designing and improving processes for your digital ... · processes for your digital transformation...

Designing and improvingprocesses for your digital transformation

Setting objectives

Why set process objectives?Many people start drawing and modeling processes because they feel processes are important so it must be a good thing to do. Of course processes are important. In fact:

“Processes are not just something the business does—processes are the business.”

Because processes are so important to the business, it is vital that good quality process designs are produced by people with appropriate professional skills However, just as with any other business endeavor it is essential to understand what the processes are for and who will use them. Furthermore, when creating models for those processes it is also vital to understand what the models are for and who will use them. Hence before starting any process design, capture or modeling, it is essential to define:

• Business process objectives

• Process modeling objectives

Once these have been defined the process design project can be planned and put into practice.

It is common to use the terms process design, modeling and capture interchangeably. Done correctly, these activities share many of the same techniques. However, there are some significant differences in objective and approach. Process design is focused on creating new or improved processes that will enable the business to achieve its objectives. Process capture, on the other hand, is very much about understanding what is happening now, often as the starting point for undertaking a new design. Both process design and capture can be done using simple drawing tools, but creating process models with a professional tool provides a valuable corporate process resource that can be shared, analyzed and re-used.

Business process objectivesEffective processes are one of the main ways of delivering the strategy and objectives of the business. However, business objectives are frequently set without any thought to how they might be delivered by the business processes. Similarly, processes are often designed or improved based around detailed functional requirements without any consideration of whether they deliver high-level business objectives or how they affect the customer experience. The consequence of this is that businesses often wonder why objectives are not being met and why improved processes have little business benefit.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Setting objectives

8 What makes a good process?

10 Before you start modeling

17 The process of process design

20 Process improvement

25 Process governance

27 Recommended resources

BUSINESS WHITE PAPER

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The most effective way to manage a business is to ensure that the business strategy, targets and objectives are directly linked to process objectives and measures. Not only does this ensure the processes are designed with the aim of delivering what is required, but it provides direct traceability from business objectives to process performance. This way, if the business objectives are not being met, it is possible to identify which processes are not performing as they should and take remedial action.

ARIS Cloud , a full-scale Business Process Analysis-as-a-Service platform from Software AG, allows business strategy to be documented directly in ARIS and communicated to the business, thus bridging the gap between strategy and process. Business strategy, tactics, objectives, KPIs and critical success factors can all be represented in ARIS models and directly linked to the models of processes, organization and IT that will deliver the strategy. Familiar strategy documentation approaches such as business model canvas, strategy diagrams, cause and effect, and SWOT are provided by ARIS Cloud. Unlike conventional drawings and PowerPoint® representations, the information is all stored in the ARIS repository. This provides a single source of the truth and the capability to analyze, communicate, implement and measure strategy using balanced scorecards (see Figure 1) and business dashboards.

Figure 1: ARIS Strategy Balanced Scorecard

Listening to process voicesIt is very easy to fall into the trap of just capturing objectives and requirements from the business and often from a very narrow section of business people. However, just as a business has to fulfill the requirements of many stakeholders (such as customers, suppliers, partners, shareholders and the community), the processes also need to meet the needs and objectives of these different communities. These can be thought of in terms of three “voices” that need to be heard (see Figure 2):

• The voice of the customer—the customer’s needs and expectations

• The voice of the business—the business objectives and constraints

• The voice of the market—current trends and what competitors are doing

Business White Paper | Designing and improving processes for your digital transformation

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Figure 2: The Three Voices The degree to which these voices need to be taken into account will vary from project to project. Often business stakeholders will have already considered the customer and market needs and incorporated them into their business requirements. However, this may not always be the case and it is part of the job of a process designer to ensure that process designs are focused on delivering good customer experience and to guide business stakeholders to ask the rights questions.

