pattern BPMN examples

Following the articles for patterns and using BPMN intalio tools, i submit the below examples for the discussed patterns.
click on the images to see the examples

and-split pattern..

or-split pattern

xor-split pattern


Giannis Giataganas IS Consultant, BPM Analyst Bsc in Informatics, AUEB MscIS, Athens University of Economic and Business

Advanced Branch and Join Patterns-Multi-Choice

www.innocentric.gr/bpm

Earlier I have posted the basic Patterns of P4 in Real modeling Process . These were the basic patterns which we use all the time and are fundamental in process modeling. Furthermore we must mention that advanced patterns are also a necessity in modeling world as they are also used extensively.

Starting from the common pattern which is called Multi Choice, we refer to a pattern which is placed so as to choose one or more parallel branches in which each branch is taken only if it satisfies a particular condition. This pattern is also called as Inclusive Or split. The difference between exclusive and inclusive OR is that exclusive_OR allows only one branch to direct the process where inclusive OR allows more than one path to be spawned.

Synchronizing Merge

The intent of synchronizing merge is to join branches spawned by a Multi-Choice(see above). That is to wait for all active paths in a parallel to complete. This Pattern is also known as Inclusive_OR_Join. Though the idea is intuitive and this pattern can help us solve many problematic areas, many BPM products cannot support it because of its implementation difficulties of tracking which branch was executed. Languages that use the Petri-Net conception of token passing to model control flow can implement such a pattern.

As far as BPEL is concerned, it uses the principle of dead path elimination, another Petri_Net inspired concept, to solve this problem. 

Giannis Giataganas IS Consultant, BPM Analyst Bsc in Informatics, AUEB MscIS, Athens University of Economic and Business

Continuing with Patterns- Exclusive Choice

The intent of the Exclusive Pattern is to branch from a single activity to exactly one of several paths, based on the evaluation of a condition. This pattern is known as a XOR-split.

The need for such a pattern is big and this is used widely in everyday’s activity. To understand the power of the XOR split we just give an example of a bank customer who wants to login to the i-bank. The customer gives the password and if the password is correct he is redirected to a welcome page. Otherwise if something goes wrong the customer is informed that he cannot access his account. So this behavior is modeled as an XOR split from Get approval to send welcome user page or Send rejection message. The effect is that of an if statement in the process.

Implementations of this widely supported pattern include control constructs (this can be a switch statement in BPEL and BPML) and explicit split elements(such as XOR gateway in BPMN and the diamond in UML activity diagrams).

Simple merge

The intent of a simple merge pattern is  that several exclusive conditional paths converge on a single activity, which starts executing when the one chosen path completes. The pattern is also known as XOR-Join.  A simple merge is actually the endpoint – XOR join- of a process that splits and which started by an exclusive choice. In programming we can assume that it is the end of an if statement . now in languages in which conditional processing is modeled as a control structure (such as BPEL and BPMN) the control structure can manage the merge(for example, when the switch case in BPEL completes, its selected case is quaranteed to have completed.)

Giannis Giataganas IS Consultant, BPM Analyst Bsc in Informatics, AUEB MscIS, Athens University of Economic and Business

Parallel Split Pattern in modeling -BASIC PATTERNS

Parallel split

After the analysis made in the basic pattern called sequence which is the most basic step in modeling and processes, we should move on to the parallel split. The intent of the parallel split pattern is to branch, or fork from a single activity to multiple parallel paths. This Pattern is also known as AND-split.

It occurs when there is a need of multiple streams to execute at the same time. An example of this would be when an employee needs to apply for vacation. The Department manager gets the application of the employee. At the same time the application is  forwarded to HR dept.  where the HR employee should update the available dates. The application approval depends on the Department manager and the HR. to let the process move on to its completion these to tasks should complete successfully.

This pattern is related to Synchronization, Exclusive Choice and Multi-Choice

Synchronization

the intent of synchronization pattern is to have several parallel paths converge on a single activity which waits for the completion of all paths before starting. The pattern is also known as AND-Join. Synchronization is common requirement for many processes. In the above example to get the process of work permit completed the activity of  final completion from the department responsible for work permits must not be started until the 2 preceding parallel activities have completed.

In languages in which parallel processing is modeled as a control structure(flow in BPEL and ALL in BPMN) the control structure itself manages the merge. For example, in BPEL when the flow in BPEL completes, its child activities are guaranteed to have completed. In languages where the merge requires an explicit join element(such as the AND gateway in BPMN and the join in UML activity diagrams) the join element performs the merge.

This pattern is related to parallel split, Simple Merge, Synchronizing Merge,Multi-Merge, Discriminator

Giannis Giataganas

 IS Consultant, BPM Analyst 

Bsc in Informatics, AUEB MscIS

Athens University of Economic and Business

Process patterns and the P4

As far as processes are concerned, the process community has identified and codified different sets of common problems. This action was a result of previous similar approaches taken by the programming community. Previous works on the programming patterns include the GOF’s book which is a catalog of 23 patterns related to the creation of objects, the structural relationship of objects, the behavior of objects and so on. The best thing about using a pattern is the standardization. Each pattern is documented according to a standard template with sections such as intent, motivation and known uses.

Similar approach happened by the process community and by a group of 4 which we call process 4(P4). The article workflow patterns lists 20 patterns which are used for processes. This catalog is an account of process control flow.

Well what changes from the programming approach of GOF’s documentation is that the GoF patterns are documented as object models whereas P4 patterns are spatial and visual. Process patterns are clusters or constellations of process activities arranged in just the right way to solve difficult problems.

