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Have you as a “Stakeholder” ever taken the moment to step back and think about the performance of your Enterprise?

Review this case scenario and determine if you have observed the same within your Enterprise:

At the start of a meeting about the declining performance of the Customer Care Managers of enterprise XYZ, the attending top management team “knew” that the Customer Care Managers lacked skills and knowledge and required additional training.

By the meeting’s end, they were not so sure. During discussions several concerns unrelated to skills and knowledge surfaced about the processes of the Customer Care Managers. The presenting problem was that the Customer Care Managers could not delegate certain tasks, which caused time constraints in handling customer complaints.

As the case scenario indicates, it was thought the declining performance of the Customer Care Managers was contributed to lack of skills and knowledge, which can truly hinder performance in an Enterprise. However, as we can see the roles of the Customer Care Managers are limited by lack of delegation of certain tasks.

When one delegates within an Enterprise, he or she will direct elements such as – “tasks,” “events,” and/or “activities” to be performed by another entity: Technology or Human.

Business Process Management (BPM) enables an Enterprise to efficiently manage its processes to serve an end-result with input-perform work-output methodologies. So you can see how “Performance Architecture” is a key and integral part of a Business Process Management (BPM) projects. It provides the efficiencies to “tasks,” “events,” and/or “activities.” 

Performance Architecture

Performance Architecture in terms of BPM can be defined as the design principles required to optimize efficiencies in – tasks, events, and/or activities of the underlying Enterprise. 

Let’s use our case scenario as an example to illustrated through a Business Process Management Notation (BPMN) diagram the performance bottleneck of a Customer Care Manager.

Task = Determine if product is under warranty from a customer inquiry

As you can determine from the diagram, the Customer Care Manager must conduct the research to determine if the customer’s product is under warranty thus reducing the time to focus on “customer complaints” which SHOULD be a high priority task within the business process for “customer care.”

In another segment of the Enterprise, we have a Product Specialist that handles research and updates of product information as illustrated below.

As you can determine from the diagram, the Product Specialist manages the return method and warranty information to name a few. If you recall, it was discovered the Customer Care Managers were conducting their own research on product warranty information. Hence, this is one root cause of performance derogation to customer satisfaction. 

Now let us examine the two processes after a Performance Architecture intervention.

As you can now see, we have increase the performance efficiency of the Customer Care Manager by delegating certain customer inquiries to the Product Specialist. The Customer Care Manager’s primary task now is “handling complaints” which enhances the Enterprise’s perceived customer services as extraordinary, which in turn increases customer loyalty.  

In Summary

Performance Architecture is a subset of BPM in that it optimizes – tasks, events, and/or activities of the underlying Enterprise. The design methodology of Performance Architecture is to seek out inefficiencies in processes tasks, events, and/or activities. These inefficiencies can include but are not limited to the following:

• Duplicate or redundant tasks, events and/or activities
• Time constraints (i.e. time to complete  tasks, events and/or activities)
• Human stress (i.e. performing tasks, events and/or activities that can be delegated)
• Technology constrains (i.e. obsolete technology)

One should be very mindful not to over architect processes for performance for it may decrease or hamper scalability of the underlying processes which in itself will create performance issues.

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As we continue with the second part of the “Business Process Modeling Methodology” article lets take a moment to recap.

As you may recall from the first part of this article, our business process patterns methodology consist of the followings:

·         Value Chain – BPP₁

·         Expansion – BPP₂

·         Business Architecture\Renovation – BPP₃

·         Resources – BPP₄

The four BPP’s have internal processes that 1) execute, 2) manage, and 3) provide state and status.

We will now descend from the 25,000-foot level to final approach with the integrals of the BPP’s.

 The Value Chain BPP 

The Value Chain processes consist of activates, task, and events that process incoming logistics that in turn are guided through the enterprise to produce a valued product or service to the customer. The chain of activities that are the “Value Chain” provides the product(s)/service(s) greater value than the process before it. The Value Chain operatives are not to be confused with Supply Chain operations. Supply Chain processes feed into the Value Chain at different intervals of operations.   

