Process Models at Statistics New Zealand METIS Workshop on the Statistical Business Process and Case Studies 11th March 2009 Craig Mitchell Standards, Solutions and Capability Unit

Business Process Modelling Enterprise-wide Business Process Programme (2002) Aims: document the major business processes. highlight standardisation opportunities. increase the quality of business planning, communication and co-ordination. pro-actively manage risks. increase business ownership of processes. provide a base for continuous improvement. improve the definition of roles and inter-relationships. Business model Transformation Strategy (2003) generic Business Process Model (2006) While Statistics New Zealand has been defining processes for many years, the move towards process modelling did not begin until mid-2002 with the Enterprise-wide Business Process Programme. At this point a large amount of knowledge was either held in the heads of key staff or embedded in computer systems. Process modelling was seen as a way to capture this knowledge, identify the similarity across surveys and improve business processes. The Enterprise-wide Business Process Programme aimed to:   document the major business processes of the organisation. use the identified system of processes to highlight standardisation opportunities across common processes. increase the quality of business planning, communication and co-ordination through greater awareness and understanding by staff of the organisation’s business processes. pro-actively manage the risks of business processes. increase business ownership of processes. provide a base for continuous improvement. improve the definition of organisational roles and inter-relationships of statistical output areas and support functions. introduction of a business process methodology that is used by both business and IT staff for all projects. well communicated process for making changes to business processes in the future. External experts were brought in to introduce business process methodology and build process modelling skills. Following some pilot projects, the wider organisation continued to adopt process modelling and to accept the method as a valuable way of describing the business. This was then integrated into the larger change management programme which became known as the Business model Transformation Strategy. The accumulation of effort in relation to business processes across the organisation as a result of this work eventually identified the opportunity to introduce a generic statistical business process model. This work included the review of the process models produced to date, and incorporating them into a single generic model which was released in September 2006.

Generic Business Process Model The Generic Business Process Model (or gBPM) was the outcome of this work. It is intended as a model to describe our core business as a statistical agency ie) what we do / the processes we use to produce Official Statistics At the highest level the gBPM is represented by the seven processes of the generic process, and the three infrastructure processes which support and enable the production of statistical outputs (these will be described in more detail later in the presentation). The model can often also be depicted in a circular fashion, showing the continual process of reviewing output to feed into identifying a need.

Generic Business Process Model The model showing the processes and sub-processes is a more common depiction of the gBPM. However there are also other layers below this….

Generic Business Process Model The activity level adds more detail to the sub-processes already identified. This level still tries to capture the business in a generic way, however it is here that different subject matter areas or survey areas are more likely to note differences.

Generic Business Process Model The final level for process modelling within Statistics NZ is the Swim Lane level. These diagram add the element of roles (either staff or systems) and a flow of processes. The Swim Lane level is where the processes are more likely to be specific to a particular survey topic or business context, hence the generic processes of the gBPM do not go down to this level.

Challenges in implementing the gBPM In implementing the gBPM within Statistics New Zealand, we have faced many challenges either through misconceptions or misunderstandings of the purpose. These include the following perceptions: That we aim for the organisational groups to change their processes to align with the model - The model is not meant to be a standard for alignment, it is meant to be a framework to reflect our current business. That the model is linear (ie the numbering system and the use of arrows has led to the interpretation that we want users to follow one step at a time rather than apply an order which is most relevant to them), or that each process/sub-process is a distinct step - Often development and implementation will be iterative, so processes may be completed concurrently and often more than once. That all processes will be relevant to all collections/instances - however depending on the type of collection it is possible that some processes may need to be ignored (eg a Census won't need to select and validate a sample). That the model starts and stops with need and disseminate – Ideally the model should be viewed as circular, with feedback from dissemination feeding back into redefining the need.

