Day: March 25, 2014

 

5 Process Design

This chapter will discuss the key roles required, preparation for process design, key activities in process design, and key success factors for the initiative.

5.1 What is Process Design

Process design involves the creation of specifications for new and modified business processes within the context of business goals, process performance objectives, workflows, business applications, technology platforms, data resources, financial and operational controls, and integration with other internal and external processes. Both a logical design and a physical design are included as deliverables.

5.2 Why do Process Design?

Since the purpose of business process management is to ensure that an organization’s processes are effective importance of the design stage cannot be understated. During this stage that the plan for the desired state is developed whether it is for a process redesign or the development of a new process. Bypassing this crucial stage of formal design and moving directly into implementation with preconceived assumptions will inevitably lead to problems with the process and force future re-design efforts.

5.3 Process Design Roles 

The level of involvement of each role depends on the scope of the process and the degree of the change. Transformational process changes that affect the entire enterprise must have a top-down approach involving everyone within the company and be led by the executive management team.  An individual may assume more than a single role in the process improvement initiative. To avoid “re-inventing the wheel” with a bottom-up approach, the project manager should consult with other departments to determine if a similar business process improvement project already has been completed. If true, any lessons learned and approaches undertaken may be considered for this new project.

5.3.1 Executive Leadership

to ensure that the process designed will correctly meet the needs of the organization. The executive leadership must provide support and agree to the design changes before they are implemented.

5.3.2 Process Design Team

A common practice is to select a cross-functional team of individuals. If a cross-functional team is not created and the design work is left to an individual process designer, it is important that the designer validate the design with stakeholders, participants, and customers.

5.3.3 Subject Matter Experts

Since technology is used most often to manage the processes and interact with existing systems, the IT organization must also be engaged early in the initiative to ensure that any processes (or systems to monitor and control those processes) can be achieved through the available technology in the organization.

5.3.4 Participants/Stakeholders

A participant is anyone who participates in or has activities that affect the process. For larger organizations, typically one individual will represent an entire class of stakeholders. Stakeholders also play a critical part in the design process and they work closely with the process owner to ensure their interests in the performance of the new process are sufficiently met.

5.3.5 Customer

As any successful process improvement revolves around customer expectations :

• The customer should be allowed to test the process and comment on its effectiveness,
• The customer during the design stage increases the chances that the goals of

the process,

• The customer’s expected outcome are properly addressed.

5.3.6 Project Manager

If not managing the process improvement directly, the process owner will often assign a project manager to manage the process improvement initiative. This individual is responsible for the schedule and steps involved in achieving the stated goals of the initiative. The project manager is responsible for the schedule, project plan, communication plan, managing scope, and mitigating risk.

5.3.7 Facilitator

The facilitator plays a key role in the design stage of process improvement. This individual (or team of individuals) leads the team through the development of the future design of the processes.

5.3.8 Process Owners

The process owners help ensure that the new design meets the required objectives while remaining within the assigned budget.

5.4 Preparing for Process Design

During the analysis stage, the processes in the organization are listed, weighted and prioritized.  This reveals a clear picture of the weaknesses of the current process or processes and helps decide which are to be redesigned and in what order.  Once these processes are selected, the degree of the change can be assessed to make either incremental or large scale systemic changes.  Sometimes making frequent, small changes can have an equally significant effect on process performance as large radical changes, provided there is a clear and accepted vision of the future state.

5.4.1 Key Activities/Roadmap for Design

There are certain key activities that take place during the design stage of process management.  This section will address several of the most common of these key activities:

ü  Designing the new process

ü  Defining activities within the new process

ü  Defining rules that control the activities

ü  Defining handoffs of process between functional groups

ü  Defining desired metrics in the new process

ü  Gap and comparisons to existing analysis

ü  Creating the physical design

ü  IT infrastructure analysis and design

ü  Model simulation, testing and acceptance

ü  Creating an implementation plan

 

5.4.2 Designing the New Process

All of the tools or methods used have their various strengths and weaknesses.  The correct tool, methodology, and activity to define the process depend on the project goal, the culture of the organization and the current infrastructure.  The importance of process modeling, however, can be found in the discipline it provides the organization in ensuring that the model created matches the expected outcome.

5.4.3 Defining Activities within the New Process

One of the keys to a successful outcome in this task is the focus on the activities, not the actors.  Another key to success is to keep the process as simple as possible.  The more simple a process the more likely it will be completed without error.

5.4.4 Comparison to Existing Process

A comparison analysis allows a gap analysis to be performed which will show the level and scope of the change.  This analysis provides important information that can allow the process improvement team to demonstrate the savings that can be generated by the new process once the process is implemented.  This information also helps build the case for the new process which will assist in managing resistance to change.

