Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse how a Brazilian public research centre implemented business process management (BPM) highlighting the challenges of change that have to be dealt with in the stage developed by this organisation. Design/methodology/approach – The first author of this paper accompanied the implementation of BPM in the research centre for 33 months in order to analyse documents and reports and have interviews with various managers and employees. Findings – The studied organisation developed an intermediate stage towards BPM. The progressive approach favours a better understanding of the challenges that have to be overcome in order to improve BPM in an organisation. Thus, the BPM approach can be effectively assimilated and practised by the centre's staff. Research limitations/implications – The depth of the analysis carried out in the case study make more structured research possible. Originality/value – The challenges of implementing BPM in a Brazilian public research centre are investigated. This case study is based on a theoretical, empirical and maturity level approach. Thus, a particular case of implementing BPM which took place in a very specific context, not explored in the literature, is presented to the community interested in BPM.