business Process Management: Concepts, Languages, Architectures by Mathias Weske
Business process management is usually treated from two different perspectives: business administration and computer science. While business administration professionals tend to consider information technology as a subordinate aspect in business process management for experts to handle, in contrast, computer science professionals often consider business goals and organizational regulations as terms that do not deserve much thought but require the appropriate level of abstraction.
Matthias Weske argues that all communities involved need to have a common understanding of the different aspects of business process management. To this end, he details the complete business process lifecycle from the modeling phase to process enactment and improvement, taking into account all the different stakeholders involved.
After starting with a presentation of general foundations and abstraction models, he explains concepts like process orchestrations and choreographies, as well as process properties and data dependencies.
Finally, he presents both traditional and advanced business process management architectures, covering, for example, workflow management systems, service-oriented architectures, and data-driven approaches. In addition, he shows how standards like WfMC, SOAP, WSDL, and BPEL fit into the picture.
This textbook is ideally suited for classes on business process management, information systems architecture, and workflow management. This 3rd edition contains a new chapter on business decision modeling, covering the Decision Model and Notation (DMN) standard; the chapter on process choreographies has been streamlined, and numerous clarifications have been added throughout the book.
14. Guide to Six Sigma and Process Improvement for Practitioners and Students
Guide to Six Sigma and Process Improvement for Practitioners and Students, A: Foundations, DMAIC, Tools, Cases, and Certification by Howard Gitlow
Master modern Six Sigma implementation with the most complete, up-to-date guide for Green Belts, Black Belts, Champions, and students! Now fully updated with the latest lean and process control applications.
A Guide to Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement for Practitioners and Students, Second Edition gives you a complete executive framework for understanding quality and implementing Lean Six Sigma.
Whether you're a green belt, black belt, champion, or student, Howard Gitlow and Richard Melnick cover all you need to know. Step by step, they systematically walk you through the five-step DMAIC implementation process, with detailed examples and many real-world case studies.
You'll find practical coverage of Six Sigma statistics and management techniques, from dashboards and control charts to hypothesis testing and experiment design. Drawing on their extensive experience consulting on Six Sigma and leading major Lean and quality initiatives, Gitlow and Melnyck offer up-to-date coverage of:
What Six Sigma can do, and how to manage it effectively
- Six Sigma roles, responsibilities, and terminology
- Running Six Sigma programs with Dashboards and Control Charts
- Mastering each DMAIC phase: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control
- Understanding foundational Six Sigma statistics: probability, probability distributions, sampling distributions, and interval estimation
- Pursuing Six Sigma Champion or Green Belt Certification, and more
This guide will be an invaluable resource for everyone who is currently involved in Six Sigma implementation or plans to be. It's ideal for students in quality programs; "Green Belts" who project manage Six Sigma implementations, "Black Belts" who lead Six Sigma teams, "Champions" who promote and coordinate Six Sigma at the executive level, and anyone seeking Six Sigma certification.
15. The Basics of Process Mapping
The Basics of Process Mapping by Robert Damelio
The bestselling first edition of this influential resource has been incorporated into the curriculum at forward-thinking colleges and universities, a leading vocational technical institute, many in-house corporate continuous improvement approaches, and the United Nations headquarters.
Providing a complete and accessible introduction to process maps, The Basics of Process Mapping, Second Edition raises the bar on what constitutes the basics.
Thoroughly revised and updated to keep pace with recent developments, it explains how relationship maps, cross-functional process maps (swimlane diagrams), and flowcharts can be used as a set to provide different views of work.
New in the Second Edition: Four new chapters and 75 new graphics An introduction to the concepts of flow and waste and how both appear in knowledge work or business processes A set of measures for flow and waste A discussion of problematic features of knowledge work and business processes that act as barriers to flow Seven principles and 29 guidelines for improving the flow of knowledge work.
A detailed (actual) case study that shows how one organization applied the principles and guidelines to reduce lead time from an average of 28 days to 4 days Unlike "tool books" or "pocket guides" that focus on discrete tools in isolation, this text uses a single comprehensive service work example that integrates all three maps and illustrates the insights they provide when applied as a set.
