Management of IT Environment (3)

Riadenie IT prostredia

Modelling of business processes

Karol Furdík Department of Cybernetics and AI, FEI TU Košice Management of IT Environment (3) LS 2012/13 1

Lecture content

     Definitions of basic terms  processs, business process, a model, modelling,...

Ways of BP modelling   hierarchical process diagram, process threads diagram approaches, formalisms: UML, BPMN BPMN   characteristics, history BPMN elements: activities, events, gateways, connectors, ...

Examples References Management of IT Environment (3) LS 2012/13 2

Def.: Process, business process and its types

Process an unifying principle that acts in various systemic contexts. (K. L. von Bertalanffy, philosophical-cybernetic def. Example: process of feedback) Business process (BP) :  A set of structured and temporally connected activities or tasks that are employed in an organisation/enterprise for producing a certain service or product (i.e., activities are goal-oriented) for a particular customer.

Types of business processes:  1.

Management processes

 2.

Operational proc

esses  3.

Supporting processes

Management of IT Environment (3)

Strategic planning planning Top management Managerial control control Middle management Control of actions actions/ services feedback Operational management

Information flow in an enterprise. Ref: Mihók, Révészová: IS pre ekonómov. EkF TU Košice, 2006 LS 2012/13 3

Def.: Model, BP modelling

Model:   a (formal) representation of a domain, part of reality, or a system, which enables investigating relevant events, relationships, and processes ongoing in the domain/system more easily - in comparison with investigation these events in a real world environment.

Consequence:

model does not match the reality

; it expresses just our view of the reality in a particular context, from certain perspective.

(cf. L. Wittgenstein, W. V. O. Quine, W. Sellars, ...) BP modelling:   a set of activities for representing business processes in a formal way enabling analysis and further improvement of these processes.

IT perspective: BP modelling is required as a presumption for creating and/or modifying information systems in an enterprise. Management of IT Environment (3) LS 2012/13 4

BP models and levels of modelling

BP models:   serve for presenting a structured flow of business activities togehter with all related information.

interpreted models enable to determine the level of fulfilling business goals by an organisation/enterprise.

Levels of BP modelling:  Process maps – simple schemas of activity sequences.

 Process descriptions – schemas extended on additional descriptive information (however, not complete enough for executing the  modelled processes).

Process models – schemas extended on all information required for modelled process execution.

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Ways of BP modelling

BP model formalisms:  Older – data/control flow diagrams, block schemas of functions, Gantt   diagrams, PERT diagrams, etc.

UML – general modelling formalism, primarily in software engineering area, but applicable on BP modelling as well.

 Various types of process models, for example:    Hierarchical process diagram, Process threads diagram Use case diagram   Interaction overview diagram Object diagram BPMN – standardised graphical notation of

abstract

(i.e.,

not executable

) BP, suitable for all levels of modelling (process maps, descriptions, models) and control (planning, design, implementation, transition, operation, ...).

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Hierarchical process diagram

Taxonomy of business processes:  proces on a higher level is composed of sub-processes modelled on lower levels.

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Process threads diagram

Dynamic description of business processes:  describes events that are launching particular sub-processes, as well as results of these sub-processes.

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UML - Unified Modeling Language

UML: a modelling language for specification, visualization, development and documenting of software systems. Can be applied on business processes as well.

  A set of diagrams enabling an object-oriented design Diagrams:  Use-case diagram  Class diagram  State diagram  Activity diagram  Sequence diagram  Interaction diagram  Component diagram  Deployment diagram Management of IT Environment (3) LS 2012/13 9

BPMN - Business Process Modeling Notation

 Formalism for graphical representation of business processes by means of a diagram of ordered/structured flow of activities and related information -

Business Process Diagram

.

  BPMN is a set of graphical objects and rules defining available connections between the objects. BPMN provides a mechanism for generating executable business processes - BPEL (

Business Process Execution Language

).

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History & versions of BPMN

 

Business Process Management Institute

(BPMI, nowadays a part of OMG consortium, www.omg.org

) developed the BPML language (XML-based, representation of executable BPs). It implied a necessity of a general and easily understandable graphical notation - BPMN.

 BPML was later replaced by BPEL (currently a standard). August 2001: group

Notation Working Group

, consisting of 35 members, organisations and individuals.

    BPMN 1.0

 May 2004: BPMN 1.0 specification published.  February 2006: BPMN 1.0 accepted as OMG standard. BPMN 1.1

: OMG specification, February 2008.

BPMN 1.2

: OMG specification, January 2009. The last non-executable notation BPMN 2.0

: released in January 2011: http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/ Management of IT Environment (3) LS 2012/13 11

Basic elements of BPMN

Flow objects

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BPMN: Poster

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BPMN: Examples (1)

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BPMN: Examples (2)

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BPMN: Examples (3)

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BPMN: Examples (4a)

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BPMN: Examples (4b)

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BPMN: Examples (4c)

Choreography BPMN 2.0

notation Management of IT Environment (3) LS 2012/13 19

BPMN: References

 http://www.bpmn.org

, the web of Object Management Group/Business Process Management Initiative  tutorials, guidelines, best practices, ...

 http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/ , specifications  http://bpm-sme.blogspot.com/2008/03/3-uvod-do-bpmn.html

, short tutorial in Czech  http://www.defm.fmph.uniba.sk/ludia/odrobina/Process_modeling.htm

, brief intro to BPMN in Slovak Management of IT Environment (3) LS 2012/13 20

Questions?

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