The OCEB™ (OMG Certified Expert in BPM) Business Intermediate Examination starts by completing coverage of the BMM, including influencers, assessments, and modeling scenarios; it adds modeling of organization structure; and continues with advanced BPMN modeling in many areas; BP Management knowledge and skill areas including KPI, BAM, BP analytics, Process Optimization, and Modeling ROI; industry frameworks for Process Quality, Metrics, Governance, and Regulatory Compliance. the Business Rules approach; and shared business-wide vocabulary.

Examination Number:  OMG-OCEB-B201
Status:  Beta testing is underway, and is scheduled to conclude on November 10, 2008.

This page starts with the Coverage Map for the OCEB Business Intermediate Examination - a list of the topics and subtopics covered, and the percentage of the exam that each occupies. Following the Coverage Map is the list of references, along with suggestions for study.

OCEB Study Guides and Training Courses are here now! Check this page for Courses, Study Guides, and books written by the same group of experts who are writing the exams!

OCEB BUSINESS INTERMEDIATE EXAMINATION - COVERAGE MAP

1. Intermediate Business Motivational Modeling - 10%

Modeling business, moving up from Fundamental level: Ends, Means, Influencers, Assessments; interpreting (brief) scenarios.

2. Organization Structure - 5%

Modeling organization elements and structure.

3. Business Process Modeling with BPMN - 34%

Advanced BP modeling with BPMN: Advanced event types, Links & GoTos, Transactions & Compensation, Complex Activity Inputs and Outputs, Ad Hoc processes, Exception Handling, Iteration/Repetition/Looping, Grouping activities into SubProcesses, Orchestration and Choreography, BP Control Patterns.

4. Business Process Management Knowledge and Skills - 20%

Measurement and Optimization: KPIs, Business Activity Monitoring, Scorecarding, Benchmarking, Process Simulation and Analysis, Model Value Analysis (When to model, and when not to), BPMS Tool fundamentals, BPM Center of Excellence basics.

5. Process Quality and Governance Frameworks - 17%

Process Quality and Governance Frameworks: Questions at the Intermediate exam go one level deeper into the scope, goals, and structure of these major frameworks: SOX, Basel II, CobiT, and ITIL; Frameworks for Process Improvement: Change Management principles; BPMM, 6 Sigma, LEAN.

6. Business Rules Approach - 14%

Creating Process-Specific Business Rules; Advantages of a shared business-wide vocabulary.

OCEB BUSINESS INTERMEDIATE EXAMINATION - REFERENCES

This is a list of suggested references – neither required, nor complete. We certainly don’t expect anyone to accumulate this exact library of references to study for the exam, and we know that a large percentage of BPM practitioners will study from other sources, know the material well, and quite deservedly pass our exams. About completeness: We realize there are a few topics listed in the Coverage Map above that are not represented by explicit book or page references in this References section, but we know that the capable Intermediate Level BPM practitioner can find them, either in one of the references on a different page, or in a source of its own.

About Wikipedia: In general, we have found Wikipedia articles to be good sources of basic knowledge about topics covered by the OCEB examinations, but we have not listed any Wikipedia articles as sources here. Why? Because we didn’t feel right about referencing an article that can change from minute to minute – making it possible for an article that reads perfectly well when one person studies, to be incorrect (or, at least, inconsistent with an OCEB examination question) when another person studies from it later that day, or the next. We expect that many candidates will find Wikipedia a useful starting point for their study, although we expect those at Intermediate and Advanced level will need to go beyond Wikipedia for material on many topics.

References - Books:

Which books should I buy? The BPM experts who mapped the coverage and wrote the questions for the OCEB examinations found that no single book covered the range of material that a well-rounded BPM practitioner needs to know. In our lists for the different examinations, you'll find the books that we used to write the questions, but we don't think it's necessary to study this exact set in order to do well on the exam. In the entry for each book, we've listed the topics we covered from it; if you have another book that covers the same topics, we suggest you use it instead of investing in another that nearly duplicates it. On the other hand, if you don't have a book on one of these topics, we think that one or the other from this list on a topic would benefit any BPM practitioner's library. And, by listing sections, we don’t mean to discourage you from browsing more widely through these books – Reading about topics beyond those listed here will help you, not only in your career, but likely also when you take our OCEB examinations.

• Paul Harmon, Business Process Change, Second Edition, Morgan Kaufman, 2007. Chapter 3, Understanding the Enterprise, or an alternative source on systems-view vs. process-view of an enterprise. The paper “Systems Thinking” by Peter Fingar, in the OCEB Fundamental reference list, also covers this topic but at a basic level.
• John Jeston and Johan Nelis, Business Process Management Practical Guidelines to Successful Implementations, Second Edition, Elsevier, 2008. Chapter 18; plus these parts of Chapter 28: Introduction, plus the basic concepts of each level.
• David Bridgeland and Ron Zahavi, Business Modeling: A Practical Guide to Realizing Business Value, MK/OMG Press, 2008. Not yet published; we have posted the referenced chapter on Model Value Analysis for free download here.
• James F. Chang, Business Process Management Systems, Auerbach, 2006. ISBN-10: 084932310X. Chapter 3 (Overview of Business Process Management Systems).
• Tom Debevoise, Business Process Management with a Business Rules Approach, ISBN 978-1-4196-7368-9, 2007. Chapter 3, Business Rules in Business Processes, or an alternative reference on BRs in BPs.
• Jeffrey Hiatt and Timothy Creasey, Change Management: The People Side of Change, Prosci, 2003. Chapters 1-3.
• Ronald Ross, Principles of the Business Rule Approach, Pearson, 2003. Chapter 5, on Terms, Facts, Fact Models. (Alternatively, see the next reference, also by Ross.) Chapters 6 and 10, or another reference on types (categories) of business rules.
• Ronald Ross, Business Rule Concepts: Getting to the Point of Knowledge, 2nd edition, BRF, 2005. Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 6. (Alternative to the previous book.)