It contains how-to procedures for creating each type of map and includes clear-cut guidance for determining when each type of map is most appropriate. The well-rounded understanding provided in these pages will allow readers to effectively apply all three types of maps to make work visible at the organization, process, and job/ performer levels.
Top Books on Business Process Automation
Discover the best books on business and robotic process automation to streamline operations and boost efficiency. Explore top automation books for valuable insights.
1. Robotic Process Automation Projects
Robotic Process Automation Projects: Build real-world RPA solutions using UiPath and Automation Anywhere by Nandan Mullakara
The best books on robotic process automation help businesses automate monotonous tasks that machines can perform.
This project-based guide will help you progress through easy to more advanced RPA projects. You'll learn the principles of RPA and how to architect solutions to meet business automation demands, along with exploring the most popular RPA tools - UiPath and Automation Anywhere.
In the first part, you'll learn how to use UiPath by building a simple helpdesk ticket system. You'll then automate CRM systems by integrating Excel data with UiPath. After this, the robotic process automation books will guide you through building an AI-based social media moderator using the Google Cloud Vision API.
In the second part, you'll learn about Automation Anywhere's latest Cloud RPA platform (A2019) by creating projects such as an automated ERP administration system, an AI bot for order and invoice processing, and an automated emergency notification system for employees.
Later, you'll get hands-on with advanced RPA tasks such as invoking APIs, before covering complex concepts such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning in automation to take your understanding of RPA to the next level.
By the end of the book, you'll have a solid foundation in RPA with experience in building real-world projects.
What you will learn
- Explore RPA principles, techniques, and tools using an example-driven approach
- Understand the basics of UiPath by building a helpdesk ticket generation system
- Automate read and write operations from Excel in a CRM system using UiPath
- Build an AI-based social media moderator platform using Google Cloud Vision API with UiPath
- Explore how to use Automation Anywhere by building a simple sales order processing system
- Build an automated employee emergency reporting system using Automation Anywhere
- Test your knowledge of building an automated workflow through fun exercises
- Who this book is for
This RPA book is for enterprise application developers, software developers, business analysts, or any professional who wants to implement RPA across various domains of the business.
The robotic process automation books assume some understanding of enterprise systems. Computer programming experience will also be beneficial.
2. Fieldbus and Networking in Process Automation
Fieldbus and Networking in Process Automation by Sunit Kumar Sen
Over the last two decades, Fieldbus has totally revolutionized the way communication takes place in the fields of process control, automation, and manufacturing industries. The recent introduction of real-time field buses has opened up their application in multi-axis motor control and other time-critical applications.
Fieldbus is designed to ensure easy interoperability, smarter network designs, increased data availability, and lessened stress on the design aspects of safety protocols.
This second edition of Fieldbus and Networking in Process Automation discusses the different facets of Fieldbus technology, including design, wiring, installation, and commissioning as well as safety aspects in hostile application areas.
The book:
- Explains basic communication principles and networking―a must for understanding field buses
- Considers the advantages and shortcomings of individual field buses
- Provides a broad spectrum of different field buses used in both process control and manufacturing industries in a precise and to-the-point manner
- Introduces Common Industrial Protocol (CIP), EtherNet/IP, EtherCAT, SERCOS III, Powerlink, and Profinet IRT, which are most sought after in the control and automation fields
- Discusses hard real-time communication in a succinct manner, so essential in today’s multi-axis motor control systems
- Updates and streamlines the extra details from the original book to make it more concise and reader-friendly
Sunit Kumar Sen, a member of IET, holds advanced degrees from St Xavier’s College and the University of Calcutta, both in Kolkata, India.
He was an ex-professor in the Instrumentation Engineering section of the Department of Applied Physics, University of Calcutta, and taught courses in digital electronics, communication, industrial instrumentation, microprocessors, electrical networks, and field buses.
