I was out for my morning run and realized that my Garmin Forerunner is a good example of automating a process. I use the Garmin 201 to track my distance and speed primarily. It gives me my splits, elevation, total run time, etc. It is an amazing tool, and I have convinced dozens of running friends to buy it. 
So, why blog about this. First, because I love it. Second, because I believe anecdotes are what help people think outside the box. The Garmin took a simple process like running and addressed the work around it.
For serious runners, we track miles, days we run, splits, total distance, and many other things as you prepare for races. The Forerunner captures all that data (like a BPMS). 
It allows you to report on that data (for geeky people like me who love data analysis)...known as BAM or Business Activity Monitoring in the BPM world. It also has embedded rules in it...like a BRE or Business Rule Engine.
Some of the business rules are process level rules such as the one that stops calculating your average pace if you standstill for x seconds. Some are customizable rules that say whether to calculate your spilts based on each mile or half-mile or whether to beep at you when you go outside acceptable bands (i.e., too slow or too fast).
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