Process modeling and design objectivesOnce the business objectives that the process must deliver ,have been defined it is very tempting to immediately get started on a new design or mapping the existing “AS-IS” process. Make sure your process model has some key characteristics:

• It is a representation of the real business

• It is defined to a certain level of detail

• It shows a specific viewpoint

• It is representative of a particular point in time

• It is designed for a specific purpose

Also, it is important to be clear about which business stakeholders the process is being designed for, what they are going to use it for and, most importantly, the benefit that should be gained from all of this modeling work. This information will determine the content, the format and the level of detail needed. Many organizations waste time creating inappropriate models that are never used because the modelers weren’t clear why they were creating the models. Hence, it is important to understand exactly how the process models will be used in order to determine what sort of models should be created. An easy way to approach this is by using the five “Ws” of process design (see Figure 3).

Figure 3: The Five “Ws” of Process Design


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The five “Ws” of process designWhy are you modeling? For instance, will the models be used for a process improvement project, for communicating to end users or as a specification for an IT development? Are there constraints, such as regulation, change in business structure or resource availability? How will these processes be measured and how will that affect the design? The answer to these questions will determine what sort of information needs to be included and to what level of detail. At lot of time can be wasted if the type and level of detail of information required is not clear.

Who are the models for? Is there a single customer with specific requirements or are there many stakeholders throughout the business? Do they want the same things from the models and will they want to view them in the same format? Do they actually want to see the models at all or do they just want the results from an improvement exercise or documents derived from the process design (such as work instructions)? Based on these answers, it may be necessary to present process information in different ways to different people and with different levels of detail. ARIS Cloud automatically provides different viewpoints (such as diagram, steps, table and RACI, etc.) that make providing appropriate views for different stakeholders much easier. However, it is important to ensure the ARIS repository contains the correct information necessary to allow these views to work.

What are you modeling? Are you creating a process landscape for the entire business, modeling a specific business function (for example, sales) or an end-to-end process (for example, order-to-cash)? It is vital to be clear about this. Often people start with one aim but get confused, lose their way and model irrelevant details. It is often sensible to start by recording a high-level enterprise process map and then to drill down into more detail for specific processes that are business-critical, have significant issues or have valuable improvement potential.

When will the models be relevant? Are you mapping the AS-IS process or designing the TO-BE? If it’s the AS-IS, are you describing what people think is happening now or what should be happening? If it’s the TO-BE, then exactly when in the future will the process be used, what are the constraints and dependencies, and will they change? Do you actually need to model the AS-IS process at all? A lot can be learned from the way things are done now, but if you are embarking on an ambitious transformation project, then how things are done today may not be all that relevant. Often people spend too much time on AS-IS modeling at the expense of undertaking the actual transformation.

Where will the models be used? Will they be used by people operating the processes or by process architects and designers? In what format will people want the designs (for example, on a Web portal or on paper)? Do they just want to look at them or will they use the models to directly automate the process? Do the processes need to be shared with third parties or conform to any modeling standards?

Once process requirements have been defined by considering the five “Ws” then it will be much easier to see what information needs to be captured before design starts.

Capturing requirementsDesigning a process is about identifying the sequence of tasks necessary to deliver a business objective along with the resources needed to deliver those tasks and the environment in which they operate. Capturing process requirements should focus on collecting all the information necessary to be able to create a good design.

There are two main approaches to capturing process requirements:

• Formal requirements capture

• Hands-on process design


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Formal process capture is essentially a paper-based exercise that uses some or all of the techniques below to capture information related to the three process voices:

• Business scenarios

• Requirements

• Measures and targets

• Use cases

• User stories

• Customer journeys

• Customer touchpoints

• Moments of truth

The main focus of these techniques should concentrate on ensuring the process delivers world-class customer experience.

Typically business analysts will carry out the requirements capture and pass the information to the process designers who will then create the process design. The alternative is to run a series of process design workshops where the process designer creates the process design “on the fly” in the workshop using a process design tool (like ARIS Cloud) and based on information provided in real time by the business stakeholders.

Both approaches have their limitations. Separating requirements capture from design often leaves many questions unanswered (for example, “what happens if the customer payment doesn’t go through?”). When working through the design of the process flow, it is important to consider what happens at all the key decision points and the many alternative paths through the flow. Information necessary to make these decisions is not always captured during formal requirements capture which results in incomplete designs or repeated rework.

