Business Process Modelling
- 1.2/2013 -
Marcello La Rosa
Queensland University of Technology
Brisbane, 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?
Ship
goods
Prepare
shipment
Archive
order
(Re)send
bill
Register
order
Receive
payment
Requirement
for material
has arisen
Purchase
Requisition
Contact
customer
Requisition
released
for scheduling
agreement
schedule/SA release
Purchase
requisition
released
for purchase
order
Purchasing
Enter Invoice
Details
Check Invoice
Mismatches
no
mismatches
Post Invoice
Invoice
received
Goods
received
mismatch
exists
Inbound
delivery
entered
Purchase
order
created
Material
is released
Invoice
received
Block Invoice
Goods
Receipt
Goods
receipt
posted
Warehouse/
Stores
TO item
confirmed
without
differences
Transfer
order
item
is confirmed
Invoice
Verification
Payment
must
be effected
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
A little bit on modelling theory
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
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
What is the relevant model?
?
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
Our Phenomena of Interest: Business Processes
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
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
Dumas, La Rosa, Mendling, Reijers, 2013
“My washing machine doesn’t work…”
Insurance
Company
Call Centre
Technician
Customer
Customer
fault-to-resolution process
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
VALUE
Service
Dispatch
Centre
Parts
Store
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.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Fault repaired without technician intervention
Fault repaired with minor technician intervention
Fault repaired and fully covered by warranty
Fault repaired and partly covered by warranty
Fault repaired but not covered by warranty
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
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
17
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…
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
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How do we combine these?
1. What needs be done and when? - Control flow
2. What do we need to work on? – Data
3. Who’s doing the work? - Resources (human & systems)
Finance ERP
Department
Invoice
Invoice
received
Enter
Invoice
Details
Report
Check
Invoice
Mismatches
Invoice DB
Invoice
no
Post Invoice
mismatches
Invoice
posted
Invoice
Senior Finance Officer
mismatch
exists
Block
Invoice
Invoice
blocked
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
Process Perspectives
• Control Flow Perspective
Invoice
received
Enter
Invoice
Details
Check
Invoice
Mismatches
– “what needs to be done and when”
– predecessor/successor relationship among activities and events
– the central information depicted in a process model
no
Post Invoice
mismatches
Invoice
posted
mismatch
exists
Block
Invoice
Invoice
blocked
• Data Perspective
– “what do we need to work on”
– input/output data to activities
– complements the control flow
Invoice
Report
Invoice DB
• Resource Perspective
– “who’s doing the work”
– human participants and systems that perform
control flow activities and generate events
– complements the control flow
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
Finance ERP
Department
Senior Finance Officer
20
Example: Student Enrollment
Complete
preenrolment
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
Set up
online
access
Accept
offer and
T&C
Plan
enrolment
Enrol
Register
for
classes
21
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
• …
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
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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
Adapted from Davis, 2000; Wreden, 1998
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
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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
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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.
IT systems
Customers
People
Organizational
Business Processes
Trading
Partners
Data
IT infrastructure
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
Suppliers
Dumas, La Rosa, Mendling, Reijers, 2013
Where does process modelling fit in BPM?
…design, analyze, execute and monitor business processes…
Process
identification
Focus of this unit
Conformance
Conformance and
and
performance
performance insights
insights
Process
Process architecture
architecture
Process
discovery
As-is
As-is process
process
model
model
Process
monitoring and
controlling
Process
analysis
Executable
Executable
process
process
model
model
Process
implementation
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
Insights
Insights on
on
weaknesses
weaknesses and
and
their
their impact
impact
To-be
To-be process
process
model
model
Process
redesign
Time Investment in BPM Projects
Process Discovery
9%
Project Team Selection
4%
11%
Business Case
Deployment and Training
12%
Testing and Debugging
41%
Implementation
Tool Evaluation and Selection
7%
Functional and Technical Specification
8%
5%
3%
Project Documentation
BPTrends, 2006
© 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
NetworkWorld, 30 March 2009
© INB/INN320 1.2/2012 – 25 July 2013
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