Michael zur Muehlen, Ph.D.Center of Excellence in Business Process InnovationHowe School of Technology ManagementStevens Institute of TechnologyHoboken NJMichael.zurMuehlen@stevens.edu

Getting Started with Business Process ModelingHow much BPMN do you really need?

1

How do you make a Cup of Coffee?2

Boil Water

Thirsty

Put Coffee in CupPut Boiling Water

in Cup

Coffee is Ready

Coffee L

over

The Nescafé Process3

Boil Water

Thirsty

Put Coffee in

Cup

Put Boiling

Water in Cup

Coffee is Ready

Fill Kettle

yes

no

Clean Cup

Yes

No

Kettle

empty?

Cup dirty?

Water is cold

Coffee L

over

Dis

hw

asher

The Espresso Machine Process 4

Order

cancelled

> 5 min wait

Barr

ista

Coffee S

hop

Cashie

r

Household

Thirsty

Collect

Payment

Go To Coffee

ShopOrder Coffee Pay for Coffee Take Coffee

Make CoffeeHand Coffee

To Customer

Payment

Order

cancelled

Insufficient Payment

Coffee

Order

> 5 min wait

+Done

Done

Leave

Discard Coffee

Done

Store Open

Take Order

5The Starbucks Process

How to Get Started

6

Pick a tool

ModelFind

matching Problem

How to Get Started

6

Pick a tool

ModelFind

matching Problem

Pick a Problem

Select Method

Solve the Problem

What is a Good Process Model?

7

Correct

Relevant

Economical

When is a model correct?

Correct SyntaxProper use of the Modeling Method

Correct SemanticsAccurate representation of Reality

8

Correct

Relevant

Economical

Correct

Relevant

Economical

As-Is“As-If”

9Source: Rob Davis (2006)

Modeling with BPMN10

What is BPMN?Graphical Notation for Describing Business Processes

The “Look” of a process diagram

Flowchart based

Activity Network – Nodes and transitions

Sequential, Parallel and Conditional Paths

Arbitrarily complex diagrams

The BPMN will provide businesses with the capability of defining and understanding their internal and external business procedures through a Business Process Diagram, which will give organizations the ability to communicate these procedures in a standardized manner.

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BPMN 1.0 - Elements Available

12

+ Pool, Lane, Grouping, Annotation, Document, Transaction Boundary...

BPMN 1.1

13

Maintenance Update

Minor changes to notation

New symbol for Multiple Event and Gateway (used to be star,now pentagram)

New Signal Event

Separation of “catching” and “throwing” events

14

Nor

mal

Flo

wTa

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nd E

vent

Sta

rt E

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/ E

vent

Poo

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ata-

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OR

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rt M

essa

geTe

xt A

nnot

atio

nM

essa

ge F

low

Par

alle

l For

k/Jo

inLa

nes

Gat

eway

Sub

-Pro

cess

(Col

lap

sed

)A

ssoc

iatio

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ata

Ob

ject

Inte

rmed

iate

Tim

erIn

term

edia

te M

essa

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erm

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ub-P

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ss (E

xpan

ded

)E

nd L

ink

Def

ault

Flow

Incl

usiv

e D

ecis

ion/

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geA

ctiv

ity L

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ing

Exc

eptio

n Ta

skS

tart

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tion

Com

ple

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ecis

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-Bas

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Mul

tiple

Inst

ance

Gro

upTr

ansa

ctio

nIn

term

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vent

End

Can

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Com

pen

satio

nIn

term

edia

te C

omp

ensa

tion

Con

diti

onal

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xcep

tion

Flow

Inte

rmed

iate

Lin

kS

tart

Tim

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ff-p

age

conn

ecto

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tart

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ule

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rmed

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tiple

End

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te C

ance

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ultip

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omp

ensa

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Ass

ocia

tion

WebConsultingSeminar

Source: 126 BPMN diagrams from three sources:

Web (random collection)

Consulting Projects

BPMN Seminar participants

Long-tail usage pattern

Some BPEL-related primitives could not be found among any of the diagrams

Frequency of BPMN Symbol Use

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Normal FlowTask

End EventStart Event / Event

PoolData-Based XOR

Start MessageText Annotation

Message FlowParallel Fork/Join

LanesGateway

Sub-Process (Collapsed)AssociationData Object

Intermediate TimerIntermediate Message

End TerminateSub-Process (Expanded)

End LinkDefault Flow

Inclusive Decision/MergeActivity Looping

Exception TaskStart Link

End MessageEnd Exception

Complex Decision/MergeEvent-Based XORMultiple Instance

GroupTransaction

Intermediate EventEnd Cancel

CompensationIntermediate Compensation

Conditional FlowException Flow

Intermediate LinkStart Timer

Off-page connectorStart Rule

Intermediate RuleIntermediate Multiple

End CompensationStart Multiple

Intermediate ExceptionIntermediate Cancel

End MultipleCompensation Association

Modeling in the Small: Service Process Improvement

16

Service Process InnovationProblem: Service Processes in truck dealerships are crucial for customers that need to maintain their trucks, potentially very profitable, but not very well understood.

Question: How can we improve the existing service process, quantify improvements, and increase both customer satisfaction and profitability? How well is BPMN suited for this task?