A comparison analysis also allows the process design team to revisit the existing state and ensures that the new design does, in fact, meet the expected goals and resolve the issues discovered in the analysis stage.

5.4.5   Creating a Physical Design

The physical design determines HOW each activity or task is to be performed—manual or automated means or a combination of each. All the resource categories for people, technology, and facilities must be considered.

The degree of detail to be planned, documented, and evaluated for a physical design is dependent upon the magnitude of the business process change. Small projects may only require a brief, but accurate statement for changing existing processes or activities.

5.4.6 IT Infrastructure Analysis and Design

Involving the IT professionals in the design stage ensures that the process can be automated and that data can flow seamlessly between systems and activities within the process.

When involving the IT organization, here are some key concerns that should be

addressed:

• What software or systems best match the needs of the process?
• Are there limitations in the current infrastructure that limit the design?
• Can the design be implemented quickly?
• What will be the impact to the organization?
• Can a staged approach be employed?
• What will the new implementation cost (including training, technology, etc.)?
• Are there vendors that can assist in the implementation?

5.4.7 Creating an Implementation Plan

Some key issues that might arise during the design stage include: defining change management techniques that ensure employee support of the new process, identifying which existing systems will be affected including how change to these systems should be accomplished (incremental shift or immediate change), and whether the new process is piloted or tested.  Once the new process has been designed, the concerns can be reviewed using an implementation plan created to appropriately address those concerns.

5.4.8 Model Simulation and Testing

As a final activity in the design process, the new process should be tested.

There’s three option for tested the new process :

1)      Role-playing, during which you send fake inputs through the process to test it, involves assigning relevant process roles to people (not necessarily team members).

2)      In a practice run, the new process has been designed, real inputs are used, and the people who will actually be working in the process participate.  The practice run is different from role-playing in that a role player might not actually perform that step when the process is enabled.

3)      Simulation involves the use of computer software and hardware.  The new process flow and key performance metrics are tested under various scenarios to find bottlenecks and other problems.

Roleplaying, practice, and simulation have multiple advantages.

First, there is no risk.  The new process can be debugged without any negative consequences.

Second, role-playing, practice, and simulation can demonstrate to people the dependability of the new design.

The next option is to test the design in a pilot.  During a pilot, the new design is run for real but the scope of the process is constrained. A pilot is slightly more risky than a role-playing, practice, or simulation because it involves real products, customers, and services. Thus a problem can have negative consequences.

The advantages to a pilot are several.

• First, risk is constrained.  Pilots are closely monitored so if a problem does occur, it can be fixed immediately.
• Second, the people working in the pilot can become super-trainers as you introduce to the rest of the organization.
• Third, the pilot is another opportunity for skeptics to visit the pilot location and learn from those working the pilot.

 

Finally, when testing the new design, it is important that all involved in the process from senior management to all participants be allowed to comment on the new process.  This not only provides valuable information as to the effectiveness of the process but also

creates organizational acceptance and enthusiasm for the change.

5.5 Process Design Principles

 

5.5.1 Design around Customer Interactions

Every customer interaction is an opportunity to enhance the reputation of the organization. The customer experience is the sum of the quality of each customer contact point.

When considering customer interactions during the design stage of process improvement, it is important to consider all the different opportunities where the customer could contact the organization.

The customer experience is dependent upon the primary business processes that directly interact with the customer and the internal support processes that indirectly influence customer experience quality. Thus, serious attention, perhaps with different issues, also must be directed to these support processes.

5.5.2 Design around Value-Adding Activities

Transforming information or material to meet customer requirements creates value-adding activities. In addition, any step the customer is willing to pay for, such as a service, is also value-adding.  Study the “as-is” process flowchart and determine exactly where the value-adding activities are performed. Then, extract these activities from the “as-is” process and explore a means to enable the value-adding activities efficiently and effectively.

Combining the activity’s “what” and “who” at this stage will distract the team from developing a creative, unique process solution. After an effective process flow is created, then a discussion can ensue regarding who is responsible for the work required to enable the process. To circumvent this situation, look for valueadding activities to optimize instead. Simply by focusing and optimizing value-adding activities, the non-value-adding activities will Dissolve thereby avoiding any Potential confrontation that may create resistance to the redesign project.

5.5.3 Minimize Handoffs

A “handoff” in business process management occurs when ownership of an activity or information is passed from one individual to another.

A key success factor is to simplify the handoffs and limit handoffs when possible. Automating handoffs through technology will also assist in reducing errors and speed up the activity between individuals and groups.

5.5.4 Work is Performed Where it Makes the Most Sense

Task assignment occurs after an effective process flow is designed.  Application of the first design principle may negate some existing work, create new work, and/or may move work from one department to another.

