Challenges in Knowledge Intensive Process Management

Processes where knowledge is a key characteristic are called knowledge intensive processes (KIP). A successful KIP has to adapt for the situation and to treat each customer's request as unique rather than to follow some predefined sequence of actions. The discipline of Business Process Management (BPM) defines solutions for modeling, development, analysis and improvement of processes with a predefined flow of activities. From the traditional, activity-centered point of view, KIP are challenging to automate, to control and to test for compliance. In this article we present the overview of recent works that address the challenges and explore different ideas, including extension of BPM, theoretical foundations for KIP management and execution support for KIP. We also outline some research perspectives in KIP management and discuss one particular idea that exploits the data-centered point of view on KIP.