Approach: Map the existing process in BPMN, identify improvement potential, benchmark process metrics, design new process in BPMN, supervise implementation

17

As-Is Process (v. 13)18

To-Be Process (v. 11)19

Useful Abuse20

InsightsA very limited BPMN subset is sufficient to create processes (and produce redesign results)

“Creative abuse” can increase readability

Management literacy of the BPMN diagrams made it easier to illustrate the ROI of a pure modeling project

Process simulation is essential to peg financial benefits to process changes

Even in a blue collar environment, process improvement ideas can be generated at the front line

21

Relevance

Is everything relevant in the model?Missing process paths?

Missing responsibilities?

Missing information?

Is everything in the model relevant?Information overload

22

Correct

Relevant

Economical

Correct

Relevant

Economical

Bad Example

23

2 Verbs in Activity Constraint

“Call Bank” = How

“Verify” = What

Consistent Level of Abstraction?

24

Correct

Relevant

Economical

When is a model Economical?

Effort spent on documentationvs.

Value of model use

25

Correct

Relevant

Economical

26

Correct

Relevant

Economical

As-Is or just To-Be?27

Perform As Is Modeling?

It is important to design as-is models if you feel

The as-is will include lots of improvement constraints

You aim for minor changes

You do not understand the domain at all

The organization is risk averse

The process is of strategic importance

You have a very cost effective methodology for as-is modeling

The difference between as-is and to-be is a change management document

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Skip As Is Modeling?

You can skip as-is modeling when

The process is a commodity

You have a very good understanding of the as-is

People would otherwise not be able to think out of the box

You have a very good approach for process improvement

29

Modeling in the Large: Enterprise-wide Modeling

30

Project ScopeDuration: 21 months

Project team: 13 Modelers (Full-time) >80 Subject Matter Experts (Part-time)

Goal 1: Development of an Enterprise Process Model

Goal 2: Alignment of Organization with new Processes

31

Online Glossary

Process Granularity

Complaint

Reminder

Package Slip

PalletInvoice

Payment

Decided to follow Process Objects to discover process structure.

As-Is ModelingSurvey of As-Is Processes in the district offices

Mixture of observation and workshops

“How does this typically work” is not a good question

Scenarios are helpful (rainy day - sunny day)

Standardization of models across different districts

34

To-be ModelingDefinition of strategic Core Processes

Development of a Enterprise Process Framework

Modeling and refinement of an Enterprise Process Catalog

Enhancement of the glossary

35

Process Framework - Facility Management

De

r re

levan

te

Users

Shareholders

Market

Owners

Customer

De

r be

arb

eite

te

Customers

Market

Project study

Planning

Resource-disposition

TechnicalServices

AdministrativeServices

PersonnelServices

Marketingand

Acquisition

Market Activities Enactment of Services

Consulting

Contracting

Informations-verarbeitung

Information-processing Informations-

verarbeitung

Material-management Informations-

verarbeitung

Accounting,Finance Informations-

verarbeitungLegal Issues

Human Resources

AssetManagement Controlling

EnterpriseManagement

Process Management

Portfolio ReportingStrategical /Operative

Mgmt.

Users

Shareholders

Owners

Process: Purchase on site

Process: Evaluate Quotes

Process: Purchase Resources

Process: Goods Receipt

Process: Goods Issue

Example Level 1-3

Der

rele

vant

e M

arkt!"§===Eigentümer

!"§===Nutzer

Nutzer

InvestorenMarkt

Eigentümer

Kunden

Der bearbeitete M

arkt

Kunden

!"§===Eigentümer

!"§===Nutzer

Nutzer

InvestorenMarkt

Eigentümer

Projektstudie

Planung

Ressourcen-disposition

TechnischeDienstleistung

KaufmännischeDienstleistung

PersonelleDienstleistung

Marketingund

Akquisition

Marktbearbeitung Leistungserbringung

Beratung

Vertrags-abschluß

AssetManagement

Informations-verarbeitungInformations-verarbeitung

Informations-verarbeitung

Material-wirtschaft

Informations-verarbeitungRechnungs-

wesen, FinanzenInformations-verarbeitung

Recht

Personalmanagement

Controlling

Unternehmensführung

Prozeßmanagement

BerichtswesenStrategische/Operative

Führung

38

Process Framework: Fortune 100Enterprise Process ArchitectureMethods Organization

Lessons learnedGlossary was helpful

“Object” in real estate is very different from CS “object”

Modeling standards were invaluable

Not just words, but naming and phrasing conventions

Employees can learn “complicated” modeling techniques

Use method filters wisely

Decide who will read and who will contribute

Who owns the model?

39

Lessons Learned (2)Method became more and more standardized over time

Started with (nearly) all modeling elements

Ended with heavily customized method filters

Started with free-form EPC with routing guidelines

Ended with swimlane-style EPCs

Process modeling can become a self-fulfilling purpose

Rogue projects sprung up before the implementation phase

Integrating 650 models only works if you have standards

2 full time staff for model consolidation

in the end, everything changed…40

What’s the Big Picture?41

Modeling in Context 42

Project Management

ModelMaintenance

ModelDesign

ProjectSetup

Modelers Users Info. Providers

Tools and Lang.

Top Management

Support

Economics Governance

Michael zur Muehlen, Ph.D.Center of Excellence in Business Process InnovationHowe School of Technology ManagementStevens Institute of TechnologyCastle Point on the HudsonHoboken, NJ 07030Phone: +1 (201) 216-8293Fax: +1 (201) 216-5385E-mail: mzurmuehlen@stevens.eduWeb: http://www.cebpi.orgslides: www.slideshare.net/mzurmuehlen

Thank You - Questions?

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