IS 788
[Process] Change Management
 Lecture / Discussion of class projects
and formally modeling them
 Lecture: Process analysis field work
 “Otis Elevator” case presentation and
discussion
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Modeling and performance
evaluation of processes
 A brief discussion of the deliverables for
your projects
 An organizational context model per
Harmon, Chapter 4.
 Where does your process fit into the model?
 Is it part of a value chain?
 A BPMN model(s) of the process, at
whatever level(s) of detail are necessary to
fully understand and communicate the
change you are proposing
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Modeling and performance
evaluation of processes (2)
 A process benefit and output
monitoring program
 Measurement of key indicators of the
current process – see El Sawy, Chapter
6, esp. Table 6.2
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El Sawy, Table 6-2
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Modeling and performance
evaluation of processes (3)
 Simulation of the proposed process
 Comparison of key indicators for AS-IS
and TO-BE
 A monitoring plan tied into an overall
business activity monitoring plan (BAM)
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Group discussions
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Briefly discuss your project process
What have you done to date?
What are your key indicators?
How will you measure them?
Do you foresee any problems?
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Site Investigation: Ethnography
 The term “ethnography” originated in
anthropology: an extended, low
intrusion, non-judgmental
observation of a foreign (to the
observer) culture
 How does ethnography differ from
normal IT analyst behavior?
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From Oxford University's
Ethnography Web Page
 Ethnographers stress that we move
within social worlds, and that to
understand the behavior, values and
meanings of any given individual (or
group), we must take account of
some kind of cultural context. In this
respect, ethnography balances
attention to the sometimes minute
everyday detail of individual lives with
wider social structures.
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From Oxford University's
Ethnography Web Page (2)
 An ethnographer will try to define a
particular culture by asking questions such
as 'What does it mean to be a member
of this group?' and 'What makes
someone an insider or an outsider
here?'. The ethnographer tries to make
sense of what people are doing by asking
'What's going on here? How does this
work? How do people do this?' and
hopes to be told by those people about "the
way we do things around here" (Deal
1985).
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From Oxford University's
Ethnography Web Page (3)
 Answering those questions requires an
openness to learning from those who
inhabit that culture, and a willingness
to see everything and suspend
premature judgment on what should
be selected as data. The usefulness of
the information may not be immediately
apparent, but is often collected and stored
anyway. This quality of openness lies at
the heart of ethnography, in its
processes, purposes and ethics.
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What’s your point?
 What differences do you see between an
‘ethnographic’ approach and traditional
(US) IT business analysis?
 The stress on openness is much harder
than it first appears. We tend to see what
we expect and are trained to see (model
driven perception). If we enter a
department to fill in “process description
form” based on ‘hard’ analysis methodology
X we will see only what we need to fill in
the blanks on the form ;-)
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Even an accurate model of the
objective process depends on . . .
 Seeing reality, not expectations
 What do you get if you ask a
manager about the processes he
supervises?
 The procedure manual definition of the
process
 What do you get if you ask a ‘floor
level’ process actor about about the
process they participate in?
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 You get a much more accurate picture
of the process including:
 Work arounds
 Shadow systems
 Undocumented improvements to the
process
 Parts of the process that haven’t been
done since X left the company
 And a host of other surprises
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 If, in addition to asking the right people the
right questions you:
 Gain the confidence of process actors
 Spend some time actually observing the process
 You will discover aspects of the process that
have become automatic – and therefore
overlooked – by even process actors
attempting to give an accurate description
of the AS-PRACTICED process
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 Then add an openness to “softer”
cultural context information:
 Who do the process actors really look
to for supervision?
 Are people secure in their jobs?
 Is the management loose or
autocratic?
 Any or all of these factors can derail a
smooth change
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The Ambulance Dispatch Example
 40 person days on site!
 Detailed schematics of the workplace
 Detailed observation of the AS-IS computer
system
 Extensive observation of the actual modes
of communication (largely informal)
between operators, supervisors and
dispatchers is seen to limit the use of
additional computerization – for example,
the way overloaded dispatchers, through
body language, ask for assistance and
“load balance”
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Basic data gathering techniques
(From Ch. 2 of Sys. Dev. Case Studies, Hunter)
 Interviews
 Structured
 Semi-structured
 Unstructured
 Questionnaires
 Clear with managers before distributing!
 Document Review
 Forms, external documents, reports, procedure
manuals, org charts, etc.
 Observation
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Asking the wrong questions
 Most people ask about the “Sunny
Day Scenario” – what do you
[usually] do in the process.
 But what are the exceptions?
 These will not surface from an
exploration of “problems” or “process
errors” because they may not be so
considered.
 Example: rush orders to VIP
customers
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The “Rainy Day Scenario”
 Some useful questions:
 What was the most difficult case you’ve worked
on?
 Do you ever have to work overtime – and why?
 Only common variants of the ‘normal’
process are candidates for IT support
 Michael Hammer once said “If it doesn’t
make three people angry, it isn’t a process.”
Determine the cases that make people
angry
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