He was the head of the Department of Applied Physics and the University Science Instrumentation Center from 2008 to 2010 at the University of Calcutta. Previously, he was an assistant manager of instrumentation (open) at the Bokaro Steel Plant, Jharkhand, India, under the Steel Authority of India (SAIL).
He has already written four books in the areas of instrumentation, microprocessors, and industrial automation technologies. He has been published in approximately 70 national and international journals and conferences.
3. The Robotic Process Automation Handbook
The Robotic Process Automation Handbook: A Guide to Implementing RPA Systems by Tom Taulli
While Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has been around for about 20 years, it has hit an inflection point because of the convergence of cloud computing, big data, and AI.
This book shows you how to leverage RPA effectively in your company to automate repetitive and rule-based processes, such as scheduling, inputting/transferring data, cutting and pasting, filling out forms, and searching.
Using practical aspects of implementing the technology (based on case studies and industry best practices), you’ll see how companies have been able to realize substantial ROI (Return On Investment) with their implementations, such as by lessening the need for hiring or outsourcing.
By understanding the core concepts of RPA, you’ll also see that the technology significantly increases compliance, leading to fewer issues with regulations, and minimizes costly errors.
RPA software revenues have recently soared by over 60 percent, which is the fastest ramp in the tech industry, and they are expected to exceed $1 billion by the end of 2019. It is generally seamless with legacy IT environments, making it easier for companies to pursue a strategy of digital transformation, and can even be a gateway to AI.
The Robotic Process Automation Handbook puts everything you need to know into one place to be a part of this wave.
What You'll Learn
- Develop the right strategy and plan
- Deal with resistance and fears from employees
- Take an in-depth look at the leading RPA systems, including where they are most effective, the risks, and the costs
- Evaluate an RPA system
Who This Book Is For
- IT specialists and managers at mid-to-large companies
4. The Practitioner's Guide to RPA
The Practitioner's Guide to RPA: A Practical Guide for Deploying Robotics Process Automation by Jonathan Sireci
Robotics Process Automation (RPA) is one of the most sought-after and yet misunderstood process automation tools on the market today. Often sold by vendors as an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool, the truth about what RPA actually is, how it works, and how to deploy it is perceived to be insider knowledge requiring the assistance of costly consulting engagements.
This concise book presents the reality of RPA from the perspective of a seasoned business practitioner. You will learn about what RPA is, why it is not AI, RPA's architecture, how to identify valuable RPA use cases, the vendor landscape, common billing models, how to select a vendor, how to build an RPA team, and ethical considerations for your workforce.
5. Collaborative Process Automation Systems
Collaborative Process Automation Systems by Martin Hollender
Providing a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art Collaborative Process Automation Systems (CPAS), this book discusses topics such as engineering, security, enterprise connectivity, advanced process control, plant asset management, and operator efficiency.
Collaborating with other industry experts, the author covers the system architecture and infrastructure required for CPAs, as well as important standards like OPC and the ISA-95 series of standards. This in-depth reference focuses on the differences between CPAs and traditional automation systems.
Implications of modern automation systems are outlined in theory and practice. This book is ideal for industrial engineers, as well as graduate students in control and automation.
6. The Future of Intelligent Automation
The Future of Intelligent Automation: The Future of Applying Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cognitive Automation, and Other Emerging Technologies to Robotic Process Automation by Elijah Falode
Since the 1800s, automation has been assisting humans in taking up roles in different industries like finance, travel, healthcare, education, and various sectors of life. This invention has developed into what we now see as intelligent automation because of its major capacity to learn and adapt to novel situations through a process called deep learning.
Today, intelligent automation is performing amazing roles and making life much easier for us. Intelligent automation is deployed for tasks such as customer care, fraud identification, teaching, and facial recognition. Because it's making a much impact in today's world, we're tempted to seek the future of automation.
The future of automation is tied to the certainty of robotic software, not just being automated but intelligent. The future will have humans engaged in major roles such as programming, creativity, and supervision because automation has become highly intelligent enough to finish up simple and complex tasks. Welcome to the Intelligent Automation Adventure!