Capturing process information “on the fly” in a process workshop is valuable in exploring a lot of the “what-happens-if” detail. However, it can tempt people to rush into detailed process design without a clear view of business requirements and customer experience targets, for example. It can also be limiting where significant process transformation is being undertaken as people often fallback to reproducing what happens now rather than building a more visionary approach for the future.

Some people prefer to use a “brown paper exercise” for process workshops. Stakeholders place sticky notes onto large sheets of brown paper to collaboratively build a process flow. This approach has the advantage that it encourages collaboration and aids business buy-in as people have a strong sense of being engaged with the design process. The difficulty with this approach is that there is no modeling method employed and the nature of the approach tends to oversimplify the documented processes. The result is often incomplete and poor processes that have to be extensively reworked. Furthermore, this approach rarely captures much of the resource and business environment information.

The best approach is to combine the best of both worlds using a more “Agile” or iterative approach. An initial set of requirements, scenarios, measures and user stories are defined and a process workshop is used to create a first draft of the customer journeys and some of the key processes. These can be analyzed to identify the moments of truth and likely customer experience. Evaluation of the customer experience will identify areas where more work is needed to expand and clarify business scenarios and user stories. Often this will require going back to stakeholders to clarify their requirements and get decisions about key measures and targets. Work proceeds in an iterative fashion, building more and more of the process detail. In practice, IT will play a huge role in the processes and process and IT designers will be working in parallel to develop process and IT solutions.


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Customer-centric processesA vital part of designing a good business process is to ensure that customers get the best possible experience when they interact with the business. The best way to do this is to consider the customer journey that the process (or a combination of processes) creates for the customer.

Putting together customer user stories (requirements) with the business processes, and identifying the interactions between the customer and the business, defines the “customer journey.” A customer journey (Figure 4) shows the flow of activities and the interactions with the business that the customer undertakes to achieve his goals. Typical journeys may include ordering a product, cancelling a subscription, checking a balance or returning a product.

Figure 4: Customer Journey Model Collaborative process designARIS Cloud provides an ideal platform for the iterative and collaborative process design described above. The ARIS Cloud Web portal allows much of the collaboration to be done online without the need for physical meetings and workshops. Business users can view processes in a variety of formats and easily make comments, suggestions and view those of other people (see Figure 5).

Figure 5: ARIS Cloud Collaborative Process Design


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A wide range of people can be involved in the design of the process, people who wouldn’t otherwise have the time to attend process workshops. This encourages a sense of business engagement and buy-in to the final process design. The ability of ARIS Cloud to model business strategy, objectives, requirements and risks, for example, means that much of the requirements information can be captured in ARIS rather than in separate documentation. This provides a single source of the truth and allows the relationships between the requirements description and the process definitions to be captured and analysis undertaken.

Process re-useProcesses are an important business asset and, just like any other business asset, it is valuable to re-use these whenever possible. So it is important when designing processes to build-in re-use right from the start. However, simply copying a process block from one model to another does not guarantee actual re-use when the process is implemented. In practice, process re-use is not as straightforward as it might seem. There are three main types of re-use:

• Structural re-use

• Design re-use

• Implementation re-use

Structural re-use is the re-use of key concepts and best practice that removes the need to start from scratch when designing a new process. These are rarely re-used in their entirety, but adapted and extended to meet specific business needs. An important element of structural re-use is that adherence to standard frameworks provides a common language for cross- organizational working, procurement, and industry collaboration. Typical examples include:

• Architectural frameworks (such as TOGAF® and the Zachman Framework™)

• Business process frameworks (such as APQC and VAR)

• Industry process frameworks (such as SCOR and eTOM®)

• Industry best practices (such as ITIL® and MIT)