5.5.5 Provide a Single Point of Contact

A common symptom of not having a single point of contact is multiple transfers of customers’ calls. A single point of contact can be a person such as a project manager, process consultant, or customer service representative.  In addition, a single point of contact could be a data repository like an intranet.

5.5.6 Create a Separate Process for Each Cluster

Often a single process attempts to handle every variation.  However, process inputs and outputs can often vary by complexity, type, size, and so forth.  For some variations, the process might work smoothly, but for others it might be cumbersome and slow.

5.5.7 Ensure a Continuous Flow

In a manufacturing process, steps that directly add value to the customer such as delivering supplies, building the product, and shipping it, represent the main sequence. In lean terminology the main sequence is the value stream.  In a service process, the steps that make and deliver the service are the main sequence.  The customer pays for the output of the value stream.  This is a means by which an organization earns revenue.

5.5.8 Reduce Batch Size

Batching causes wait time for items at the end of the batch. Batching causes inventory to build as it moves through your process. As you cut batch sizes, you start creating a smoother flow through the process. Ultimately, a batch size of one or processing transactions in real-time is ideal.

5.5.9 Bring Downstream Information Needs Upstream

There are two ways of implementing a design principle.  If the process is routine and not complex, the upstream person should be trained or given a template or check sheet to capture what the downstream person needs.  However, this solution will not work when the process is complex and/or changes frequently.  For complex processes, the downstream person must be brought upstream during a redesign to receive information directly from the source.

5.5.10 Capture Information Once at the Source and Share It

If a process requires entering the same data more than once, then the design principle is appropriate.  Root out data redundancy, re-keying, and reconciliation. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is designed to accomplish this principle.  However, knowledge of the processes must be clear before installing an ERP system.

5.5.11 Involve as few as possible

There are some advantages to cross-training.

• First, work often doesn’t arrive at an organization in a steady, even flow. Instead there are spikes and bottlenecks in the workload.  With more cross-trained workers, bottlenecks can be broken as more workers are qualified to manage them.

 

• Second, if a person does more of the work, he or she will take increased pride in the outcome.  This person can see his or her major contribution to the whole. This pride increases the desire to produce a quality product or service.

 

5.5.12 Redesign, then Automate

One of the worst things an organization can do is take the “as-is” flowchart and lay information technology on top of it.  This is bad for two reasons. First, information technology can be expensive. Second, despite the investment, the problem might not be solved and automating it could magnify the issue. Otherwise, a faster but much more expensive and still ineffective process may result.

 

5.5.13 Ensure Quality at the Beginning

Quality problems encountered in the first several steps of a process will create exponentially negative effects downstream. There are certain stages in a process where an investment in time and money are warranted and the beginning is one of them.  Time and money spent upfront to ensure quality, also emphasized by Lean thinking, pays for itself in preventing reviews and rework later.

 

5.5.14 Standardize Processes

Sometimes a significant variation in output is caused by five people doing the same process five different ways.  This creates three concerns.

• First, with this kind of variation, it’s difficult to improve the process.
• Second, when a problem occurs, it is difficult to determine if it is a process or training problem.
• Third, how can there be process control when there’s no standardization?  It’s much easier to find the root cause of a problem when people standardize their work.

 

 

5.5.15 Use Co-located or Networked Teams for Complex Issues

Complex problems require people to pour over information and data in real time. If complex problems occur regularly, consider co-locating team members. If co-location doesn’t make sense, then network the team so information can smoothly flow.

 

5.5.16 Consider Outsourcing Business Processes

Several organizations may decide that the best course of action is to outsource one or more processes to companies that specialize in the performance of that process. Outsourcing certain processes can free up the organization to focus on other more strategic processes that add greater value to the organization.  If outsourcing is considered, it should be compared to the costs of designing the process in-house as well as compared to the risks associated with outsourcing.

5.6 Process Rules

 

Business rules define how or when a particular activity can be performed and help control the flow of the activity. When defining business rules, the tendency for most organizations is to make them complex in order to eliminate confusion and emphasize control.  Complexity in a set of business rules that govern an activity creates complexity in the process.  The more complex the process is, the more opportunities for the process to fail.  As a best practice, business rules should be applied when necessary.

 

5.7 Process Compliance

 

Most industries have standards and guidelines relating to the execution of their business processes.  Some of these are actual laws and non-compliance can result in stiff penalties or even jail time for company officers.  Several examples are listed below:

 

• ANSI—American National standards Institute

• ISO—International Standards Organization

• HIPPA—Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

• SOX–Sarbanes – Oxley

• Others– industry specific

 

5.8 Considerations

 

There are several critical factors to consider when creating a successful process design. These success factors, if not considered, can quickly become serious pitfalls during the design stage and can prevent a successful outcome of the new process.  Therefore attention to the details of these success factors should be observed throughout the design stage.

