Apex built this Tax Compliance Management application for a "big-4" accounting firm. It was an IBM BPM process application and associated system of record database for managing the planning, preparation, review and filing of corporate tax returns.
The firm faced heavy rate pressure from low cost tax preparation competitors. They needed to transform their business model and operational processes from one based on co-located engagement teams near the client location to one based on hybrid teams that included centralized shared resources. This necessitated a complete change in the way that teams planned and executed corporate tax engagements. The new application and processes enabled that transformation.
Apex facilitated envisioning sessions with the stakeholders to conceptualize the solution and identify priorities for the first releases, as well as advising the firm on the structuring of the Agile teams and project plan.
Apex led a hybrid team composed of Apex, IBM and firm resources to develop the massive IBM BPM process application. In addition to leading the development teams and mentoring the resources, Apex also provided specialized user interface capabilities through a toolkit of client-side widgets. The ideas and approach taken for UIs on this project were shared with the IBM development lab, and eventually influenced the direction of the Coach View Framework launched in BPM 8.0.
