The Complete Business Process Handbook

Body of Knowledge from Process Modeling to BPM, Volume 1

Mark Von Rosing, Henrik von Scheel, August-Wilhelm Scheer, Mark von Rosing

• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780127999593
• eBook ISBN: 9780128004722
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

The Complete Business Process Handbook is the most comprehensive body of knowledge on business processes with revealing new research. Written as a practical guide for Executives, Practitioners, Managers and Students by the authorities that have shaped the way we think and work with process today. It stands out as a masterpiece, being part of the BPM bachelor and master degree curriculum at universities around the world, with revealing academic research and insight from the leaders in the market. This book provides everything you need to know about the processes and frameworks, methods, and approaches to implement BPM. Through real-world examples, best practices, LEADing practices and advice from experts, readers will understand how BPM works and how to best use it to their advantage. Cases from industry leaders and innovators show how early adopters of LEADing Practices improved their businesses by using BPM technology and methodology. As the first of three volumes, this book represents the most comprehensive body of knowledge published on business process. Following closely behind, the second volume uniquely bridges theory with how BPM is applied today with the most extensive information on extended BPM. The third volume will explore award winning real-life examples of leading business process practices and how it can be replaced to your advantage. - Learn what Business Process is and how to get started - Comprehensive historical process evolution - In-depth look at the Process Anatomy, Semantics and Ontology - Find out how to link Strategy to Operation with value driven BPM - Uncover how to establish a way of Thinking, Working, Modelling and Implementation - Explore comprehensive Frameworks, Methods and Approaches - How to build BPM competencies and establish a Center of Excellence - Discover how to apply Social BPM, Sustainable and Evidence based BPM - Learn how Value & Performance Measurement and Management - Learn how to roll-out and deploy process - Explore how to enable Process Owners, Roles and Knowledge Workers - Discover how to Process and Application Modelling - Uncover Process Lifecycle, Maturity, Alignment and Continuous Improvement - Practical continuous improvement with the way of Governance - Future BPM trends that will affect business - Explore the BPM Body of Knowledge

Phase 1: Process Concept Evolution

Henrik von Scheel, Mark von Rosing, Marianne Fonseca, Maria Hove, and Ulrik Foldager

Abstract

Business processes consist of nucleus tasks and activities that are connected with each other and are categorized and grouped. High-level business processes occur in a far more abstract context, as they are, usually, utilized to illustrate how a business carries out many different sets of operations. The entire marketing department of a large corporation, for example, can be described as a process group, although it depends entirely on the process structure of each individual organization. A business process can also consist of minor activities within the business process itself, and in such a case, these minor activities are called subprocesses. One ought to view the processes in the big picture first (captured in the process map) since a business process can trigger many tasks and subprocesses but also initiate other processes. In that way, you often see a connection between the different processes (both the value-adding processes and the non-value-adding processes) that are involved in the servicing of a client. Business processes are often illustrated by different readable business process diagrams—for example through the use of Business Process Modeling Notation diagrams. Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is a standardized, visual (graphical) modeling representation used to illustrate business process flows. It provides an easy to use, flow-charting notation that is independent of the implementation environment. Business processes are presently used to illustrate, document, and shape the way an organization carries out its business operations across all organizational levels, i.e., both the strategic, tactical, and operational business levels.

Keywords

Adam Smith; Henry Ford; Key historical people; Process; Sun Tzu; Taylorism

Introduction

The term process comes from the Latin word processus or processioat, which translates as a performed action of something that is done, and the way it is done. A process is, therefore, a collection of interrelated tasks and activities that are initiated in response to an event which aims to achieve a specific result for the consumer of the process. Processes constantly occur and happen all around us, in all that we do throughout the course of the day. They are the basis of all actions that involve concepts such as time, space, and motion, and they shape and bend to the very reality in which we exist.

Imagine yourself reading this chapter. You glance briefly to the side of your table only to realize that your coffee cup is now empty. A process is then sparked and initialized, and you (1) get up from your chair, (2) lift your cup from the table, (3) walk into the kitchen, (4) pour yourself another cup of coffee, (5) you then return to your chair, and (6) sit down and continue reading. That, in itself, is a process by nature. This is just one example of a very simple and descriptive process so as to better illustrative its elusive concept.

A business process, however, is the same as a process, but with one major difference, namely with the emphasis on the word business. A business process is a collection of tasks and activities (business operations and actions) consisting of employees, materials, machines, systems, and methods that are being structured in such as way as to design, create, and deliver a product or a service to the consumer.

As such, a business process can be understood in the following way:

• It is a placeholder for the action (process area).

• An action is taking place (process group).

• A business task is taking place (business process).

• The location of the business task in the sequence (process step).

• The way the business task is carried out (process activity).

Business processes consist of nucleus tasks and activities that are connected with each other, and are categorized and grouped. High-level business processes occur in a far more abstract context, as they are, usually, utilized to illustrate how a business carries out many different sets of operations. The entire marketing department of a large corporation, for example, can be described as a process group, although it depends entirely on the process structure of each individual organization. A business process can also consist of minor activities within the business process itself, and in such a case, these minor activities are called subprocesses. One ought to view the processes in the big picture first (captured in the process map) since a business process can trigger many tasks and subprocesses but also initiate other processes. In that way, you often see a connection between the different processes (both the value-adding processes and the non-value-adding processes) that are involved in the servicing of a client. Business processes are usually illustrated by different readable business process diagrams—for example through the use of Business Process Modeling Notation¹ diagrams. Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is a standardized, visual (graphical) modeling representation used to illustrate business process flows. It provides an easy to use, flow-charting notation that is independent of the implementation environment. Business processes are used to illustrate, document, and shape the way an organization carries out its business operations across all organizational levels, i.e., both the strategic, tactical, and operational business levels.

