Www.process-conference.org FEATURES OF BUSINESS PROCESS TOOLS: AN OVERVIEW Vesna Bosilj-Vuksic University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business

www.process-conference.org

FEATURES OF BUSINESS PROCESS TOOLS: AN OVERVIEW

Vesna Bosilj-Vuksic

University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business


Contents

1. Introduction 2. Business process orientation3. Features of BP tools 4. Research about BP tools5. How to select a BP tool?6. Conclusion


Introduction

The first rule of any technology is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency

The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

Bill Gates, Microsoft Corporation


Business process orientation (1)

Brief history of business process orientation:

• Six Sigma – 1986• Hammer and Champy, July 1990: Don’t

automate, obliterate’, in Harvard Business Review – BPR

• Smith and Fingar, 2002: Business Process Management: The Third Wave


• Business process modelling vs. Business process management

• Enterprise architecture, process modelling and simulation tools vs. Business process management tools

• Many companies use different business process (BP) methods and tools



• BPTrends Report, June 2006.: The State of Business Process Management:

• 345 respondents– 28% of respondents indicated to regard BPM

as a major strategic commitment by executive management

– 46% only occasionally had up-to-date documentation of processes

– Only 26% had standard process models for each of its value chains

– 23% had performed similar processes in a similar way




– About 20% had standard measures to evaluate the performance of major processes

– The existing software supported core business processes in 18%

– Most respondents felt that their software only occasionally (41%) or frequently (33%) supported their business processes




– 5% spent over 10 million US $ on BPM in 2005.,

– 58% spent between 0-half million US $– The BPM software tool that was most

important in 2005:• Graphic tool (Visio, Power Point,..) 24%• Repository based process modelling tool

(ARIS, iGrafx, Adonis,..) 22%• …..• Simulation tool 6%• Business rules tool 5%



Features of BP tools (1)

Business process modelling tool 1) Organization and data modelling2) Static Process Modelling3) Dynamic Process Modelling4) Organization, Data and Process Modelling

Interface5) RepositoryPublisher



Business process modelling tool • The features of data and static process modelling

are most widely used.• The term analysis is used with a rather broad

meaning, including simulation, diagnosis, verification and performance analysis

• The two most important standardization efforts include the development of a Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) and a Unified Modelling Language (UML).



Business process management system1) Business process management engine

(server)2) Organization modelling tool3) Business process modelling tool4) Business rules 5) Developer6) Administration tool7) Integration8) Business process monitoring,

measurement and management 9) Process adaptability



Business process management system• According to Miers and Harmon (2005) and

Khan (2003) one of the major goals of business process management is to realize business activity monitoring (BAM).

• Business process management environment should have a formal foundation, providing a structured way of identifying and capturing all information, relationships and business rules that make up a business process.


BPM Suites

Modeling Capability+ BPM Engine

BPMApplications

Modeling Capability+ BPM Engine

+ Application Components

BPLanguages

EAI Tools

ProcessSimulation

Tools

BI and Data WarehouseProducts

UniversalBP Repository

Database capable ofstoring information

from all the BP tools.

OrganizationModeling Tools

Business ProcessArchitecture Tools

Packaged/EnterpriseApplication

Suites

StatisticsTools

GraphicsTools

Tool for creating, storingand using business rules.

Business RuleManagement Tools

BPModeling

ToolsModeling Capability

+ Repository

Modeling Capability +Ability to Monitor Runtime Process+

Dashboard Capability

BPMonitoring

Tools

XML DSLs andBPEL, BPML

Software DevelopmentSuites

Application Servers

WorkflowTools

www.bptrends.comPaul Harmon:

Business Process Trends


Research about BP tools (1)

• Mojca Indihar Stemberger and Jurij Jaklic, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics, Dept. of Information Management

• The research about the suitability of business process (BP) tools in relation to different project types, in 2006.

• The features evaluated were initially based on the classification used by Harmon (2004) in Business Process Trends report.