 

5.8.1 Executive Leadership

it is vital that the executive leadership not only agree to the change but is visibly seen as the promoter, leader and champion of such change.

 

5.8.2 Process Ownership

All too often organizations assign ownership of the process change initiative to a project manager who has little or no authority over the actual process. Those organizations that have successfully implemented process management testify that a process owner manage the change initiative.

 

Process ownership can take the form of a single individual responsible for the process, a cross-functional team of department directors or other type of management.  When the burden of success for the initiative is placed on the process owner there is a much higher probability that the process will meet its stated expectations.

5.8.3 Incentive and Rewards

A successful process management system will have incentive programs built into place and encourage the adoption of the new process and changed roles and behaviors. These incentives should be based on the goals established in the analysis and are most effective when aligned with the customer’s expectations and corporate strategy.

 

5.8.4 Cross-Functional Teams

The true success in BPM lies in the ability to tie together seamlessly all of the functions to meet the needs of the customer.  The success of these efforts depends on the degree of participation from all the functional groups that touch the process.

 

5.8.5 Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement implies that small changes that happen frequently can have a powerful cumulative effect. One of the key benefits of a BPM system is the agility it brings to the organization and that agility should be demonstrated within the BPM change process itself.

 

5.8.6 Commitment to Investment

Although one of the goals of business process management is to reduce cost, there are often initial financial investments that must be made before that reduction is realized. These financial investments are in the form of consultant services, new technology and possibly of additional resources.  The organization’s leadership must be committed to make the necessary investment to ensure the process improvement is successful before the return on the investment is achieved.

 

5.8.7 Alignment with Strategy

Understanding the business strategy and its relationship to the customer is critical in the design of the new process.  A successful business strategy is one that is designed around the needs of the customer.  Careful design considerations should be made to ensure that all activities in the process work toward the end goal of meeting that customer need and realizing the business strategy.

 

5.9 Conclusions

The process design stage in a process improvement initiative attempts to define the new process state and outlines the steps necessary to achieve that state.  Throughout this chapter the key activities, critical success factors and suggested practices for achieving a successful process design have been discussed. The next step, addressed in the following chapter, is to implement the new design.

 

 

 

 

Basic Concept Of Business Process Management

• Business is exchanging the goods or services into some valuable things.
• Business Process is a set of ativities that relates to each other and it happens continously to get the goal.
• Management is like Planning, Organizing, Actuating, and Controlling something to be more effective and efficient.
• Business Process Management is a set activity of Planning, Organizing, Actuating, and Controlling the goods or services to reach the goal.

Core Concepts of Business Process Management

• BPM is a management discipline and a set of enabling technologies
• BPM addresses end-to-end work and distinguishes between sets of sub processes, tasks, activities and functions
• BPM is a continuous, ongoing set of processes focused on managing an organizations end-to-end business processes
• BPM includes the modeling, analysis, design and measurement of an organization’s business processes
• BPM requires a significant organizational commitment, often introducing new roles, responsibilities, and structures to traditional functionally oriented organizations
• BPM is technology enabled with tools for visual modeling, simulation, automation, integration, control and monitoring of business processes and the information systems which support these processes

BPM Life Cycle

 

 

The management practice of BPM may be characterized as a continuous lifecycle (process) of integrated BPM activities.

• Planning and Strategy

This phase sets the plan and strategy for the BPM process to ensure a compelling value proposition for customers.

• Analysis

Analysis assimilates information from strategic plans, process models, performance measurements, changes in the environment, and other factors in order to fully understand the business processes in the context of the overall organization.

• Design

Design activities may look at standardizing or automating current ad hoc activities, while more mature design activities may look at redesign or radically reminding a process, or incremental improvements designed for optimization.

• Modeling

Understanding the process typically involves process modeling and an assessment of the environmental factors which enable and constrain the process.

• Measuring and Monitoring

They provide the information necessary for process managers to adjust resources in order to meet process objectives. And also provide the critical process performance information through key measurements related to goals and value to the organization.

• Transformation

Process transformation implements the output of the iterative analysis and design cycle. It also addresses organizational change management challenges to optimize the process.

 

Factors that effect to BPM Lifecycle :

• Culture

It includes the organization values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs and habits that affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders.

• Leadership

A good leader must influence their staffs to finish their task then achieve the organizational goal.

• Value

Value is something quite real and concrete,to get the value you must think about being of service.

• Belief

Beliefs are nothing more than working assumptions. Belief may or may not be true or even rational. But belief is at the heart of making your leadership work.

 

Types of Processes

 

• Primary Processes

Primary processes are end-to-end, cross-functional processes which directly deliver value to customers.

