Gear Up! How to Model in 20 Minutes

Gear Up! Savvion® Process Modeler … in 20 minutes or less!

Using a fictitious Movie Production company as an example, we’ll take you through an entertaining step-by-step guide to the fundamentals of process design and simulation. In only a few short minutes, you’ll learn how to:

• Articulate ideas - easily create detailed process flow diagrams with rules, events and exceptions, so you can discuss and collaborate with the rest of your team.

• Simulate reality - review and test process designs before you

implement them. Allocate costs, resources and time to your process, then run a simulation to catch problems and bottlenecks before deployment.

• Document the process - create detailed descriptions of each

process, collaborate easily with others using version control, and even reuse past work as templates for new processes.

And much, much more!

Savvion, Inc. 5104 Old Ironsides Dr. Santa Clara, CA 95054 (888) 544-5511 | (408) 330-3402 (outside U.S.) | www.savvion.com © 2006 Savvion, Inc. All rights reserved.

About Savvion Savvion develops business process management (BPM) software that allows businesses to easily and quickly adopt BPM as a core discipline. Our comprehensive, industry leading BPM software suite, BusinessManager™, provides an easy-to-use interface for business people and the enterprise-class deployment and management capabilities required by corporate IT. We give business people direct access to process modeling tools, enabling collaboration among distributed team members and ongoing change management. Savvion's experience with more than 300 customers, including 230 of the Fortune 1000 and 20 of the Fortune 100, has made it clear that PEOPLE are the drivers of success – technology is only an enabler. Our approach bridges the gap between business and information technology, allowing the two teams to collaborate to implement rapid improvements. Savvion has a proven track record of turning process improvement ideas into real-world solutions quickly, often in as little as 30 days, and delivering a return on investment as high as 300%. In 2006, Forrester Research recognized Savvion for the third year in a row as a leading enterprise BPM vendor in the Forrester Wave report on BPM. In addition, Gartner placed Savvion in the highly coveted leaders quadrant in their annual Gartner Magic Quadrant report on BPM. We continue to invest in research and development, designing products and tools that have practical applications for entire organizations and keep us at the forefront of the industry. Savvion is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., with sales, support and development offices throughout the US as well as Tokyo, Rome, Italy and Mumbai.

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Table of Contents Preface ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Terms and Conditions ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 How to Use this Guide ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 About the Movie Producer Process Template Used in this Guide ........................................................................................................................... 4 Conventions Used in this Guide .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Installation of Process Modeler ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Starting Process Modeler in Windows ................................................................................................................................................................. 5

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Just what is a business process? ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5 What is Savvion Process Modeler?...................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Much more than a flowchart designer .................................................................................................................................................................. 5

Process Modeler – a visual overview........................................................................................................................................ 6 Lesson 1 – Defining the process template ............................................................................................................................... 8 Lesson 2 – Adding Performers ................................................................................................................................................. 9

Adding Performers representing Individual Users.................................................................................................................................................. 9 Adding Performers representing Groups of Users............................................................................................................................................... 10

Lesson 4 – Starting our Process Template............................................................................................................................. 13 Drag n’ Drop your way to Business Process Nirvana…....................................................................................................................................... 13 Connecting the worksteps to form a process...................................................................................................................................................... 16

Lesson 5 – Checking the Diagram for errors.......................................................................................................................... 17 Lesson 6 – Working with Decisions and Adapters.................................................................................................................. 18 Lesson 7 – Or-Joins, Split worksteps and And-joins............................................................................................................... 21

Or-Joins.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 And-joins ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 23

Lesson 8 – Subprocesses and XOR-Joins .............................................................................................................................. 23 Subprocesses.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 23 Exclusive Or-joins (XOR) .................................................................................................................................................................................. 26

Lesson 9 – Running Simulations ............................................................................................................................................ 26 Running a Basic Simulation .............................................................................................................................................................................. 27 Configuring Simulation Parameters ................................................................................................................................................................... 27

Defining the number of instances & intervals between instances .............................................................................................................. 27 Defining randomization of instance intervals ........................................................................................................................................... 28 Defining quantitative resources (optional) ............................................................................................................................................... 29

Things to Keep in Mind .................................................................................................................................................................................... 29 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................................................. 30

Fun things to try with the Movie Producer example ................................................................................................................................. 30 Fun things to model on your own........................................................................................................................................................... 30

Are You Ready? Turn your models into applications ................................................................................................ 31 Savvion BusinessManager™ Suite.................................................................................................................................................................... 31

Appendix................................................................................................................................................................................. 32 Figure Movie Producer process template (complete diagram) ...................................................................................................................... 32 1Table 1 Process Modeler Toolbar Components and Commands ................................................................................................................... 33 Table 2 Icons in the Process Modeler Task Pane (Grouped by Tab View)....................................................................................................... 35

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Preface This guide is designed to quickly introduce you to the basics of Savvion Process Modeler. Only core functionality will be covered here. For complete, in-depth information on all of Process Modeler’s functionality and technical specifics, refer to the ProcessModeler User Guide found by clicking Start Menu > All Programs > Savvion > Process Modeler > Documents Terms and Conditions By using this guide and the related Savvion Process Modeler software, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions presented to you by the Savvion Process Modeler software installer. How to Use this Guide This guide is designed to flow from one lesson to the next, with each lesson building on the previous. Starting with a brief overview of the basics of the standalone Savvion Process Modeler such as software/hardware requirements and installation, the guide will then explore the user interface before beginning a series of lessons demonstrating how Savvion Process Modeler can be used to create process templates and run simulations. To best leverage this guide, it is recommended you perform the operations as you read them, taking breaks between lessons as required. After you’ve completed all the lessons, the guide will make for a practical reference that you can dive into at any point to refresh on concepts.