Books about GRC and other industry frameworks are listed in their own section, below.

References - Papers (All downloadable free):

• OCEB Definition of Business Process
• John Hall, Overview of OMG Business Motivation Model: Core Concepts. If you're new to the BMM, this paper by one of its principal authors will get you started, but you'll still need to study all of the sections assigned in the specification reference (below). 
• Mike Rosen, Orchestration or Choreography?, BPTrends
• Jay April et al, Enhancing Business Process Management With Simulation Optimization, BPTrends, or another reference on process simulation and optimization.
• Ed Walters, What are CSFs and KPIs? Viewable here. (NOTE: viewable but not downloadable free) or another tutorial reference on Critical Success Factors and Key Performance Indicators.
• Rich Seeley, Forrester Details “Secret Sauce” for BPM Success, discusses the positive impact of establishing a BPM Center of Excellence (CoE).
• Russell et al including van der Aalst, Workflow Control Patterns: a Revised View. If you need more help understanding patterns and what they’re good for, check this out, or review Patterns in a tutorial or more general BPM book. The treatment of patterns in Chapter 10 of the BPMN specification covers the material we test in this examination, although not always in a heuristic manner.
• Philip Russom, Master Data Management: Consensus-Driven Data Definitions for Cross-Application Consistency, especially the final three sections on Best Practices and Recommendations. The examination covers best practices for Shared Business Vocabulary, a topic not covered well in BPM literature. Master Data Management, a subset of SBV, is in better shape so we’ve included this document in our list. A web search for “Master Data Management Best Practices” will yield additional resources.
• Derek Miers, “The Keys to BPM Project Success”
  
  

References: OMG Specifications (All Downloadable free):

• Business Motivation Model Specification, V 1.0 - (Free download) Chapters 1, 7, 8.
• Business Process Maturity Model Specification, V1.0  - (Free download). Section 2.2 (Conformance), Section 6.1 (Uses), Chapters 7-10.
  Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), V1.1  - (Free download), covering these chapters and sections:
  Chapter 8, All. Attributes (Section 8.6.1) are included only under Complex Activity Inputs and Outputs, which also encompasses Table B.9, and Sections B.11.10 InputSet and B.11.13 OutputSet. Chapter 9, Sections 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, excluding sections defining Attributes. Chapter 10, Sections 10.2, 10.3.
• Organization Structure Metamodel Specification Draft  - (NOTE: NOT an adopted specification at this time), V0.5. Chapter 2, plus Section 4.2. 
• Business Process Definition Metamodel specification, Beta 2 - Section 1.
  

References: Industry Frameworks:

Unlike the Fundamental examination which quizzed very broadly, the Business Intermediate examination focuses on only four GRC frameworks: SOX, Basel II, CobiT, and ITIL There are multiple good sources for all of them; we think our list includes some very good ones but, if you already have a reference, go ahead and use it. Several of these frameworks (Basel II, CobiT) are covered by definition or description documents which may be downloaded free directly from their sponsoring organization's website, although these source documents may not be a good place to start studying!

Governance, Risk, and Compliance Handbook: Anthony Tarantino, Governance, Risk, and Compliance Handbook, Wiley, 2008. This admittedly weighty tome collects information about virtually every GRC topic, and belongs on the bookshelf of every BPM practitioner at mid-level or higher. Chapter 1, especially through Section 1.5, provides a good overview and introduction, continued in the early sections of Chapter 2. Also see Chapter 22, Internal Controls Best Practices, through Section 22.4 Types of Automated Controls, and review CobiT (Chapter 13), and SOX (Chapter 67, and the list of SOX Sections on pp 910-915).

Basel II: The Basel II specification may be downloaded free at http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs128.htm. This examination covers scope, goals, and organization of Basel II, which you may obtain either from the specification itself, or from a good writeup.

ITIL: Rob Addy, Effective IT Service Management to ITIL and Beyond, Springer, 2007, or a basic reference on the scope and goals of ITIL.

SOX: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is covered in Tarantino’s Handbook, referenced above. If you don’t have access to the Handbook, you should study the scope and goals of SOX, and know the major and high-impact Sections with their scopes and goals.

CobiT: CobiT is covered in Chapter 13 of Tarantino’s Handbook, referenced above. CobiT 4.1 may be downloaded for free at www.isaca.org/cobit/ . 

Six Sigma: Craig Gygi et al, Six Sigma for Dummies, Wiley, 2005. ISBN-10: 0764567985, or another suitable reference or tutorial. Candidates should know the range of concepts included in Six Sigma, and their definitions.

Balanced Scorecard: Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton, The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action. Harvard Business School Press, 1996. ISBN-10: 0875846513, or an alternative reference on Balanced Scorecard, covering scope and goals, the four Perspectives, and the KPIs associated with them.

References: Orchestration, and Orchestration vs. Choreography

You’ll find definitions of Choreography in the ebXML Business Process Specification Schema in Section 3.4, and in the BPDM Specification (Beta 1 version) in Section 1 (with some detail added later in the document). We suggest that candidates review both definitions; this will prepare you both for the examination and for situations you will encounter in your practice. Several authors have written about Orchestration and Choreography, including Mike Rosen in the article cited above.

Training Courses and Study Guides

There's no required training associated with the OCEB examinations - you're welcome to study on your own, and take the test when you feel you're ready. However, for those candidates who prefer to take a dedicated course that prepares them for the exam, or study from a book structured with the exam in mind, some of the same experts who are writing the exams are also preparing study materials. We've listed them on this web page.