Lecture 2 - Business models & networks Flashcards
(?) Describe the IMA management accounting competency framework
(!) Describe what is meant by business process, business analysis & what is a business analyst?
Business process:
- Sequence of business activities
- Transform ress. from input to output for goals
- Constrained by business rules
- Evaluate w. value chain
Value chain:
Primary activities:
- Inbound logistics: Receive & storing mat.
- Operations: Transform input to output
- Outbound logistics: Warehouse
- Marketing & sales: Attract customers
- AIS increase efficiency & effectiveness
- Service activities: Support
Support activities:
- Infrastructure: CEO, finance & accounting
- HR: Recruit, training & compensation
- Technology: R&D
- Procurement: Purchasing mat. & equip.
__________
Business analysis:
- Define business process req.
- Evaluate potential improvements
- Eg. Document or communicate info on current or future business models & related tools
Busines analyst:
- Decide which info is needed
- Build IS to gather needed info
- Analyze info for helpful advice
(!) Describe Business Process Modeling notation / BPMN & its building blocks
General:
- Designed for process modeling
- For business people
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Building blocks:
General:
- Flow objects
- Poss. to add type icon. Eg. Timer
Building blocks:
- Events
- Activities
- Tasks
- Pools
- Lanes
- Sequence flows
- Message flows
- Section elements: Mark w. black clamp.
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Activities:
General:
- Rounded square
- Depend on detail level
- Connected w. arrows
Activities types:
Processes:
Subprocesses:
Tasks:
- Placed in lanes
- Show responsibility
- Only assigned one pool/lane
(!) Describe the good model factors & best practice of BPMN modelling
Good model factors:
Correct:
- Don’t violate standards
Clear:
- Unambiguous description of business process logic
Complete:
- All starts & ends
Consistent:
- Same facts = All make same model
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Best practice:
- Focus: One process at a time
- Clearly identify start & end events
- Incl. essentials: Not too detailed
- Consider token flow
- Label activities clearly: Verb & object. Eg. Pay invoice
- Model iterative: Get feedback to improve accuracy & clarity
- Use message flows
- Hide elements in external parti pool: Opaque
- Sequence flow, within, not btw. pools
(!) Describe events & different event types of BPMN
Events:
- Affect flow
- Dont contain text, but annotation can be added
- White = Beginning, Black = End
- Thin circle: Start
- Double circle: Intermediate
- Thick circle: End
Event types:
- Start event: Begins flow
- Intermediate event: In btw.
- End event: Signal end
- Message event: Envelope
- Time event: Timer
- Error event: Lightning. Gate-way. Ends process if exception occur. Eg. Refund.
(!) Describe different gateways
- Control branch & merge of path
- No text, but annotation can be added
- Inclusive: Can select more alternatives
- Exclusive: Select one alternative
- Diamond
- Parallel gateway: Must flow through all. Eg. If splitting in three
(!) Describe pool, lanes, message events, sequence flow & tokens of BPMN
Pools & lanes:
General:
- Identify participants in business process
Pools:
- Organizations
- 1 start
- Min. 1 end
Lanes:
- Departments
- Persons
__________
Message flow:
- Exchanges btw. pools in same process
- Dashed lines
- Arrow & small circle at end
- Between lanes
- Collaboration model
- Eg. Supplier & firm
____________
Sequence flow:
- Flow order
- May be two-sided
- Must not break
- Solid or dotted
- Only connect flow objects
- Arrow
Token:
- Must flow through whole process
- Dont cross message flows
- Must not get stuck
- Stay in lane
Orchestration:
- Activity sequence within one pool
(?) Give an time & boundary event example
,
(!) Describe subprocesses & repeating activities of BPMN
Subprocess:
- Hidden detailed processes/steps
- Rectangle w. plus sign
- Normally shown in other diagram
- Exception to model
Expanded subprocess:
- Embedded in current process
- Within activity rectangle
- Include start & end event
Looping:
- Repeat condition until satisfied
- Eg. Check Emails or card not approved
- If not met, trigger intermediate error event
Parallel:
- Multiinstance task
- Several thing at same time
- Eg. Many do the same thing
Sequential:
- Multi-instance task
- Several times i sequence
- Eg. Grade assignments
(!) Describe data objects, data stores & associations
Data object:
- Element representing data
- Only available during process
Data store:
- Data available across processes
Dotted line:
- Connect data objects to activities
(!) Describe business models in general & their benefits
Business model:
General:
- Simple & abstract
- Represent business process
- Describe how firms operate or plan to
- Integrate strategy, structure & IT
- Influenced by ext. forces: Social, law, competition & tech
- Info on essential business features
- Create value
- Eg. Strategy map
- Eg. BSC
__________
Benefits:
Manage complexity:
- Only essential elements
- Concise & clear info: Opposite written description
- Clear & precise illustration
- Often graphic
- Simulate potential changes
Provoke requirements:
- Communication tool
Combine viewpoints:
- One integrated view
Specify requirements:
- Document changes
- Generate software directly
Manage compliance:
- Identify legal req.