The categories which P4 patterns are included are:

• Basic patterns

• Advanced Branch and join patterns

• Structural patterns

• Multiple instances patterns

• State based patterns

• Cancellation patterns

BASIC PATTERNS

Basic patterns cover fundamental process capabilities: running activities in a sequence; spawning, and later joining,parallel lines of execution; and branching intone of several directions based on a conditional choice. The five basic P4 patterns are:

• Sequence

• Parallel split

• Synchronization

• Exclusive choice

• Simple merge

Sequence

Intent

To run activities sequentially. For example run activity A followed by B followed by C

Need for activity sequencing

Almost every process has at least one segment of two or more steps to be performed sequentially.

And the activity sequencing is essential part of the notion of process, it is not surprising that all BPM vendors and specifications support the Sequence pattern.

We can give an example of this activity sequencing in BPEL for a registration in a service

sequence

invoke name=”give certifications”

invoke name=”get approval ”

invoke name=”update DB data”

invoke name=”send confirmation email”

invoke name=”send welcome page”

sequence

 * we removed the <> so as not to read as html code

Giannis Giataganas IS Consultant, BPM Analyst Bsc in Informatics, AUEB MscIS, Athens University of Economic and Business

origin of BPM standards: Pi-Calculus vs. Petri nets

below we refer to the pi-calculus and petri net influence to major bpm standards. we divide the bpm standards as following:

pi-calculus influence:
- WS-CDL
- WSCI
- BPML
- XLANG

Petri-Net influence:
- BPMN
- YAWL
- WSFL

As a matter of fact, BPEL is a blend inheriting both from pi-calculus and petri nets
this is happening because BPEL has the following relationships:

XLANG---> BPEL <------WSFL

STARTING FROM PI-CALCULUS


Pi-calculus was developed by scottish mathematician Robin Miller in the 1990's and can be described as a formal language for defining concurrent communicating processes, including, but not restricted to business processes. it seems to be an advanced algrebaic system. in pi calculus system each process consists of one or more actions which can be arranged sequentially in parallel or conditional paths, or recursively. When we refer to an action we should also note if we are sending or receiving it on channels. an example will enlighten the description. when writting this language we actually write mathematical equations using predefined symbols.

The following example demonstrates interactions of a customer a travel agent and an airline(Example taken from Essential Business Process Modeling)

1 Customer(Creatorder, customer)=
2 createorder.customer(result)
3 Agent(createorder, agentok, agentfail,airline)=
4 createorder(customer).airline.
5 Agent1(agentok,agentfail,customer)
6 Agent1(agentok,agentfail, customer)=
7 agentok(result).customer+
8 agentfail(result2).customer
9 Airline(airline,agentok,agentfail)=
10 airline(agentok,agentfail).agentok<"conf no 100">
11 End2End=
12 (neworder,cust,ok,fail,air)
13 Customer(corder,cust)| Agent(corder,ok,fail,air)|Airline(air,ok,fail)


p send q on channel p
p(q) receive q on channel p
dot(.) in coding is the sequential operator
(+) conditional operator denotes that exactly one of this actions will



PETRI NETS

the petri network was developed by the mathematician Carl Adam Petri, is a formal graphical process modeling language that can design systems as diverse as train track switches and business processes(Essential Business Process Modeling book). you can easily find information on petrinets and their rules searching the internet. there are tools available to use to draw petri nets. be careful because they may have some similarities with state machine diagrams but they have different functionality and should not be compared.


Giannis Giataganas IS Consultant, BPM Analyst Bsc in Informatics, AUEB MscIS, Athens University of Economic and Business

Modeling needs fantasy

after we have taken the necessary steps to develop the overall concept of a bpm project, there is a time that we come to modeling. i admit that modeling is a creative and interesting task. i am fond of this creative task. After all it's the outcome of all the work done earlier in a BPM project.. and i am referring to the phases that exist before modeling. all the analysis takes flesh and bones when it comes to process modeling. i strongly believe that good modeling technics and good modeling tools are not enough to design good and efficient processes. it's pure architecture. Well the work of a process modeller is not exposed to public view and the truth is that one can hardly understand the beauty of a good modeling process without measuring it.But what does it take to make a succesful modeling. Obviously the preliminary work must be done correctly and correct data should be delivered to the modeling team. But there are a lot more than the above.
there are so many modeling technics, so many different angles and perspectives you can distinguish in process modeling. The modeler has it's way to reach the required result. Process Modeling is architecture and modelers should understand that...
it's good to use different kind of models and diagrams, to have a lot of aces through your tools. Models should create value to the organization. what does it need? In my opinion, an important component is FANTASY. One must be able to see beyond the obvious. It's important to conscript the fantasy and the design skills by putting your own touch. Modeling is not just putting things together and creating workflows, redesigning processes but it's also an art of making flexible processes, of succesfully letting the work easily flow through well defined diagrams, of placing correct nodes and simplifying the processes, of imagining new ways that can be consorted with the organization vision and mission.

Giannis Giataganas IS Consultant, BPM Analyst Bsc in Informatics, AUEB MscIS, Athens University of Economic and Business

People change management in BPM projects

Good companies react quickly to change
great companies create change
Move before the wave!! change before you have to.
(Hriegel and Brandt, 1996)

During a bpm project, unless it's an extremely small and isolated project, culture will need to be dealt with. however we need to pay attention to those who use culture as an excuse to get away with the process of change. it's the leadership's responsibility to create the right conditions so as to pass change without pain in the organization. And pain comes easily into the organizations lifecycle if we dont pay attention to change management basics. But be carefull because change management is not a strict and predefined series of steps. It has to do with PEOPLE. And when culture needs improving then it always be as a result of some part of the organization processes, structure or people management systems not responding or changing as required. These issues are usually the root cause, and the culture is the outcome. Within a BPM project, always remember that the project outcome is the goal, and any cultural change that may be necessary is a result of the process goals.Some cultural change is essential as part of a succesful project. However cultural change is not an end in itself.