The “primary activities” of the Value Chain include and are not limited to the following: incoming logistics, operations/productions, and outbound logistics such as raw materials that are sent away for construction and/or completion that in turn are provided back as value to the Value Chain processes. Marketing, sales activities, and service complete the primary activates. The “Resources” business process patterns also contribute to the Value Chain.

Here is an example of how we develop a new widget request from the market (customers) that feeds into the Value Chain:

The Business Process Pattern Flow

Let examine the flow of this transaction: 

 Management decides to introduce a new widget for the market. The plan is formulated in the - Business Architecture\Renovation – BPP₃  - pattern.

Business ArchitectureRenovation – BPP3

Once the plan is completed it than proceeds to the – Expansion – BPP₂ – at which time it is developed into the new widget.

Expansion – BPP2

After the development of the new widget, it is introduced to the - Value Chain – BPP₁ – pattern for marketing and shipping. Also, status and state is sent back to Architecture\Renovation – BBP₃  - pattern for monitoring and performance of the new widget.

Value Chain – BPP1

Resources – BPP₄, provides the resources such as materials, capital, human capital, etc. to bring the widget to life. We illustrate the importance of the transactions with external vendors in the case of creating the new widget. 

Resources – BPP4

These individual breakdowns of the patterns may be applied to the following diagrams to come for a better understanding of their functionality in the given case. This also holds true for any process-modeling project given any enterprise type. One only needs to recall the four patterns definition and apply the functionality of it internals – Execute, Manage, Status, and State - to the project that will use the methodology.   

The Expansion BPP

Expansion, BPP₂, manages and executes the enterprise growth. The processes involved are those that provide new development and capabilities such as new products, new services, new infrastructure, and enhanced or new processes.

During the formation or re-engineering of the enterprise, top-management has the responsibility to ensure that this BPP is created and formed to leverage scalability for the enterprise.

The internal processes of BPP₂ may be composed of the following activates:

·         Evaluate new development and/or capabilities

·         Manage new development and/or capabilities

·         Design and create new capabilities

·         Provide feedback in terms of KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators), Scorecards, Dash boards, etc

Let us examine an expansion flow:

Expansion BPP2 - Flow

Every enterprise begins their journey by way of a thought that is transformed into a vision. That vision is than expanded into strategies that serves the marketplace with an entity of value. The “Business Architecture\Renovation” business pattern is the fundamental root of all processes. If this pattern is poorly implemented then the enterprise will render results that may fail the vision.

The internal processes of BPP₃ generally have the following activates:

·         Define or enhance the enterprise vision and concepts

·         Transform the vision into strategy

·         Manage the strategy goals

·         Develop the goals

Here is a flow of the Business Architecture\Renovation BPP:

ArchitectureRenovation BPP3 - Flow

The Resources BPP

An enterprise requires components (resources) to make it function. These components span a large spectrum of elements. These elements include everything from pencils to the human capital that use them, from CD-ROM’s to the Network infrastructure that communicates the data from them and much more.

The internal processes of BPP₄ generally have the following activates:

·         Obtain resource type (Human, Capital, Infrastructure, Technology, etc.)

·         Decide and manage the application of the resources

·         Manage the strategy goals

·         Develop the goals

Here is a hiring scenario:

Resources BPP4 - Flow

Now that we have landed at the completion of the serious, we trust that you comprehend the interworking of our “Business Process Modeling Methodology.”  This methodology may be plugged into any type of enterprise.

With a well-structured Enterprise Architecture Blueprint (EAB) and the embodiment of this modeling methodology within that blueprint, it enables any enterprise the assurance of success. 

This ends the discussion on our modelling methodology. For additional information please contact us. 

dotNet Framework Solutions Business Processes Architecture Methodology

We architecture business processes utilizing the following core elements and subsets:

Core elements

·  Business Value Chain

·  Business Planning

·  Business Development

·  Business Resources

Subsets of core

o  Execution

o  Management

o  State Status

Flow of the Execution Subset Processes

The “execution” activities/tasks direct the “hows” of the enterprise architecture plans (EAP).  They [execution subsets] receive physical inputs such as raw materials, insurance claims forms, internet reservations, bank loan applications, and others processing types which are then converted into a product and/or service. This conversion may be both internal and external to the enterprise.