 

• Support Processes

Support processes are managing resources and/or infrastructure required by primary processes. It does not directly deliver value to customers. Examples of support processes include information technology management, facilities or capacity management, and human resource management.

 

• Management Processes

Management processes are used to measure, monitor, and control business activities. Management processes do not directly add value to customers, it ensures the organization operates effectively and efficiently.

 

Types of Activities

 

• Value Added

Contributing to the process output in a positive way.

• Handoff

Passing control of the process to another department or organization.

• Controls and Control Activities

Controls can assure that the processes behave within desired tolerances to ensure processes achieve goals and adhere to standards, legal, and/or regulatory requirements.

Control activities can prevent, detect or correct undesirable conditions or change the flow of a process to ensure that process goals are met.

 

BPM Critical Success Factors

 

• Alignment of Strategy, Value Chain and Business Process

BPM relies on key business strategies that set the primary direction of the enterprise, usually in terms of value propositions for goods and services delivered to customers.

• Goals

It is an output of an organizations strategic planning efforts, and it is typically decomposed to include functional goals which align an organizations functional areas to overall strategy.

• Executive Sponsorship/Governance

Assign executive leadership responsibility to oversee the performance of key processes in order to optimize the impact on value chain performance.

• Process Ownership

A process owner is responsible for the entire end-to-end process across functional departments.

• Metrics, Measures and Monitoring

They provide critical feedback on process design, performance, and compliance.

• Institution Practices

Create value for an enterprise and its customers with the organizational practices and mastery of concepts and skills by individuals.

In order to understand the workings of a process, it is useful to have some standards and measures of quality as it relates to process modeling as well as for working to improve the operational, documentation requirements , so that the process can run on the control modeling carried out in accordance decisions taken and the influence of methods and techniques used during the modeling of a process, several disconnections, restrictions, and/or barriers may become apparent. to assess a process that is done , some companies use the scoring , to make it look the quality of the process

Model Validation and Simulation

Perform validation and simulation may be required prior to completing the analysis , as well as to compare the actual output of the simulation results , it may be able to find out how accurate the model

 

Modeling Perspectives

Processes can be modeled from many perspectives, this is  an example representation of the different perspectives which may need to be maintained.

Enterprise Domain

The top perspective is for those who need to see how the enterprise operates overall and that the primary processes are arranged in some category that gives a sense of their interaction.

Business Domain

A business view supports each of the process owners who is accountable for and has the authority to address overall process performance.

Operations Domain

Detail model support manager perspectives who responsible to continuously improve operational performance.

Systems Domain

A perspective that identifies how work gets done and how the systems support that work is the systems perspective.

Builder and Operator

The lowest level models support the individuals who have to build all of the support systems to enable work and to operate the systems that are required to continue to perform that work.

Modeling standards and notation

Some of the benefit of using a standards based approach include the following:

• A common symbology, language, and technique which facilitate communication and understanding
• Standards-based models provide common and consistently defined processes definitions which eases the process of design, analysis and measurement and facilitates model reuse
• An ability to leverage modeling tools based on common standards and notations
• An ability to import and export models created in various tools for reuse in other tools
• Some tool vendors are leveraging standards and notations for developing the ability to be exported from a modeling notation to an execution language (for example BPMN to BPEL)

So, there are some description of some of the most commonly encountered model notation.

1. Business Process Modeling Noation (BPMN)

BPMN appears o be emerging as the largest, most widely accepted business process modeling notation in the industry. It provides a simple, yet robust, symbology for modeling all aspects of business processes. Developed by Business Process Management Initiative

 

1. Flow charting

Flow charting is widely used and is based upon a simple set of symbology for tasks, decisions, and other primary process elements.

A typical flow chart may have the following kinds of symbols:

• Start and end symbols represented as lozenges, ovals, or rounded rectangles usually containing the word “Start” or “End”, or anotherphrase signaling the start or end of a process such as “submit enquiry” or “receive product.”
• Arrows coming from one symbol and ending at another indicate that control passes from one symbol to the next.
• Processing steps are represented as rectangles.
• Input/Output is represented as a parallelogram
• Condition (or decision) is represented as a diamond (rhombus). These typically contain a Yes/No question or True/False test. This symbol is unique in that it has two arrows coming out of it, usually fromthe bottom point and right point, one corresponding to Yes or True, and one corresponding to No or False. The arrows should always be labeled. More than two arrows can be used, but this is normally a clear indicator that a complex decision is being taken, in which case it may need to be broken down further or replaced with the “pre-defined process” symbol.
• There are also a number of other symbols that have less universal currency.