Here we provide a process of how to assist these 'ordinary managers and workers' to become prepared for, and accept change.


process steps

1) resistance to change

the only person who likes change is a wet baby. (Mark Twain)

And he is right because there are reasons to support this:
a)fear
b)feeling powerless
c) effort and pain to change
d) absence of self-interest


2) why change? what's the leadership role

Michael Hummer stated in 1993 that'coming up with the ideas is the easy part, but getting things done is the tough part'. And he is absolutely right. The gatekeepers of change are the people involved. there can be the best processes and BPM systems, but if people refuse to use them, or use them poorly then the project will not be succesful.
there are two methods that can be applied for the change to take place and become acceptable from the people.
a) there must be a crisis and it's the job of the CEO to define and communicate that crisis, its magnitude its severity, and its impact.Just as important, the CEO must also be able to communicate how to end the crisis-the new strategy, the new company model, the new culture.
(Gerstner, 2002)

the second method is more subtle, and requires leadership to have people understand that there is a problem and inform them of the magnitude of the problem and why it is essential to change.

the people within the organization do not need rah-rah speeches; they need leadership- direction, consistency,momentum, and persistence. they want leaders who will focus on solutions and actions.

There is important to exist a person responsible for these changes. a LEADER. this person should and must always be ready to provide answers for the following questions:

what is change intended to achieve
why the changes are necessary
what will be the consequences of these changes to both the organization and the individuals?
(Scheer et al. 2003:26)


3) components of the change program

a) planning a detailed project plan
b) selection of a key personnel to get involved in the project
c) a clear understanding of the program's links to: strategy, culture, structure, new people roles, new processes and the overall BPM project.
d) a detailed communication plan outlining the way information will be delivered to all stakeholders

4) Getting ready for change

a) create an enviroment that will allow and encourage people to change.
b) Ensure that there is feedback regarding performance and the change program

5) required behavior

there are three simple sub-steps that can assist the people change management process

a) a short clear uncomplicated message needs to be developed. win execute end team (Gerstner, 2002) provides an example of how short clear and powerful this message can be.
b) a behavioral charter needs to be developed showing the behavioral change required for change from the current to the new behavior
c) a set of principles that we will all live by within the organization must be developed.

these all must be documented and communicated to all people in the organization to have a positive result



6) how to get there

finally after we adressed all these issues, it's important to know what it takes for the leaders to get to the wanted results. Depending on the scenario, it could even take houndreds of hours to get the work done.. we should always have in mind that there are no quarantees.


The first step is to analyze the needs of the BPM project, based upon the
project scenario selected, because deciding what and how to change is critical:

● Does the project require the entire organization to change, or only
parts of it?
● Once this is agreed, determine the depth and breadth of the change
program.
● Always have ‘depth’ rather than a ‘shallow’ change effort; understanding
this will take longer and require more effort, but will yield
significantly better sustainable results.
● Always match the change program to the various aspects of the
People phase of the framework.

Stace and Dunphy (1996) provide an extremely useful summary of the
decisions and outcomes of a change program, and this is shown in Table 25.2.
In looking at and evaluating the actions to be executed during the people
change management program, always test the tasks and proposed actions
against both the project scenario selected and the following rule:

If it doesn’t:
● add-value to a customer
● increase productivity or
● increase morale
then don’t do it.

(Information taken from Book"Business Process Management: Practical Guidlines to Succesful implementations by John Jeston and Johan Nelis")

Giannis Giataganas IS Consultant, BPM Analyst Bsc in Informatics, AUEB MscIS, Athens University of Economic and Business

When should you do BPM? what are the main drivers and triggers?

John Jeston and Johan Nelis
"There are difficult questions in a generic manner
the real answer is'it depends'. it depends upon the
circumanstances of the organization and the organization
process maturity and these will vary from org to
org and from situation to situation."

So what the above tell us? it's important to know when we should start a bpm project. sometimes we ask ourselves: are the above drivers and triggers enough so as to initiate a bpm project? the organization should have mechanisms to check if some specific drivers and triggers exist in the organizations 'spine'. if that is true, then a bpm project should be applied. But that is really so general. of course as John and Johan claim the bpm project depends mostly on the organization conditions and the organizations real maturity at processes. For example, if a process-immature organization has enough drivers and triggers to justify business project management, then the next step is to define the level of bpm project and the automation needed. We should have in mind that Bpm depends mostly on the real working conditions and the org culture. Without human resources being aware of processes, a bpm project could become a total failure if not create catastrophic results in the health of the organization..
We talk about drivers and triggers but can we define and organize them? is there a way to have them in a sos-index and use it as a safety measure to alert us for an incoming bpm project? well there is no panacea and there are no absolute paths. Managers should have critical minds and should know exactly the condition of their organization. Although the above are extremely important, John and Johan through their Book "Business Process Management: practical Guidelines to Successful Implementations" categorized some of the likely drivers and triggers that may cause an organization to consider BPM as a possible solution, looking at these drivers and triggers from organizational management, employee, customer, supplier/partner, product or service, process an IT perspecives.