7. Overview of Industrial Process Automation
Overview of Industrial Process Automation by K.L.S. Sharma
Man-made or industrial processes, localized or geographically distributed, need to be automated to ensure they produce quality, consistent, and cost-effective goods or services. Automation systems for these processes broadly consist of instrumentation, control, human interface, and communication subsystems.
This book introduces the basics of philosophy, technology, terminology, and practices of modern automation systems with simple illustrations and examples. This title provides an introduction to automation. It explains the concepts through simple illustrations and examples. It describes how to understand technical documents.
8. Business Process Reengineering
Business Process Reengineering: Automation Decision Points in Process Reengineering by Sanjay Mohapatra
Business process reengineering (BPR) focuses on redesigning the strategic and value-added processes that transcend organizational boundaries. It is a cross-functional approach that requires support from almost all the departments of the organization.
Business Process Reengineering: Automation Decision Points in Process Reengineering offers a new framework-based process reengineering and links it to the organization's life cycle, process life cycle, and process management.
This volume describes the fundamental concepts behind business process reengineering and examines them through case studies, and should appeal to researchers and academics interested in business process reengineering, operations strategy, and organizational restructuring and design.
9. Robotic Process Automation
Robotic Process Automation: Guide To Building Software Robots, Automate Repetitive Tasks & Become An RPA Consultant by Richard Murdoch
Robotics and cognitive technology are changing the world around you
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is an exciting field that is revolutionizing the way tasks are done. Algorithms are taking over the jobs done by individuals in various markets. RPA is perfect for eliminating redundant, repetitive tasks that are holding you back from working on things that really require your attention.
We are on the cusp of a revolution that is going to eliminate a lot of jobs. Rather than wait for your own job to get automated or redundant, we recommend joining the automation revolution and obtaining the skills that will enable further automation.
Rise of the Robots. This is the perfect book for you if you are looking to become an automation consultant – a field that is poised to grow dramatically in the next few years, with mass unemployment becoming an increasingly probable reality. Getting into automation by specializing in RPA is an option for people who are programmers as well as non-programmers due to their intuitive design & no-code developer environments.
This fascinating book features quick-start advice on how to get going with this powerful technology. We will be looking at deployment strategies, platform selection guidance, RPA project management, programming techniques, and automation scenarios across a variety of different applications like Windows, Microsoft Excel, Databases, SAP, etc.
Richard provides an overview of multiple, highly rated RPA platforms, including Blue Prism, UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Softomotive Winautomation, etc. He also looks at the future of automation and how cognitive technologies, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence are expected to dramatically enhance the speed and efficiency of business in the machine age. RPA is being successfully applied to e-commerce, back-office processes, banks, financial service companies, Business Process Outsourcing, etc.
Contents include:
- The evolution of automation technology
- How RPA is transforming enterprises
- Overview of RPA Platforms
- Robot Security
- RPA Use Cases
This is a must-read for entrepreneurs looking to cut costs at their startup, programmers who want to stay relevant in a fast-changing world of automation, students, or anyone looking to transform their careers, lives, and the world around them.
10. Becoming Strategic with Robotic Process Automation
Becoming Strategic with Robotic Process Automation by Leslie P. Willcocks, John Hindle, Mary C. Lacity
Robotic Process Automation will continue its exponential growth over the next five years. With more than 54 vendors, different kinds of tools, generic applicability, and a cognitive and AI platform, RPA has quickly become an opportunity that is too good to miss.
So, how do you leverage the massive potential business value? Based on four years of research into over 420 business deployments, this book identifies the distinctive leading practices of front-runners and a Total Value of Ownership (TVO) framework to drive out value across the RPA life cycle.
This book brings a new focus on RPA's strategic potential:
The innovations made possible and how to deliver through effective sourcing stakeholder-buy-in, governance, change management, and capability development practices. RPA as a platform, linking with cognitive and AI technologies as part of digital transformation, is highlighted.
