Business process modeling


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Business Process Modeling (BPM) in systems engineering and software engineering is the activity of representing processes of an enterprise, so that the current ("as is") process may be analyzed and improved in future ("to be"). BPM is typically performed by business analysts and managers who are seeking to improve process efficiency and quality. The process improvements identified by BPM may or may not require Information Technology involvement, although that is a common driver for the need to model a business process, by creating a process master.

Change management programs are typically involved to put the improved business processes into practice. With advances in technology from large platform vendors, the vision of BPM models becoming fully executable (and capable of simulations and round-trip engineering) is coming closer to reality every day.

Contents

Overview

Business Process Modeling plays an important role in the business process management (BPM) discipline. Since both Business Process Modeling and Business Process Management share the same acronym (BPM), these activities are sometimes confused with each other.

Standard Business Process Models are:[citation needed]

Programming languages that are being introduced for BPM include:[1]

Other technologies related to business process modeling include model-driven architecture and service-oriented architecture.

BPM addresses the process aspects of an Enterprise Business Architecture, leading to an all encompassing Enterprise Architecture. The relationships of a business processes in the context of the rest of the enterprise systems (e.g., data architecture, organizational structure, strategies, etc.) create greater capabilities when analyzing and planning enterprise changes. For example, during a corporate merger it is important to understand the processes of both companies in detail so that management can correctly and efficiently identify and eliminate redundancies in operations.

Business Process Modeling has always been a key aspect of business process reengineering (BPR) and continuous improvement approaches, such as Six Sigma. For routine business activities, BPM tools such as K2 [blackpearl], Axway, Lombardi, Holosofx, Holocentric Modeler and TIBCO are used in order to represent a business process, to run a simulation of the process and for communication purposes. For innovative, adaptive, collaborative human work the techniques of human interaction management are required.

Business process and data modelling

example of the interaction between business process and data models.[2]

The graphical representation of business process information has proven effective for presenting it to business stakeholders, including business analysts and system developers. Visual modeling languages used to represent business processes include Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) and the Unified Modeling Language (UML).[3][4] A business model, which may be considered an elaboration of a business process model, typically shows business data and business organizations as well as business processes. By showing business processes and their information flows a business model allows business stakeholders to define, understand, and validate their business enterprise. The data model part of the business model shows how business information is stored, which is useful for developing software code. See the figure on the right for an example of the interaction between business process models and data models.[2]

Usually a business model is created after conducting an interview, which is part of the business analysis process. The interview consists of a facilitator asking a series of questions to extract information about the subject business process. The interviewer is referred to as a facilitator to emphasize that it is the participants, not the facilitator, who provide the business process information. Although the facilitator should have some knowledge of the subject business process, but this is not as important as her mastery of a pragmatic and rigorous method interviewing business experts. The method is important because for most enterprises a team of facilitators is needed to collect information across the enterprise, and the findings of all the interviewers must be compliled and integrated once completed.[2]

Business models are developed as defining either the current state of the process, in which case the final product is called the "as is" snapshot model, or a concept of what the process should become, resulting in a "to be" model. By comparing and contrasting "as is" and "to be" models the business analysts can determine if the existing business processes and information systems are sound and only need minor modifications, or if reengineering is required to correct problems or improve efficiency. Consequently, business process modeling and subsequent analysis can be used to fundamentally reshape the way an enterprise conducts its operations.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Business Process Modeling FAQ". Retrieved on 2008-11-02.
  2. ^ a b c d Paul R. Smith & Richard Sarfaty (1993). Creating a strategic plan for configuration management using Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools. Paper For 1993 National DOE/Contractors and Facilities CAD/CAE User's Group.
  3. ^ "Business Process Modeling FAQ". Retrieved on 2008-11-02.
  4. ^ "BPMN FAQ". Retrieved on 2008-11-02.

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