Drivers and triggers for the organization to consider an automated solution
may include:
● a high volume of similar and repetitive transactions
● a clear flow of high-volume transactions that need to be passed from
one person to another, with each adding some value along the way
● a need for real-time monitoring of transactions (a need to know a
transaction status at all times)
● a critical issue with processing time – that is, time is of the essence
● a need to complete many calculations within the transaction
● transactions or ‘files’ need to be accessible by many parties at the
same time.

John Jeston and Johan Nelis have created a large list of possible drivers and triggers. However, we should be careful not to over-automate processes to the extent that organization loses sight of the need for people involment. People are best at managing relationships.

"when to commence a BPM project is a difficult problem. For any given organization, it will be appropriate to start a BPM project when the right number and combination of the above drivers
and triggers occurs. This will be different for every organization, and for every
situation within the same organization".



Giannis Giataganas
IS Consultant, BPM Analyst Bsc in Informatics, AUEB MscIS, Athens University of Economic and Business

Business Process Management in Free and Open Source: An Overview of the Demand and the Supply

Kurt (Yu) Chen - June 1, 2010

republished in my blog
The article was accessed from the following website:

technology Evaluation


A while ago, I wrote a product note about Aras Innovator, the only enterprise open source solution available on the product lifecycle management (PLM) market. After that, my interest in free and open source software (FOSS) did not fade but I changed my focus to another category of enterprise software—business process management (BPM). This time, I was able to find more than one BPM solution that’s offered without license fees and had an impression that in the BPM area, FOSS- as-a-software-licensing-model has established noticeable ground.

A market is comprised of two major sides—one side has the demands and the other side has the capabilities to satisfy these demands. In order to verify the relevance between BPM and FOSS from the user side, I used Technology Evaluation Centers' (TEC) data on demand trends to explore the stats of end-user demand for FOSS BPM solutions as well as users' requirements for deploying BPM solutions (be it FOSS or proprietary) in a FOSS environment. For the supply side, my findings are not as quantitative but still suggest that some vendors are addressing BPM users’ requirements in FOSS.

The Demand Side
Every year, thousands of users come to TEC’s BPM Evaluation Center looking for suitable BPM solutions. By answering a questionnaire regarding their business characteristics and requirements, users walk away with a working list of BPM solutions that are likely to fit their specific BPM initiatives. Although defining a working list is the first step of TEC’s entire software selection services, the aggregated answers captured in this process show a good picture of the overall requirements from the user side on different issues, in this case, FOSS. In order to have a long-term view of the demand, I looked into the aggregated data for specific years (2007, 2008, and 2009), and below are the results.

FOSS BPM
TEC data shows that almost a quarter of software seekers think the FOSS model is considerable when looking for a BPM solution—higher than all major application types that are more business process-specific (figure 1).

One of our questions allows users to identify their customization, software license, source code, and other miscellaneous requirements. Amongst the valid 2950 responses to this question, 23.0 percent said they wanted software licensed under an official free or open source license. Compared with the same percentages in some other enterprise software categories, this 23.0 percent is higher than all the others except for that for enterprise content management (ECM). I’m not sure whether the 23.0 percent of BPM initiatives would all end up with FOSS BPM solutions as wanted, but at least the percentage shows that the FOSS awareness in the BPM area is relatively strong.



Figure 1. Percentages of people indicating a desire for a FOSS solution in different enterprise software categories (2007-2009)

BPM Running in a FOSS Environment
Besides looking for FOSS solutions, BPM seekers also showed high interests in running BPM systems on top of a FOSS database and server platforms.






Figure 2. BPM seekers’ preference on database management system (DBMS) (2007-2009)

Figure 2 shows that FOSS databases—MySQL and PostgreSQL—are ranked third and fifth, respectively. We structured the DBMS question with multiple choice answers—an average BPM initiative selected 2.1 options—even though the percentage shown in figure 2 suggests that there is a considerable large group of users who are considering FOSS database while planning their BPM implementation.






Figure 3 BPM seekers’ preference on server platform (2007-2009)

Figure 3 shows that FOSS operating system (OS) Linux is ranked second. In this case, an average BPM initiative selected 1.9 options when asked to identify server platform preference.

The DBMS and OS preferences in Figure 2 and 3 are captured from all BPM initiatives regardless if BPM seekers were looking for FOSS or proprietary BPM solutions. By separating the BPM initiatives that preferred FOSS BPM solution from the rest, I was able to find that the two groups (named as the FOSS BPM group and the non-FOSS BPM group) showed significantly different preferences on FOSS DBMS and server platform (Figure 4).






Figure 4.Preferences on FOSS DBMS and server platform, FOSS BPM group vs. non-FOSS BPM group (2007-2009)
Clearly, Figure 4 shows the correlation between FOSS BPM and FOSS IT infrastructure preferences. However, it also shows that even if an organization doesn’t plan on having a FOSS BPM solution, it may want to run proprietary BPM solutions on top of FOSS software, though less likely than a FOSS BPM seeker.

The Supply Side
Where there is a demand, there is a supply. Again, this is true in the BPM area regarding the FOSS issue. Let’s take a look at how some BPM vendors’ support FOSS database and OS.
Amongst the 27 BPM vendors that are currently listed in the TEC BPM Vendor Showcase, 15 vendors support Linux. Amongst these 15 vendors, 10 of them support MySQL, and amongst these 10, seven of them also support PostgreSQL (figure 5).



