A purely verbal description of the sequencing of tasks is not suitable for describing a process because of the level of detail and interaction that must be captured. Graphical methods are clearer for showing the ordering of activities, identifying those that occur in parallel and detailing a task's resource requirements. Graphs are easier to read and convey the overall nature of a process.
Process modeling is a method for enabling an enterprise to document its processes and to recognize the resources required by each process. and to depict or to document them, that is to model them, as activities, events and resources. There is no generally accepted standard for process modeling and it is strongly influenced by the capabilities of the selected tool. In addition,
process modeling, most of the time, takes place as part of a larger project (e.g., business process reengineering or introducing a workflow system). The higher goals or the larger project usually strongly influence the approach to process modeling.
In practice, organizational problems often trigger process modeling (e.g., a decrease in turnover, a loss of market share, a decrease of the quality of work). It often takes place as a reaction to a critical concern. Because process modeling is time consuming, Ideally, it should be take undertaken without undue pressure for rapid change. Seeking to use process modeling as a quick fix to a critical problem is unlikely to lead to the best outcome because it encourages short cuts in modeling and analysis that are detrimental to a high quality solution.
There are two major approaches of process modeling. The first kind assumes the existing processes must be understood before taking action (e.g., Bevilaqua and Thornhill 1992). The second approach starts with the results that this process should accomplish. It argues that analyzing existing processes will not produce radical change. Hammer and Champy's BPR represents the second school. In reality, a synthesis of these two extremes would likely be most useful.
We now examine Nagl's (1993) four steps for the general order of procedures in process modeling:
- Understand existing processes, their resource requirements, strengths and weakness, and identify any risk factors
- Define planned processes and describe the current functional processes;
- Determine of the planned use of resources (future state) considering the critical success factors;
- Identify the stages of implementation (actual or current state), including describing the system of resources, use of process as well as the measures taken in different functional areas.
The resulting process model should, among other things, do the following:
- Identify and define processes;
- Support process analysis and make needs for improvement visible;
- Document the change in the order of a process as well as recognizing the effects of such changes.
As already stated, business process modeling is concerned with the portrayal and description of all relevant aspects of a business process in an abstract model with the help of a formal or semi-formal language of description. At the same time, it actively supports the development of the new processes and reorganization of the business. Its goal is to improve organizational efficiency and competitiveness. Process modeling supports these goals in diverse ways, including:
- Documentation: Business process modeling provides a simplified, but at the same time exact, description of the enterprise. All the elements and sections are described as well as their relationships and connections with one another. It provides the means to analyze emerging problems and to analyze their effects within the process or other related processes.
- Organizational analysis and reorganization: The sequencing of each process is analyzed in the course of the process modeling making possible to identify needless or awkward parts of the organization. As a result, parts of the process can be changed and organizational roles modified. As well, redundant tasks can be eliminated.
- Planning the use of resources: Because a process model provides an overall view of the enterprise and the exact knowledge of the way that the process functions, it is possible to determine the exact resource requirements of individual organizational units. Available resources can then be better planned and allocated. In addition, possible bottlenecks can be highlighted, so that the enterprise can react appropriately to relieve them.
- Process management, monitoring, and directing the course of a process: A process model delivers a business' leadership with an exact picture of the different trends and courses in the business. Input and output, distribution of resources, and the relationship between and in the individual elements of the enterprise are represented. Thus, more precise control of the course of business is possible. The organization should be more able to react in a timely manner to unexpected events.
- System and software development: A business process model gives management and analysts the opportunity to simulate proposed new processes before implementation. As a result, problems, possible improvements, and unanticipated outcomes are more likely to be recognized before implementation. It is cheaper and less disruptive to simulate change before making a final decision on the form of a new process.
- Creating a foundation for the establishment of a workflow management system: After successful business modeling, installing a workflow management is a possibility. A workflow system completely defines, manages and executes workflow processes through the execution of software whose order of execution is driven by a software representation of the workflow's process logic. Such systems are frequently used for document management.
The optimization of an organization is only possible if processes are modeled accurately, since only then exact knowledge of possible improvements or problems is available. Many different elements can play a part in a process, and the more aspects that are recorded, the more exact will be the process model. Each organization needs to determine the appropriate detail for its process model to meet organizational goals.
According to the requirements of the respective organization, the following information needs may be relevant:
- Activities and structure of the process: This point is essential for modeling, it determines the purpose and structure of the process. It describes what happens and how it is to happen.
- Resources: This aspect has to do with the available internal as well as the inflowing external resources of a process. It defines what material is necessary for the correct sequencing of the process and the source of these resources. Data that are essential for the progress of the process are defined.
- Costs: An organization has a limited budget, and thus it is essential to have an exact list of the different tasks.Process Modeling can record the cost clearly for each individual process, recognizing where a redistribution or a change of budget is necessary or possible.
- Time: As with the cost, time also plays an important role in the schedule of a business. Through including time in process modeling, processes that last too long or create bottlenecks can be recognized and additional resources can be deployed to solve these timing issues.
- Exceptional incidents: The normal process is often the practice, through unusual events (e.g., lack of resources, short notice of deadlines changes) disturb process completion. Such disturbances need to be considered when modeling to ensure the process is fulfilled.
- Priority and role in the organizational structure: Each process has a definite status in the enterprise. Decision-making can be streamlined by the identification of organizational priorities. For example, if there is a shortage of resources, the decision as to where scarce materials should be delivered first is automatics because it is defined with the businesses processes.
- Communication structures: This item describes the internal communications structure of a process as well as its corresponding relationship to other units of the enterprise. For example, it describes what messages are exchanged between processes.
- Quality requirements: Quality requirements are included in process modeling to ensure customers' needs are met at the right standard. As well as defined quality requirements for output, quality standards for the process and specific dependencies are also recorded.
- Security requirements: With some processes, security factors have to be considered. For example, it might be important to prevent unauthorized access to internal data or minimize the risk of an accident in a manual process.
The preceding list is not necessarily complete. It shows that processes are very complex and that the information needs for process modeling are dependent on the purpose of the model.
Process modeling can serve multiple needs. The most important among them being:
- Communication with co-workers and partners
- Establishing a basis for understanding a process and analyzing it
- Planning of work processes and exceptional situations
- Implementation of a Workflow systems
- Training people to use organizational processes
- Input for software development
- A foundation of expertise for information management
For the systematic description of processes, several different notation formats are available. They vary from informal descriptive techniques (e.g., verbal or text based descriptions, flowcharts), to semi-formal techniques (e.g. ePK-diagrams, BPMN-diagrams, and UML-diagrams), to formal methodologies (e.g., Petri nets). Formal methods are based upon a theoretical foundation, usually based on diagram theory. It is helpful to use a common standard to make communication with others easier.
BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation) <www.bpmn.org/> is an open standard for modeling, implementing, and performing business processes. It is similar in its notation to the activity diagram of UML (Unified Modeling Language), which is widely used in the software industry. An activity diagram can be complemented with an application or sequence diagram.
ePK (event controlled chain of process) diagrams are also widely used, and appear in ARIS platform and SAP software. Business processes are portrayed as chains of activities that can be connected through events.
Process description languages are typically strongly structured, often tabular or graphically oriented. They often use diagrams or structured language to capture detail. As a result, they are more suited for describing processes than everyday language.
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