MIST 5750 Final Exam

Parallelism

"Activities in a business process are often ordered in a strictly sequential way even though there is no good reason for doing so. Some activities may well be carried out in an arbitrary order or even simultaneously. By allowing a less restrictive choice on the order in which activities are executed, a business process can be carried out faster."

Activity Elimination

"Eliminate unnecessary activities". Over time, processes get clogged up with activities that were useful at some point but have lost their purpose or rationale. Getting rid of unnecessary activities is an effective way to reduce the cost of handling a case."

Flexible assignment

"Keep generic participants free for as long as possible". Suppose that an activity can be executed by either of two available participants, then it should be assigned to the most specialized person. In this way, the likelihood to commit the free, more general participant to another work package is maximal. • The advantage of this heuristic is that an organization stays flexible with respect to assigning work."

Business Processes

- Order to cash - Procure to pay - Application to approval - Fault to Resolution

Steps within Order to Cash

- PO received - Check and confirm PO - Package products - Load truck - Notify shipment - Issue Invoice - Match payment - Payment made * Usually an external customer making an order and an organization receives the order *cash comes in ie. Ordering offline ie. picking up a prescription

data objects

- Physical data objects (paper invoices, filing cabinets, physical files) - Electronic data objects (e-purchase orders; e-mail; e-file) - Could be an input or output of an activity

Global Sub-process

- a process model that is not embedded within any process model - can be invoked by other process models within the same process model collection - indicated by the subprocess ticker but has a thicker darker border than plain sub-processes

Advantages of an Event Subprocess

- an event sub-process can also be defined as a global process model, and thus be reused in other process models of the same organization. - event sub-processes can be defined at the level of an entire process whereas boundary events must refer to a specific activity."

Process Discovery Challenges

- fragmented process knowledge - thinking in cases - lack of familiarity with process modeling languages.

Domain Experts

- individual who has intimate knowledge about how a process or activity is performed -typically a process participant or can be an owner or manager who works closely with the process participants who perform the process. - involved domain experts should jointly have insight into all activities of the process.

Process Analyst

- responsible for driving the modeling and analysis of a business process. - not familiar with all details of the business process

BPM Naming Conventions for Activities

- starts with verb in imperative form followed by a noun -avoid labels with more than 5 words -capatilize first letter of label

Pick Chart

- used as a complement to Pareto charts in order to take into account the difficulty dimension -The horizontal axis captures the difficulty of addressing the issue (or more specifically the difficulty of implementing a given improvement idea that addresses the issue) while the vertical axis captures the payoff.

business objects/ information artifacts

-(documents, files) artifacts required to perform an activity or are produced as a result of an activity

Stakeholder Analysis

-5 categories of stakeholders: 1. Customer of the process 2. Process participants 3. external parties (e.g., suppliers, sub-contractors) involved in the process. 4. process owner and the operational managers who supervise the process participants 5. sponsor of the process improvement effort and other executive manager who have a stake in the performance of the process.

Process discovery Phases

-Define the setting - Gathering information - Conducting the modeling task : identify different activities, events,artifacts and exception handlers that will be included in process model - Assuring process model quality:Semantic, syntactic, pragmatic quality

Domain Specific Process Aware Info System

-Enterprise Resource Planning Systems - Customer Relationship Management Systems -Product Lifecycle Management Systems -Supply Chain Management System

Discovery Methods

-Evidence based ~ document analysis ~Observation ~Automatic process discovery (event logs) -interview-based discovery -workshop-based discovery

Domain Agnostic Process Aware Info Sys

-Issue Tracking Systems -Document Management Systems (DMs) -Business Process Management Systems (BPMSs)

Redesign Heuristics

-Parallelism -Activity Elimination -Empower -Flexible Assignment

Pick Chart Quadrants

-Possible (low payoff, easy to do): issues that can be addressed if there are sufficient resources for doing so. - Implement (high payoff, easy to do): issues that should definitely be implemented as a matter of priority. - Challenge (high payoff, hard to do): issues that should be addressed but require significant amount of effort. In general one would pick one of these challenges and focus on it rather than addressing all or multiple challenges at once. - Kill (low payoff, hard to do): issues that are probably not worth addressing or at least not to their full extent.

