Chapter 3Business Processes

Let’s quickly look at the Ford Payment case What are the elements of the WCA? Customer, product, business process,

participants, information and technology Today we’re going to drill down on the

business process and information– We want to look at the business processes and

information for background as we look at DFD’s and flowcharts

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Table 3.1Ford’s New Payables System

CUSTOMER

Ford’s suppliers

Ford’s manufacturing and purchasing departments

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Table 3.1Ford’s New Payables System

PRODUCT

Verification that the the order was fulfilled correctly bythe supplier

Payment to the supplier

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Table 3.1Ford’s New Payables System

BUSINESS PROCESS

Major Steps:

•Order material

•Receive shipments

•Reconcile receipts with purchase orders

•Pay suppliers

Rationale:

•store purchase orders in a shared database

•accept shipments only if they match the purchase order

•pay on receipt, not invoice

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Table 3.1Ford’s New Payables System

PARTICIPANTS

Purchasing department

Receiving department

Accounts payable department

INFORMATION

Purchase order

Receipt confirmation

TECHNOLOGY

Computer systemsupporting a shareddatabase

Process Modeling: Documenting Business Process Architecture Data Flow Diagrams Flowcharts

Data Flow Diagrams

Simple, easy-to-use symbols

Context diagram

The “big picture” for the process and the external interfaces

High level DFD

Ford’s original purchasing system, per the case

Dividing one process into subprocesses The order process can be seen as:

Adding more detail with flowcharts Standard flowchart symbols… Do you see any outdated symbols?

A sample flowchart

Now, let’s work through an example Take a look at Web-based class registration

– First a context diagram– Then a process-oriented DFD– Then a Flowchart

Let’s consider Architectural Characteristics of a Business Process Degree of Structure Range of Involvement Level of Integration Complexity Degree of Reliance on Machines Attention to Planning, Execution & Control Treatment of Exceptions & Errors

What do these characteristics mean?

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Table 3.2Impacts of Architectural Characteristics of Business Processes

DEGREE OF STRUCTURE

Problem if the level is too high:•People doing the work are prevented from their judgement.•People doing the work feel like cogs in a machine because they have too little autonomy.

Problem if the level is too low:•Easily forseeable errors occur because well-understood rules are not applied consistently.•Outputs are inconsistent.

RANGE OF INVOLVEMENT

Problem if the level is too high:•Work is slowed down because too many people get involved before steps are completed.

Problem if the level is too low:•Work is performed based on narrow or personal considerations considerations, resulting indecisions that may not be the best for the overall organization.

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Table 3.2Impacts of Architectural Characteristics of Business Processes

LEVEL OF INTEGRATION

Problem if the level is too high:•Steps in the process are too intertwined.•Participants in different business processes get in each other’sway.•To change one step it is necessary to analyze too many other steps or processes.

Problem if the level is too low:•Steps in the processes are too independent.•The process needs greater integration to produce results.

COMPLEXITY

Problem if the level is too high:•Participants, managers, and programmers have difficulty understanding how the systemoperates or what will happen if it is changed.

Problem if the level is too low:•The system cannot handle the different cases that it should be able to handle.

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Table 3.2Impacts of Architectural Characteristics of Business Processes

DEGREE OF RELIANCE ON MACHINES

Problem if the level is too high:•People become disengaged from their work.•People’s skills may decrease.•Mistakes occur because people overestimate what the computers areprogrammed to handle.

Problem if the level is too low:•Productivity and consistency decrease as bored people perform repetitive workthat computers could do more efficiently.

ATTENTION TO PLANNING, EXECUTION, AND CONTROL

Problem if the level is too high:•Too much effort goes into planning and controlling within the process, and notenough goes into execution.

Problem if the level is too low:•Insufficient effort in planning and control leaves the business process inconsistentand unresponsive to customer requirements

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Table 3.2Impacts of Architectural Characteristics of Business Processes

TREATMENT OF EXCEPTIONS, ERRORS, AND MALFUNCTIONS

Problem if the level is too high:•The process focuses on exceptions and becomes inefficient and inconsistent.

Problem if the level is too low:•The process fails altogether or handles exceptions incorrectly, resulting in lowproductivity or poor quality and responsiveness perceived by customers.

For our example of class registration, let’s consider: How the process maps onto the

architectural characteristics described in the chapter

How the process would change with modifications of the characteristics

Evaluating Business Process Performance Rate of Output Consistency Productivity Cycle Time Flexibility Security

Again, for our example of class registration, let’s consider: What performance variables are most

important? What performance variables are the least

important? How can we measure the performance of

the system?

Is Management a Business Process? What do managers do? What type of information does a manager

need?