Chapter 10 In Class Notes

Question 1

A network of activities, repositories, roles, resources,
and data flows that interact to accomplish a business
function

Answer 1

business process

Question 2

collection of related tasks that receive inputs

and product outputs

Answer 2

Activities

Question 3

collection of something

Answer 3

Repository

Question 4

a collection of activities (e.g. job title)

Answer 4

Roles

Question 5

people or computer applications that are

assigned to roles

Answer 5

Resources

Question 6

movement of data from one activity to

another or from activity to repository or vise versa

Answer 6

Data Flow

Question 7

Q1: Why Do Organizations Need to

Manage Business Processes?

Answer 7

May be reasons for change in business process
Process quality
Changes in technology
Changes in business fundamentals

Question 8

is a function on efficiency (use of
resources) and effectiveness (accomplishing
organizational strategy)

Answer 8

Process Quality

Question 9

Q2: What Are the Stages of Business
Process Management (BPM)? 4 of them

Answer 9

1. Model Processes
2. Create Components
3. Implement Processes
4. Assess Results

Question 10

– Start with an as-is model
– Document current situation
– Modifications are made to solve current business
process problems
What stage is this?

Answer 10

Model processes

Question 11

– Policy, procedures, and committees in place to
continually assess business process quality (e & e)
What stage is this?

Answer 11

Assess Results

Question 12

– Five component framework

What stage is this?

Answer 12

Create Components

Question 13

Scope of Business Process Management

Answer 13

• BPM applies to all types of organizations; for-profit,
government, not-for-profit, etc.
• The greater the scope of business processes, the
more difficult BPM. (Something to consider when
determining resources for BPM)
• It is often assumed that managers automatically do
BPM as part of their job (high risk behavior)

Question 14

• Standard set of terms and graphical notations for

documenting business processes

Answer 14

Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)

Question 15

Q3: How Can BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation) Process Diagrams
Help Identify and Solve Process
Problems?

Answer 15

Documenting the As-Is Business Order
Process: Existing Ordering Process
Evaluating the Impact of Business
Process Changes

Question 16

Using Process Diagrams to Identify
Process Problems
• Process problems

Answer 16

– Operations Manager allocates inventory to orders as
processed
– Credit Manager extends customer credit for orders in
process.
– Allocations correct, if order accepted
– If rejected, allocations not freed, inventory still allocated
and credit extended for orders not processed
– Possible fix: Define an independent process for Reject
Order

Question 17

How Can Business Processes Be

Improved?

Answer 17

• Add more resources
– Adds costs unless efficiencies of scale
• Change process structure
– Reduce work and costs
– Increase costs and increase effectiveness to offset

Question 18

Q4: Which Comes First, Business

Processes or Information Systems?

Answer 18

• In theory:
– Better to start with business processes
– More likely to result in processes and systems that are
aligned with the organization’s strategy and direction
• In practice:
– Organizations take both approaches
• Off-the-shelf software:
– Start with business processes and select application that
works for those processes

Question 19

Q5 What Are Systems Development

Activities?

Answer 19

See slide 27

Question 20

Define System Goals and Scope. What is the process of doing this.

Answer 20

Go through business planning process and then define system definition and then do requirements analysis

Question 21

Focus of Personnel Involved in BPM and

Systems Development

Answer 21

Separated into Business focus and Technology focus. One the Business side you have Business process management and on the technology side you have Database, Software, Hardware development and you have system development in the middle.

Question 22

Q6: Why Are Business Processes and
Systems Development Difficult & Risky?
35

Answer 22

1. Difficulty of determining requirements
2. Changes in requirements
3. Difficulties in involving scheduling and budgeting
4. Changing technology
5. Diseconomies of scale

Question 23

Q7: What Are the Keys for Successful
Process and Systems Development
Projects? 5 of them

Answer 23

• Create a work-breakdown structure (WBS)
– Break project into smaller tasks until each task is small
enough to estimate and manage
– Every task results in deliverables
• Estimate time and costs
• Create a project plan
• Adjust the plan via trade-offs
• Manage development challenges

Question 24

Q8: 2022?

Answer 24

• Users more knowledgeable and demanding
• More agile systems using SOA and other techniques
• More Cloud-based development
• Emergence of new software vendor business models