International Process and Performance Institute

On one hand, it’s hard to believe it was just a year ago IPAPI launched the community of practice for process professionals.  On the other hand, it has been a long and challenging year as we have struggled to execute on the vision.  What is the vision exactly?  It is to create a cohesive and credible global professional community and common body of knowledge for business process and performance professionals in order to elevate the level of professionalism in our industry, while more effectively facilitating the success of the organizations we serve.  It doesn’t sound like it should be that hard.  When we started, we were pretty sure we knew what we were doing.  We have had some big wins this year, such as the roll-out of the IPAPI Education and Certification Framework, the corresponding Certified Process Manager (CPM), Certified Process Director (CPD) and Certified Process Expert (CPE) programs.  We know because your response to these programs has been tremendous.  But as many of you know, we have made a mountain of mistakes and struggled to deliver on many of our other objectives and initiatives.  We have appreciated your patience and support as we’ve worked to fix the issues and find our way. 

One large area we know we missed the mark is the website.  We have been working for the last six months to determine what it should be in order to accomplish the vision.  We’ve asked for feedback from the community and we heard what you said.  On October 1^st, our one year anniversary, we hope to launch our new website which we feel will facilitate the achievement of the vision. 

However, we still need your help.  We have accumulated some great methods, knowledge, content, and tools, but these are just a foundation.  We have so much yet to gather to form a comprehensive body of knowledge.  The professionals in the community at large hold that knowledge, but we need to aggregate it into a formalized body of knowledge for the common good of our profession and to elevate our profession.  We need you to collaborate with your peers and contribute this knowledge to and integrate it into a common body of knowledge.  Please help us achieve this vision!  Please get ready to roll up your sleeves and work to build something that will benefit everyone.  I will provide specifics closer to the launch of the new website.

I should also tell you about some changes in the leadership of IPAPI in case you are not already aware.  One of our founding Directors, Terry Schurter, has taken a full-time position within a BPMS software company.  Terry felt this new position could represent a conflict of interest and has asked to resign as an IPAPI Director.  However, Terry made clear he was committed to building the IPAPI community and expressed an interest in continuing on in the role of an advisor.  Therefore, the board of Directors has accepted Terry’s resignation as Director and nominated him as the Chairman of the Board of Advisors to IPAPI.  I want to thank Terry on behalf of the Board of Directors for his hard work and prior contributions to the IPAPI community; we appreciate his willingness to continue to serve in the role of an advisor.  Best of luck, Terry, with your new responsibilities!

Additionally, I would like to announce the election of IPAPI member and Certified Coach Carlos Xavier as our newest Director.  Carlos is very keen to development of the IPAPI community in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.  Carlos, we thank you for your willingness to take on this responsibility.  You can reach Carlos at carlos.xavier@ipapi.org  if you would like to comment or help in this endeavor.