The central messages - think and behave strategically, start right, institutionalize fast, and innovate continuously - are demonstrated, with multiple client experiences, trials, and lessons.
From dealing with old-world processes and IT challenges, RPA is now being applied towards building the new digital world and becoming strategic in its application.
- Based on extensive new research by world-renowned authors
- Comprehensive market overview
- A systematic set of action principles across the RPA life cycle
- Challenges, and where value is being left on the table
- A focus on metrics and Total Value of Ownership
- Multiple client case studies
- RPA as a foundation for cognitive and AI.
11. INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION
INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION: Learn how to harness Artificial Intelligence to boost business & make our world more human by Pascal Bornet, Ian Barkin, and Jochen Wirtz.
This is the first reference book on Intelligent Automation (IA). Also called Hyperautomation, it is one of the most recent trends in the field of artificial intelligence. IA is a cutting-edge combination of methods and technologies, involving people, organizations, machine learning, low-code platforms, robotic process automation (RPA), and more.
This book is for everyone – whether you are an experienced practitioner, new to the topic, or simply interested in what the future holds for enterprises, work, life, and society as a whole.
Key content of the book:
- What is Intelligent Automation (IA)? Why has the use of IA been expanding so rapidly? What are the benefits it unleashes for employees, companies, customers, and society?
- How have leading organizations been able to harness the full potential of IA, at scale, and generate massive efficiency gains in the range of 20 to 60%?
- How can IA save 10+ million lives per year, triple our global budget for education, eliminate hunger, help protect our planet, or increase the resilience of society to pandemics and crises?
What you will get from this book:
- Get the lessons learned from 100+ IA transformation successes (and failures)
- Benefit from the largest publicly available library of 500+ IA use cases by industry and by business function
- Gain access to insights garnered from 200+ IA industry experts
12. SAP: Workflow Business Process Automation
The book has been written in such a way that the concepts are explained in detail, giving adequate emphasis on examples. To clarify the programming examples, logic is explained properly as well as discussed using comments in the program itself.
The book covers the topics right from the start of the software, using snapshots of starting the software and writing programs into it. The real-time examples are discussed in detail from simple to complex, taking into consideration the requirements of IT consultants.
Various sample projects are included in the Book and are written in simple language to give IT consultants the basic idea of developing projects in SAP. The examples given in the book are user-focused and have been highly updated, including topics, figures, and examples.
The book features a more practical approach with more examples covering topics from simple to complete, addressing many of the core concepts and advanced topics.
What Will You Learn
- SAP NetWeaver Gateway
- Real-time case Studies and demos on workflow for all the major SAP applications
- Step-by-step instructions for adapting data flows, agent determination, event definitions, and more
- SAP Workflow upgrade from 4.6 to 6.0
Who This Book Is For
SAP Consultants, SAP technical, Business analysts, Architects, Team Leads, Project Leads, Project Managers, Account Managers, Account Executives, CEO, CTO, COO, CIO, Sr. VP, and Directors.
13. Reinventing Jobs
Reinventing Jobs: A 4-Step Approach for Applying Automation to Work by Ravin Jesuthasan, John W. Boudreau
Your organization has made the decision to adopt automation and artificial intelligence technologies. Now, you face difficult and stubborn questions about how to implement that decision: How, when, and where should we apply automation in our organization? Is it a stark choice between humans versus machines? How do we stay on top of these technological trends as work and automation continue to evolve?
Work and human capital experts Ravin Jesuthasan and John Boudreau present leaders with a new set of tools to answer these daunting questions. Transcending the endless debate about humans being replaced by machines, Jesuthasan and Boudreau show how smart leaders instead are optimizing human-automation combinations that are not only more efficient but also generate higher returns on improved performance.
Based on groundbreaking primary research, Reinventing Jobs provides an original, structured approach of four distinct steps--deconstruct, optimize, automate, and reconfigure--to help leaders reinvent how work gets bundled into jobs and create optimal human-machine combinations. Jesuthasan and Boudreau show leaders how to continuously reexamine what a job really is, and they provide the tools for identifying the pivotal performance value of tasks within jobs and how these tasks should be reconstructed into new, more optimal combinations.