 

1. 3.       Swim Lanes

Swim lanes are an addition to the “boxes and arrows” process flow view of flow-charting that show how the work flows across organizational units oris handed-off from one role to another.  By arranging the flow of activities and tasks across these rows, it is easy to visualize handoffs in the work; a critical aspect of the Rummler-Brache process analysis which is focused on minimizing and managing handoffs

1. Event Process Chain (EPC)

Event Process Chains are very similar to activity diagrams regarding the addition of events or outcomes of tasks. An EPC is an ordered graph ofevents and functions. It provides various connectors that allow alternative and parallel execution of processes. The tasks (activities) are followed by outcomes (events) of the task, developing a very detailed process model.

1. Value Chain

Value chain notation is used todemonstrate a single continuous flow from left to right of the sub-processes that directly contribute  to producing value for the organization’s customers (clients/constituents).

1. 6.       Unified Modeling Language (UML)

UML provides a standard set of nine or more diagramming techniques and notations primarily for describing information systems requirements. While UML is primarily used for systems analysis and design, a limited number of organizations also use UML activity diagrams for business process modeling.

 

1. 7.       IDEF-0

IDEF-0 is a Federal Information ProcessingStandard (FIPS). It is a notation and technique that is one part of a methodology for defining the work processes and information systems in manufacturing environments. It was widely used and available in many diagramming tools for many years and is now in the public domain

1. LOVEM-E

LOVEM-E (Line of Visibility Engineering Method – Enhanced) is a notation set and a modeling technique. Whatis unique about LOVEM-E is that it adds to flow charting with swim lanes, a concept of the customer encounter and the collaborative nature of work between external and internal parties, and the supporting information systems.

 

1. 9.      SIPOC

SIPOC stands for Supplier, Input, Process, Output, and Customer. It is a style of process documentation used inSix Sigma. There is no standard or preferred notation set and this technique may be satisfied by completing a table with those headings.

1. Systems Dynamics

Systems Dynamics models are “activity on arrow” diagrams rather than “activity on node” diagrams like most of the other notations listed. Systems dynamics models are especially useful in developing dynamic lifecycle type models that focus on the overall business system’s performance and the impact of changing the key variables that affect overall performance. These are more often used to model an entire enterprise orline of business rather than lower level workflow type models. System Dynamics models are often used to describe the enterprise business “architecture” from a dynamicbehavioral perspective ratherthan a static structural

perspective.

1. 11.   Value Stream Mapping

Value Stream Mapping is a technique used in Lean Manufacturing. Not to be confused with value chain notation, Value Stream Mapping expresses the physical environment and flow of materials and products in a manufacturing environment.

 

 

 

Modeling Participants

The development of process models may involve many people to create a set of models thatfully represent the process. Business strategists, business managers, financial analysts, auditors, and compliance analysts, process performance analysts, requirements analysts, systems analysts,or others may create different process models for their particular purposes. Models can be created by individuals expressing their personal knowledge or models can be created by groups outlining the scope and depth of the business theyare addressing. For redesign efforts, information systems personnel who develop the requirements for IT support must consider organizational design personnel who determining roles, responsibilities and reporting structures, or financial personnel who are measuring cost and value options.

Modeling Techniques and Tools

White Boarding and Flip Charts

Using a white board with erasable markers to draw the process flows and flip charts to capture other information and then later transcribing the results into drawing or modeling and reporting tools is a common method used in workshops, interviews or structured/facilitated modeling sessions.

Butcher Paper and Sticky-notes

Another common workshop technique is to cover the walls of a room with taped up Butcher paper and have the workshop participants put removable sticky-notes on the paper until they have arranged the activities into the sequence on which they agree. Sometimes this is done with the participants directing the facilitator in the placement of these activities, and other times the participants place the notes depicting activities. The resulting model must then be transcribed into a drawing or modeling and reporting tool later.

Drawing Tools and Reports

During or after the interviews and workshops, participants capture and process flow
records using a cheap image, such as Visio, PowerPoint or other
electronic drawing tool. Often times, these images inserted into a Word document or
PowerPoint presentation as a means of reporting findings and share the results.

Electronic Modeling and Projection

Utilizing electronic drawing or modeling tools and projecting the images to large screens to capture and view the developing models.

Process Simulation

 Overview

Simulations require sufficient data which typically allows the process to be mathematically simulated under various scenarios, loads, etc. Simulation can be used to achieve the following:

• Validate a model by demonstrating that real transaction sets, when run through
• the model exhibit, produce the same performance characteristics as those in the
• actual process
• Predict the process design’s performance under differing scenarios (vary the
• number of transactions over time, the number of workers, etc.)
• Determine which variables have the greatest affect on process performance
• Compare performance of different process designs  under the same sets of
• Circumstances

Process laboratories are often used as part of a process improvement, redesign, or reengineering effort

Mock Trials

Mock trials can be similar to events run in a process laboratory. However, mock trials are typically one-off testing events versus the ongoing study and simulation often found in laboratories. Mock trials include running test transactions based on actual or sample data from real processes on an end-to-end basis.