About the Movie Producer Process Template Used in this Guide Savvion Process Modeler is robust enough to develop and prototype virtually any business process from supply chain management and customer care, to order taking and inventory management. To best illustrate this – we’ll take you through an example process template a Movie Producer might use for his/her movie production company. While we make no claims as to the veracity of the Movie Producer example, it will nonetheless provide you an excellent grounding in Process Modeler that you can abstract upon to quickly build and test your own business processes. Conventions Used in this Guide This document uses the following conventions to distinguish elements of text:

• Bold – indicates new terms and titles of commands • Bold italics – represents notes and tips that alert you to important or specific elements and similar advisory

information. • Bold Courier font – indicates text that you will be responsible for typing in or applying. • Footnotesx – expand on details and are also used to define example-specific terminology (i.e. film terms)

Savvion Process Modeler PC Requirements Savvion Process Modeler runs on standard desktop or laptop computers. It runs independently of network or internet connections. Use it wherever you need to, whenever you need to. Savvion Process Modeler supports the following operating system platforms:

• Microsoft Windows 2000 • Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Installation of Process Modeler In the version of Process Modeler you downloaded from the Web, the ProcessModeler.zip file contains all the directories and files required for a complete installation. To install:

1. Open the downloaded ProcessModeler.zip file with your zip utility and extract the ProcessModeler.exe executable to a folder on your computer.

2. Double-click the extracted ProcessModeler.exe file to begin the installation. The installation is straightforward and by

default all options can be accepted.

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Starting Process Modeler in Windows From the Start menu, select Programs > Savvion > Process Modeler > Launch Savvion Process Modeler.

Alternatively (if chosen as an initial installation option), you

can launch the process modeler from the windows desktop.

Introduction Just what is a business process? A business process is defined as the complete response that a business makes to an event. It entails the execution of a sequence of one or more process steps and has a clearly defined deliverable or outcome. A business process is defined by the business event that triggers the process, the inputs and outputs, all the operational steps required to produce the output, the sequential relationship between the process steps, the business decisions that are part of the event response, and the flow of material and/or information between process steps. Examples of business process can be an order fulfillment process, customer service process, a billing process, etc. What is Savvion Process Modeler? Savvion Process Modeler is a visual, easy-to-use tool that empowers you to design processes, run simulations, and store and retrieve processes from a central shared repository1. To put it simply, people use Process Modeler to “articulate the way they think” about their business. Whether you are a Vice President explaining to your team how you want escalations handled, or a business analyst designing, simulating and documenting business processes prior to deployment - Process Modeler provides you the tools you need to quickly and easily accomplish your objectives. Best of all, Process Modeler is fast to learn – so you can be collaborating with your team on process improvements in as little as 20 minutes! Much more than a flowchart designer On initial inspection you might think Process Modeler is a flowchart design program…. But don’t let its good looks fool you. It provides powerful capabilities for prototyping and running simulations of business processes and individual worksteps – long before coding is needed. With Process Modeler you can:

• Articulate ideas - easily create detailed process flow diagrams with rules, events and exceptions, so you can discuss and collaborate with the rest of your team.

• Simulate reality - review and test process designs before you implement them. Allocate costs, resources and time to your process, then run a simulation to catch problems and bottlenecks before deployment.

• Document the process - create detailed descriptions of each process, collaborate easily with others using version control, and even reuse past work as templates for new processes.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s get started….

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1 The downloadable version of Savvion Process Manager by virtue of being a standalone product does not include shared repository functionality. To fully maximize your process improvement efforts, you need to deploy the industry leading end-to-end functionality of Savvion BusinessManager™ suite. For more information on the Savvion BusinessManager suite, visit: http://www.savvion.com/products/

http://www.savvion.com/products/

Process Modeler – a visual overview By default, when the Process Modeler launches it opens with an untitled window. This window represents a blank Savvion Process Template (.spt file) that we will name and configure shortly. Before we dive in to building our first process, take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the easy-to-use interface:

Tip: print this page out in color for easy reference while you do the lessons!

1. The Process Modeler Menu bar and 2. Toolbar contain a group of icons for accessing tools. Displayed as small icons or accessed through the menus, toolbar components perform basic functions such as opening, saving, modifying or viewing the process template, simulating the current process, and accessing the Help files.

3. The Palette Bar comes with 2 options, the Select icon ( ), which is used to select items, and the

Connector icon ( ), used to connect worksteps in a process model.

4. The Content pane is the canvas on which you design your business process template by clicking and dragging elements from the Process Modeler Task pane or Palette bar.

5. The Process Modeler Tasks pane, contains four options — Shapes, Performers, Layout, and Notes — each facilitates process model design and are in essence the ‘paints’ for your Content pane canvas.

6. The Content pane tabs provide information relevant to the currently open process content pane. Tabs include:

• Diagram – the default page (as shown) for the construction of process template diagrams. • Dataslots – an area for modifying data placeholders governing information flow in a process. • Performers – an area for modifying entities related to the currently open process. • Simulation – enables you to define simulation parameters or view simulation activities.

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The Process Modeler contains additional useful tool panes that can assist you in the designing of your process model. By default, some of these features are hidden but can be easily activated – here’s how:

• Click Ctrl + B (or select Outline from the View menu) to add an Outline pane (or Browser) to the left of the main content pane. This browser provides an explorer type directory tree that makes it easy to examine various parts of your process template as you progress.

