Universitatea Politehnica Din Bucureşti

Universitatea POLITEHNICA din Bucureşti

Facultatea de Antreprenoriat, Ingineria şi Managementul Afacerilor

Management of Digital Enterprise

TEMA DE CERCETARE 1

BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING

Coordonator temă de cercetare

Sl. Dr. Ing. Maximilian Nicolae

Student masterand,

Costache Alexandra

Grupa 1

Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction 3

Chapter 2. Concepts 3

2.1. Business Process Definition 3

2.2. Business Process Model 4

2.3. Purpose 4

2.4. Stages in the development of the modeling project 4

2.5. Component parts of a BPM 5

Chapter 3. Business Process Modeling Techniques 5

3.1. Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) 5

3.2. UML Diagrams 6

3.3. Flowchart Technique 7

3.4. Data Flow Diagrams 8

3.5. Role Activity Diagrams (RAD) 9

3.6. Role Interaction Diagrams (RID) 10

3.7. Gantt Charts 11

3.8. Integrated Definition for Function Modeling (IDEF) 12

3.9. Colored Petri Nets (CPN) 13

3.10. Object Oriented Methods 14

3.11. Workflow Technique 14

3.12. Simulation 15

Conclusions 16

Bibliography 17

Chapter 1. Introduction

Business Process Modeling represents a methodology which has evolved since 1700s once the division of labor occurred.

The term ‘business’ in Business Process Modeling should be understood as ‘organization’. Business Process Modeling is not only conducted in conventional businesses; the methodology is increasingly applicable to all sorts of other organizations.

Business Process Modeling is a method used to improve organizational efficiency keeping the quality standards high.

The demand for process improvement heightened as the business complexity, and importance of information and communications technology increased, even for the smaller organizations.

Business Process Modeling aims to improve businesses by optimizing the efficiency of activities by connecting them to a product or service.

Business Process Modeling is a quality management tool, and is useful especially in change management. Other change management tools are the SWOT Analysis, Project Management methods and Balanced Scorecard. The Business Process Modeling works alongside these methods.

The term Business Process Model refers to a structural representation, or diagram, which defines a specified flow of activities in a particular organizational unit.

Chapter 2. Concepts

2.1. Business Process Definition

A business process is a set of linked tasks which find their end in the delivery of a service or product to a client. The process involves inputs and a single output. These inputs are the factors which add value to a service or product.

There are three types of processes:

• management processes,

• operational processes (which are the core business)

• supporting processes.

A process requires a set of actions to reach to a certain goal.

2.2. Business Process Model

A Business Process Model (BPM) consists of a diagram representing a sequence of activities. It shows events, actions and links or connection points, in the sequence from an end to another.

A Business Process Model includes typically both IT and people processes.

Business Process Modeling is cross-functional, addressing the work and documentation of more than one department in the organization.

In large organizations the models tend to be taken into consideration from a very wide perspective than in small organizations, due to scale and complexity.

2.3. Purpose

A Business Process Model diagram is a means to the end of increasing the business performance, meaning adding value to the customer while reducing wasted time, effort and costs, leading to increased profits.

On the other hand, the competitive advantage may increase, alongside the staff morale and retention.

There are two main types of Models: the ‘as is’ or baseline model (the current situation) and the ‘to be’ model (the desired situation) which are used to analyze, test, implement and improve the process.

2.4. Stages in the development of the modeling project

In practice developing a model follows the below steps:

• Identify the process and produce a baseline model

• Review, analyze and update the ‘as is’ process model

• Design the ‘to be’ model

• Test and implement the ‘to be’ model

• Continuously improve the new model.

2.5. Component parts of a BPM

The following information is needed before starting constructing a model:

• The outcome of the process

• The start and end points

• The business activities and their order

• The people who perform each activity

• The documents and forms used internally and externally.

Chapter 3. Business Process Modeling Techniques

3.1. Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)

BPMN is defined as a graphical representation of a business process using objects. It can also be defined as a set of graphical objects and rules representing available connections between the objects.

Image 3.1. A business process modeled using BPMN

Image 3.2. A process modeled using BPMN that has swimlanes

3.2. UML Diagrams

The UML modeling language is used to specify, visualize, develop and document the software systems. One of its main advantages is its flexibility. But there are 14 different diagram types so it might be difficult to understand them.

Image 3.3. UML technique

3.3. Flowchart Technique

Flowcharts are one of the most popular diagrams. It can be easily understood by many because it has few standard symbols. Simplicity makes it a powerful and effective tool. Flowchart represents a sequential flow of actions.

Image 3.4. A simple flowchart

3.4. Data Flow Diagrams

Data flow diagrams (DFD) show the flow of data or information. DFDs describe the processes showing their links through data stores and how the processes relate to the users and the external environment.

Image 3.5. A DFD diagram used in modeling

3.5. Role Activity Diagrams (RAD)

Roles describe a desired behavior within the organization. They are organizational functions. They may include software systems, customers and suppliers. RADs are particularly useful in supporting communication.

Image 3.6. Role activity diagram used in business process modeling

3.6. Role Interaction Diagrams (RID)

In this technique the process is represented by connecting the activities to roles in a matrix. Inputs to, and outputs from the activities are not modeled. Because important information is lost, RIDs are not so flexible.

Image 3.7. Role interaction diagram

3.7. Gantt Charts

Gantt charts associate a list of activities with a time scale. It is used to represent the process graphically and to monitor the current situation, project timeline and the allocation of resources.

Image 3.8. Gantt chart

3.8. Integrated Definition for Function Modeling (IDEF)

Integrated Definition for Function Modeling is a set of methods that addresses the modeling needs of an enterprise and its business areas.

Image 3.9. The IDEF model

3.9. Colored Petri Nets (CPN)

Colored Petri nets are a graphical oriented language used to design, specify, simulate and verify the systems. It is used when there are several processes, which communicate and synchronize; hence there is a system of processes.

Image 3.10. A diagram modeled using Colored Petri-Net

3.10. Object Oriented Methods

The Object Oriented method is based on three concepts:

• Objects that define a real-world entity

• The state of an object, i.e. one of the possible conditions in which the object may exist represented by the values of the properties (attributes)

• The behaviors represented by the state changes.

Similar objects in sets form classes.

3.11. Workflow Technique

Workflow consists in a flow of tasks between computer applications or people in an organization. It is a method to analyze and improve a process, including its modeling.

In the workflow development process the relevant information of the processes are captured. This process comprises four stages: Information Gathering, Business Process Modeling, Workflow Modeling, Implementation and Verification followed by the Execution.

Image 3.11. Work flow concept

3.12. Simulation

Simulation model is used to study a complex real-world system. The objective is to learn more about the system to make an informed decision when the complexity of the system is in the way of doing that directly.

Therefore it is proceeded indirectly by creating and studying another, which is similar to the real-world system. Simulation can have many forms like:

• continuous simulation

• Monte-Carlo simulation

• discrete-event simulation

• system dynamics

• qualitative simulation.