Unsolicited Exceptions

-Represented by attaching a catching intermediate message event to an activity's boundary -Also called boundary events

Inclusive OR Gateway

-Split: takes one or more branches depending on conditions -Join: proceeds when all ACTIVE incoming branches have completed -branches are optional but at least one must be taken

Performance Measures

-Time -Cost -Quality -Flexibility

Business Process Management Systems

-a system that supports design, analysis, execution, and monitoring of business processes on the basis of explicit process models -purpose is to coordinate an automated business process in such a way that all work is done at right time by the right resource

Tasks

-activities that represent individual steps within a process -units of work that have a duration

Resources

-anyone or anything involved in the performance of a process activity -process participant -software system -equipment

BPM Naming Conventions for Events

-begin with a noun and in with verb in past tense -adjectives can prefix noun -Capatilize first letter

Process Enumeration Phase

-catalogue processes -SAP process map -categirize processes between management, core, and support processes through process architecture

Non-interrupting boundary events

-catch external events that occur during an activity and trigger a parallel procedure without interrupting the enclosing activity -has a double dashed line border

Root Cause Analysis

-cause and effect diagrams -why-why diagrams

sequence flows (arcs)

-connect the elements of a process -shows relations

Application to approval

-create application -application email notification -approval process -decision email notification -enter decision into HR system ie. Apply for colleges, leave, food stamps

Behavioral Correctness

-deadlock:occurs when a running process instance is not able to progress any further once a given state is reached, i.e. a token gets stuck at that state -livelock: occurs when a process instance keeps cycling in a loop, i.e. a token is free to move but only within the loop. -lack of synchronization: relates to an AND-split followed by an XOR-join. In this case, the two tokens created from the AND-split are not synchronized by XORjoin, potentially leading to the duplicate execution of activities downstream.

Signal event

-depicted with a triangle marker -causes the enclosing sub-process to be interrupted and then triggers a recovery procedure ie. signal that customer cancels her order and catching signal charges her after the process is aborted ie Uber cancellation fee

fault to resolution

-detect: capture events -isolate: present actionable faults -inform: notify admins -resolve: aid faster resolution

Rules of a Sub-process

-has all the same components as parent model and when token reaches an end event, control passes back to parent model

Token

-identify the state of completion of a process instance. -generated by start events -destroyed by end events

multi instance activity

-indicates an activity that is executed multiple times concurrently -marked by 3 parallel lines

start events

-initiate a process case -happen instanteously -don't have a duration

Error Event

-interrupts the specific activity that has caused the exception without aborting the whole process -used for internal exceptions

Throwing Event

-marker with dark fill -throws a trigger from within the process -message sent to another pool ie. sending a customer an invoice or email verification

Catching Event

-marker with no fill -catches a trigger coming from outside the process -message received from another pool ie. receives loan application from customer

Event based gateways

-model racing events -can only be followed by an intermediate catching message or timer event or receiving activity -choice is delayed until an event happens (deferred choice) -can fix potential deadlocks

Production Workflow Systems

-most prominent type of BPMS ie. IBM's Business Process Manager, Bizagi Studio, and Camunda BPM.18

BPM Lifecycle

-process identification -process discovery -process analysis -process redesign -process implementation -process monitoring and controlling

Repetition Block

-properties include that the last activity must be a decision activity as i decides whether we continue the process or go back before the repetition block starts

Activity Timeouts

-represented as a intermediate timer event on the activity's boundary -interrupts an activity if it is taking to long to complete

Procure to pay

-request for goods -create PO -Approve/ release PO -Invoice receipt from vendor -payment to vendor *usually internal member of organization making an order *cash goes out to vendor ie. ordering office supplies

Parallel AND Gateway

-splits the incoming token which then idependently flows through the branches and waits at the AND join for the tokens to merge back into one so they can go through the gateway -can oly proceed when all branches have been completed -synchronization must occur ( behavior of waiting for a number of tokens to arrive and then merging the tokens into one )

Value Adding Steps (VA)

-step that produces value or satisfaction to the customer. When determining whether or not a step is VA, it may help to ask the following questions: - Would the customer be willing to pay for this step? - Does the customer value this step enough to keep conducting business with us? - And conversely, if we remove this step, would the customer perceive that the outcome of the process is less valuable?

Terminate end event

-the easiest way to handle an exception -abort the running process and signal an improper process termination -causes the immediate cessation of the process instance at its current level and for any subprocess -destroys all tokens in the process model and in any subprocess *if terminate end event is triggered in subprocess only the subprocess will be aborted not the parent

a loop activity cannot be used when...

-there is more than one entry or exit point -the entry/exit point is inside of the repition block

XOR Exclusive Gateway

-trigger exactly one branch at an either/or decision point to continue the sequence flow -splits the process into alternative branches -can merge branches back together again depending on if both activities would lead to the same outcome

Simulation

-used for quantitative analysis - use the process simulator for generating a large number of hypothetical instances of a process, executing these instances step-by-step, and recording each step in this execution -convenient to use process simulation for fine-grained analysis - allows us to derive process performance measures (e.g., cycle time or cost) given data about the tasks(e.g.,processing times) and data about the resources involved in the process

Cycle Time Efficiency (CTE)

-used to analyze a process with the goal of addressing issues related to cycle time - =TCT/CT

Gateways

-used to control how the process flows -allows or disallows the passage of tokens