• Click Ctrl + M (or select Messages from the View menu) to add a Messages pane below the main content workspace. The messages pane details issues with your current process design that should be addressed. You’ll learn more about this feature in lesson 5.

Other features like the Tasks pane (visible by default) can be hidden should you require a larger view of the main content pane:

• Click Ctrl + T or clear the Tasks Pane check box in the View menu to hide the Tasks pane.

For an extra degree of freedom (in particular if you use a large display or have a multi-monitor system) you can detach the various panes from the Process Modeler application by selecting them with your cursor and moving them to another position on the screen. Close the detached panes to automatically reattach them to the main Process Modeler interface.

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Lesson 1 – Defining the process template While Savvion Process Modeler can help you conceptualize, visualize and simulate virtually any high level business process – for the purposes of this guide (and to keep things light) we’ll pwe’re a Movie Producer using Process Modeler to conceptualize and simulate the process bwhich we find, purchase and push a screenplay through to production. With some patience andlittle time, you’ll quickly learn how to model a fictitious movie production company while gaining practical insight into how you can use Process Modeler in your own business!

retend y

a

A new process diagram (what Process Modeler refers to as a process template) always starts by prompting you to provide some basic information via Process Modelers’ Application Wizard:

1. Click the New icon ( ) in the toolbar or select File > New from the menu bar. Doing either, will open the Application Wizard, which will prompt you for an application name, version and template. By default, the path details are not editable in the standalone version of Process Modeler. Enter the information as shown and click Next >.

Note: A name can contain only alphanumeric characters and underscores (“_”), but must not contain any blank spaces or special characters and cannot start with a numeric character.

2. Fill in the Label, Description, Category, Author, Group and Manager fields:

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3. Click the ellipsis button ( ) to the right of the Duration box, launching the Duration dialog: Enter 7 in the days field and click OK.

Insight: Duration is a ‘guess’ as to the expected time required to complete the entire business process and serves as a point of comparison for simulations to be run later.

4. Click Finish to complete the Application Wizard. The Process Modeler opens with a blank workspace ready for us to begin

creating our first process template.

Lesson 2 – Adding Performers Adding Performers representing Individual Users A business process by definition requires that someone or something is there to monitor and/or trigger the operational steps and decisions necessary to fulfill process objectives. That’s where Performers come in. Performers can be individual human Users (in our Film Production Company’s case: Literary Agent, Writer, Script Reader, Producer, etc.); groups of human users (such as Partners at a Movie Studio); Adapters (worksteps which take advantage of data from existing computer systems to perform tasks such as sending or receiving an email) or Subprocesses (self-contained process templates that you’ve linked to your current process template). Performers as the name implies specifies who or what is responsible for fulfilling a particular workstep in the process flow. Before we begin the actual process design, let’s start by adding some Performers to our Movie Producer process:

1. To add a performer, click the Performers link in the Tasks pane. The task pane view will shift from displaying shape types to displaying performer types, namely, Users, Adapters and Subprocesses.

2. Right-click Users. A pop-up

menu will appear.

3. In the pop-up menu left-click Add… as shown in the inset:

A Performer dialog window will open….

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4. In the Name field of the Perform dialog, type: Literary Agent and click OK.

Note: we’ll explore what the other choices in the performer dialog do later.

A new performer called Literary Agent will appear in the Users folder above Creator.

Note: Creator is the default user and represents the creator of the business process template.

5. Now repeat steps 2 to 4 to create individual users called Writer, Producer and Script Reader.

Adding Performers representing Groups of Users The steps are essentially the same to create Performers that represent groups of users:

6. Repeat steps 2 and 3 from before, typing Two Man Show Inc. in the name field of the Performer dialog as shown.

7. Select Group of users from the Type area and All group members from the Select

area.

8. Click the Simulation tab and type in 2 for Group size and 500 for Hourly Rate. We’ll discuss simulation in more depth later.

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9. Now repeat steps 6 through 8 creating performers with the following parameters:

General tab: Name: Spectacular Mega Films

Type: Group of users Select: Any of the group members

Simulation tab: Group size: 5 Hourly Rate: 700

General tab: Name: Two for the Money Films

Type: Group of users Select: Any of the group members

Simulation tab: Group size: 2 Hourly Rate: 300

Lesson 3 – Adding Swim Lanes As designing business processes can become quite involved, Process Modeler employs a unique organizational metaphor to keep things manageable called Swim Lanes. Used in workflow diagrams to organize processes across functional boundaries, Swim Lanes are horizontal sections that delineate which performer is responsible for a group of task steps. A benefit of Swim Lanes is that when an Activity task step is dragged to a Swim Lane (or moved from one Swim Lane to another), the task automatically inherits the Performer assigned to the Swim Lane. Other workstep types can be included in a Swim Lane, but, unlike Activity worksteps, their performers are not automatically updated.

Remember! Swim Lanes ALWAYS represent the people/performers and not the object of their action.

1. To see this in action, click the Layout link in the Tasks pane to switch to Layout view. Drag a Swim Lane icon ( ) to the workspace. A ‘Performer’ dialog window will open.

2. Select Writer from the list. Click OK.

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A Swim Lane assigned to the Writer now spans across the top of your blank workspace:

3. Now following the same 2 steps, add Swim Lanes

for Literary Agent, Script Reader and Producer (in that order).

The resulting Swim Lanes should look like this:

We’ll discuss more about how Swim Lanes can be of benefit to you in the next section.

