BPMDS'11

1 ahead of current thinking

In Search for a Good Theory: Commuting between Research and

Practice in Business Process Domain A journey

Ilia Bider IbisSoft/DSV, Stockholm University

2 ahead of current thinking

Theory

• For each item Ordered = Delivered

• To pay = Total + Freight + Tax• Ordered > Delivered

shipment

• To pay > Invoiced invoicing

• Invoiced = To pay

• Paid = Invoiced

State-oriented view on business processes

3 ahead of current thinking

Starting point – objects-connectors model Model consisting of

AtomsObjectsLawsConnectors

Connector

awakeschecksrestoresfalls asleep

4 ahead of current thinking

Ending point – BP-support with shared spaces architecture

Process shared space – a place in the “cloud” where each process participant goes to fetch information and place the results

Process map – the upper level of the shared space structure

Step form – the low level of details of one part of the shared space

5 ahead of current thinking

Continuation – what it is good for?Business/Enterprise agility - way of survival in the dynamic world

• Quickly adjust to the changes in the constantly changing business world – affects product/service development

• Employ new opportunities constantly appearing in the dynamic world for launching completely new products/services

6 ahead of current thinking

Product and service development – traditional cycle

Risks

Requirements specification do not catch the needs properlyRequirements specifications are not converted into a proper designProduct/service manufacturing does not follow the design exactlyThe new product/service is not properly understood by the stakeholders and is rejected or used in the wrong fashion

Each product embeds knowledge

A good regulator is a model of the system it regulates

Conant & AshbyA good solution is a model of the

problem it solves

A good key is a model of the lock it opens

Requirements change during the development → outdated wrong product/service

Learning to use

in own practice

Requirementsengineering

Manufacturing/Implementation

Design

Tacit knowledgeTacit knowledge

Explicit knowledge

Exp

licit

know

ledg

e

Problems/needs

Design specifications

Req

uire

men

ts s

peci

fica

tions

Em

bedd

ed k

now

ledg

e

Prod

uct/S

ervi

ce

7 ahead of current thinking

Minimizing the risks – how?

The development team having the tacit knowledge on the actual business needs/problems

• Agile development

• Cross-manning of business processes

8 ahead of current thinking

Product and service development – agile style

Risk minimization via

Not translating to explicit knowledge

Short but multiple development cycles

What if we can't use agile ?

Tacit

unde

rstan

ding o

f pro

blems/n

eeds

Problems/needs

Manufacturing

Learning to usein own practice

Requirements

engineering

Agile approach

Going

agile

Prod

uct/s

ervi

ce

The design phaseis merged withmanufacturing

Learning to use

in own practice

Requirementsengineering

Manufacturing Design

Problems/needs

Design specifications

Req

uire

men

ts s

peci

fica

tions

Prod

uct/s

ervi

ce

Traditional approach

9 ahead of current thinking

Manning of business processes - traditional style

Knowledge on current needs/problems can be obtained by participants of the boundary processes who not normally participate in the development process

Shall we arrange additional processes for the to transfer knowledge?

10 ahead of current thinking

Manning of business processes - cross-manning

Main characteristics

Multiple goals

Heterogeneous teams

11 ahead of current thinking

Process support for cross-manning

• Focus on collaboration instead of optimization

• Support should be adjusted to the needs of particular team – the team itself should be responsible for designing the process it wants to use and be able to change it as needed

12 ahead of current thinking

Focus on collaboration -Shared spaces architecture

Process shared space – a place in the “cloud” where each process participant goes to fetch information and place the results

Process map – the upper level of the shared space structure

Step form – the low level of details of one part of the shared space

13 ahead of current thinking

Customized processes - agile development of business processes

A good business process support system is a model of the business process it supports

Each product embeds knowledge

Problems/needs

Learning to use

in own practice

Business processidentification and

modeling

Support system manufacturing

Support system design

Design specifications

Bus

ines

s pr

oces

s m

odel

s (m

aps)

Bus

ines

s pr

oces

s su

ppor

t sys

tem

Traditional approach

Problems/needs

Going

agile

Tacit

unde

rstan

ding o

f

proc

esse

s

Support system

manufacturing

Learning to usein own practice

Business process

identification

Agile approach

Bus

ines

s pr

oces

s su

ppor

t sys

tem

With agiletechnique and toolsyou can start here

A good regulator is a model of the system it regulatesA good solution is a model of the problem it solves A good key is a model of the lock it opens

14 ahead of current thinking

Agile process development

What is needed to achieve it?

A tool (process cutting machine) – to make changes quickly

The tool should be understandable for the team creating the process – no complicated diagrams and rules

15 ahead of current thinking

Thank you for your attention!

Ilia Bider, IbisSoft/Stockholm University

Email: ilia@ibissoft.se

Additional resources:

http://processplatsen.ibissoft.se/en/

http://processplatsen.ibissoft.se/en/node/27