1. Business Process Management Systems [Συστήματα Διαχείρισης Επιχειρησιακών Διαδικασιών] Lecture 1, 2: BPM, Business Processes and Business Process Models Univ. of the Aegean Financial and Management Engineering Dpt
Petros KAVASSALIS

2. What you will learn in this course
This course provides a set of fundamental concepts for understanding Business Process Management (BPM), business process modelling, process automation and use.
Course topics:
Business Process Analysis
Business Process Design by using:
BPMN
XML
Web Services
E-Forms
Best practices and techniques for modeling business processes:
Methods and examples
“Hands-on" experience: create business process models by using Intalio|BPMS (open source)
Download Intalio|BPMS
Intalio Designer: Getting Started
Tutorial (in Greek)
Strategies for orchestrating enterprise IT systems and human activity through Business Process Management Systems
Familiarization with practical use of BPM in:
e-business
e-government 2.0

3. Who am I?
PhD in Economics and Management (Univ. Paris Dauphine & Ecole polytechnique)
Research experience
Ecole polytechnique, Paris
MIT Center of Technology Policy and Industrial Development, MIT CTPID (MIT Internet Telecommunications Convergence Consortium)
Current positions
Univ. of the Aegean (FME): Assoc. Professor
RACTI: Director of ATLANTIS Group

4. Communication tools e-mail: pkavassalis@atlantis-group.gr
Course web site: see FME web site

5. + Students evaluation Class Participation (20%) Assignments (20%)
Final Exam (60%)

6. Starting Point: What is a value chain?
Petros KAVASSALIS

7. Firms as a “budge” of business functions: M. Porter’s Value Chain

8. Firms as a “budge” of business functions: Value System

9. Activities and Buffers
What is a process? [Anupindi et al, Managing Business Process Flows, Prentice Hall]
Inputs
Outputs
Goods
Services
Committed
Information
structure
Network of
Activities and Buffers
Flow units
(customers, data,
material, cash, etc.)
Resources
Process
Management

10. Examples Process / Flow unit / Input-Output Transformation
Order fulfillment / Orders / Receive order – Deliver product
Production / Products / Receive components – Develop end product
Outbound Logistics / Products / Store product – Move to the customer
Supply Cycle / Supplies / Issue a purchase order – Receive the supplies
Customer Service / Customers / Arrival of the customer in a store (Receive request) – Customer’s departure from a store (Satisfy request)
New Product Development / Projects / Recognition of the need – Launch of the product
Cash Cycle / Cash / Cover costs – Collect revenues
Petros KAVASSALIS

11. Process Hierarchy [Harmon, Managing Business Processes, Business Process Trends]
Petros KAVASSALIS

12. What is process management? (1)
Core concepts:
Understand the process architecture of an organization (discover and model processes – process mapping)
Assess process performance (extract, manipulate and calculate process information)
Simulate processes (move from “as-is” to new process, and process orchestration, designs – “to-be” processes)
Improve in reality process architecture and performance
Petros KAVASSALIS

13. What is process management (2)
Business processes are the key instrument to decompose firms’ value chains into networks of activities (and buffers)
“Committed” resources are allocated to processes
Processes assure the proper alignment of the firm’s strategic agenda with the three basic execution principles: Operational Effectiveness, Customer Targeting, and Innovation
Business Process Management (BPM) makes it possible to align companies towards customer requirements and to organize an increasingly large number of activities effectively and efficiently (by measuring and evaluating firm’s performance and by constantly re-designing firm’s process architecture according to its strategic goals)

14. A business process is (in formal terms)
A set of activities
Performed in coordination to realize a business goal
In an organizational and technical environment
Each process is enacted by a single business or it may interact with processes performed by other enterprises.
Petros KAVASSALIS

15. A business process example
Source: M. Weske, Business Process Management:
Concepts, Languages, Architectures, Springer, 2007
A business process example

16. Business Process Management (BPM) includes
Concepts
Methods
Techniques
To support the
Design
Administration
Configuration
Enactment
Analysis
… of business processes
Petros KAVASSALIS

17. A Business Process Management System (BPMS) is
Software that
Is driven by explicit process representations
To coordinate
The enactment of business processes
BPMS contain graphical notations to express orderings between activities of a business process (BPMN)
Petros KAVASSALIS

18. A business process view of the organization
Implies an horizontal view of organization
Looks at processes as sets of independent activities designed and structured to produce a specific output for a customer or a market
Uses the term activity
To refer to a small scale process that consists of one or few closely related steps
A process defines
The results to be achieved (start-end)
The context of the activities
The relationships between activities
The interaction with other process and resources
Petros KAVASSALIS