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Lesson 4 – Starting our Process Template Drag n’ Drop your way to Business Process Nirvana…. Business users familiar with diagramming business processes using classic business elements will appreciate Process Modeler’s use of Business Process Management Notation (BPMN) – the accepted standard for drawing business processes. With its intuitive interface reducing your learning curve, Process Modeler is thus easy to use and master. In Process Modeler business elements are called shapes and can be worked with simply by clicking and dragging them from the Tasks Pane (or from the Palette component bar if so enabled) to the workspace diagram.

1. Select the Start shape from the task pane and drag it to the top left of the Writer Swim Lane:

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2. Double-click the Start shape you dragged into the workspace. A properties dialog will open.

3. In the Name field and

Label type: Writer writes Screenplay.

Click OK.

4. As you can see, the label is too big for the shape – to fix this, simply drag the red-orange corner handles out to make the circle into an oval:

5. Now drag 1 Activity shape into the ‘Literary Agent’ Swim Lane and 1 Activity shape into the ‘Script Reader’ swim lane so that you get this:

Note: Notice that a people icon automatically appears on each Activity workstep when they’re dragged in to the Swim Lane. This indicates that the workstep has inherited the User-Performer of the Swim Lane it occupies. Should you drag one of the Activity worksteps to another lane, it will automatically inherit that lane’s Performer. In the long run, you will find this to be a significant time saving feature for your process design.

Why is the name of the Activity workstep red? Activity worksteps are shown in red text if the definition of the workstep is incomplete. An Activity workstep with an assigned performer is only complete when its duration is defined, it is connected, and it is assigned dataslots.

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6. Drag 1 Decision shape to the right of Activity 2 in the ‘Script Reader’ Swim Lane:

7. Now apply the following properties to the worksteps we just created and resize them accordingly. When you’re done each,

click OK:

… In Literary Agent Swim Lane

General tab: Name: Agent submits screenplay Label: Agent submits screenplay Priority: Critical Duration: 2 hours

Simulation tab: Work Time: 10 minutes2

Note: We’ll define what simulation is and how you can use it to best effect in a later lesson…

… In Script Reader Swim Lane

General tab: Name: Reviews screenplay Label: Reviews screenplay Priority: High Duration: 2 hours

Simulation tab: Work Time: 30 minutes

… In Script Reader Swim Lane

General tab: Name: Review or reject screenplay Label: Coverage3

Tip: The table at the end of this guide provides a description of what these and other shapes do. You may find it handy to refer to this as you progress through the lessons.

2 Help! I see Duration and Work Time – what’s the difference? Work Time defines the amount of time a work step takes in our simulated process. Duration is the amount of time you expect it will take to complete the workstep and is used for triggering events in conjunction with other Savvion products. DURATION DOES NOT APPLY TO THESE LESSONS. 3 Coverage – a film term referring to a report written by a Script Reader that either recommends or rejects a screenplay in order to help the always time pressed Movie Producer save time reading.

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The diagram should now look similar to this:

Connecting the worksteps to form a process

8. Click the Connect tool ( ) on the palette bar and mouse over the ‘Writer writes Screenplay’ Start shape.

9. Now connect this workstep to the ‘Agent submits screenplay’ Activity by dragging from

one purple node to the other. If you make a mistake, select Edit > Undo from the file menu or use the shortcut key Ctrl + Z.

Continue connecting the work steps and you get this:

Note: As you model your business processes, it is a good habit to periodically stop and “talk your process through” to makes sure it makes sense. Savvion Process Modeler’s visual interface makes this easy and intuitive to do. Here’s how we would talk the example movie producer process through thus far:

i. “A writer writes and delivers a screenplay to his Literary Agent. ii. The Agent submits the screenplay to a Script Reader who does a preliminary assessment of the

merits of the screenplay (what the film industry calls ‘coverage’) and now has to decide what to do with it.”

In this case, we’ve underlined the performers involved (notice they are always the subject of the sentence?). Arguably the writer could be considered a performer, however, because he/she’s mandatory to instigate the process (they’re a Start workstep) they are excluded as optional performers. Put in real terms, even though it may look like some movies are created without writers – this is never the case!

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Lesson 5 – Checking the Diagram for errors Savvion Process Modeler makes it easy to test your business process template for errors as you develop. How easy? It’s just one click:

1. On the toolbar click the Check Diagram icon ( ) or hit the F7 key.

If your application is missing key elements (e.g., the name of the process template or a Start or End workstep), Process Modeler prompts you to make the necessary changes or additions to the process diagram. In our case, the message you’ll see is:

… For now, click OK to bypass this error.

In addition to the dialog window, the message pane appears below the workspace/diagram with information regarding the different errors. Clicking a hyperlink in the message pane will let you select the component that caused the error (particularly useful in large multi-workstep process templates):

In the case of our example, the error is a result of the template not yet being complete. Let’s examine the errors now…. Coverage: Missing end

What this means: Just as a business process always needs a start point it should always have one or more end points.

In the next lessons we’ll solve these errors….

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Lesson 6 – Working with Decisions and Adapters The Decision workstep ( ) represents a choice made in an earlier workstep. By default, activities stemming from a decision workstep are equally weighted (e.g., 2 choices would have a 50% chance of occurrence and 3 choices would have a roughly 33% probability).

1. Change the Tasks pane to Performers view by clicking the Performers hyperlink. From the Adapters folder, drag 2 Adapters labeled Generic to the workspace and connect them to the Decision workstep named ‘Coverage’ as shown:

Double-click the top ‘Adapter 1’ workstep and assign the following properties. When you’re done, click OK:

(TOP)

General tab: Name: Send Rejection Label: Email Rejection


2. Double-click the top ‘Adapter 1’ workstep and assign the following properties. When you’re done, click OK:

(BOTTOM)

General tab: Name: Notify Producer Label: Notify Producer


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3. Double-click the top connection arrow linking the ‘Coverage’ workstep to the ‘Send Rejection’ step. A window called Link Properties will open:

4. Give the link the Name and Label: Reject and under the Simulation tab assign a 95% probability of occurring.

Click OK.