- How req. affect process
Support training:
- Employees
Manage & reuse knowledge:
- Make individual knowledge available throughout firm
- From tacit to explicit
(!) Describe documentation & reasons to it
General:
- How business- processes & systems work
- Info exchange & communication tool
- Extend based on product/process
- Ref. Accountability
__________
Reasons:
Employee training:
- Eg. User guide
Auditing:
- Req. in- & external audit
- Increase effectiveness
Accountability:
- Checklists
Standardized communication:
- Within firm
- Enterprise, customers, suppliers & stakeholders
- On input & outputs
- Common language
Facilitate process improvement:
- Efficiency
- Effectiveness
- Compliance
- Internal Control
(!) Describe the different process steps
Intention:
__________
Partner authority/action:
__________
Access controls:
- Limit who can use & change records in system
- Help implement appropriate segregation of duties
__________
Application controls:
General:
- Ensure data integrity
- Ensure audit trail
- “Garbage in, garbage out”
- Eg. Not poss. to add new cust.: Find existing one
Input validation checks:
Field checks:
- Ensure correct data type
- Eg. Numbers, zip code or dates
Validity checks:
- Ensure accepted values
- Often dropdown lists or calendars: E.g. Trivago
- Eg. Lookup
Limit & range checks:
- Ensure appropriate limits
- Entity btw. upper & lower bounds
Reasonableness checks:
- Compare entires in related fields
- Ensure reasonable values
- Eg. Pay amount for job code
Completeness checks:
- Ensure req. fields filled before record created or updated
(!) Describe the types of business models
Structure models:
- Business process model
- Blueprint of relational databases
- UML class diagram
- Can use the REA framework: Ress., events & agents
- Meet accounting & management info req.
- Support DB planning
- M-M relationship require linking table
Primary purpose:
- Create blueprints for dev. relational database to support collection, aggregation & communication of process info
If DB-planning:
- One table for each class
- One table for each M-M relation
- Multiplicities: Locate foreign key if 1-M
- Multiplicities: Link tables if M-M
___________
Activity models:
General:
- Business rules
- Analyze business processes & design changes
- Describe business process workflow
- Represent sequential workflow
- Control logic of related activities
- Tool to plan, document, discuss & implement systems
Description requirements:
1. Events starting, changing or stopping flow in process
2. Activities & tasks within process
3. Sequence of flow between tasks
4. Decision points affecting flow
5. Division of activity depending on organizational roles
Examples:
- Flowcharts
- Data flow diagrams
- Business process maps
- Functional models: IDEF0
- Business Process Model & Notation: BPMN
(?) Describe a generic sales & cash receipt model
(?) Describe a generic purchases & payment model
(!) Integrate the sales & purchases model
Notice: Elements in middle are the same, but employees may differ depending on which model
