Business Process Modelling - 1.2/2013 - Marcello La Rosa Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, 25 July 2013.

Business Process Modelling- 1.2/2013 -

Marcello La Rosa

Queensland University of Technology

Brisbane, 25 July 2013

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

How novices model a business process

Mark is going on a trip to Sydney. He decides to call a taxi from home to the airport. The taxi arrives after 10 minutes, and takes half an hour for the 20 kilometers to the airport. At the airport, Mark uses the online check-in counter and receives his boarding pass. Of course, he could have also used the ticket counter. He does not have to check-in any luggage, and so he proceeds straight to the security check, which is 100 meters down the hall on the right. The queue here is short and after 5 minutes he walks up to the departure gate. Mark decides not to go to the Frequent Flyer lounge and instead walks up and down the shops for 15 minutes and buys a newspaper before he returns to the gate. After ten minutes waiting, he boards the plane.

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Many ways of modelling a process…

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Many ways of modelling a process…

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Many ways of modelling a process…

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Many ways of modelling a process…

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Many ways of modelling a process…

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Many ways of modelling a process…

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Issues?

• Different representation of concepts• Different level of granularity• Different level of scope• Different terminology

→ What is the right process model?

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

What is a model?

Registerorder

Prepareshipment

Shipgoods

Receivepayment

(Re)sendbill

Contactcustomer

Archiveorder

Materialis released

TO itemconfirmed

withoutdifferences

Warehouse/Stores

Transferorderitem

is confirmed

Paymentmust

be effected

PurchaseRequisition

Requirementfor materialhas arisen

Requisitionreleased

for schedulingagreement

schedule/SA release

InvoiceVerification

Purchaserequisitionreleased

for purchaseorder

Inbounddeliveryentered

Goodsreceived

Goodsreceiptposted

GoodsReceipt

Purchaseorder

created

Purchasing

Invoicereceived

Check Invoice Mismatches

Post InvoiceEnter Invoice

Details

mismatch exists

no mismatches

Block Invoice

Invoice received

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Models are abstractions from real world phenomena, developed for the purpose of reducing overall complexity.

Models aggregate information and document only relevant aspects of the real world.

Models are being developed in a specific modelling subject for a specific target audience with a specific modelling purpose in mind.

no right/wrong, but relevant/irrelevant model

A little bit on modelling theory

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

What is the relevant model?

?

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Collection of related events, activities and decisions, that involve a number of actors and objects, and that collectively lead to an outcome that is of value to an organization or its customers.

Examples:• Order-to-Cash• Quote-to-Order• Procure-to-Pay • Application-to-Approval• Fault-to-Resolution (Issue-to-Resolution)• Claim-to-Settlement

Our Phenomena of Interest: Business Processes

Dumas, La Rosa, Mendling, Reijers, 2013

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

fault-to-resolution process VA

LU

E

Customer

InsuranceCompany

PartsStoreService

DispatchCentre

Technician

Customer

Call Centre

Customer

“My washing machine doesn’t work…”

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Processes and Outcomes

• Every process leads to one or several outcomes, positive or negative– Positive outcomes deliver value– Negative outcomes reduce value

• Fault-to-resolution process’ outcomes:1. Fault repaired without technician intervention

2. Fault repaired with minor technician intervention

3. Fault repaired and fully covered by warranty

4. Fault repaired and partly covered by warranty

5. Fault repaired but not covered by warranty

6. Fault not repaired (customer withdrew request)

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

What is a Business Process: Recap

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

The Core Elements of a Process

• Activities– active elements (e.g. ‘enter sales order’)– time-consuming, resource-demanding– state-changing

• Events– passive elements (e.g. ‘sales order has been entered’)– represent conditions / circumstances– atomic, instantaneous

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© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

The Core Elements of a Process

• Business Objects (or Data)– the organizational artifacts that undergo state changes– physical or electronic information– examples:

• sales order, digital object, consulting proposal

• Actors (or Resources)– the entities performing process activities and generating events– human and systems– examples:

• financial officer, warehouse clerk• ERP, CRM, SAP, application X…

18

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

ERP

Senior Finance Officer

FinanceDepartment

How do we combine these?

Check Invoice

Mismatches

Enter InvoiceDetails

mismatch exists

no mismatches

Block Invoice

Invoice received

Invoice posted

Post Invoice

Invoice blocked

Invoice InvoiceReport

InvoiceInvoice DB

1. What needs be done and when? - Control flow2. What do we need to work on? – Data3. Who’s doing the work? - Resources (human & systems)

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Process Perspectives

• Control Flow Perspective– “what needs to be done and when”– predecessor/successor relationship among activities and events– the central information depicted in a process model

• Data Perspective– “what do we need to work on”– input/output data to activities– complements the control flow

• Resource Perspective– “who’s doing the work”– human participants and systems that perform

control flow activities and generate events– complements the control flow

20

Check Invoice

Mismatches

Enter InvoiceDetails

mismatch exists

no mismatches

Block Invoice

Invoice received

Invoice posted

Post Invoice

Invoice blocked

Invoice Report Invoice DB

ERP

Senior Finance Officer

FinanceDepartment

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Example: Student Enrollment

21

Complete pre-

enrolment

Set up online access

Accept offer and

T&C

Plan enrolment

Enrol Register

forclasses

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Further Potential Elements in a Process

• Objectives, Goals– link to strategy

• Risks– for risk-profiling the process

• Policies, Rules– for checking process compliance

• Knowledge– to depict expertise required

• …

22

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013 23

Adapted from Davis, 2000; Wreden, 1998

Process Modelling…

• is a common language for naming and framing an issue• integrates processes with other artefacts

(e.g. systems, organisations, data, services, risks)• enables walk-through, validation and testing (e.g. via simulation)• can be used as a benchmark for measuring improvements –

“what-if” analysis• provides a blueprint for process automation

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013 24

Why Process Modelling?

• Business processes are increasingly valued as essential assets of an organisation

• This significance demands dedicated management of processes

• We need ways to extract processes out of the organisational complexity in order to discuss,analyse, improve and automate them

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Where does process modelling fit in BPM?

Body of principles, methods and tools to design, analyze, execute and monitor business processes, with the ultimate goal of improving them.

Organizational Business Processes

IT systems

People

Data TradingPartners

SuppliersIT infrastructure

Customers

Dumas, La Rosa, Mendling, Reijers, 2013

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Where does process modelling fit in BPM?

Process identification

Conformance and performance insights

Conformance and performance insights

Processmonitoring and

controlling

Executable processmodel

Executable processmodel

Processimplementation To-be process

modelTo-be process

model

Processanalysis

As-is processmodel

As-is processmodel

Process discovery

Process architectureProcess architecture

Processredesign

Insights onweaknesses and

their impact

Insights onweaknesses and

their impact

…design, analyze, execute and monitor business processes…

Focus of this unit

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Time Investment in BPM Projects

BPTrends, 2006

41%

3%5%8%7%

12%

11%9% 4%

Process Discovery

Project Team Selection

Business Case

Deployment and Training

Testing and Debugging

Implementation

Tool Evaluation and Selection

Functional and Technical Specification

Project Documentation

© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013

Top 10 Technology Skills

• Business Process Modelling• Database• Messaging/Communications• IT Architecture• IT Security• Project Management• Data Mining• Web Development• IT Optimization• Networking

28NetworkWorld, 30 March 2009