Overview of Business Process Modeling
Business Process Management in an organization is represented by use of Business Process Modeling which refers to the act of representing the processes undertaken by an enterprise with the aim of analyzing, representing and automating the current process (Silver, 2011). This is done by the business analysts in order to provide expertise in the modeling process. Business Process Modeling is undertaken with the objective of increasing the quality and efficiency in production; or reduce production costs associated with the inputs such as labor, raw materials and even capital costs and increase the process speed hence reducing the cycle time. Practically, an organization invests in business process modeling in order to come up with a documentation to help in an information technology project (Van Der Aalst, Rosa & Santoro, 2016). Business process management techniques help to make the management of an organization flexible and simple to control. With the adoption of these techniques, the internal activities of an organization can be scrutinized and arranged in an orderly manner to ease operations within the organization. The techniques adopted by an organization define its level and quality of service as well as the processes which implement the services internally (Routledge &Vondrák, 2014). The management techniques help to identify the organization’s processes and structure them effectively for smooth running of the organization’s daily production activities by use of the business process models. Customers are always pleased with a business process which is simple for them to understand, offers them better quality services and serves them faster. With the business management techniques adoption all these customer desires can be fulfilled and improved in future as creativity and innovation takes place within and outside the business organization (Vom Brocke, Petry & Gonser, 2016). 7PGM and capability maturity model are commonly used in business process modeling. Capability maturity model helps in formulation of software which appropriately addresses the procedures followed in the processes after an in-depth investigation of all the activities undertaken by a business organization. 7PGM helps an organization in developing models which are accurate. Any error associated with the modeling process is noticed at early stages and corrective measures undertaken appropriately. Businesses are highly encouraged to adopt business management techniques in order to improve efficiency in production and maximize profits at the minimum costs possible.
A process categorization model is used to plan the overall activities undertaken by an organization (Recker, Rosemann, Indulska & Green, 2009). With process categorization, various objects or rather various activities within the business process are recognized, then they are differentiated from each other and set in a way that can be easily understood for grouping. The activities are grouped in order to ensure smooth running within the organization. This helps to reduce cycle of time hence increasing the process speed. Every customer or rather a process is performed on time and this minimizes time wastage. Top managers are also able to identify the internal processes within the organization and structure them accordingly. Process categorization models involve classification of business processes of the same nature together. Process models indicate the way things within the organization must be done. Process categorization model is associated with several goals aimed at improving the efficiency within the organization. The major ones are;
- Description; this goal actually involves an investigation of the activities within the process. An external observer point of view is adopted to keenly check how the process has been done and then any possible improvements which must be done to the performance efficiency of the process are noted.
- Prescription; actually this step involves the description of the desired process and then suggests how they can be implemented. Guidelines and rules are established which have to be followed for the success for the process. These can be strict or flexible in nature. Strictness is observed when stating what must be done while flexibility comes when the guideline even if not put into consideration can still lead to the success of the business process.
- Explanation; this goal involves the explanation of the rationalization of the processes. The rational arguments help to come up with various alternatives courses of action after keen exploration and evaluation of the available or possible courses of action. A link between the business processes and the requirements is established to show what the model is expected to fulfill. Points at which data can be collected for analysis and reporting are pre-defined.
Benefits of Business Process Management
Considering the case of Ballarat Dentistry, process categorization is applied in arranging the steps to be followed by each patient from the time of entry up-to to the time of exit. The steps followed for this case are the processes involved in the hospital. This helps to keep the treatment process in order and to ensure that each patient receives quality treatment. Cases of patients getting into each others way are minimized. The speed with which patients are attended to is increased and it goes without say that it is the desire of every customer to be served well without delays. The expected time to be spend by patients at each step is allocated and upon delays, the factors leading to the delays should be identified and appropriate action undertaken immediately to restore the system back to its smooth operating nature. As technology advances and innovation takes place, the process models are improved according.
Capability maturity model
This is a model which is developed after data collected from an organization has been studied. It has been highly applied in the Ballarat Dentistry. After the patients arrive in hospital, crucial exam is administered to them by the dentist. After the results have been received and analyzed, a decision is made on the progress of the patients. The next steps are determined after the first examination. Maturity reflects formality and optimization degrees associated with the organization’s processes. The model helps to come up with a software development process for the organization. This model involves a five-level evolutionary path which is aimed at improving the efficiency of the organization’s processes (Giaglis, 2011). The five maturity levels of capability maturity model software processes include:
i.The processes at the early stages are disorganized. If success occurs, then it depends on individual efforts, and may not occur repeatedly since the processes are not adequately documented and defined for replication.
ii.Repeatable level; basic management skills are used leading to repeated successes since the organization’s processes are already defined and documented for replication.
iii.Defined level; during this level, standard software is developed by the organization. This is done by integration standardization documentation.
iv.Managed level; at this level, monitoring and control of the organization’s processes is done through data collection and analysis.
v.Optimizing level; improvement of processes is constantly done through monitoring the outcomes of the current processes. Innovative processes are then introduced to deal with the organization’s needs.
