We cover business process management (BPM) here at Business Intelligence Pipeline because, just like other types of BI, it involves analysis, measurement and reporting of business information. BPM is just a more specific form of BI, if you will -- it involves analyzing process-related data.

This week we bring you two great stories about BPM from our sister publication Network Computing. The first is an in-depth overview of BPM that explains how it's performed and the advantages it can bring your organization. If you're considering a BPM deployment at your company, read this story first.

As Doug Henschen and Lori MacVittie point out, process management -- seen purely from a business perspective -- is at least as old as the Industrial Revolution. It began with assembly line manufacturing, which broke the manufacturing process into discrete steps, each of which could be measured and streamlined when allotted just the right amount of resources.

The efficiency improvements that came about through earlier forms of process management dealt mainly with human labor. Modern BPM still improves the deployment of human resources, but computing power takes it much further. Companies are applying BPM to almost as many business processes as exist at all. This story will show you how.

Naturally, any technology-assisted business practice such as BPM also involves the tools themselves that make it possible. That's where our second story comes in. Network Computing ranked nine BPM suites, analyzing them top-to-bottom for all their strengths and weaknesses.

The story provides a detailed overview of tools from Bluespring Software, Computer Associates, Fuego, Lombardi Software, Oracle, Pegasystems, Savvion, Tibco Software and Ultimus. Check out the story to see which scored highest -- and why.

What entrepreneurs like Henry Ford or Samuel Colt mastered in their times, modern BPM practitioners are still carrying out today -- only better. BPM is just one slice of BI, but it's a critical one with roots that stretch back into the centuries.