Figure 5. Percentages of BPM vendors that support FOSS’s database and OS

Although these 27 vendors don’t make an exhaustive list, the percentages in Figure 5. give a sense of priority when supporting Linux, MySQL, and PostgreSQL from high to low, coinciding with the demands from the user side as we have previously seen.

Now the question is, as there is a considerably-sized group of users willing to adopt FOSS BPM solutions, how many options do they have? Although none of the 27 vendors currently available for evaluation in TEC's BPM Vendor Showcase deliver their solutions through the FOSS model, there are FOSS BPM solutions such as ProcessMaker, Intalio|Works, uEngine, Runa WFE, and BonitaSoft. If you want to find more options, SourceForge.net is a convenient place that hosts over 80 FOSS BPM downloads under the Business Process Management category. However, one should be aware of that many of the downloads listed here are just subsets of today’s general convention of a BPM suite in terms of functionality.

Software selection is a process of measuring what you want and what the alternatives are able to provide. When a BPM seeker is interested in FOSS solutions, cost might be a major reason, but IT strategy, existing IT infrastructure, experiences of the IT force, etc., might also play a role in the decision-making process. Below are a few points you should consider when regarding a FOSS BPM solution as an alternative prior to a more detailed evaluation.

• Think of what functionality you want, for now and in the near future. Without a doubt, FOSS software gives you more financial convenience to roll out your BPM initiative. Typically, with a phased approach, you may start from business process modeling, and then expand to business process execution and monitoring, and later on find that process analytics and process mining should be added. With that being said, you need a solution that not only provides you with a convenient start but also helps you explore during your BPM journey.

• Know the boundaries of “free”. Some BPM vendors may deliver their solutions in both FOSS and proprietary models. In this case, you should be clear about the differences between the two offerings and make sure you will be able to stay with the free version relatively long or be able to move to the proprietary version if your requirements go beyond what the free version is capable of.

• Be prepared to spend some money. Although the license is free of charge, you will still need to invest in the implementation. In case you don’t have enough in-house BPM experts and IT force in planning, implementation, and training (which is quite likely for many organizations), you need a budget before you hit the road.

In conclusion, I’d like to emphasize that, you are not alone if you are tying FOSS with your BPM implementation plan. The demand is out there, and the supply is growing to meet the demand. For those who want to run proprietary BPM software in a FOSS database and OS environment, you will find support from many BPM vendors; for those who want to go one step further to FOSS BPM, different options are also available. The extent FOSS should play in your BPM implementation is a decision to be prudently made starting from the understanding of the demand-supply relationship on the market.






Giannis Giataganas
IS Consultant, BPM Analyst

To Understand is to Transform

we talk all day about changes, about process improvements , about new market standards. Almost every day there is an innovative idea concerning our business processes that seems appealing. Almost every day there are new proposals concerning all levels of the company. How in the world can a manager decide which proposal to embody, which new methods to apply. Sometimes we think of success as a lucky guess made by some people. Well i have to admit that you need luck and a number of other significant amendments to succeed. But you surely need a perfect understanding of the current situation in a company's processes, you need to commit to the company's vision and follow the strategic intense.. when there is a good understanding of the company in overall, then there is the perfect timing to transform what needs transformation, to change what needs to be changed, to adopt to the new standards.
As far as change is concerned, the key is a good understanding of the general company view and a good modeling of all specialist views(organization view, products/service view, function view, data view). Without the understanding, success seems impossible!!
the real issues arise when we should start thinking of the time needed to achieve a good understanding... Most of the times we need months of analysis, a lot of meetings, and a lot of time from all managers.. and realy often, the pressure to change is so necessary that we skip steps and just rely on our insticts..
That's the reason why companies realy need to embody Business process management lifecycle in their business. When BPM starts to be executed in an organisation, it preserves significant information so as to be available for the next improvement cycle. As it is, we gain a lot of time of analysis for future improvement projects.. When BPM realy works, companies have the chance to become Business leaders..
The first and most important bet for the managers to win is to change the company's culture so as to adapt easily to quick changes..

Giannis Giataganas
IT related

should companies execute BPM projects in period of crisies

BPM projects take a long time and effort to be executed correctly. Does this period means that companies should stand by and wait for a market limit up? that is so wrong and there are a hell lot of reasons to justify this.
First of all, in a crisis period many parameters change and companies shoud be ready to adapt to the new market demands. To achieve adaption, companies should already have a flexible structure or shoud analyse their processes and run a BPM project, if they already include the BPM lifecycle in their Business(meaning that they are process oriented companies and have enough maturity concerning processes).
A question arises then. Should a company, which has no idea about BPM planning,try to embody the BPM Lifecycle in this period. Well i believe that it is always a good time to start Business process management. However, it always depends on the company's economic status and it's ability to undertake such a project. If CEO feels that such a project will stress too much the economic status of the company short-term, then he should think it twice.. if companies don't face the necessity for reengineering, then it's always wise to wait for a positive sign from the market. Then they will have the ease to execute the project correctly and fully invest in it.


Giannis Giataganas
IT related

BPM Using combination of 7FE Framework and ARIS Framework . Presentation

Η παρουσίαση της εργασίας είναι δημοσιευμένη στο link που ακολουθεί:

http://prezi.com/roc5uadedsf1/

η Παρουσίαση αναπτύσσεται με ένα καινοτομικό εργαλείο, το prezi. αξίζει να το δείτε..

