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Business Process Methodology
Chapter 8- Business Process Methodology
Prepared by:
Rao Majid Shamshad
University of Education, Lahore
email: majidrao111@yahoo.com
http://www.bpm-ue.blogspot.com
8.1 METHODOLOGY OVERVIEW
• In this chapter, the development of business
process management solutions is investigated.
• A coarse-grained methodology is introduced
that organizes the phases that occur during
business process management projects.
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• Rather than presenting a formal method for
describing development process models, we use
an informal notation, in which phases are
represented by boxes, and information
dependencies or causal constraints between
phases are described by directed arcs between
these boxes. Phases can be nested, i.e., each
phase can consist of a number of subphases.
Subphases are also called development activities,
or simply, activities. Despite being rather
informal, the methodology guides process
designers to plan and conduct business process
management projects.
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• The business process lifecycle takes a rather
technical view, because it addresses
technologies used in business process
management and relates them to each other.
The methodology introduced in this section, in
contrast, takes a broader, project-oriented
view by investigating the phases that are
required to develop business process
applications.
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8.2 STRATEGY AND ORGANIZATION
• The Strategy and Organization phase is the
first phase of the methodology. It is
independent of particular operational
business processes, because it deals with the
identification of the overall business strategy
and the associated goals. In this phase, the
strategic goals as well as the operational goals
are determined. The organization is structured
in such a way that business processes can
successfully be implemented in the company.
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8.3 SURVEY
• The Survey phase is the first phase relevant to
individual business processes and the projects
to realize these processes. In this phase, the
project goals are defined, the project team is
established, and information on the business
process environment is gathered. Empirical
studies based on interview techniques, and an
analysis of available documentation, are
conducted.
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• The development of a domain ontology that
provides a common understanding of the
terms and concepts in the application domain
is essential in this phase. While the activities
in this phase are centered on the business
domain, the technical execution environment
of the business process is also surveyed,
because it might have implications on the
realization of business processes. With respect
to the business process lifecycle, the survey
phase can be regarded as a preparation phase
for the lifecycle phase design and analysis,
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8.4 DESIGN PHASE
• In the Design phase, the information gathered is
analyzed, consolidated, and represented as
business process models. These business process
models serve as a communication basis for
different stakeholders to improve the processes
so that the operational goals as laid out in the
strategy phase can be realized.
• Business process improvement not only
addresses the actual process, but also the
technical and organizational environment in
which business processes are enacted.
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• The technical environment can be improved
so that service oriented approaches to the
integration of external information systems
are used that provide more flexibility than
traditional enterprise application integration
approaches. At the organizational level, new
roles that require new skills and competencies
might emerge to realize business processes
more efficiently and to provide better service
to customers.
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• With respect to the business process lifecycle,
this phase is closely associated with the design
and analysis phase. It takes advantage of the
process modelling techniques, and of
validation, simulation, and verification
techniques.
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8.5 PLATFORM SELECTION PHASE
• The Platform Selection phase of the
methodology uses the business process
models as well as information on the technical
and organizational environments of the
business process to select a technological
platform on which the business process will be
enacted.
• A wide variety of platforms might be suitable
for implementing business processes,
including automated platforms such as:
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enterprise application integration middleware,
service-oriented architectures realizing system
workflows, or workflow management systems
to support human interaction workflows.
• Finally, nontechnical implementation
platforms are also feasible, where written
business policies and defined business
procedures realize the business processes.
Platform selection is a part of the
configuration phase of the business process
management lifecycle.
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8.6 IMPLEMENTATION AND TEST PHASE
• Implementation and Test phase is required to
enhance the business process models with
information to make them executable.
• Implementation should involve the
development of prototypes, and invite
feedback by the knowledge workers on the
design of these applications. These aspects
are also covered in the configuration phase of
the business process lifecycle.
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• Depending on the particular technology used,
concrete data type definitions are set up, as
are control flows between activities and the
technical realization of the activities, by the
integration of existing application systems.
Extensive testing is required to make sure that
the technical solution effectively realizes the
business process. It is important to also study
non-functional aspects, such as performance
and robustness, so that problems related to
them do not emerge only after the system has
been deployed.
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8.7 DEPLOYMENT PHASE
• During the Deployment phase, the
implementation of the business process is
deployed in the target environment. Technical
aspects need to be taken into account to make
sure that the operations will not suffer during
deployment.
• Organizational aspects also need to be taken
into account, for instance, training of the
knowledge workers.
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• Depending on the particular enactment
environment of the process and the skills and
expertise of the knowledge workers, these
activities should start at an earlier stage in
time, potentially after the first stable
prototype implementation is available.
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8.8 OPERATION AND CONTROLLING PHASE
• In the Operation and Controlling phase of the
methodology, the business process application
runs in the target environment. Valuable
execution information is gathered, which is
useful in improving the process in an
evolutionary way. This phase is associated
with the enactment phase of the business
process lifecycle.
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• Phases and subphases are related by directed
arcs These directed arcs do not specify a strict
sequential ordering—rather, they characterize
loose dependencies between phases and
typical information transfer between them.
• The methodology is iterative and incremental.
By gathering knowledge about the business
processes and their environment, new
questions and issues emerge that need to be
taken care of in the next iteration.
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Prepared By: Rao Majid Shamshad, UE,
Lahore
• it can also be supported by the following
activities, performed in a recurring manner in
each phase.
– Collect: Collect observations about business
processes and their execution environment.
– Classify: Classify information in classes that have
common characteristics.
– Validate: Validate findings with process
stakeholders.
– Refine: Refine artifacts using discovered
information.
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Prepared By: Rao Majid Shamshad, UE,
Lahore