5. Double-click the bottom connection arrow linking the ‘Coverage’ workstep to the ‘Notify Producer’ step. Assign it the following properties:

Click OK.

6. Lastly, select the Shapes link from the Process Modeler Task pane to revert the view back to Shape options and drag an End workstep to the workspace. Optionally, you can name and label it.

7. Connect the End workstep to the ‘Send Rejection’ adapter

by clicking the connector icon ( ) on the palette bar and dragging from a purple ‘Send Rejection’ node to the End step.

What did we just do? By assigning Adapters, we allow for specific functions such as sending or receiving email to be executed automatically as a response to the decision workstep. By assigning probabilities to the connections tying the Adapters to the Decision step, our subsequent simulations of the business process will be more true to life when they are run. In the case of our Movie Producer example application, because the rejection connection has been set to a high 95% and the approval connection has been set to 5% it’s clear that Script Reader will be aggressively biased towards rejecting new material (not unlike real life.)

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To practice our knowledge of Decision worksteps one more time, let’s populate the Producer Swim Lane…. 8. Drag in, connect, name and label the

appropriate worksteps to create the following in the Producer Swim Lane:

9. Now configure the properties for the worksteps in the Producer Swim Lane:

… In ‘Producer’ Swim Lane

General tab: Name: Reads screenplay Label: Reads screenplay Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes

Simulation tab: Work Time: 2 hours

… In ‘Producer’ Swim Lane (Name: Producer Decisions)

Simulation tab: Tip: Try Clicking a yellow line and slide horizontally until numbers match.

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General tab: Label: Buys screenplay Priority: Critical



General tab: Label: Options screenplay Priority: High


Lesson 7 – Or-Joins, Split worksteps and And-joins Or-Joins

An Or-join is a tool that connects multiple predecessor worksteps and one successor workstep such that the successor workstep is only performed if ANY of the predecessor worksteps have been completed. Here, in the case of our example, the movie Producer can:

• Option4 a screenplay and take it forward.

AND/OR

• Buy the screenplay and take it forward.

Note: Every time you create a process loop, you must use an Or-join prior to the workstep you want to go back to.

1. … If you haven’t already done so, drag in an Or-join now!

4 In movie parlance, an option is a down-payment towards the purchase of a screenplay. It provides the Producer an exclusive pre-negotiated ‘option’ to buy a screenplay within a set period of time. If an option period runs out, the rights revert back to the screenwriter. This stopgap gives the Producer time to ‘shop’ a screenplay around to solicit financial backing and/or Studio interest. A Producer can also purchase the rights to a screenplay out right without offering to option.

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Split Worksteps

Parallel processing is the name of the game for Split Worksteps . Once a predecessor workstep completes (in our example, an Or-join), two or more parallel worksteps are begun SIMULTANEOUSLY. In the case of our intrepid movie Producer, one can imagine that fresh off the good news of having obtained the rights to a screenplay (either optioned or bought) he/she has decided to do lunch with a Director and a Star, eager to sign them on to the project.

2. Implement a Split workstep, and drag in two Activities that you name and label: Woo a Director and Schmooze Star:

3. After connecting the Activities apply the following

properties:


General tab: Priority: Critical



General tab: Priority: Critical


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And-joins

Useful for synchronization, And-joins connect multiple predecessor worksteps with a single successor workstep. The process flow only continues if ALL predecessors have completed. Let’s take a look at what this means in the context of our example movie producer process diagram: With the rights to a screenplay in hand, the Producer has gone to lunch with a Director (‘Woo a Director’ workstep) and a famous Star (‘Schmooze Star’ workstep). He continues to try to sell them throughout lunch knowing that if they don’t both agree he won’t be able to drum up financing for the film. Whereas the Director signs on by the end of her Salad (she hasn’t had a hit in a while and needs the work), the Star resists until after dessert. However, only when both the Director AND the Star agree to be involved (the ‘And-join’ workstep) – can the Producer take the ‘Package’ (film lingo for having a screenplay, Director and a Star attached to a film property) to the Studios for bidding.

4. Drag in an And-join to your diagram and connect it to the Activity worksteps as shown above. ↑

Lesson 8 – Subprocesses and XOR-Joins Fresh off the success of obtaining the rights to a screenplay and the commitment of a Director and Star, the Producer solicits bids from three Studios in town to see if they would like to finance, market and distribute the film. Assuming the right offer is made, bids will be closed and the Producer will go on to make the film…. In these next few steps we’ll set up the last part of our Movie Producer process diagram and then describe how a subprocess and an XOR-join can be used to make it work – thereby helping our intrepid Movie Producer get their film made. Subprocesses With Savvion Process Modeler, application process templates need not be islands unto themselves. In fact, using Subprocess worksteps allows you to connect to the intelligence of other application process templates by simply dragging in a subprocess performer

shape and linking to the right file.

1. Click the Performers link on the Tasks pane. 2. From the Users Folder, Drag All member(s) of One Man Show Inc, Any member of Spectacular Mega Films,

and Any member of Two for the Money Films onto the content pane BELOW the Swim Lanes. These worksteps should NOT be in a Swim Lane!

3. Double-click each unnamed Activity workstep and change the names and labels to reflect their performer names. Eg. The

workstep with the performer All member(s) of One Man Show Inc. should be named One Man Show Inc.

