ASSESSMENT OF BUSINESS PROCESS MATURITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The discipline of business process management has been gaining momentum since the early 2000s, and is nowadays implemented by several enterprises worldwide. As the concept of business process management developed over the years, several business process maturity models have emerged as well. Although there have been several initiatives aimed at developing common reference frameworks and guidelines for business process management in higher education, this industry is still believed to be lagging in the practical application of process management. It can be argued that one of the main reasons for this is HE institutions’ unawareness of their present process capabilities, as well as the benefits of adoption of business process management, as a holistic management approach. A methodical assessment of business process maturity may drive HE institutions to advance their process capabilities to higher levels.
The goal of the research presented in this paper is to investigate whether the maturity models in use today could efficiently be used to assess maturity of business processes in higher education institutions.

The following research questions were defined in accordance with the research goal:
(1) What are the most commonly used models for assessing business processes maturity?
(2) Which of the most commonly used models for assessing business processes maturity is most suitable for HE institutions.

In order to test the applicability of the selected model, an assessment of business process maturity was carried out within a HE institution.

The paper consists of four sections. Following a brief introduction, the second section contains an overview of the most notable business process maturity models in use, discussion on their applicability for assessing maturity of business processes in higher education, and provides a rationale behind the selection of a maturity model for this study. The third chapter contains the results of the business process maturity assessment carried out at the Faculty of Economics in Subotica (Serbia), in accordance with the selected maturity model. Finally, the conclusion provides an overview of the findings presented in the previous sections, underlines the implications and limitations of the study.