Η αναφορά θα δημοσιευτεί στο μέλλον οπότε αναμένεται ειδήσεις

η περίληψη της διπλωματικής εργασίας βρίσκεται πιο κάτω:

Το πρακτικό κομμάτι της εργασίας παρουσιάζει την ανάπτυξη ενός πιλοτικού έργου διαχείρισης διεργασιών μιας εταιρείας συστημάτων πληροφορικής, της DataLogic. Το έργο αναπτύσσεται βάσει του πλαισίου 7FE, το οποίο συμπληρώνεται με τη χρήση του εργαλείου ARIS για τη δημιουργία μοντέλων και όψεων του έργου. Το εργαλείο αυτό συνοδεύεται από το ομώνυμο πλαίσιο. Το πλαίσιο ARIS παρέχει τη δυνατότητα να δημιουργούνται και να οργανώνονται μοντέλα σε διάφορες όψεις, απαραίτητες για τον οργανισμό, ενώ το πλαίσιο 7FE παρέχει τη δυνατότητα να οργανώνει το έργο σε φάσεις, να καθορίζει τα παραδοτέα και τις αναφορές κάθε φάσεις, να οδηγεί το έργο σε μια καθορισμένη κατεύθυνση και να υπενθυμίζει τα σημεία προσοχής. Πρόκειται για ένα πλαίσιο που δεν επιβάλλει τρόπους υλοποίησης αλλά περισσότερο δίνει κατευθύνσεις και οδηγίες για να ολοκληρωθεί επιτυχώς το έργο. Είναι ένας ευέλικτος πρακτικός οδηγός. Στην εργασία προτείνεται η αλληλοσυμπλήρωση των δυο πλαισίων για την εκμετάλλευση των δυνατών σημείων και τη κάλυψη των αδυναμιών.
Το έργο καθοδηγείται από επιχειρηματικά θέματα και προβληματικές περιοχές που ανάγκασαν την διοίκηση να αναζητήσει τρόπους αναθεώρησης των διαδικασιών της. Το έργο κατηγοριοποιείται βάσει παραμέτρων όπως η αιτία της εκκίνησης, το εύρος του, η ωριμότητα του οργανισμού και βασικές επιλογές μοντελοποίησης προσδιορίζοντας τη ταυτότητά του. Ακολούθως διακρίνεται η στρατηγική της εταιρείας με την οποία προσπαθεί να ευθυγραμμιστεί το έργο υπό ανάπτυξη. Αναπτύσσεται η balanced Scorecard (BSC) και τοποθετούνται στρατηγικοί δείκτες μέτρησης απόδοσης για την παρακολούθηση της στρατηγικής της εταιρείας και το βαθμό ευθυγράμμισης του έργου με αυτή. Στη συνέχεια εντοπίζονται οι σημαντικότερες διεργασίες βάσει των στρατηγικών στόχων, και αναλύεται η υπάρχουσα(AS-IS) κατάστασή της σε διάφορες όψεις με τη βοήθεια του ARIS. Από την ανάλυση προσδιορίζονται τα αδύναμα σημεία της και επανασχεδιάζεται η προσδοκώμενη (ΤΟ-ΒΕ) διεργασία επιλύοντας πολλά από τα προβλήματα. Οι λύσεις που προτείνονται είναι συμβατές με την δυνατότητα της εταιρείας να τις υλοποιήσει και προσαρμόζονται στις ανάγκες και στο μέγεθός της. Τα διαγράμματα που χρησιμοποιούνται είναι επιλεγμένα για τις ανάγκες του έργου και τα κρίσιμα μοντέλα συνοδεύονται με έγγραφες αναφορές που δικαιολογούν το σχεδιασμό τους. Η ευελιξία του πλαισίου και η συνεπεία στην οργάνωση των πληροφοριών διακρίνονται μέσα από την εργασία.