4. From the Shapes view of the Tasks pane, Drag out a Split , Xor join and End step and connect them to the Activity worksteps as shown:

5. Name the End step Greenlight and label it

Greenlight!

Note: Exclamation marks and other punctuation (!) cannot be used for element naming but can be used for labeling.

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6. Now connect Split workstep to the And-join workstep in the Producer Swim Lane as shown:

Note: Notice that a Split workstep is used to ensure that the Studios’ offers to bid are made in parallel.

7. Finally, to the 3 Activity worksteps (Studios) created in step 1, ensure the following properties are applied:

General tab: Name: One Man Show Inc

Label: Studio 1 decides on package Performer: All member(s) of One Man Show Inc. Priority: High

Simulation tab: Work time: 5 hours

General tab: Name: Spectacular Mega Films

Label: Studio 2 decides on package Performer: Any member of Spectacular Mega Films Priority: Medium

Simulation tab: Work time: 1 hour

General tab: Name: Two for the Money Films

Label: Studio 3 decides on package Performer: Any member of Two for the Money Films Priority: Critical

Simulation tab: Work time: 3 hours For simplicity sake, in the previous steps we depicted the entire bid process in our main Movie Producer process template. But let’s say we created the bid process as a separate process template file – how would we access it? The answer – use a subprocess. A subprocess allows us to nest a separate process template within our main process and run it as part of our simulations. Therefore…

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Subprocesses not only keep your work process looking clean and uncluttered, they allow you to separate out core processes that you or others in your group may need to work with and extend separately. You can create, modify and work with subprocesses just like any performer we’ve talked about thus far, however, the added step is of course to assign a previously created process template file to it.

Note: For more information on working with subprocesses and other advanced functionality, refer to the ProcessModeler User Guide by clicking Start Menu > All Programs > Savvion > Process Modeler > Documents

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Exclusive Or-joins (XOR)

XORs are worksteps that enable the workflow to proceed only ONCE from multiple predecessor worksteps to a successor workstep, and terminates any other human-performed predecessor worksteps. Now let’s see how this works in our movie producer process diagram: The Producer with package in hand (a screenplay, Director and Star signed on) offers 3 Studios the chance to bid on the movie property. When one and only one Studio comes forward with the winning bid, the bids are closed (XOR; Exclusive Or-join) and the Producer is able to go forward with the participation of the winning studio to make the film.

Note: because Studio 1 and 2 employ a subprocess that helps them make their determinations, the process is always biased in their favor.

Lesson 9 – Running Simulations One of the most significant features of Savvion Process Modeler is its ability to run simulations with its built-in simulation engine. The simulation engine provides:

• Faster Testing for Design Flaws: Quickly uncover potential problems in a process design before it’s committed to code. You can run a process 100 or 1,000 times in Process Modeler, instead of using a testing environment. Likewise, scenarios can be introduced and tested against that change aspects of work time, resource cost and other key resource drivers – allowing for better insight into your real-world or potential real-world business processes.

• Estimated Cost of Quantitative Resources: The simulation engine allows you to estimate how much the process will

cost, or how many resources the process will consume. You can define quantitative resource (e.g., equipment, electricity, labor, etc.) and measurement units ($USD, kW hours, man-hours, etc.) at the process level to calculate the total estimated cost of the process.

• Location of Bottlenecks: The simulation engine assigns worksteps to performing resources; e.g., users or user groups

for Activity worksteps. The simulation engine locks a performing resource during the execution of the workstep and releases the performing resource when the workstep is completed. Bottlenecks occur when another workstep needs the same performing resource, and must wait for the performing resource to be released from the first workstep. Until then, the task for the second workstep is placed in a waiting queue. The simulation engine keeps track of the number and status of instances in the waiting queues and indicates when a bottleneck occurs, i.e., when a workstep had to wait for a performing resource to be released. Armed with this visual knowledge of your business processes and their efficiency, you can effect changes that will help streamline and improve your processes.

• Randomization: The simulation engine supports two types of randomization: randomizing the time of intervals between

process instances; or randomizing the duration of work time for a specific workstep in the process. Simulation provides the following probability distributions: Constant distribution; Exponential distribution or Normal distribution (with an option to enter a standard deviation).

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Running a Basic Simulation Assuming you’ve populated all the worksteps as you’ve followed along, running a basic simulation is quite simple:

1. On the Toolbar, select the ‘Start Simulation’ button ( ). A ‘Run Simulation’ window will appear. 2. Select a Scenario name, if no other scenario exists, the

default scenario is chosen. Click OK.

3. The Modeler proceeds to run a simulation based on the information, interval and instances assigned.

As the simulation moves forward, status indicators under each workstep will depict at what point that workstep is at.

Tip: You can control the simulation speed by using the Simulation speed scroller at the top of the screen. Running the simulation slower allows you to visualize where bottlenecks in your process are whereas faster allows you to skip to the quantitative results.

Configuring Simulation Parameters Process Modeler provides considerable flexibility in the configuration of process simulation parameters. Take a few minutes to explore the possibilities now.

Defining the number of instances & intervals between instances

1. At the bottom of the Content pane select the Simulation tab from the Content pane tabs.

2. Now select the Process tab from the top of the Simulation workspace.

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3. The lower half of the window (in the Instance Creation box) provides options for simulation configuration. Enter the Number of instances you want to run during the simulation of the process. In this example, we will run 100 instances with an interval between instances of 45 minutes.

Note: you can create additional scenarios that will allow you to test against changes to specific work steps here but that is beyond the scope of this document.