With numerous examples and practical advice for applying the four-step process, Reinventing Jobs gives leaders a more precise, planful, and actionable way to decide how, when, and where to apply and optimize work automation.
14. Fundamentals of Business Process Management
Fundamentals of Business Process Management by Marlon Dumas, Marcello La Rosa, Jan Mendling, Hajo A. Reijers
This textbook covers the entire Business Process Management (BPM) lifecycle, from process identification to process monitoring, covering along the way process modeling, analysis, redesign, and automation. Concepts, methods, and tools from business management, computer science, and industrial engineering are blended into one comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach.
The presentation is illustrated using the BPMN industry standard defined by the Object Management Group and widely endorsed by practitioners and vendors worldwide.
In addition to explaining the relevant conceptual background, the book provides dozens of examples, more than 230 exercises – many with solutions – and numerous suggestions for further reading. This second edition includes extended and completely revised chapters on process identification, process discovery, qualitative process analysis, process redesign, process automation, and process monitoring.
A new chapter on BPM as an enterprise capability has been added, which expands the scope of the book to encompass topics such as the strategic alignment and governance of BPM initiatives.
The textbook is the result of many years of combined teaching experience of the authors, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as in the context of professional training.
Students and professionals from both business management and computer science will benefit from the step-by-step style of the textbook and its focus on fundamental concepts and proven methods. Lecturers will appreciate the class-tested format and the additional teaching material available on the accompanying website.
15. Workflow Automation with Microsoft Power Automate
Workflow Automation with Microsoft Power Automate: Achieve digital transformation through business automation with minimal coding by Aaron Guilmette
Microsoft Power Automate (formerly Flow) is a workflow automation tool built into Microsoft 365 to help businesses and users automate repetitive tasks or trigger business processes without user intervention.
If you are new to Microsoft Power Automate, this book will give you a comprehensive introduction to help you get up to speed with automating business processes in no time. Complete with hands-on tutorials, projects, and self-assessment questions, this easy-to-follow guide will show you how to configure automation workflows for business processes between hundreds of Microsoft and third-party applications.
Once you understand how to use connectors, triggers, and actions to automate business processes, you'll get to grips with managing user inputs, documents, approvals, and database storage using efficient flow controls. This Power Automate book explains key concepts and takes you through creating your own flows step by step.
By the end of the book, you'll have learned how to use Microsoft Power Automate to replace repetitive tasks with business workflow automation technology.
What you will learn
- Get to grips with the building blocks of Power Automate, its services, and core capabilities
- Explore connectors in Power Automate to automate email workflows
- Discover how to create a flow for copying files between two cloud services
- Understand the business process, connectors, and actions for creating approval flows
- Use flows to save responses submitted to a database through Microsoft Forms
- Find out how to integrate Power Automate with Microsoft Teams
Who this book is for
The book is for technologists, system administrators, and Power users with little or no Microsoft Power Automate experience. Familiarity with basic Microsoft 365 services is expected.
Conclusion
In conclusion, business process management and automation are essential for improving how organizations operate. The right books make these concepts easier to understand and apply. They offer both the knowledge and the tools you need.
From the basics to advanced practices, these books explain what BPM and BPA are and how they work. They also highlight the difference between them. This helps you pick the best solution for your business.
Practical resources, like workbooks and real-world examples, show you how to build better systems. They help you create BRDs, automate tasks, and avoid common errors. That saves time and improves quality.
If you're thinking about certification, learning BPMN and other frameworks can boost your career. These skills are in demand across industries. They're useful for operations, HR, and project management.
Many companies struggle with slow workflows, scattered systems, or high costs. BPM and BPA books provide clear answers and proven tools to fix those problems. They help you create smoother, faster processes.
Whether you're just starting or looking to scale, these resources support real improvement. With the right book, you'll better manage risk, track progress, and improve team performance.
