Chapter 3 Business Processes

Let’s quickly look at the Ford Payment case 4 What are the elements of the WCA? 4 Customer, product, business process, participants, information and technology 4 Today we’re going to drill down on the business process and information –We want to look at the business processes and information for background as we look at DFD’s and flowcharts

Process Modeling: Documenting Business Process Architecture 4 Data Flow Diagrams 4 Flowcharts

Data Flow Diagrams 4 Simple, easy-to-use symbols

Context diagram 4 The “big picture” for the process and the external interfaces

High level DFD 4 Ford’s original purchasing system, per the case

Dividing one process into subprocesses 4 The order process can be seen as:

Adding more detail with flowcharts 4 Standard flowchart symbols… 4 Do you see any outdated symbols?

A sample flowchart

Now, let’s work through an example 4 Take a look at Web-based class registration –First a context diagram –Then a process-oriented DFD –Then a Flowchart

Let’s consider Architectural Characteristics of a Business Process 4 Degree of Structure 4 Range of Involvement 4 Level of Integration 4 Complexity 4 Degree of Reliance on Machines 4 Attention to Planning, Execution & Control 4 Treatment of Exceptions & Errors

What do these characteristics mean?

For our example of class registration, let’s consider: 4 How the process maps onto the architectural characteristics described in the chapter 4 How the process would change with modifications of the characteristics

Evaluating Business Process Performance 4 Rate of Output 4 Consistency 4 Productivity 4 Cycle Time 4 Flexibility 4 Security

Again, for our example of class registration, let’s consider: 4 What performance variables are most important? 4 What performance variables are the least important? 4 How can we measure the performance of the system?

Is Management a Business Process? 4 What do managers do? 4 What type of information does a manager need?