The execution subset executes workflow from business rules and logic criteria architected from the EAP.  T he following example is an execution of an internal process which will issue a claim check or denial letter (the product). The process flow illustrated:

The execution subset also outputs “State Status” for validation, monitoring, and inputs to the EAP. The inputs into the EAP allow for review of the processes and modification to the overall enterprise architecture.

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The Essentials ProcessesMost enterprises have four core processes that encompass human, systems (hardware), and applications (software) operations. The four processes are:

·      Value Chain

·      Planning

·      Development

·      Resources

Capturing the Essentials

Most enterprise function on an inept set of these four core processes. Management has the basic understanding that they must find [value chain] vendors to provide raw materials (process inputs) that are used to produce products and/or services (process outputs). This ranges from paper, pencils, etc. to sheets of aluminum to create lets say cloths hangers.

Management must also conduct some form of [planning] to decide what will be produced (the vision). They will have to plan (the how) for the purchasing of supplies to the creation of product. They must generate development plans (the what) to produce the cloth hangers in our hypothetical case.

Now that management has conducted its planning, they are now prepared for the [development] of our hypothetical cloths hangers. The development of the cloth hangers will have inputs from the [value chain] and [planning] processes to provide and direct respectively how the cloth hangers will be produced.

Lastly, management requires internal and external humans, systems, and applications [resources] to provide our cloths hanger to the market.  

Placing in Actions

We have just written a draft of business process management (BPM) for the production of cloths hangers.  As you can see there are nouns (executions) and verbs (management) that makeup the functions taken to create our cloths hangers. We can take these nouns and verbs and model them into notations (BPMN) of functionality and procedures thus capturing the business process.

At many enterprises, a first useful step toward the goals of BPM is the formation of teams that includes top management, stakeholders and IT, as well as users or user representatives chosen by users. Also, be advised, it is unwise, if not impossible to capture every piece of information about every preformed activity/task (the lowest function of a process) by the enterprise. BPM should be incorporated and integrated with the use of Enterprise Architecture (EA) and Customer Relations Management (CRM) to produce a closed loop methodology that then takes the enterprise on a journey and not a destination.

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The definition of a business process is defined by inputs, activities, tasks, relationships, status, and outputs to accomplish a defined objective. An example would consist of actions required to purchase raw materials [business value chain process] to produce plastic clothes hanger. The process might run as such:

1. A directive is given from the business planning process to locate plastic vendors for hanger production  – Input of process
2. Locate vendors of plastic for molding hanger – activity/task of process
3. Initiate purchase request for the business resource process – activity/task, and relationship of process
4. Update required procedures and close process – status update and output of process

A sound business processes architecture will defined a core set of reusable processes for the enterprise. Business knowledge and logic shall be consumed to create business process patterns (BPP) for the core processes.

Thus we can create four core processes that will fit any enterprise. They are as follows:       1. Value Chain
      2. Future Capabilities
      3. Planning
      4. Resources

I will now outline the coverage of theses processes. The Value Chain processes implements the production of good and services as defined by the enterprise vision. It handles all activities/tasks of customer request to satisfactory delivery. The Future Capabilities processes perform activities/tasks to produce new capabilities, product and/or services, and infrastructures to enhance the enterprise competitiveness.  The Planning processes define plans, projects, programs, and strategies for the enterprise growth. The Resources processes manage the resources required by the enterprise to function such as financial, human, infrastructure, and others.Within these core processes are three primary sub processes of functionality. They are:

      1. Execution
      2. Management
      3. Status

The Execution sub processes activities/tasks transform inputs into a “product(s) and/or service(s).”  The Management sub processes activities/tasks gathers requirements to direct Execution sub processes by means of plans, projects, programs, and resource assignments to produce the defined objectivities. The Status sub processes activities/tasks gather results and information from the Execution and Management sub processes to update and feedback status to related core processes.
As you can see this business process architecture may be applied to any enterprise thus enabling the enterprise to become more agile and competitive.

Contact dotNet Framework Solutions for your BPM consultation.