IS 788 4.1 1

After the strategy, the real work ;-) After determining organizational

value chains, after modeling the organizational

architecture, after consideration of resources,

competitors, and other market factors Candidate processes for design (new)

or reengineering or improvement are chosen

IS 788 4.1 2

Modeling an AS-IS process is the first step to reengineering Any model is a conceptual

representation of the elements (objects) of an area of interest and their relationships

Any model is necessarily selective stressing some aspects of the thing modeled and ignoring others

Business process modeling as currently practiced is largely graphical

IS 788 4.1 3

BPMN: UML lite and more The graphical notation in the text is BPMN-

based (business process modeling notation) BPMN emerged from feedback from the

field – designed by a vendor consortium UML (1 or 2) is, in the opinion of many

consultants, too complex for non-IT personnel. (The teaching of UML to non-technical personnel for the modeling of organizations was extensively tried several years ago and found lacking.)

IS 788 4.1 4

A core requirement for a modeling “grammar” is: Constructs and relationships

inherently close to the domain This is especially true for executives

and many business domain experts who tend to be concrete (as opposed to abstract) thinkers.

BPMN is “UML simplified and moved closer to the business domain.” Less general, more comprehensible.

IS 788 4.1 5

BPMN alternatives (subsequent classes): The field is still new and there are

many modeling notations in common use: Many software products use proprietary

notations (though BPMN is rapidly displacing them).

BPMN is strongest in the US. SPRINT is a very well thought out complete methodology (UK) with its own notation.

Germany and northern Europe are partial to subsets of UML-2.0. (Why do we care what happens outside the US?)

IS 788 4.1 6

The Basic structure of ANY Process Diagram

IS 788 4.1 7

BPMN at a glance Swimlanes

Activity (note that Order

Process spans departments)

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Note the similarity to organizational models Process models, like IT models and

organizational models, occur at different levels of detail

Level of detail depends on the audience with whom you are communicating.

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IS 788 4.1 10

Drilling down to the activity level

IS 788 4.1 11

Models = entities and relationships Entities:

Objects & Events (square corner boxes) Activities & subprocesses(rounded

corner boxes) Swimlanes (internal and external

functional areas) Relationships

Flows (labeled arrows) Conditional branches (business rules)

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Business rules = conditional expressions Boolean logic scares

businesspeople; “business rules” is a better name.

Following time honored flowchart notation, a decision graphic is a diamond

Derived from petri-net notation, summations (AND) and branches are represented by vertical bars.

IS 788 4.1 13

Business rules are represented graphically

IS 788 4.1 14

Additional BPMN Symbols for ‘rule’ representation

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Variations on default notation By default swimlanes represent

departments (org-level functional units)

But they can be subdivided – multiple lanes for a single org-level unit

They can represent individual process actors or roles

They can be vertical as well as horizontal

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Making time explicit

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Does this look familiar?

IS 788 4.1 19

A notation review: Figures 9.9 & 9.10 Look at figures 9.9 and 9.10 in your

texts and determine some differences Addition of a super-heading: –

Manufacturing Department Make sale for Sales and Marketing in 9.9

has been shifted into the customer/web-order function in 9.10

Some manual tasks in process 9.9 have been subsumed into software processes in 9.10

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Modeling conventions Note that many process models have

a ‘Customer’ lane at the top of the diagram indicating a customer focus

An arrow crossing between swimlanes indicates a material or information transfer between functional groups – cross-group transfers are traditional process trouble spots

IS 788 4.1 21

Modeling levels: are they necessary? Why?