Business Process Analysis Training - Why Do Business Process Modeling?
Project Management Training & Business Analysis Training
Business Process Analysis Training - Why Do Business Process Modeling?
by Mo Haque, PMP
Business process models are the most talked about and least understood by enterprise.
In its most basic form, a business process model describes the method of doing business by which an enterprise generates revenue by providing a service or a product.
Process models provide the most efficient and cost effective method for visualizing the business activities performed in the organization. The following is a list of most common benefits of business process modeling - BPM.
Define business strategy, goals, metrics, problems and implementation opportunities
Gain organizational efficiencies by streamlining processes
Identify opportunities for process improvement quickly
Perform “what if” analyses
Analyze the impact of process and system changes on data usage
Improve your processes with Monte Carlo and Discrete Event simulators
Manage your enterprise's business and system knowledge
Provide clear definitions of system requirements
Build systems that truly reflect the business objectives and goals
Manage your requirements for complex system implementations
Enable process change for continuous improvement
Align Business & IT
Capture IP into corporate assets repository
“Today every business needs to create IT opportunities” – MH
“It is not the strongest species that survives nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” - Charles Darwin
Optimizing Business Process
How?
Create business models that depicts concise structure and definition of business process
Perform analysis that pinpoints current process problems and verify the expected level of performance
Standardize Business Processes
How?
Use a BPM tool to create and capture AS-Is
Create Worldwide Services business and IT taxonomy
Obtain Buy-in from all stakeholders (Process Owners)
Make Business Processes visible How to Design Business Processes
Evaluate immediate team delivery of: o Service / End Product
o Tasks in-group and actors (roles, individuals, systems, market, customers, competitions) in the work stream
o Tasks collaboration – outside teams
o Functions
o Reports
Create Business Interaction Models – Big Picture
Create Communication Model
Create process and workflow models
How to measure performance and effectiveness? Strategic targets, goals, objectives
Identify projects (strategic –), (Tactical –)
Look for immediate pain point
Define: Measures, achievable metrics, produce reports and publish
Innovation
Define Area of Automation in the business processes All new solutions ought to be based on “Service Oriented Architecture.”
Change:
Charles Darwin – “It is not the strongest species that survive nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”
Create simulation of 5+ (management discretion) most inefficient Business Processes
Develop impact analysis and gaps in the processes
Perform “Activity Based Costing”, where necessary
Create new process change deployment (training, operation, and support)
Institutionalize the processes (eliminate glass tower syndrome) – walk the talk
Collaborate with other departments in the enterprise
Business process:
A series of activities designed to produce a service. Each step in the business process should add value to the preceding steps by its contribution to the creation or delivery of a service.
Service:
An aggregation of operations that logically work together. The properly defined service is easily named to reflect the category of functionality it represents.
Activity:
A subdivision of a process that can be assigned to a particular actor (organization, market, system or role) or place (location facility or equipment) for performance. An Activity is composed of its core definition and zero or more Activity Usages, one for each occurrence of the activity in any Workflow model. An Activity’s core definition contains properties that are common among all of its Usages, such as its name, description, stereotype, logic specification and associations to other object types. An Activity’s Usage contains information specific to one occurrence of the Activity, such as its cost, timing and resource assignments.
Business Rule:
A business rule is simply a rule that is under business jurisdiction, which means the business can enact, revise, and discontinue their business rules as they see fit.
Component
A modular, deployable, and replaceable part of a system that encapsulates implementation and exposes a set of interfaces. A component is typically specified by one or more classifiers (e.g., implementation classes) that reside on it.
Function: (tab)
The Activity dialog box is displayed when you select an existing Activity object. Click the Function tab to specify the technical artifact that implements the activity’s function. The choices are service operation, interface operation or class operation.
A service-oriented enterprise would map an activity to a service operation to designate technical function while leveraging the loose coupling flexibility of SOA. Mapping an activity to an interface or class establishes a more direct (tightly coupled) tie to the technical artifact.
Service:
An aggregation of operations that logically work together. The properly defined service is easily named to reflect the category of functionality it represents.
Service Operation:
A function, stated in the abstract, which attempts at most one input message and emits at most one output message. A service operation abstractly defines a function and a fit (the messages) but it may be realized by any number of providers.
Capability:
A grouping mechanism that assembles the People, Processes, Systems, etc. to enable the enterprise to produce certain products and services.
Environmental influence:
A factor that affects the way business processes function. Environmental influences are outside the control of the business domain. Sample environmental influences include government regulations, economical factors, competitive influences, and culture.
Impact:
A likely outcome, such as a cost, benefit or risk, of an effort within the enterprise. These efforts may include Plans, Projects, Business Processes, Opportunities, Requirements, etc.
Opportunity
A chance for improvement in a business process. Opportunities detail changes to the Business Process that allow performance goals to be met to some degree. To enact the changes and attain the goals, opportunities require time, costs, risks, and support.
Market/Customers
A logical categorization of people or organizations that interact with the business domain by supplying resources, or by consuming products and services. The other actors that define the "who" dimension of a business are organizations, roles, people and systems.
PMI-PBA(R) Certification - Professional in Business Analysis
Business Process Analysis Training - Why Do Business Process Modeling?
by Mo Haque, PMP
Business process models are the most talked about and least understood by enterprise.
In its most basic form, a business process model describes the method of doing business by which an enterprise generates revenue by providing a service or a product.
Process models provide the most efficient and cost effective method for visualizing the business activities performed in the organization. The following is a list of most common benefits of business process modeling - BPM.
