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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. 

I will be providing a two-part serious on business process modeling (BPM^OD , notice the superscript “OD”) for the enterprise. The architecture of the presented business process modeling is based on the following enterprise elements:

·  Value Chain

·  Expansion

·  Business Architecture\Renovation

·  Resources

The first part of the serious will examine the underlying foundation of the elements that create the modeling architecture and I will follow in the second segment of the series on the integrals of the elements.

Let us take a moment to review the definition of BPM^OD:

Business process modeling is used as a method of representing activates, tasks, and events – the processes – of an enterprise. Once the processes are captured, the model may provide the “as-is” representation that may be analyzed to improve the processes to the “to-be” state of functionality.

BPM^od is normally conducted by the internal business analysts of the enterprise or by external business process architects. Their primary objectives are to improve or create efficient and quality processes throughout the enterprise based on the captured model.

Tools that are commonly used to model an enterprise are:

·  Microsoft Visio

·  Sparx Systems – Enterprise Architect

·  MagicDraw

·  eClarus

·  Lombardi

·  Intalio

·  TIBCO – BPM+

Our Modeling Methodology

A good BPM (Business Process Management) architecture uses methods of divide-and-conquer to reduce inefficiencies, remove obsolete processes and to improve agility through refined or new processes.

This is our 50,000-foot approach to business process modeling which are concentrated in four defined Business Process Patterns (BPP’s) that are:

·  Value Chain – BPP₁

·  Expansion – BPP₂

·  Business Architecture\Renovation – BPP₃

·  Resources – BPP₄

The execution processes

BPP₁ encompasses the “Value Chain” processes. In most enterprises, the value chain processes manage incoming logistics to produce/provide an outgoing product/service.

Incoming logistics consist of entities such as raw materials, documents, capital, etc. that passes in order through the enterprise. In each stage of the processing of raw materials, it gains “value” hence the term “Value Chain.”  The result of this processing is the transformation of the stated materials into value added products and/or services of the enterprise.

BPP₂ affords the enterprise the means of growth. The “Expansion” business patterns are those that provide new development and capabilities that are required to enhance its competitiveness, such as new products, new services, new infrastructure, and new processes.

As products or services, diminish in usability, value or demand from the market, an enterprise with well-developed expansion processes will keep abreast of market change. Expansion processes are tuned to provide agility to market changes.

BPP₃ - “Business Architecture\Renovation” is the business planning processes that defines and implements the vision of the enterprise through strategies, plans, and programs.

Every enterprise begins their journey through a vision. That vision is translated into strategies of what type of widget to create, where to seek resources to build the widget, how to distribute the widget to market, and when to design a new widget. This [BPP₃ ] business pattern can be considered the fundamental root of all processes. If this pattern is not well defined and implemented then the entirety of the enterprise will render futile results.

BPP₄ is the provider to the structure of the enterprise. It manages and guides the “Resources” of the enterprise.

Resources of the enterprise include everything from the pencils to human capital that use them, from CD-ROM’s to the Network infrastructure that stores data to them and much more.

Now let us descend to 25,000 feet and review the internals of the BPP’s. Each of the aforementioned BPP’s contains two specific processes that manage and executes the activities, tasks, and events of the defined BBP. There is a third process that provides state and status information for the business patterns. These processes are:

·  Execution

·  Management

·  State/Status

The execution processes contains tactical methods to receive inputs such as raw material, documents, messages, etc. that are output as “product(s)” and/or “service(s)” to other execution or management processes, which are, communicate through and to the BPP’s.

An example of flow through an execution process is the receipt (input) of an insurance claim form from a customer with a claim for an automobile accident. This form is than converted into a request (output) for Claims Adjuster verification of the customer claim. 

The management component contains methodology that direct the execution processes by means of goals, plans, strategies, programs, resource assignments and other enterprise management directives that will produced required results.

The state and status operatives give the methodology current operation conditions and feedback to key points of interest. They are the lower levels of a Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) scheme.

We will continue in Part 2 with the functionality of individual BPP’s.

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.