Defining randomization of instance intervals

4. In the “Randomize interval using” box, click to open the Distribution of Probability dialog window. Here you can select from the Type drop-down 3 different methods of randomizing the duration of intervals between instances in a simulation. In our case we will choose a Normal Distribution wa StDev (Standard Deviation) of 20 minutes.

ith

…and click OK. Here are some other options for distribution you might want to try:

Constant. Use this option to maintain the same interval between instances in the simulation. For example, if you had defined the interval between instances as 4 minutes— then a new interval will be created 4 minutes after the previous instance is created.

Exponential. An Exponential distribution is used when the probability decreases over time. It does not assume a predetermined pattern of distribution.

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Defining quantitative resources (optional) In the Simulation tab workspace, you can work with resources by choosing the Activities tab.

Note: Resources are any expendable item – but do not include personnel (bad jokes aside!).

5. To add a resource, click the Add button found in

the lower Resources box. A Resource dialog window will open as shown.

6. Enter the name of the new resource and its unit

of measurement. If required, you can enter the Cost per unit, and the Threshold; i.e., the cost that you do not want to exceed.

Note: Thresholds have no impact on results in your standalone version of Process Modeler, they are used as triggers for other products in the Savvion BusinessManager product line.

… and click OK.

The resources you have added will be displayed in the Resource pool and are now available for simulations of the process and for any additional simulation scenarios you decide to create. Things to Keep in Mind To ensure your simulations run and run accurately, please keep the following in mind when doing your process design:

• Each Activity workstep must be assigned a work time, or the simulation will not execute.

• The probability settings for each pair of connectors out of a Decision ( ) must total 100%, or the simulation will not execute.

• The simulation engine uses Due time to estimate the work time for each workstep, providing a “worst case scenario” in which all the worksteps are executed in the maximum allowed time.

• There are no limits on quantitative resources (just your patience to put them in). • The simulation engine does not support randomization for quantitative resources. • The simulation engine does not support Business time. Resources are assumed to be available around the clock.

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Conclusion As you’ve seen in our lessons, Savvion Process Modeler allows you to conceptualize and simulate virtually any real-world business work flow no mater how esoteric. Here are some suggestions to expand upon your learning: Fun things to try with the Movie Producer example

• What worksteps could you add to the Movie Producer process template that would define the negotiation process between the Movie Producer, the Literary Agent and the Writer?

• What are the work steps that the Writer might go through in order to create a screenplay suitable for submission to his/her Literary Agent?

• What are the worksteps the Movie Producer and Director might take going forward to produce the movie and distribute it? Fun things to model on your own

• How would you design a business process for a restaurant? A hospital? A realtor? • What processes can you model and test in your business?

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Are You Ready? Turn your models into applications Savvion BusinessManager™ Suite On its own, Process Modeler is a powerful tool for envisioning and evaluating business processes. To realize Process Modeler’s full potential, however, you need Savvion BusinessManager™ suite. As the first Business Process Management (BPM) system in the industry to deliver true process lifecycle management, Savvion BusinessManager offers complete end-to-end delivery of business processes from modeling to deployment to management to process improvement. Unique in the industry, Savvion’s enhanced BPM system puts role specific tools directly into the hands of those closest to the process at the appropriate phase. Whether you need a robust modeling and simulation system, a comprehensive design studio, advanced task management or business performance interfaces for peoples’ day to day activities – Savvion provides it all in one proven suite. Tight integration of all phases of the process lifecycle, coupled with Savvion and partner developed industry process templates, enables Savvion customers to quickly move from process discovery to production systems - sometimes in as little as 30 days - while returning 200% to 300% ROI. Take your business process management to the next level with collaboration and control made easy:

Savvion Process Asset Manager The Asset Manager integrates with Process Modeler to provide a group accessible repository for documents, allowing for powerful version control and access to simulation results. Learn More

Savvion BPM Studio

Turn your process models into running solutions. The BPM Studio allows technology-savvy team members to take full control of best practices, implementing the models saved in Assets Manager. Learn More

Savvion Process Server

Automating your workflow is fast and easy with Process Server – allowing you to run solutions you've assembled in the BPM Studio. Learn More

Savvion Process Manager You've implemented your improvements, now it's time to manage them. Process Manager gives you everything you need to analyze performance and jump in when you need to. Learn More

Savvion Task Manager

Keep everything running smoothly from day to day, with prioritized task lists, supporting documentation and activity tips. Task Manager provides a way for users to opt in or out of task queues and ask for help when they need it, giving everyone insight into how the organization is performing in real time.

Thank-you for taking the time to explore this quick start document. We hope you enjoy Savvion Process Modeler!

For more information on how Savvion BusinessManager™ can take you from conceptualizing to realizing your business potential, contact us at (888) 544-5511 / (408) 330-3402 (outside the U.S.) or [email protected].

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Appendix Figure 1 Movie Producer process template (complete diagram)

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Table 1 Process Modeler Toolbar Components and Commands Only commands relevant to the standalone version of Process Modeler are listed.

Name Icon or Shortcut

Menu Description

New

(Ctrl + N)

File > New

Opens an Application wizard where you can build a process template and define its work flow.

Open File

(Ctrl + O)

File > Open

Opens the apps directory, where you can locate and open an existing process template.

Save

(Ctrl + S)

File > Save

Saves the open process template. The default directory is: ProcessModeler\apps\<Application>\processtemplates\.

Save As

File > Save As

The Save As option allows you to save the process Template as either a *.spt or *.xml file.

Export

File > Export

The Export option allows the user to export the *.spt file as a *.jpg file.