In the case function matrix, a consideration of the ongoing activities and time taken has been done.
Process Categorization and Grouping
Only a few elements have been used in the model. This is due to the fact that the more the modeling elements, the more the likelihood of errors occurring (Lu & Sadiq, 2009). Also one start event and one end event have been used. This is due to the fact that the more the start elements used, the higher the likelihood of committing errors. The model does not have a vast number of elements and hence there is no need for decomposing. 7PGM enables avoidance of mistakes in the modeling process by use of few elements possible and clear steps.
The model is in accordance with the 7PGM modeling rule in that it uses only a few elements in the structure and also uses one start element and one end element (Trkman, 2010). Every step involved in the modeling process is clearly indicated. All these help in avoiding mistakes in the modeling process.
Comprehensive exam = 1hr 30 minutes, full findings provision = 5 minutes, initial treatment (dentist) = 1hr, Maintenance care (dentist) = 45 minutes, initial treatment (orthodontist) = 2 hrs, Maintenance care (orthodontist) = 45 minutes, sign in register = 15 minutes, new patient record = 30 minutes, full fee payment = 5 minutes, ongoing patients booking = 5 minutes.
Comprehensive exam = 1hr 30 minutes, full findings provision = 5 minutes, initial treatment (orthodontist) = 2 hrs, Maintenance care (orthodontist) = 45 minutes, sign in register = 15 minutes, new patient record = 30 minutes, full fee payment = 5 minutes, ongoing patients booking = 5 minutes.
Automation refers to the performance of processes or procedures whereby most of human activity or intervention is eliminated. Automation helps capture the daily activities undertaken in the Ballarat’s Dentistry in the process of administering treatment to the patients digitally. The processes will be controlled automatically by use of appropriate software which is installed after the data collected is analyzed accordingly. This will help reduce the manual human activities in the process. This will save time and speed up the processes and improve the efficiency with which patients are attended with.
Conclusion
Business process modeling helps improve the organization’s way of doing things. This is done by reducing time wastage which in turn helps improve the speed at which patients are served at Ballarat Dentistry. After the initial data about the patients is collected, the next steps are determined accordingly. This can be done with the aid of capability maturity model which enables formulation of an orderly model after the analysis of the data collected. This is done by following five steps whereby activities in early stages are highly disorganized. As the processes continue data is collected, analyzed and documented for replication and this helps improve the processes. Improvement measures are put in place through monitoring the outcomes of the current processes and innovative processes are adopted to deal with future organization requirements. 7PGM helps to come up with an efficient model which is free from errors. It does this by providing guidelines on how to generate some of which include the use of few elements and the use of one start and end element to minimize errors (Jeston, 2014). In conclusion business process management is essential for any operating organization and is highly valued as it helps improve the production processes of an organization and enable smooth running of production activities at minimum costs possible.
References
Becker, J., Rosemann, M., & Von Uthmann, C. (2010). Guidelines of business process modeling. In Business Process Management (pp. 30-49). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Giaglis, G. M. (2011). A taxonomy of business process modeling and information systems modeling techniques. International Journal of Flexible Manufacturing Systems, 13(2), 209-228.
Jeston, J. (2014). Business process management. Routledge.
Lu, R., & Sadiq, S. (2009, April). A survey of comparative business process modeling approaches. In International Conference on Business Information Systems (pp. 82-94). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Recker, J., Rosemann, M., Indulska, M., & Green, P. (2009). Business process modeling-a comparative analysis. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 10(4), 1.
Routledge &Vondrák, I. (2014). Business Process Modeling. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence
Silver, B. (2011). BPMN Method and Style, with BPMN Implementer’s Guide: A structured approach for business process modeling and implementation using BPMN 2.0 (p. 23). Aptos: Cody-Cassidy Press.
Trkman, P. (2010). The critical success factors of business process management. International journal of information management, 30(2), 125-134.
Van Der Aalst, W. M., La Rosa, M., & Santoro, F. M. (2016). Business process management.
Vom Brocke, J., Petry, M., & Gonser, T. (2016). Business process management. In A Handbook of Business Transformation Management Methodology (pp. 137-172).
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