INNOV8

As BPM is a new subject to me, the INNOV8 game greatly improved my understandings. From this game, I learn that business processes are a set of interrelated activities designed to achieve a specific business output or objective. I also learned that BPM is an approach that is focused on aligning all aspects of an organization to help promote effectiveness and efficiency. It was to my understanding that models were more simplistic in that they only modeled process flow. However, they also involve having lots of data like statistics, resource levels of each activity, and the cost of these resources.

In my opinion, the game provides an excellent and unique approach for teaching students about business processes.

Like most games, though, there are pluses and minuses:

Overall, I liked that the game is so informative. It starts with basic principles and continues to build on concepts. I also like that the game provides optional textual descriptions so that if you are already aware of the concept, you do not have to waste time. However, the game annoyed me in a few ways. The avatars were not involved enough and did not have many new things to say. It was also WAY to slow to walk. Why not run, or fly? In the end, I wish that they would make additional fun and educational games on related topics.

Two words that I learned:

1. An Activity is a unit of work performed in a business process. For example, sub-process, tasks, and services.

2. Simulation is a software facility for strong basic information about services, including how to interact with the service, who has access right to the service, and which application currently uses the service.