19. Business Process Management and Information Systems
Source: M. Weske, Business Process Management:
Concepts, Languages, Architectures, Springer, 2007
Business Process Management and Information Systems

20. Enterprise Application Integration through Workflow: example
Source: M. Weske, Business Process Management:
Concepts, Languages, Architectures, Springer, 2007
Enterprise Application Integration through Workflow: example

21. Enterprise Application Integration through Workflow: Workflow Management System (apps)
Source: M. Weske, Business Process Management:
Concepts, Languages, Architectures, Springer, 2007

22. Enterprise Application Integration through Workflow: Workflow Management System (apps + humans)
Source: M. Weske, Business Process Management:
Concepts, Languages, Architectures, Springer, 2007

23. Enterprise Application Integration through Workflow: Workflow Management System (humans + apps)

24. A business process model
Consists of
A set of activity models and execution constraints between them
Is used
To configure the Business Process Management System accordingly
Represents
Activities and Relationships
Graphical representations of business processes focus on the process structure and the interactions of participating parties (rather than on technical / software aspects)
Examples follow
Petros KAVASSALIS

25. Example: A reseller’s process
Source: M. Weske, 2007
Petros KAVASSALIS

26. Example: A buyer’s process
Source: M. Weske, 2007
Petros KAVASSALIS

27. Example: Interacting business processes (case 1)
Source: M. Weske, 2007
Petros KAVASSALIS

28. Example: Interacting business processes (case 2)
Source: M. Weske, 2007
Petros KAVASSALIS

29. Interacting business processes (case 2)
Source: M. Weske, 2007
Petros KAVASSALIS

30. Business modeling is a process by itself!
Stage 1: Analysis
Stage 2: Design
Stage 3: Implementation

31. Business Process Management Notation (BPMN)
Graphical notations are being used to expressing orderings between activities of a business process
There are several graphical notation languages for business process modeling, with the more simplified variant being the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)
Petros KAVASSALIS

32. BPMN Diagrams from scratch
Events (i.e. the occurrence of states in the real world0 are represented by circles
Activities are represented by rounded rectangles
Execution ordering of activities is expressed by directed arrows
Branching and joining of nodes (i.e. the split behavior of the flow of control between activities) is represented by diamonds (called “gateways”) that can be marked by
A “+”: Parallel Fork ? Join (AND)
A “x”: Exclusive Decision / Merge (XOR)
Petros KAVASSALIS

33. Events
Petros KAVASSALIS

34. Activities
Petros KAVASSALIS

35. Flows
Petros KAVASSALIS

36. Gateways
Petros KAVASSALIS

37. Pools, Lanes (sub-partitions within a Pool) and Executable Pools
Models of human-enabled process are not “executables”
Petros KAVASSALIS

38. Special: Sequence flow and Gateways (1)
Sequence flow: control flow. It is represented by
Solid Arrows between
Activities, Events and Gateways
Normal flow: represents
Expected and Desired behavior of the process
Starts and Ends with
An Event (start and end even)
Continues
Via a a set of flow objects (activities, gateways etc.)
Gateways act
As either a join node
Or a split node
Petros KAVASSALIS

39. Special: Sequence flow and Gateways (2)
Joint nodes:
2 incoming arcs (at least):
1 outgoing edge
Split nodes
One incoming arc
2 outgoing edges (at least)
Remind:
Each Gateway acts as a join node or as a split node
Petros KAVASSALIS

40. Special: Sequence flow and Gateways (3)
“Exclusive or” splits
“Data-based exclusive or split” (x)
There is gate with an associated condition (gate condition / data based)
Once a gate condition evaluated the true, the corresponding branch is taken, and the other conditions are disregarded
“Inclusive or” splits
There is gate with an associated condition (gate condition / data based)
An arbitrary number of outgoing branches is selected (not only 1)
Petros KAVASSALIS

41. Special: Sequence flow and Gateways (4)
A complex gateway allows the definition of a combined split and join behavior
“And split/join”
The process starts with getting an order
Then, a “parallel” gateway triggers the execution of number n activities (2 and more)
These activities are completed simultaneously
When they are completed, the “and join” synchronized the parallel flows, and the process terminates
Petros KAVASSALIS

42. application with: Intalio|BPMS [http://community.intalio.com/ ]
Source: M. Weske, 2007