1 bpmds’05, june 13-14 2005 a regulation-based view on business process and supporting system...
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BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 1
A Regulation-Based View on Business Process and
Supporting System Flexibility
Gil Regev, Alain Wegmann EPFL-IC-LAMS
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 2
What is Flexibility?
• Elasticity
• Plasticity
• Adaptivity
• Proactivity
• Agility
• Changeability
• But what is flexibility?
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 9
Survival
• Maintenance of norms
• States that for a given observer remain stable for some period of time
• Dependent on observation period
• The earth seems very stable from a human point of view
• But maybe not from a stellar point of view
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 10
Survival (2)
• In a little changing environment
• Little change to norms is necessary
• In fast changing environments
• Flexibility may be necessary
• Counter example: Dot com bust
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 12
Norms
• Protect and constrain the system• Enable and limit action
• Example: Compaq couldn’t become Dell• Example: Apple, didn’t want to become
one more PC maker
• Counter example: Nokia but is it the same Nokia?
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 13
Example: Amusement Park
• Reservation system• Flexible cancellation scheme• Very nice for customer but at what cost?
• Inflexible division between reservation types (Tent and hotel)
• Means nothing to customer but what is the cost of change?
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 14
Norms
• In a changing environment norms don’t just remain stable for no reason
• There are automatic mechanisms in place to maintain the norms
• Homeostasis
• The stuff that keeps us healthy also prevents us from being medicated
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 15
Deviations and Norm Change
• Deviations => Short term flexibility
• Norm change => Long term flexibility
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 16
Norm flexibility
• Alignment on some “basic” norms enables more flexibility
• Example: Aligning on free speech allows democracies to be very flexible
• Except on free speech…
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 19
Process Structure
Act 1 Act 2 Act 3
Process protective envelope
Stakeholder 1 Stakeholder 2 Stakeholder 3
H H
Goal?
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 20
Process Goal
• What is the goal of a university?
• Output graduate students?
• Output failed students?
• What about its role of filter?
• Source Weinberg and Weinberg 1988
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 21
Maintenance of fit
State
Time
Norm
Norm
An optimizing-balancing actAn optimizing-balancing act
Moving equilibrium pointMoving equilibrium point
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 22
Some Flexibility Mechanisms
• Revisiting norms and their interpretations
• Knowing what to change and what not to change
• Problem is: Norms are invisible
BPMDS’05, June 13-14 2005 23
BPS Help to stakeholders
• Maintain knowledge of– the relevant norms– stakeholders’ tolerances for deviations from these
norms– possibilities afforded by technology that can
improve the equilibrium from one or more stakeholders’ point of view
– the projected consequences of changing the norms and equilibrium point
• maintain a pool of possible actions and conditions of their use in the process