• ARIS, Corporate Modeler, IBM WBI, Adonis, iGrafx, Ultimus


• Evaluation of the features of BP tools• Scale 1-5• Legend:

– A – The level of importance in general for simulation/process modelling/BPC projects

– B – The level of importance in general for BPM/WFM/ IS projects

– C – Evaluation of vendor’s tool features

Research about BP tools (2)


BP tool vendor orrepresentativeIndividualcriteria of softwareaccording to projectgoals/objectives

Enel, Croatia:

ARIS

Infodom, Croatia:

Corporate Modeler

IBM, Slovenia:WebSpher

e

Institute of Knowledg

e and Business

Engineering, Univ. of

Vienna: ADONIS

Six Sigma Akademija, Slovenia:

iGrafx

ITSS, Croatia: Ultimus

A B C A B C A B C A B C A B C A B C

Enterprise architecture framework (repository) and strategy

5 4 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 4 3

Process analysis and modelling 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 2 5 5 5 5 5 3 4

Process simulation, measurement, animation/visualisation

5 4 4 5 4 4 5 5 5 5 2 5 5 5 5 4 3 4

Process performance improvement 5 5

4/5

5 4 4 5 5 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 3 3

Process automation, workflow management, BPM engine, rules

2/3

5 2 4 5 4 5 5 5 2 5 3 3 3 4 3 5 5

Real time process management (senior management dashboards)

5 5 5 4 5 4 4 4 4 3 2 4 2 3 4 2 5 3

Developing code (business applications) based on diagrams (models)

2 42/3

3 5 2 4 4 5 1 5 2 3 3 5 2 5 5

Integration into other software tools/packages 3 5

4/5

4 5 2 4 4 5 4 5 4 3 3 4 2 4 5


BP tool vendor orrepresentativeIndividualcriteria of softwareaccording to projectgoals/objectives

Collective assessment

A B

Sum

Rank

Sum

Rank

Enterprise architecture framework (repository) and strategy

4,5 4 4,0 6

Process analysis and modelling

5,0 1 4,2 4

Process simulation, measurement, animation/visualisation

4,8 2 3,8 8

Process performance improvement

4,7 3 4,2 4

Process automation, workflow management, BPM engine, rules

3,3 7 4,7 1

Real time process management (senior management dashboards)

3,3 5 4,0 6

Developing code (business applications) based on diagrams (models)

2,5 8 4,3 2

Integration into other software tools/packages

3,3 5 4,3 2

A – Simulation/process modelling /BPC projects

(1) Process analysis/modelling

(2) Process simulation

(3) Process performance improvement

B – Business process management

(1) Process automation, WFM, BPM engine

(2) Integration

(3) Developing code based on diagrams


How to select a BP tool? (1)

In business practice:• Decide on re-use, buy, make or

outsource– Buy an off-the-shelf product– Develop a new system– Outsource the application

• Who is selling BP tools ?– Internal sponsors, process owners, CPO– A software vendor– A system integrators and/or consultants



In business practice:• Product aspects

– Customer experience– Quality and reliability– Performance– Standards compliance– Ease of migration– Integration and compatibility– User interface– Management and administration tools



In business practice:• Offer aspects

– Availability– Finance, price and terms– Licensing scheme– Servicing and maintenance– Support– Training – Project help



In business practice:• Organization aspects

– Culture– Corporate history– Market channels– Financial and human resources



In business practice:• Which components of BP tool are

required?– Process design (modelling, analysis,

simulation)– Process management (workflow engine,

business rules engine)– Integrated document management system– Reporting, Business Activity Monitoring– …….



A theoretical overview:• Hommes and van Reijswoud (2000): a

framework for the evaluation of business process modelling techniques that are the most important part of a process modelling tool.

• Hall, Harmon (2005): several expected characteristics for business process modelling and simulation tools - can be identified.

• Khan (2005): Business Process Management – A Practical Guide, Meghan-Kiffer Press – the main components of BPM tools


• A big market • A software selection process in

organisations is typically not defined• There are often no possibilities to learn

from previous experience • A selection of a business process

management/modelling tool is a typical multi-criteria decision process

• General framework should be defined to help the selection of BP tools

Conclusion

Documents

Www.process-conference.org FEATURES OF BUSINESS PROCESS TOOLS: AN OVERVIEW Vesna Bosilj-Vuksic University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business