Business Process Management and Automation Books: The Ultimate Guide
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
- 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.
2. BPM CBOK Version 4.0
- 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
4. Fundamentals of Business Process Management
- 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
- 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,
6. Successful Business Process Management
- 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
7. Business Process Change
8. High Performance Through Business Process Management
9. Operations and Process Management
"...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
10. 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”
11. BPM Boots on the Ground
“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
13. Business Process Management
14. Guide to Six Sigma and Process Improvement for Practitioners and Students
- 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
15. The Basics of Process Mapping
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
- 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
2. Fieldbus and Networking in Process Automation
- 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 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
3. The Robotic Process Automation Handbook
- 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
- IT specialists and managers at mid-to-large companies
4. The Practitioner's Guide to RPA
5. Collaborative Process Automation Systems
6. The Future of Intelligent Automation
7. Overview of Industrial Process Automation
8. Business Process Reengineering
9. Robotic Process Automation
- The evolution of automation technology
- How RPA is transforming enterprises
- Overview of RPA Platforms
- Robot Security
- RPA Use Cases
10. Becoming Strategic with Robotic Process Automation
- 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
- 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?
- 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
- 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
13. Reinventing Jobs
14. Fundamentals of Business Process Management
15. Workflow Automation with Microsoft Power Automate
- 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
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.