There are four major phases in the historical development of business processes. The first phase is launched with the introduction of Sun Tzu’s Art of War in the era of Ancient China. In the Art of War, Sun Tzu describes military strategies and tactics where he would assign specific tasks to certain people and calculate the resources needed for the execution of these tasks. Thousands of years later, we share with you Adam Smith’s observations of work processes, which eventually inspired Taylor’s “Scientific Management.” The main problem in the implementation of Scientific Management is that it does not integrate the person behind the machine, and this leads us to the second phase, in which Allan H. Mogensen, Frank Gilbreth, and Ben Graham involved the worker in optimizing the processes. Finally, the visualization and digitalization of processes leads to the third and fourth (present) phase, in which the processes are being implemented and, to some extent, executed through the use of information systems and technology (Figure 1).

Process Concept Evolution

Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu (also rendered as Sun Zi) was a Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher and is assumed to have lived his life from around 544–496 BC in ancient China. He is traditionally credited as the author of The Art of War²—an extremely influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy. Traditional accounts state that the general’s descendant Sun Bin also wrote a treatise on military tactics, also titled The Art of War.

Sun Tzu’s work has been praised and employed throughout East Asia since its composition. During the twentieth century, The Art of War grew in popularity and saw practical use in Western society as well. The Art of War is composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly known to be the definitive work on military strategy and tactics of its time and has had an influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy, and beyond. In his work, Sun Tzu describes a subtle yet abstract use of process activities to fulfill specific goals, precisely as business processes today are used to fulfill the goals of a company. He describes carrying out specific sets of tasks and activities and then assigning resources to the execution of these tasks and their related activities in order to complete certain objectives, and thereby, fulfilling the strategies of warfare.

Figure 1 The historical evolution of processes over the course of time.³

It should also be noted, however, that in 604 AD, Shotoku Taishi (573–621), the Prince of Holy Virtue, was a Japanese regent, statesman, and scholar who established a set of guidelines that served as the constitution of Japan at the time. In these documents, after studying the Chinese administration, he described the relations between Buddhism and what we would call public administration. These observations were later worked over and expanded and used as the foundation for the Japanese administration. Shotoku Taishi specified how tasks and responsibility best could be placed in the different branches of the administration. This is one of the earliest abstract views of the relation between organizational format and goals that the authors of this chapter have been able to identify.

Adam Smith

Adam Smith (1723–1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment,⁴ Smith is best known for two classic works: The Theory of Moral Sentiments⁵ (1759), and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations⁶ (1776). While his exact date of birth is not known, Adam Smith’s baptism was recorded on June 5, 1723, in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. He attended the Burgh School, where he studied Latin, mathematics, history, and writing. Smith entered the University of Glasgow when he was 14 years old and in 1740 he went to Oxford.⁷

In 1748, Adam Smith began giving a series of public lectures at the University of Edinburgh. Through these lectures in 1750, he met and became lifelong friends with Scottish philosopher and economist David Hume. This relationship led to Smith’s appointment to the Glasgow University faculty in 1751.

In 1759, Smith published The Theory of Moral Sentiments, a book whose main contention is that human morality depends on sympathy between the individual and other members of society. On the heels of the book, he became the tutor of the future Duke of Buccleuch (1763–1766) and traveled with him to France, where Smith met with other prominent thinkers of his day, such as Benjamin Franklin⁸ and French economist Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot.⁹

After toiling for nine years, and with his work from 1776, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (usually shortened to The Wealth of Nations), Adam Smith changed the traditional way of viewing the production process. Smith’s work is best known for his invisible-hand analogy of market pricing and self-re...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Author Biographies
• Foreword
• Abbreviations
• Introduction to the Book
• Phase 1: Process Concept Evolution
• Phase 2: Process Concept Evolution
• Phase 3: Process Concept Evolution
• Phase 4: What Is Business Process Management?
• The BPM Way of Thinking
• The Value of Ontology
• The BPM Ontology
• Process Tagging—A Process Classification and Categorization Concept
• Why Work with Process Templates
• The BPM Way of Working
• Business Process Trends
• BPM Center of Excellence
• Understanding Business Process Management Roles
• Working with the Business Process Management (BPM) Life Cycle
• The Chief Process Officer: An Emerging Top Leadership Role
• iBPM—Intelligent Business Process Management
• Evidence-Based Business Process Management
• Social Media and Business Process Management
• BPM and Maturity Models
• The BPM Way of Modeling
• Business Process Model and Notation—BPMN
• Variation in Business Processes
• Focusing Business Processes on Superior Value Creation: Value-oriented Process Modeling
• Sustainability Oriented Process Modeling
• Information Modeling and Process Modeling
• The BPM Way of Implementation and Governance
• Applying Agile Principles to BPM
• BPM Change Management
• Business Process Management Governance
• Business Process Portfolio Management
• Real-Time Learning: Business Process Guidance at the Point of Need
• Business Process Management Alignment
• Business Process Outsourcing
• The Business Process Management Way of Training and Coaching
• The Need for a Standardized and Common Way of Process Training
• Process Expert Training
• Process Architect Training
• Process Engineer Training
• Process Owner Training
• Conclusion
• Author Index
• Subject Index