Process
architecture &
Advanced topics
PV207 – Business Process Management
Spring 2019 Jiří Kolář
● Recap
○ Types of processes
○ Kinds of work
○ Adaptive Case Management
○ ACM vs BPM
● Process categorization
● Inter-process relationships
● BPMN orchestration diagrams
● Process architecture
Lecture overview
● Human-centric BPM
Process types recap
● Human-centric BPM
○ Management of human-centric processes
○ Large amount of human-tasks (forms, portlets etc.)
○ A comprehensive technology for User-interface
needed
● Integration of systems
Process types recap
● Human-centric BPM
○ Management of human-centric processes
○ Large amount of human-tasks (forms, portlets etc.)
○ A comprehensive technology for User-interface
needed
● Integration of systems
○ Integration of WS and other interfaces of various
systems together
○ Involves middleware (Messaging , ESBs etc)
○ Orchestration of inter-system communication
● Document-oriented BPM
Process types recap
● Human-centric BPM
○ Management of human-centric processes
○ Large amount of human-tasks (forms, portlets etc.)
○ A comprehensive technology for User-interface
needed
● Integration of systems
○ Integration of WS and other interfaces of various
systems together
○ Involves middleware (Messaging , ESBs etc)
○ Orchestration of inter-system communication
● Document-oriented BPM
○ Management of document-flow
○ Often combined with Human-centric systems
Process types recap
Two kinds of work - recap
● Routine work
Two kinds of work - recap
● Routine work
○ Work process can be easily defined in advance
○ Sequences of tasks (processes) are repeated frequently
○ Uniformity of sequences is desired
○ BPM helps to achieve the uniformity
○ Easy from process modeling perspective
○ High process rigidity desired
● Knowledge-intensive work
Two kinds of work - recap
● Routine work
○ Work process can be easily defined in advance
○ Sequences of tasks (processes) are repeated frequently
○ Uniformity of sequences is desired
○ BPM helps to achieve the uniformity
○ Easy from process modeling perspective
○ High process rigidity desired
● Knowledge-intensive work
○ Sequence of tasks is defined by decisions of the worker
○ Many exceptional situations possible
○ Knowledge of the worker plays key role
○ Ad-hoc process welcomed/wanted
Adaptive Case Management
basics
● Knowledge workers are handling larger volumes of
processes with heterogenous structure = “cases”
● A “case” is a set of activities to be performed, however
the order is not important = “ad-hoc process”
● Similar cases means processing similar information
= “utilization of similar resources” (documents)
● There is a need for continuous definition of a
best-practice walk through the process
= “continuous process discovery”
ACM concepts
image source:https://acmisis.wordpress.com/page/3/
BPM vs ACM
● Adaptive Case Management
○ Processes activities performed in ad hoc order
○ Case (as an instance) is a first class citizen
○ Patterns detection and reusability
○ Document management
● Business Process management
○ Process activities performed in defined order
○ Process (as a definition) is first class citizen
○ Process is a pattern itself
○ Document oriented or integration oriented
Ballance process rigidity
● Processes should:
○ Navigate users to maintaining good practices in work
process
○ Codify an efficient and goal oriented work-process
○ Keep work-process uniform and measurable
● Processes should not:
○ Tight hands of a worker, inhibit improvements
○ Raise work-process complexity and administrative
overhead
○ Decrease work-process efficiency
○ Cause technological overkills
Questions?
Break 10mins
Process architecture - Motivation
● There can be many processes in an
organisation and we need to organise them
● MUNI = more than 100 processes
○ How to identify a processes?
○ How to categorise those processes?
○ How are processes interacting with each other?
○ How to describe such interactions?
○ What happen in case of change (business focus,
organisational)?
○ How to capture process dynamism?
How to categorise processes?
● By the purpose of the process
○ Alignment with business strategy
● By organisation structure
○ +Naturally easy way of categorising
○ - Does not reflect reality (Hacks needed)
○ - Fragmentation of real process = Silos are back!
● By the “business entity” they are related to
○ + Organisation structure independent
○ + Reflects reality
○ - Needs more effort during analysis
○ - Harder to understand by process actors
● By the process hierarchy
○ But how do we build the hierarchy?
Categorization by process purpose
● Core business processes (business operations)
○ Directly contributes to a defined goal/objective
○ Providing value to customers
○ Eg. Ordering process, Manufacturing process, providing
a service
● Management processes
○ Govern business operations
○ Value provided indirectly through managed core
processes
○ Eg. Planning, defining strategy, governance
● Support processes
○ Supporting the core processes indirectly
○ Value provided rather indirectly , hard to measure
○ Eg. Accounting, technical support, maintenance, facilities
Categorization by process purpose
image source http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/process-view-of-work/overview/overview.html
Categorization by the organization
structure
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nickmalik/archive/2014/04/04/business-architects-what-s-at-the-core.aspx
Processes categorized by business
entities they are related to
● Process is a sequences of steps that “handle”
a business entity
○ We have to identify those entities first!
○ Entity examples:
■ Order
■ Product
○ Process Examples:
■ Prepare an order
■ Manufacture a product
● A Process can “handle” other process as well
○ Examples:
■ Manage a flow of orderes
■ Manage the manufacture of products
How are processes interacting ?
● There are quite some possible ways of
process interaction:
○ Instantiation
○ Activation
○ Deliver to
○ Notify
○ .....
● Some of them create new processes?
How to describe simple
interactions?
● Just by BPMN and choreography diagrams
http://kb.qpr.com/qpr2012-2/index.html?bpmn_2_0_diagram_types.htm
How to describe simple
interactions?
● Just by BPMN and choreography diagrams
http://kb.qpr.com/qpr2012-2/index.html?bpmn_2_0_diagram_types.htm
Process architecture entity approach
Business Entity -> Unit Of Work
Case Process, Case Management Process
I nteraction
A ctivation
E ncapsulation
How to describe complex
interactions?
● Process architecture diagrams
From a presentation of Martin Ould ,
Bristol branch of the BCS in May 2005
I nteraction
A ctivation
E ncapsulation
CMP
CMP
CMP
CP
CP
CP
How to capture process dynamism?
With precise process architecture
From a presentation of Martin Ould ,Bristol branch of the BCS in May 2005
I nteraction
A ctivation
E ncapsulation
What happens in case of change?
● Changes in organisation structure
○ Processes aligned with organisation structure
■ Significant rework
○ Structural-independent process architecture
■ No changes in ideal case
● Changes in Business focus
○ Processes aligned with organisation structure
■ Not much, update of some processes
○ Structural-independent process architecture
■ Complete rework
FIN
Questions?
PV207 – Business Process Management
Jiří Kolář