Define business strategy, goals, metrics, problems and implementation opportunities
Gain organizational efficiencies by streamlining processes
Identify opportunities for process improvement quickly
Perform “what if” analyses
Analyze the impact of process and system changes on data usage
Improve your processes with Monte Carlo and Discrete Event simulators
Manage your enterprise's business and system knowledge
Provide clear definitions of system requirements
Build systems that truly reflect the business objectives and goals
Manage your requirements for complex system implementations
Enable process change for continuous improvement
Align Business & IT
Capture IP into corporate assets repository
“Today every business needs to create IT opportunities” – MH
“It is not the strongest species that survives nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” - Charles Darwin
Optimizing Business Process
How?
Create business models that depicts concise structure and definition of business process
Perform analysis that pinpoints current process problems and verify the expected level of performance
Standardize Business Processes
How?
Use a BPM tool to create and capture AS-Is
Create Worldwide Services business and IT taxonomy
Obtain Buy-in from all stakeholders (Process Owners)
Make Business Processes visible How to Design Business Processes
Evaluate immediate team delivery of: o Service / End Product
o Tasks in-group and actors (roles, individuals, systems, market, customers, competitions) in the work stream
o Tasks collaboration – outside teams
o Functions
o Reports
Create Business Interaction Models – Big Picture
Create Communication Model
Create process and workflow models
How to measure performance and effectiveness? Strategic targets, goals, objectives
Identify projects (strategic –), (Tactical –)
Look for immediate pain point
Define: Measures, achievable metrics, produce reports and publish
Innovation
Define Area of Automation in the business processes All new solutions ought to be based on “Service Oriented Architecture.”
Change:
Charles Darwin – “It is not the strongest species that survive nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”
Create simulation of 5+ (management discretion) most inefficient Business Processes
Develop impact analysis and gaps in the processes
Perform “Activity Based Costing”, where necessary
Create new process change deployment (training, operation, and support)
Institutionalize the processes (eliminate glass tower syndrome) – walk the talk
Collaborate with other departments in the enterprise
Relevant Definitions
Business process:
A series of activities designed to produce a service. Each step in the business process should add value to the preceding steps by its contribution to the creation or delivery of a service.
Service:
An aggregation of operations that logically work together. The properly defined service is easily named to reflect the category of functionality it represents.
Activity:
A subdivision of a process that can be assigned to a particular actor (organization, market, system or role) or place (location facility or equipment) for performance. An Activity is composed of its core definition and zero or more Activity Usages, one for each occurrence of the activity in any Workflow model. An Activity’s core definition contains properties that are common among all of its Usages, such as its name, description, stereotype, logic specification and associations to other object types. An Activity’s Usage contains information specific to one occurrence of the Activity, such as its cost, timing and resource assignments.
Business Rule:
A business rule is simply a rule that is under business jurisdiction, which means the business can enact, revise, and discontinue their business rules as they see fit.
Component
A modular, deployable, and replaceable part of a system that encapsulates implementation and exposes a set of interfaces. A component is typically specified by one or more classifiers (e.g., implementation classes) that reside on it.
Function: (tab)
The Activity dialog box is displayed when you select an existing Activity object. Click the Function tab to specify the technical artifact that implements the activity’s function. The choices are service operation, interface operation or class operation.
A service-oriented enterprise would map an activity to a service operation to designate technical function while leveraging the loose coupling flexibility of SOA. Mapping an activity to an interface or class establishes a more direct (tightly coupled) tie to the technical artifact.
Service:
An aggregation of operations that logically work together. The properly defined service is easily named to reflect the category of functionality it represents.
Service Operation:
A function, stated in the abstract, which attempts at most one input message and emits at most one output message. A service operation abstractly defines a function and a fit (the messages) but it may be realized by any number of providers.
Capability:
A grouping mechanism that assembles the People, Processes, Systems, etc. to enable the enterprise to produce certain products and services.
Environmental influence:
A factor that affects the way business processes function. Environmental influences are outside the control of the business domain. Sample environmental influences include government regulations, economical factors, competitive influences, and culture.
Impact:
A likely outcome, such as a cost, benefit or risk, of an effort within the enterprise. These efforts may include Plans, Projects, Business Processes, Opportunities, Requirements, etc.
Opportunity
A chance for improvement in a business process. Opportunities detail changes to the Business Process that allow performance goals to be met to some degree. To enact the changes and attain the goals, opportunities require time, costs, risks, and support.
Market/Customers
A logical categorization of people or organizations that interact with the business domain by supplying resources, or by consuming products and services. The other actors that define the "who" dimension of a business are organizations, roles, people and systems.
Robust Process Implementation - Checklist
| # | Checklist Questions | Criteria #1 | Criteria #2 | Criteria #3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Is the process modeled? (treat it as a black box) | Input | Output | Feedback loop |
| 2. | Are the process suppliers (data creators) identified? | Identified | Engaged | In loop |
| 3. | Are the service consumers identified? | Identified | Engaged | In loop |
| 4. | Can you execute the process? | Roles identified | Enforceable | Accountability |
| 5. | Is the Process Metrics Identified? | Efficiency calculated | Reward implemented | Penalty enforced |
| 6. | Is the service metric identified? | Effectiveness measured | Reward implemented | Penalty enforced |
| 7. | Is process hierarchy defined? | Defined | Understood | Published |
PMI-PBA(R) Certification - Professional in Business Analysis