Giannis Giataganas
IT related

Το BPM είναι τέχνη

Σε μια συναντησή μου με ένα φίλο στη Θεσσαλονίκη έφερε η κουβέντα τη συζήτηση γύρω απο τις προοπτικές και την αξία του BPM. Έκανε μια φοβερή παρατήρηση λεγοντάς μου: 'Σχεδόν όλοι η παραγωγή δημιουργείται πλεόν στη Κίνα, οι συνθήκες κατασκευής σε πολλά παρόμοια brands δε διαφέρουν πολύ, η παραγωγή και τα υλικά σε πολλές περιπτώσεις είναι το ίδιο ποιοτικά, επομένως τι είναι αυτό που κάνει τη διαφορά? προφανώς είναι η διοίκηση εφοδιαστικής αλυσίδας, ο προγραμματισμός παραγωγής και το δυνατό μαρκετινγκ'. Ηταν μια πολύ καλή παρατήρηση και εν μέρει είναι σωστή. Όμως είναι μια καλή αφορμή να ψάξουμε για τη σωστή τοποθέτηση σε αυτό το σημείο. Η ερώτηση που θα πρέπει να κάνουμε λοιπόν είναι τι κάνει πλέον μια εταιρεία να είναι ανταγωνιστική! θα απαριθμήσουμε τους κυριότερους λόγους εδώ:
πρώτον και κυριότερον ανταγωνιστικός πλέον είναι αυτός που κάνει καίριες και σωστές τοποθετήσεις, είναι αυτός που έχει μια πετυχημένη στρατηγική. Αρα λοιπόν η ανταγωνιστικότητα έχει να κάνει με τη στρατηγική της εταιρείας. Οι επιλογές της διοίκησης και η γενική γραμμή που ακολουθεί η εταιρεία αποτελεί τον δρόμο για την κορυφή... η Διαφορετικότητα είναι πάντα σύμμαχος για την επιτυχία αρκεί να ισχύουν όλα τα παραπάνω που είπαμε.
Δεύτερον μια εταιρεία στο κατασκευαστικό κλάδο δε μπορεί παρά να οργανώσει τη παραγωγή της μέσα απο ένα πολύ καλό εργαλείο που υποστηριζει την εφοδιαστική αλυσίδα και του επιτρέπει να συμπεριλαμβάνει όλους τους παράγοντες στο προγραμματισμό παραγωγής.. το καλό εργαλειό δεν είναι κάτι απόλυτο. Θα πρέπει να επιλέξουμε σοφά βάσει του προυπολογισμού, του μεγέθους της εταιρείας και τις δικές της ανάγκες.
τρίτον θα πρέπει οι εταιρείες να αντιληφθούν τη δύναμη του BPM. Η κουλτούρα της διεργασιοκεντρικής λογικής θα πρέπει να υιοθετηθεί απο εταιρείες που επιδιώκουν την εξέλιξη τους. Όπως έχω δηλώσει, οι ρυθμοί αλλαγής των απαιτήσεων και αναγκών στην εποχή μας είναι πολύ γρήγοροι και δε θα πρέπει να τους αψηφούμε. Για να το πετύχουμε αυτό θα πρέπει να εφαρμόσουμε BPM. Η διαχείρηση των διεργασιών είναι μια συνεχώς εξελισσόμενη διαδικασία. Τα αποτελέσματα χρησιμοποιούνται συνεχώς.. η μοντελοποίηση υποκεινείται είτε απο τη στρατηγική, είτε απο προβληματικά σημεία, ευκαιρίες, εναύσματα,νομοθεσίες, είτε απο πρωτοβουλία ανάλυσης των ήδη υπάρχουσών διεργασιών και εύρεσης σημείων για αλλαγή.
Τέλος επειδή ζούμε στην εποχή της έντονης προβολής και της κυριαρχίας των ΜΜΕ, θα πρέπει να έχουμε μια καλά συντονισμένη ομάδα marketing έτσι ώστε να προωθήσει το προϊόν μας και να χρησιμοποιήσει όλα τα δυνατά εργαλεία του Marketing.
Ο συνδυασμός όλων αυτών θα φέρει επιτυχία και θα δώσει ώθηση για την επιτυχή πορεία της εταιρείας μέσα στο κλάδο της. Μη ξεχνάμε πως όλα αυτά μπορούν να επιτευχθούν απο ικανά στελέχη.. το δυναμικό θα πρέπει να ταιριάζει στη κουλτούρα της εταιρείας και να αρέσκεται σε αυτό που κάνει..



Giannis Giataganas
IT related

BPM: Σημεία προσοχής και παγίδες

Πολλές φορές οι στρατηγικές αποφάσεις των διοικήσεων(εγκατάσταση ERP η αντικατάσταση ενός legacy system απο ένα νέο ERP, κλπ) απαιτούν μια ανάλυση των διεργασιών που τρέχουν στην εταιρεία. Όμως ποιες παγίδες κρύβονται πίσω απο αυτή τη τακτική;
Αρχικά αν έχει ήδη γίνει παλαιότερα μια τέτοια ανάλυση, μπορούμε να χρησιμοποιήσουμε τα αποτελέσματά της. Να θυμόμαστε όμως πάντοτε για ποιό λόγο έγινε η προηγούμενη μοντελοποίηση και αξιολόγηση επειδή είναι βασικός κανόνας πως κάθε μοντελοποίηση γίνεται πάντα για κάποιο συγκεκριμένο λόγο. Κάθε όψη μοντελοποίησης χρησιμοποιείται για το λόγο που επιλέξαμε εμείς. Για παράδειγμα μπορεί να μοντελοποιούμε την ίδια διεργασία με διαφορετικό βαθμό λεπτομέρειας κάθε φορα αφού στη μια περίπτωση θέλουμε απλά να δείξουμε ποια τμήματα συμμετέχουν σε αυτή ενώ στην άλλη περίπτωση θέλουμε να δώσουμε λεπτομερή εικόνα των διαδικασιών που εκτελεί κάθε τμήμα καθώς και τις υποδιαδικασίες αυτών.
Πολλές διοικήσεις θεωρούν την ανάλυση διεργασιών χαμένο χρόνο και περιττό κόστος μιας και έχει ήδη γίνει κάποια εργασία στο παρελθόν πάνω στο συγκεκριμένο θέμα. Όταν λοιπόν δεχόμαστε τέτοιες κριτικές για τις αναδιοργανώσεις μπορούμε να διαπιστώσουμε τουλάχιστον δυο πράγματα.
Πρώτον και κυριότερον, η διοίκηση είναι πολύ μακρια απο τη φιλοσοφία της αναδιοργάνωσης. Επίσης είναι πολύ πιθανό σε μια προηγούμενη εργασία αναδιοργάνωσης αυτή να στάθηκε πολύ μακριά απο την ουσία της. Όπως έχω δηλώσει και σε άλλο Post, η αναδιοργάνωση είναι άμεσα συνδεδεμενη με τη διοίκηση της εταιρείας. Αν η διοίκηση δεν δεσμευτεί στο έργο και δε συμμετάσχει ενεργά με το να συμβάλλει στη προώθηση των επερχόμενων αλλαγών μέσα στην εταιρεία, τότε η αναδιοργάνωση είναι όντως χάσιμο χρόνου και περιττό κόστος. Επομένως δεν έχει πειστεί για την αποτελεσματικότητα της αναδιοργάνωσης και απέχει πολύ απο την διεργασιοκεντρική φιλοσοφία.
Δεύτερον, η ομάδα της αναδιοργάνωσης δεν έκανε σωστά τη δουλεία της και δεν είχε σαφή και προκαθορισμένη μεθοδολογία. Είναι επιτακτική η ανάγκη για τη χρήση συγκεκριμένων μεθοδολογιών. Η επιλογή και χρήση τους έχει να κάνει κάθε φορά με το μέγεθος του έργου, το κόστος που μπορεί να διαπραγματευτεί η εταιρεία για το συγκεκριμένο έργο και το διαθέσιμο χρόνο για την ολοκληρωσή του. Η χρήση εργαλείων και μοντέλων για την απεικόνιση των διεργασιών είναι κάτι σχετικά νέο στην αγορά και είναι υποχρέωση της ομάδας συμβούλων και αναδιοργάνωσης να μεταφέρουν αυτή τη φιλοσοφία σε όλα τα τμήματα της εταιρείας, αν αυτή η φιλοσοφία δεν υπάρχει ήδη.
Επομένως ανακεφαλαιώνοντας κάποιες βασικές παγίδες είναι οι εξής:
η σωστή διαχείριση και χρήση των μοντέλων και των αποτελεσμάτων που έχουμε στη διάθεσή μας
η απροθυμία της διοίκησης
η κακή εκτέλεση του έργου απο την ομάδα της μοντελοποίησης.