Technical Simulation/Load analysis

Some process simulation tools provide the ability to perform load analysis. For example, simulating peak, average, and valley transaction loads predict impact on cycle time, resource requirements, bottlenecks, etc. Some of the typical analyses are resource utilization, distribution analysis, cycle time analysis, and cost analysis. Some process simulation tools can also present animations of the simulations. Animations may be helpful in visually identifying phenomena during performance that may not be readily apparent in typical analysis of simulation data sets.

What is Process design ?

Process design is activities that involves creating specification for new and modified business processes within the context of business goals, process performance objectives, workflows,business applications, technology platforms, data resources, financial and operational controls, and integration with other internal and external processes. Both a logical design (what activities are performed) and a physical design (how the activities are performed) are included as deliverables

The most common initiatives behind business process design projects are:
• customer and supply chain management
• operational performance improvement
• business process integration and automation
• cost reduction
• new business opportunities.

the process design activities can range from modest (e.g. change the existing processes and look for some quick wins) to aggressive (e.g. identify major opportunities to increase value or decreased costs through radical process improvement or outsourcing).

The following are roles that play a critical part in the definition of process design :
• Executive Leadership
• Process Design Team
• Subject Matter Experts
• Customer

• Stakeholders
The role of executive leadership during the design of a process is to ensure that the process designed will correctly meet the needs of the organization.

• Facilitator
plays a key role in the design stage of process improvement. Thisindividual (or team of individuals) leads the team through the development of the future
design of the processes. It is usually best that this individual or team be process professionals with knowledge in both business processes and the needs of the organization.

• Process Owners
During the design of the process, the process owners help ensure that the new design meets the required objectives while remaining within the assigned budget

Before beginning any process design the process professional will review those deliverables from the analysis stage.There are some way to prepare :
1. Key Activities/Roadmap for Design
• Designing the new process
• Defining activities within the new process
• Defining rules that control the activities
• Defining handoffs of process between functional groups
• Defining desired metrics in the new process
• Gap and comparisons to existing analysis
• Creating the physical design
• IT infrastructure analysis and design
• Model simulation, testing and acceptance
• Creating an implementation plan

2. Designing the New Process
There are many ways to design the new process from using simple white boards through sophisticated software modeling tools that allow the storage and retrieval of
processes.there are also many different informational gathering activities (brain storming, story creation, etc.) that can be used to facilitate the creation of the model.All of the tools or methods used have their various strengths and weaknesses. The correct tool, methodology, and activity to define the process depend on the project goal, the culture of the organization and the current infrastructure

3. Defining Activities within the New Process
Activities are a series of steps that are performed to execute a process. During an order fulfillment process, for example, the activities would include entering the order, packing the order, shipping the order, and billing for the order. Each one must be performed for the order process to be complete and often the steps depend on one another and so must be completed in sequence.

4. Comparison to Existing Process
The new processes should also be compared to the existing state. Benefits of the comparison analysis are:
-Allows a gap analysis to be performed which will show the level and scope of the change
-Provides important information that can allow the process improvement team to demonstrate the savings that can be
generated by the new process once the process is implemented
-The information also helps build the case for the new process which will assist in managing resistance to
change
-Through the documentation of the gap between the old and new process, the information provides weight to
the need for the organization to manage by process
-The gap between the old and new can also show the degree of the savings that can be achieved via process improvements
in other areas of the organization.
Finally, a comparison analysis also allows the process design team to revisit the existing state and ensures that the new
design does, in fact, meet the expected goals and resolve the issues discovered in the analysis stage.

5. Creating a Physical Design
-This physical design determines HOW each activity or task is to be performed.
-Small projects may only require a brief, but accurate statement for changing existing processes or activities.
-The larger or more transformational projects will require significant detail before moving forward to actual
implementation.

6. IT Infrastructure Analysis and Design
When involving the IT organization, here are some key concerns that should be addressed:
• What software or systems best match the needs of the process?
• Are there limitations in the current infrastructure that limit the design?
• Can the design be implemented quickly?
• What will be the impact to the organization?
• Can a staged approach be employed?
• What will the new implementation cost (including training, technology, etc.)?
• Are there vendors that can assist in the implementation?

7. Creating an Implementation Plan
Once the new process has been designed, the concerns can be reviewed using an implementation plan created to appropriately
address those concerns.

A process is a defined set of sequential or parallel activities or behaviors to achieve a goal. Process analysis is creating an understanding of the activities of the process and measures the success of those activities in meeting the goals. Process analysis is accomplished through various techniques including mapping, interviewing, simulations and various other analytical techniques and methodologies.