Comparisons to the GSBPM Quality Management / Metadata Management 1 Specify Needs 2 Design 3 Build 4 Collect 5 Process 6 Analyse 7 Disseminate 8 Archive 9 Evaluate Terminology Overarching statistical processes vs Infrastructure processes ‘Archive’ Process and ‘Evaluate’ Process There are very few points of difference between the gBPM and the METIS produced GSBPM. The main ones are as follows: Terminology – GSBPM streamlines many of the terms used in the gBPM. We've found in most forums where we are promoting the model, that some of the processes using IT terminology have been the hardest for users to understand eg 'Design To-Be and operational processes', 'Complete gap analysis of existing E2E application components', 'Design application components to complete E2E application', 'Put application components into production', 'Initialise workflows ... ‘. Over the next year we are intending to review some of the terminology of the model and will look to the GSBPM for guidance. Overarching statistical processes vs Infrastructure processes The GSBPM describes a number of overarching statistical processes which are vital to the statistical process, ie Quality management, Metadata management, Statistical framework, Statistical programme management, Knowledge management, Data management, Provider management, Customer management.  More general over-arching processes include Human resource management; Financial management; Project management; Strategic planning. Likewise, for the gBPM we have the infrastructure processes which are grouped into categories of corporate, statistical and manage. These processes support and enable Statistics New Zealand to produce statistics through the generic business process.   ‘Corporate’ relates to the processes for managing all aspects of Statistics New Zealand, e.g. human resources, financial management, information management and storage, branding and promotion, etc. ‘Statistical’ relates to the processes which do not contribute to the production of a single statistical output, but allow the organisation to produce statistics more efficiently, e.g. adopting new technologies, developing new frameworks, building mathematical capability, developing standards and classifications, maintaining sample frames, developing archiving processes, etc. Finally, ‘Manage’ contains the processes essential to the operational processes of the organisation, e.g. managing policies for archiving and security, managing standards, project management and software development processes, managing review and feedback, etc. Archive and Evaluate Processes In the gBPM these processes are considered part of the infrastructure processes (particularly statistical and manage). Archiving also has touch points in the gBPM which are noted at lower levels: 2 Develop and Design 2.1 Research, develop and design Outputs and Products 2.1.4 Define preservation and destruction requirements for data/ metadata. 7 Disseminate 7.1 Manage repositories 7.1.4 Manage the destruction of data and associated metadata 7.1.5 Preserve data and associated metadata

Current use of the gBPM Development Tool – Swimlanes used to produce ‘use cases’ Development will generally begin with identification of the processes which need to be supported. Business analysts will produce swim lanes which identify the roles, systems and processes and then use this model to identify where process improvement can be introduced, where standards can be used and where systems need to be developed.

Current use of the gBPM BPM Repository developed to allow sharing of process models Over the last year, a Business Process Model repository has been developed to better enable the capture and sharing of process models at all levels.

Curent use of the gBPM Standards Framework – aligning our standards to our processes A similar framework and database has also been produced for development and storage of our standards. The current system links to our statistical standards which are already disseminated on our webpage, as well as providing a mechanism for storing and disseminating our methodological standards which are currently being produced.

Current use of the gBPM Statistical Core Capability Framework – aligning skills and knowledge to our processes The model has also been used as an underlying framework for building staff capability – Statistical Core Capability Framework. Within each level of the framework, the core knowledge that staff require to complete their role has been aligned to the seven high level processes of the gBPM.

Current use of the gBPM Master list of transformation processes and methods Last year, further expansion of the gBPM was completed to produce the Master List of Transformation processes and methods. This begins with the processes, sub-processes and activities of the gBPM and identifies the full set of methods we use for each activity (across all survey outputs). This provides a resource for reference at the beginning of new developments, as will as identifying opportunities for further standardisation.

Current use of the gBPM Document storage classification The organisation is also currently going through the roll-out of a new document management system. For survey output areas, the gBPM high level processes was agreed as the framework for storage of documentation.

Plans for the gBPM Strategy – promotion, expansion and review Business Process Modelling Community of Practice Linking frameworks - Metadata management, Quality Management Plans for the gBPM Recent planning work has included a review of the original vision of the gBPM to determine where further work is required. This has included identification of parts of the model to review (such as terminology), revisit and expand (eg further expansion of the survey development process, or definition of the infrastructure processes). Statistics NZ has also just launched internally a Business Process Modelling Community of Practice. This entails a monthly forum where staff can attend to share their learning related to process modelling and process improvement. It will also provide a forum to increase the understanding of the gBPM. Recently a team has been working to finalise a statistical metadata model (as shown in the slide) to identify the full framework of metadata use within the statistical process. Similar to the master list of transformations, there is potential to review the links between these models by identifying the metadata relevant to each activity in the gBPM. There has also been a proposal to adopt more of a process focus to quality management and this work will hopefully be pursued further other the next year.

Conclusion and Questions Since the adoption of process modelling in 2002, and the production of the gBPM in 2006 the organisation is continually identifying new opportunities to expand on and further implement this model. While we have made many gains through the implementation thus far, there are continually more opportunities being raised. Over the coming years we will be progressing more of these opportunities as we continue to refine and improve on our processes. Please send any questions to: Craig Mitchell -Standards, Solutions and Capability Unit Statistics New Zealand Craig.Mitchell@stats.govt.nz Phone: (+64) 4 931 4840