Business Process Modelling
BCO2001
Week 3
Afrooz Purarjomand
© Afrooz Purarjomandlangrudi
Objective
• This unit of study examines the how Organisations
(People), Processes (Tasks), and Technology
(Information Systems) integrate with each other to
deliver value.
• Value can be in the form of a Product or a Service.
Organisation
Procesess Technology
Organisational Structures
• Organisations group their Employees into
different Operational (Functional) units.
• The manner in which employees are grouped is
determined by an Organisations structure.
• Benefits
• Management Control
• Centralised Expertise
• Division of labor / specialization – less complex
to manage
Purchasing
Operations
Organisation
Warehouse
Sales & Marketing
Research & Development
Finance & Accounting
Human Resources
• Functional Areas within an
Information Technology
Organisational Structures
Major Business Processes
• Procurement (Acquiring raw materials)
• Production (Manufacturing)
• Fulfillment (Sales)
Functions / Process
Integration
§ Major processes are cross-functional
§ Efficiency comes from functional coordination
Cross Functional Processes
• The activities (tasks) within a process may
span across multiple functional groups.
• No single group is responsible for a
processes execution.
• Success relies on each functional group
completing their tasks efficiently.
Types of Business Processes
● Predefined
● Non-predefined
● Emergent
Predefined and Non-Predefined Processes
Predefined
●
- Activities (tasks) and their sequence precisely defined
- Dataflow diagrams (DFDs) often used to model them
- Flow charts (if you're a business person)
Non-Predefined
●
- Activities precisely defined
- Sequence of activities not known and dependent on
result of previous activity
Predefined & Non-predefined
Process Step Step Outp
Trigger
1 2 ut
Pre-Defined
Process
Task 1 Task 2
Task 4 Task 3
Non Pre-Defined
Process
Emergent Process
● Emergent
● The process “emerges” as we work
● Don't know tasks
● Much trial and error
Characteristics of Emergent Processes
• The process “emerges” as we work
• Not all tasks are known
Process goal itself may change
●
Opportunistic as they evaluate current
●
situation and may initiate new tasks if new
opportunities are identified
• Much trial and error
• Difficult to model!
Business Process Re-engineering
● Philosophy of BPR:
● Firms consist of business processes, not functional
departments
● Re-think the process
● Additions, modifications and eliminations
● Eliminate those tasks that are not customer
focused
● Automate wherever possible
● Participants report to a process manager
Traditional Procurement Process in Texas
Instruments
New Procurement Process in Texas Instruments
Less people; Fewer errors; Faster; Less expensive
More …
● What BPR is Not?
● BPR is not automation as is
● BPR is not managing complexity but reducing it
● BPR is not down-sizing; it is doing more with less
means, effort and people (right-sizing?)
● Is BPR all Good?
● BPR also has many problems (it is political)
● It is extremely resisted by most personnel
● BPR is just one type of business process
transformation
Views on Business Processes
Dominant View of Business Processes
● “A collection of interrelated work tasks,
initiated in response to an event, that achieves
a specific result for the customer of the
process”
● This view uses a machine metaphor. It is
assumed that the process, and those people
involved, act like a machine
● It is the most common view of a business
process
● Nearly most of modelling tools adopt this
metaphor
Other Views
● BP as Social Construct
● Assumes that there is a social contract
between employees, supervisors, customers
and other stakeholders
● Any work conducted is influenced by this
contract
● A business process could therefore be
viewed as a social construct
● Soft Systems Methodology, which uses Rich
Pictures, uses this metaphor
Which View to Use?
● There are other views (metaphors) that could be used to
understand a business process
● Which to use??
● Nearly all systems development methodologies assume
a machine metaphor for a business process
● Therefore most modelling tools used by developers
adopt this metaphor
● It totally ignores social, managerial and other issues
● You should at least be aware of other metaphors and
tools
What is business process modelling?
Business process modelling is a means of
representing the steps, participants and decision logic
in business processes.
There are three main types of process models:
1. Descrip8ve models: wri<en explana8ons of the
processes
2. Ac8ve models: a working model that represents the
processes (eg. computer simula8ons)
3. Diagramma8cal models: a diagram that shows the
processes and the rela8onships between them (eg.
process maps and flowcharts.)
This guide will focus on process maps.
What is process mapping?
• Process mapping is a technique of
diagrammatical modelling.
• The diagram represents a series of
processes and how they are related.
• Process mapping provides a
representation of who does what and in
what order.
Why and when is process mapping used?
Process mapping helps to clarify the steps
involved in a particular process.
It is used for:
• understanding the current processes
• clarifying responsibilities
• identifying process inefficiencies
• designing new procedures
• training
How to produce a process map
• Consult with the experts. These are the people managing and working
with the process.
• Iden8fy the boundaries. Where does the process begin? where does it
end?
• Iden8fy the par8cipants. What roles are involved in the processes?
• Hand draw the process in front of the expert, geMng then to confirm the
steps.
• Iden8fy the steps. What is done first? What is done next? By who?
• Iden8fy the decision points. What are the alterna8ves? What determines
which alterna8ve is chosen?
• Draw an ini8al process flow. Draw and label the swim lanes (will discuss
later) using standard symbols.
• Check for completeness. Are all par8cipants represented?
Are all processes shown? Are there any alterna8ves that
have not been considered? Refine and finalise.
• Review with the experts to ensure completeness.
Introduction to BPMN
What is BPMN?
• BPMN is flow-chart based notation for defining Business
Processes
• BPMN is an agreement between multiple modeling tools
vendors, who had their own notations, to use a single notation
for the benefit of end-user understand and training
• BPMN provides a mechanism to generate an executable
Business Process (BPEL) from the business level notation
Ø A Business Process developed by a business analyst can
be directly applied to a BPM engine instead of going through
human interpretations and translations into other languages
BPMN Development Drivers
• Must be acceptable and usable by the business community
• Must be able to generate executable processes through a BPMN
Model (a combination of graphical elements and supporting
information (attributes))
• Although executable processes triggered the development of
BPMN, it was expected that BPMN would be used for more
general business purposes
• BPM is intended to be Methodology Agnostic (not tied to a particular
way of thinking)
• Methodologies will give guidance as to the purpose and level of
detail for modeling
• BPMN is as complex as it needs to be. Just use what you
need…
