Information Systems Design
[Σχεδιασμός Πληροφοριακών Συστημάτων]
Unit 5: Business Process Modeling Case
Univ. of the Aegean
Financial and Management Engineering Dpt
Petros KAVASSALIS
Chios, 13.11.2008
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What you will learn in this course
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A set of fundamental concepts for understanding the process
of Information Systems Design in a Business Context
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Familiarization with Business Process Management
practices :
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Principles for Information Systems design
Business operations and processes
Business Process Management (BPM)
BPMN
XML
A full Case of BPM design
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Business logic
Augmented with technical details
Petros KAVASSALIS <petros@cfp.mit.edu>
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Communication tools
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e-mail: petros at cfp.mit.edu
e-mail to use to submit assignments: petros.students at
gmail.com
Course web site: http://infosysdesign2008.blogspot.com
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* Last year reference: http://infosysdesign2007.blogspot.com
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Petros KAVASSALIS <petros@cfp.mit.edu>
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Students evaluation
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Class Participation (20%)
+
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Assignments (20%)
+
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Final Exam (60%)
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* Questions regarding last year course quality: ask gdikas (gdikas [AT]
gmail.com )
Petros KAVASSALIS <petros@cfp.mit.edu>
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My expectations [I copy a colleague I respect a
lot…]
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Information Systems Design under a BPM view is practical
(with “hands-on” examples) but also intellectually challenging
I'm not a formal person and will be as accessible as I can to
all of you – my official office hours are proposed as Thursday
11-13
But my informality doesn't mean I'm casual about what goes
on in my class…
I want from my students to avoid missing lectures and
actively participate in the practical work (if yes: there is
compensation)
Petros KAVASSALIS <petros@cfp.mit.edu>
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A business process view…
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Implies an horizontal view of organization
Looks at processes as sets of independent activities
designed and structured to produce a specific output for a
customer or a market
Uses the term activity
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To refer to a small scale process that consists of one or few closely
related steps
A process defines
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The results to be achieved (start-end)
The context of the activities
The relationships between activities
The interaction with other process and resources
Petros KAVASSALIS <petros@cfp.mit.edu>
6
A business process model…
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Consists of
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Is used
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To configure the Business Process Management System accordingly
Think about that!
Represents
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A set of activity models and execution constraints between them
Activities and Relationships
Graphical representations of business processes focus on
the process structure and the interactions of participating
parties (rather than on technical / software aspects)
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Examples follow
Petros KAVASSALIS <petros@cfp.mit.edu>
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BPM Case: Re-engineering grading
permits (San Jose, California)
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[See San Jose_case (pdf)]
Process time: From 21 working days to 5 days!
Transform the process of grading permit to a three-fold
process model
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Exempt
Express
Regular
First stage: “As is”
Second stage: “To be”
Petros KAVASSALIS <petros@cfp.mit.edu>
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The essential of a BPR operation: 8
steps methodology
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Flow chart the “as-is” process
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Interview customers
Interview staff
Share customer and staff interview with core and technical
teams
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Make a first-cut at redesign (‘to be”)
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Share the redesign results with customers and an advisory
group
Revise the redesign
Implement the new process
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Petros KAVASSALIS <petros@cfp.mit.edu>
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From “as-is” 2 “to be”: innovations (in
detail)
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Different process for [exempt, regular, express] process
New permit reviews are handled by one (1) from five (5)
projects managers (more managers will be trained over time)
Permit issue managers determine whether a project is
needed and can issue on-the-spot exemptions
They also decide which applications are express and which
regular
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Only project managers handle express applications
For regular process applications, the project manager
User-friendly forms have been necessary to reduce errors
and decrease staff time and customer waiting time
Petros KAVASSALIS <petros@cfp.mit.edu>
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From “as-is” 2 “to be”: Re-design
principles
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Preparation
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Analysis-design
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People involved in a process should be actively involved in analyzing, designing and
implementing improvements
Quick “initial review” obligation (by a generalist engineer)
100% quality at the beginning of the process to get complete applications (only
complete applications were allowed to move past the review)
If inputs coming into the process naturally cluster, design a specific process for each
cluster
For clusters where each application is unique, create team and co-locate it, if possible
A single point of contact with the customer: the project manager (with sign-off authority)
Implementation
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Cross-training to make multi-skills employees
Petros KAVASSALIS <petros@cfp.mit.edu>
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“To be” versus “as-is” process
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Pease read carefully:
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Tasks:
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San Jose case description (pdf file)
BPMN diagram for “as-is” process
Homework: BPMN diagram for “to be” process
At the end, you will get full developed San Jose process flow
diagrams (adonis CE files /.adl)
Help:
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Start from designing sub-processes (use
BPM_ProcessMappingTool.xls)
“To be” process’ basic concepts
o
o
Triage [exempt, regular, express] process
Project Manager
Petros KAVASSALIS <petros@cfp.mit.edu>
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