Giannis Giataganas
IT related

BPM: κάνοντας το να πετύχει..

οι νέοι ρυθμοί και οι γρήγορα εναλασσόμενες απαιτήσεις που επιβάλλονται απο το άνοιγμα στη παγκόσμια αγορά σπρώχνουν τις ελληνικές επιχειρήσεις να αναζητήσουν μια αποτελεσμάτική λύση για τη συνεχή προσαρμογή τους. Απο εδώ και πέρα λοιπόν θα πρέπει να μιλάμε για μια συνεχή ανανέωση και αναθεώρηση των τρόπων που δουλεύει η εταιρεία. Μια πρώτη εκδοχή ήρθε με τα έργα αναδιοργάνωσης των διεργασιών. Tο λεγόμενο BPR (Business Businness Reengineering) αποτελεί μια επαναστατική μέθοδο για την ριζική αλλαγή των διεργασιών μιας εταιρείας. Φυσικά αναφερόμαστε σε project που έχουν αρχή και τέλος. Αν και τα έργα BPR ανά καιρούς είχαν μεγάλη επιτυχία, παρόλα αυτά είχαν ένα σημαντικό μειονέκτημα. Δεν είχαν τέτοιο μορφότυπο έτσι ώστε να κάνουμε συστηματική συνεχή χρήση των μοντέλων και να αξιολογήσουμε τα αποτελέσματα έτσι ώστε να έχουμε συνεχόμενη εικόνα των διεργασιών και της ανταπόκρισης αυτών στα νέα δεδομένα κάθε περιόδου. Αυτός λοιπόν ήταν και είναι ο στόχος της σχετικά νέας τάσης που ονομάζεται BPM. Το BPM(business Process Management) λοιπόν στηρίζεται σε μεθόδολογίες για τη συνεχή βελτίωση των διεργασιών μιας εταιρείας ή ενός οργανισμού όταν προκύπτει ανάγκη. Ο βασικός στόχος είναι το CPI(Continuous Process Improvement) μέσα από ένα επαναλαμβανόμενο κύκλο ζωής των μοντέλων. Επομένως δεν αντιμετωπίζουμε τη διαχείριση των διεργασιών ώς ένα Project που θέλουμε να φθάσει στο τέλος του. Αντιθέτως παρακολουθούμε τις διεργασίες και τους δείκτες αποδοτικότητας(όπως και φίλτρα που έχουμε θεσπίσει) μέχρις ότου να μας δωθεί αφορμή να παρέμβουμε και να εξετάσουμε τις νέες απαιτήσεις.
Παρόλα αυτά η μοντέλοποίηση, και πολύ περισσότερο η διαχείρηση των διεργασιών είναι μια πολύπλοκη και δύσκολη διαδικασία. Αυτό φαίνεται απο τα στατιστικά που μας δείχνουν πως ένα πολύ μεγάλο ποσοστό των εταιρειών έχει αποτύχει σε έργα αναδιοργάνωσης. Αυτό οφείλεται κυρίως στην έλλειψη κουλτούρας των εταιρειών γύρω απο τις διεργασίες αλλά και στην έλλειψη δέσμευσης της διοίκησης σε αυτά τα έργα. Οι μεγάλες επιυχίες που μπορεί να εχουν αυτά τα έργα σε εταιρείες που τα εφαρμόζουν δε πρέπει να βιάζουν τις υπόλοιπες εταιρείες να εφαρμόσουν κάτι ανάλογο. Η άνευ έρευνας αγορά και εφαρμογή εργαλείων είναι μια πολύ κακή επιλογή για τις εταιρείες. Επομένως τι προτείνουμε ; Οι δική μας πρόταση έγκειται στην υιοθέτηση των εταιρειών της Διεργασιοκεντρικής λογικής και την αναζήτηση των εκτιμήσεων ειδικών συμβούλων για την αξιολόγηση και την εύρεση της καταλληλότερης λύσης. Επομένως επιμένουμε στην άμεση χρήση αυτής της μεθοδολογίας που έχει τη δύναμη να απεγκλωβίσει τις εταιρείες απο την υποαπόδοση και να ανοίξει δρόμους για την κατάκτηση της κορυφής


Giannis Giataganas
IT related