Print

(Ctrl + P)

File > Print

Opens the Print dialog box that enables you to print a process template, and define its printing properties.

Page Setup…

File > Page Setup

Opens the Page Setup dialog box that enables you to define the size, source, orientation and margins of the printed process template.

Properties Right-click > Properties

File > Properties

Opens the Process Properties dialog box for the process template.

Process Summary

File > Process Summary > Generate (PDF/RTF) Summary

Opens a PDF or RTF document with a summary of the selected process.

Undo

(Ctrl + U)

Edit > Undo

Reverses the last action performed in the Content pane, up to 100 levels. Creating, moving, resizing, connecting, or deleting worksteps and removing Connector links can be undone.

Note: All other actions (for example, entering process property information in Process Properties dialog boxes) cannot be undone. If an operation that cannot be undone is performed, the undo queue is cleared and the previous operations cannot be undone.

Cut

(Ctrl + X)

Edit > Cut

Cuts a selected item from the Modeler clipboard. Applies to diagram objects only.

Copy

(Ctrl + C)

Edit > Copy

Copies a selected item to the Modeler clipboard. Applies to diagram objects only.

Paste

(Ctrl + V)

Edit > Paste

Pastes the clipboard items into the Modeler Content pane. Applies to diagram objects only.

Select All

Edit > Select All

Selects all workstep items in the Modeler Content pane.

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Name

Icon or Shortcut Menu

Description

Diagram Performers Toolbars

View > Diagram View > Performers View > Toolbars

Opens the corresponding tabbed page in the Modeler Content pane (workspace). Shows/hides the selected group of icons in the toolbar.

Palettes

View > Palettes

Displays the selected Basic or Components palette.

Browser Palette Task Pane Messages Status

View > Browser View > Palette View > Task Pane View > Messages View > Status

Shows/hides the browser (or sidebar); the palette; the Task Pane; the Message bar; or the Status bar.

Zoom

View > Zoom

Enables you to magnify or shrink the current process template as it appears on the Content pane. Use the Zoom icons to expand or reduce the process template by predefined magnification levels of 200%, 100%, 75%, 50%, or 25%.

Magnification Menu

View > Zoom

Select 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%, or 200% magnification to view process templates in the Content pane.

Display Component or Line details

View > Component View > Line

Enables you to display the Name, Label or Performer of the worksteps in the process template diagram; or the Name of the connector lines out of a Decision workstep.

Check Diagram

Tools > Check Diagram

Verifies that the process template diagram is correct.

Start Simulation

Tools > Start Simulation

Starts the simulation of the current process.

Pause Simulation

Tools > Pause Simulation

Pauses the simulation of the current process.

Simulation Report

Tools > Simulation Report

Provides a report on the simulation in either HTML or Excel format.

Stop Simulation

Tools > Stop Simulation

Stops the simulation of the current process.

Align Horizontally

Tools > Align > Horizontal

Aligns selected components horizontally to the grid.

Align Vertically

Tools > Align > Vertical

Aligns selected components vertically to the grid.

Space Horizontally

Tools > Space evenly > Horizontal

Distributes selected components horizontally to the grid.

Space Vertically

Tools > Space evenly > Vertical

Distributes selected components vertically to the grid.

View Options

Tools > Options

Sets options for viewing the process template diagram.

Help

Help > Help Topics or click F1

Launches an online Help system to assist you with application development in Process Modeler.

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Table 2 Icons in the Process Modeler Task Pane (Grouped by Tab View)

Name

Icon Description

Shapes Start

Specifies the beginning of a business process. The default name is Start. You can modify this name using the workstep's Properties sheet. Each Process Modeler process must have exactly one Start workstep.

Activity

The basic unit of work that you can either assign to no specific performer or can assign to one of the following performer types: User (a valid SBM human performer), Adapter, or Subprocess.

Decision

Creates a condition between worksteps. In the Properties dialog window of one of the Connectors coming out of the Decision, you must specify an empty condition in the Value box to indicate the default choice.

Split

A tool that connects one predecessor workstep with multiple successor worksteps. Once the predecessor workstep completes, the successor worksteps perform in parallel.

Or-join

A tool that connects multiple predecessor worksteps and one successor workstep. The successor workstep is performed if any of the predecessor worksteps have been completed.

Exclusive Or-join (XOR)

A tool that enables the process flow to proceed only once from multiple predecessor worksteps to a successor workstep, and terminates any other human-performed predecessor worksteps.

And-join

A tool that connects multiple predecessor worksteps and one successor workstep. The successor workstep is performed only if all the predecessors have completed. This enables you to synchronize the completion of multiple predecessor worksteps.

End

Specifies that the application has come to a normal end. Process Modeler allows multiple End worksteps.

Performers User

Allows user specific Activities to be applied to the process template.

Adapter

A workstep performed by an external application. This external application is known as an Adapter. You can use Adapters to perform the following tasks:

• Sending e-mail • Retrieving data from a database • Communicating with other systems and APIs

Subprocess

A workstep containing a link to another application process template file. A subprocess workstep represents a nested process within the process.

Layout Swim Lane

Creates a horizontal section across the process template that visually defines worksteps performed by a specific performer. When an Activity workstep is moved into a new Swim Lane, it inherits the performer assigned to the Swim Lane automatically.

Notes Sticky Note Annotation

The Sticky Note and Annotation icons in the Notes view enable you to add a note or annotation to any element in a process template diagram. Use these icons to indicate specific features or conditions in the application, or as prompts or reminders for other users.

Group

Allows you to encircle worksteps marking them visually as groups. Like the Sticky Note and Annotation tools, you can also add comments to it.

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