The process analysis, becomes an essential tool to show how well the business is meeting its objectives. It does soby creating an understanding of how work (the transformation of inputs to outputs) happens in the organization.

The information generated from this analysis will include the following:

1. Strategy, culture, and environment of the organization that uses the process (why the process exists)
2. Inputs and outputs of the process
3. Stakeholders, both internal and external, including suppliers, customers and their needs and expectations
4. Inefficiencies within the current process
5. Scalability of the process to meet customer demands
6. Business rules that control the process and why they must exist
7. What performance metrics should monitor the process, who is interested in those metrics and what they mean
8. What activities make up the process and their dependencies across departments and business functions
9. Improved resource utilization
10. Opportunities to reduce constraints and increase capacity

 

• When to Perform Analysis

The need to analyze a process can be the result of continuous monitoring of processes or can be triggered by specific events. The impact occurs :

1. Continuous Monitoring

This continuous analysis benefits the organization in numerous ways. First, it alerts management to potential poor performance of the process and can help point to the cause of the poor performance such as system deviations, competition, environmental factors, etc. Next, the real-time feedback through continuous analysis provides a measurement for the human performance and reward systems.

1. Event-Triggered Analysis

The following are just a few of the events that may trigger a process analysis.

–          Strategic Planning

–          Performance Issues

–          New Technologies

–          Startup Venture

–          Merger/Acquisition

–          Regulatory Requirements

• Process Analysis Roles

Several additional roles are also necessary to perform a process analysis and are defined below. One of the first steps in a process analysis is to establish and assign those roles. The individual or group ultimately responsible for the performance of the process, whether it is the process owner or the executive leadership team, should carefully select those who will lead and manage the team in the various roles to ensure successful completion of the project and that the analysis is comprehensive and accurately represents the state of the process.

1. Optimal Team Attributes
2. Responsibilities of Analysis Roles

–          Analyst

–          Facilitator

–          Subject Matter Experts

Process modeling combines a set of processes and skills which provide insight and understanding of business process and enable analysis, design and performance measurements.

3.1 Business Process Modeling

“Business Process Modeling” is the set of activities involved in creating representations of an existing or proposed business process.

A process model may contain one or more diagrams, information about the objects on the diagram, information about the relationships between the objects, information about the relationships between the objects and their environment, and information about how the objects represented behave or perform.

 

3.1.1 Diagram vs. Map vs. Model (more precision, simulate)

The terms, process diagram, process map, and process model are often used interchangeably or synonymously. However, process diagrams, maps, and models have different purposes and useful application. In practice it is more often the case that diagram, map, and model are different stages of development, each adding more information, utility and capability in understanding, analyzing and designing processes.

 

A process diagram often depicts simple notation of the basic workflow of a process. The diagram depicts the major elements of a process flow, but omits the minor details which are not necessary for understanding the overall flow of work.

 

Mapping implies more precision than a diagram and will tend to add more detail about not only the process, but also some of the more important relationships to other things such as performers (actors), events, results, etc.

 

Modeling implies that the representation can be used to represent the performance of what is being modeled and therefore more precision, more data about the process, and more data about the factors that affect its performance. Modeling is often done using tools that provide simulation and reporting capability which is helpful to analyze and understand the process.

 

3.1.2 Process Attributes and Characteristics

Processes have attributes and characteristics which describe the properties, behavior, purpose, or other elements of the process. Often, process attributes are captured in a tool in order to organize, analyze, and manage an organization’s portfolio of processes. Characteristics enable various analyses of the process performance.

 

3.2 Purpose of Modeling

The objective of process modeling is to create a representation of the process that describes it accurately and sufficiently for the task at hand. Process models have many benefits in managing business operations such as understanding the business process, enhancing communications by creating a visible representation, and establishing a commonly shared perspective. In business process management, the models are the means for managing the organization’s processes, analyzing process performance, and defining changes. They are the expression of the target business state and specify the requirements for the supporting resources that enable effective business operations: people, information, facilities, automation, finance, energy, etc.

 

Some of the most common reasons for creating process models are as follows:

• To document an existing process clearly

• To use as a training aide

• To use as an assessment against standards and compliance requirements

• To understand how a process will perform under varying loads or in response to some anticipated change

• As the basis for analysis in identifying opportunities for improvement

• To design a new process or new approach for an existing process

• To provide a basis for communication and discussion

• To describe requirements for a new business operation

 

3.3 Benefits of Modeling

In a process managed business, process models are the primary means for measuring performance against standards, determining opportunities for change, and expressing the desired end state preceding a change effort.

 

These are some benefits of modeling:

• Models are relatively fast, easy and inexpensive to complete

• Models are easy to understand (when compared to other forms of documentation)

• Models provide a baseline for measurement

• Models facilitate process simulation and impact analysis

• Models leverage various standards and a common set of techniques