Steps in the process identification process

1. Process Enumeration (Designation) 2. Process Selection (Prioritization)

Cause and Effect Diagram

6Ms (Measurement, Method: process factors, Milieu: environmental factors, Man: human factors, Material, and Machine: technology factors) Fishbone Diagram depicts 6Ms as bones and the main issue as the head

Document Management System (DMS)

A DMS supports the management of documents all the way from their creation to their archival or deletion. They provide functions to create, search, access and update documents, but they also provide functions to route a document across multiple stakeholders. • Originally, the document routing capabilities of DMSs were rather limited, but over time they became more sophisticated to the point that modern DMSs can support relatively complex processes. • Nowadays, many companies employ DMSs to execute employee-initiated processes, such as vacation request approvals and travel requisition approvals. • Modern DMSs can support relatively complex processes. Nowadays, many companies employ DMSs to execute employee-initiated processes, such as vacation request approvals and travel requisition approvals.

Concurrent Activities

Activities that aren't interdependent

Calculate Cycle Time for Parallel

Add the max time it takes between the two activities

Business Process Management

Body of principles, methods and tools to design, analyze, execute and monitor business processes.

Waste Analysis

Categorized into 3 categories: move, hold, overdo

Theoretical Cycle Time (TCT)

Cycle time with no waiting

Time as a performance measure

Evaluating ways to reduce cycle time, waiting time, and processing time

Exceptions

Events that deviate a process from its normal course ("rainy day scenarios") ie. Out of stock or discontinued product, database crash

Modeling Guidelines and Conventions

G1: Use as few elements as possible. G2: Minimize the routing paths per element. G3: Use one start and one end event G4: Model as structured as possible. A process model is structured if each split gateway matches a respective join gateway of the same type. G5:Avoid OR-gateways. G6: Use verb-object activity labels like "Inform complainant." G7: Decompose a model with more than 30 elements.

What is the first thing you should do when creating a subprocess?

Identify groups of related activities that produce a common outcome

Process Prioritization

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE -assess the strategic relevance of each project (what is most important to handle first) -select processes most directly relate to the strategic goals of an organization HEALTH -determine which process are in the deepest trouble bc they'll profit the most from process centered intiatives FEASIBILITY -determine how susceptible to process management intiatives (culture and politics may stand in your way here)

Calculate Cycle Time for Rework Loop

T/1-r

Calculate Cycle Time for XOR

Take everything at face value unless it's percentage, then multiple it by decimal then add

Why-Why Diagrams

The basic idea is to recursively ask the question: Why has something happened? This question is asked multiple times until a factor that stakeholders perceive to be a root cause is found. A common belief in the field of quality management—known as the 5 Why's principle—has it that answering the "why" question five times recursively allows one to pin down the root causes of a given negative effect.

What do Cycle time efficiency close to one represent?

There is little room for improving the cycle time unless relatively radical changes are introduced

A process model can have several end events

True

Both deadlocks and livelocks prevent tokens from reaching an end event, so the process instance may not be able to complete altogether

True

Exclusive Gateways can split and merge branches.

True

It is appropriate to use a sub-process model when there are 30+ flow objects.

True

WIP increases if arrival rate and/or CT increases.

True

Little's Law

WIP = arrival rate (lambda) * Cycle Time (CT)

Overdo

Wastes arising from doing more than is necessary in order to deliver value to the customer or the business. This category encompasses three types of waste: defects, over-processing, and overproduction.

Hold

Wastes arising from holding something. Again, this category includes two types of waste: inventory and waiting

Move:

Wastes that are related to movement. This category includes two types of waste: transportation and motion

Deadlock Situation

When a token is waiting to merge back with another token and the AND join but the token never gets there so the other token waits indefinitely.

Mutually Exclusive

When two or more activities are alternative to one another

Process

a collection of events, activities and decisions that lead to an outcome that brings value to an organization's customer.

data stores

a place containing data objects that need to be persisted beyond the duration of a process instance, e.g. a database for electronic artifacts or a filing cabinet for physical ones

Process Identification

a set of activities aimed at systematically defining the set of business processes of a company and establish clear criteria for prioritizing them

Quality as a performance measure

answers the question is the client satisfied and are expectations met by the delivered product. FOCUS ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION! ie. reduction in error rate

Decisions activities

comes before XOR gateways

The boundary of a subprocess can be crossed by a sequence flow to pass control to it.

false

Events can retain tokens

false, a token remains trapped in the incoming arc of an intermediate event until the event occurs.

Default Flow

flow that will be taken by the token coming from the XOR split in case the conditions attached to all the other outgoing flows evaluate to false

Syntactic Quality

goal of producing a process model that conforms to: -structural correctness -behavioral correctness

Pareto Analysis

identify which issues or which causal factors of an issue should be given priority. Pareto analysis rests on the principle that: - a small number of factors are responsible for the largest share of a given effect. • Sometimes this principle is also called the 80-20 principle, meaning that 20 % of issues are responsible for 80 % of the effect.

