The context for Business Process Modelling (15%) Flashcards
What systems are BA’s typically involved with?
A Business System (business analysts)
- Expressed as a set of related business processes
- Each process is a sequence of tasks conducted by roles
An IT System (system analysts)
- Provides the IT services needed to facilitate the business processes in meeting the business goals
What is a process?
‘Business processes are the means by which an organisation carries out its internal operations and delivers its products and services to its customers’
What do processes do?
Processes transform inputs into outputs to create value for a customer
i.e. Produce goods/services for its customers
Processes orchestrate the resources of the business to provide capability
Capability to achieve the organisation’s goals
Our customers don’t care how our organisation is structured, just what we deliver and how well we deliver it
What do poor processes lead to?
high costs, low customer satisfaction, low morale
What do good processes lead to?
low costs, high customer satisfaction, high morale
Why do we model business processes?
Benefits for staff/organisation/customers
Customers:
- Consistency and standardisation, customers receive a uniform experience
Biz staff:
- Understand how a process is carried out can be used for training
- Represents the hierarchical connection between tasks, processes and value streams, helps understand how their work relates to others
Organisation:
- Clarify the core activities required to deliver P&S to customers
- Business improvement - can evaluate performance and make improvements
- Demonstrate compliance
Document an undocumented process
Enforce a consistent/standard way of doing a process
Staff training now and in the future
Look for problems
Look for efficiency gains
Look for automation opportunities
Enable change for a new product or service
Satisfy a regulator
Save money
Improve customer service
Cope with mergers and acquisitions
What is the link between process modelling and business architecture?
Process Modelling is part of Business Architecture - what do we have at our disposal to deliver products and services
Provides documentation, so we know what we should be doing
Makes future change more agile and secure
Often necessary for certification (ISO etc.)
Not a project based activity
What is the link between process modelling and problem solving?
Process Modelling is part of Problem Solving
Aids communication and understanding between the stakeholders
Helps identify and solve problems
Project based activity
Mapping vs Modelling
Process Map to describe high level processes and dependencies.
Process Models describe the flow of tasks, actors and decisions (low level)
How can deploying IT improve process performance?
- Accuracy
- Speed
- Consistency
IT = enabler, not a driver
How should we approach business process modelling?
Activity Flow oriented approach
What is the de facto standard for business process modelling?
modelling at several levels
Hierarchy of Business Processes
Level 0 - Enterprise
Level 1 - Enterprise Process (processes connected by dependencies)
Level 2 - Event - Response Task (swimlane - flow introduced)
Level 3 - Actor-Task Step
Functional view of an enterprise
A common way to decompose a company is to divide it hierarchically into functional departments (e.g., sales and production)
Org charts - useful to look at structure and reporting lines
Process view
(Internal/external request)
1. Input
2. Activities - adding value
3. Output
(Delivery of product/service)
Process view focuses on what we are in business to do from our customer’s perspective