Timer Events

indicates that process instances start upon the occurrence of a specific temporal event

Functional Perspective

indicates what activities should happen in a process

control flow perspective

indicates when activities and events should occur

Data perspectives

indicates which information artifacts are required to perform an activity and which ones are produces as a result of performing an activity

Compensation Handler

made up of a throwing compensate event (an event marked with a rewind symbol), a catching intermediate compensate event and a compensation activity. -used to reimburse or refund customer

end events

mark the end of the process case

ad hoc subprocess

models one or more uncontrolled activities that can be repeated a number of times without a specific order or not at all until a condition is met

Cost as a performance measure

reduction in cost of production

Devil's Quadrangle

refers to the difficult trade-offs that sometimes have to be made when choosing to improve one sector of the process (time, cost, quality, and flexibility)

WIP

represents the average number of instances of a process that are yet to be completed

Loops

show that a part of a process might need to be repeated to get the desired outcome

end message event

signals that process concludes upon sending a message

intermediate message event

signals the receipt of a message, or that a message has just been sent, during the execution of the process

start message event

signifies a new process instance triggered by the receipt of a message

Issue Register

states, prioritizes, and describes the issue. Makes key assumptions about the issue which is used to determine its qualitative and quantitative impact

Non-Value Adding (NVA) Step

step does not fall into any of the other two categories. • Generally, steps associated with handoffs between process participants, such as sending and receiving internal messages, are NVA.

Business Value Adding (BVA Steps)

step is necessary or useful for the business to run smoothly, to collect revenue, or it is required due to the regulatory environment of the business When determining whether or not a step is BVA, it may help to ask the following questions: - Is this step required in order to collect revenue, to improve or grow the business? - Would the business (potentially) suffer in the long term if this step were removed? - Does it reduce risk of business losses? - Is this step required in order to comply with regulatory requirements

Value-Added Analysis

technique aimed at identifying unnecessary steps in a process

Flexibility as a performance measure

the ability of a busines to react to changes

Process discovery

the act of gathering information about an existing process and organizing it in terms of an as-is process model. This definition emphasizes gathering and organizing information.

arrival rate (lambda)

the average number of new instances of the process that are created per time unit ie. in a credit application process, the arrival rate is the number of credit applications received per day

Cycle Time of an Activity

the average time it takes between the moment the activity is ready to be executed and the moment it completes.

Cycle Time of a process

the average time it takes between the moment the process starts and the moment it completes

Cycle Time (CT)

the average time it takes to process an application

Use event subprocesses when

the event that needs to be handled may occur during the entire process, or when we need to capture a reusable procedure.

What do Cycle time efficiency close to zero represent?

there is a significant amount of room for improving cycle time

Message flows can cross the boundaries of a sub-process to indicate messages that emanate from, or are directed to, internal activities or events of the subprocess."

true

Empower

• "Give workers decision-making authority". • "In traditional settings, people have to authorize the outcomes of activities that have been performed by others. If workers are empowered to take decisions autonomously, this may render much of the work of middle managers superfluous, in this way reducing cost significantly.

issue tracking system

• "The central concept in these systems is the notion of issue, which can be, for example, a bug in a software system, a request to add a feature to a software system, or a request to grant privileges to a given contractor to be able to access an IT system. • Each issue goes through different states, including opened, assigned to an employee, suspended, canceled, closed, re-opened, etc. An issue moves from one state to another according to a pre-defined lifecycle. • Different tasks may be performed when an issue is in a given state, some of them manually, others automatically. In this way, an issue tracking system supports the resolution of an issue, and accordingly, issue trackers are commonly used to support issue-to-resolution processes."

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

• A single software system that attempts to integrate all departments and functions of an organization. • It replaces the old standalone systems supporting individual functions and departments with a single unified software program. • It runs off a single database. • The overall goal is to enable departments and functional units to easily share data.

Process Modeling Method

• Identify the process boundaries • Identify activities and events • Identify resources and their handovers • Identify the control flow • Identify additional elements

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

• It is an approach to better manage customer needs and relationships. -Provide products and services that meet customer wants and expectations. -Offer better customer service. -Cross sell products more effectively. -Helps sales staff close deals faster. -Retain existing customers and discover new ones.

Structural Correctness

• there must be at least one start and one end event. • each activity must have at least one incoming and one outgoing sequence flow. • start events must not have incoming arcs (end events no outgoing arcs). • a gateway must have at least one incoming and two outgoing arcs (splits) or two incoming and one outgoing arcs (joins). • every node (activity, event or gateway) must be on a path from the start to the end event, i.e. no dangling arcs or nodes.