Design re-use is the planned re-use of common approaches, resources and components. It is easiest to think about these in a hierarchical way. At the highest level, generic process patterns would be established and re-used. For instance, all sales processes have the same basic steps, but at the detailed level they are different. If there are several different sales processes in the business, then agreeing on the same structure for the high-level process aids communication and the re-use of lower level components. At the lowest level, business services and process components can be re-used. In the middle ground, the aim is to design and re-use standard processes (i.e., a single process implemented by the same people and systems) for all products and locations. However, it is important to recognize that this isn’t always possible and it is often necessary to re-use the same high-level process pattern while having different variants of the detailed process for different scenarios. Typical examples of design re-use include:

• Standard processes—a single process implementation for all scenarios

• Generic process re-use—high level patterns; variance at detailed level

• Process variants—modifications of standard process designs for specific implementation

• Patterns—designs for common business activities

• Business services—common business capabilities Implementation re-use refers to items that can be re-used by a process, but that are not specifically defined or designed by the process community. For instance, a single order handling system may be re-used by many processes, but it may not have specifically resulted from process design re-use. Similarly, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) components may be re-used or the processes may implemented by shared services organizations. To get the real benefit from IT and shared service re-use, there should be a joint re-use focused design by the IT and process communities. Typical examples of implementation re-use include:

• Shared service processes—business functions delivered by a common process

• IT applications

• IT services—SOA components

• Workflow patterns To achieve effective re-use it is important to think about the types and opportunities for re-use before detailed process design starts.


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What makes a good process?

Characteristics of a good processA process can be described as:

“the definition of the tasks, and the sequence of those tasks, necessary to deliver an objective.”

Figure 6: Definition of a Process

It is important that the process must deliver something (like a product or service) to someone (or some organization) outside of the process and what is delivered must be of value to that person or organization. The process must also have some value to the business itself. Usually this means someone—usually the customer or client—will pay for the product or service delivered by the process. The objective of the process must also align with corporate values and strategy. So a good process must:

• Deliver something of value to someone outside of the process

• Create value for the organization operating the process

• Align with corporate values and strategy

In addition, a good process will have some key characteristics. It must be:

• Effective—the process must do what it is supposed to; it must be as simple as possible and make life better for all concerned. It must demonstrably provide value to the customer delivering what was agreed, on time and for the agreed price. The product or service must work and it must continue to work for a reasonable period of time. A good process must also work when things go wrong. A problem handled effectively and resolved quickly can often boost a customer’s opinion of an organization, while a problem handled badly can ruin its reputation for ever.

• Efficient—the process must be devoid of waste, unnecessary steps, multiple hand-overs and other wasteful characteristics. The process must use available resources to best effect and should re-use existing resources wherever possible.

• Relevant—the process must be vital to the core business. It should benefit the customer, meet business objectives and align with business values. A good process fits into the corporate process architecture.

• User-friendly—business processes are complex, but people should find them easy to interact with while still meeting customer and business needs. The process should comprehensible to all parties with clearly defined and identifiable objectives. A “good process” is one that uses people effectively and has few repetitive and tedious activities that encourage errors and poor service.


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• Valid—the process must reflect the actual situations the business and customers are operating in. It should be sufficiently correct to be valuable and usable. A good process is one that has been verified that it meets the requirements, but has also been validated against true business and customer needs. It must have been tested sufficiently with data flowing through the process to ensure that it is complete and consistent. It should not only deal with the “sunny day” scenario or the “happy path.”

• Utilized—a process that is never utilized is useless. New or improved processes must offer a tangible benefit to users so that they will actually implement it.

• Supported—once the process is implemented, someone must be responsible for ensuring the process continues to deliver the desired results and is regularly improved. A good process is one designed to be easily maintained and that is actually maintained.

• Measurable—a good process must be measurable and actually measured. A company should always know if its processes are functioning as they should. A process can’t be judged to be a “good process” if it is not measured, because if it’s not being measured, how do you know?

• Re-usable—a good process is one that does not reinvent everything from scratch, but re-uses process and IT components. It follows standards and best-practice examples as well as using existing resources, such as IT systems and business capabilities.

Process measuresOne of the most important characteristic described above is that a good process should be measurable. The performance of the business is dependent on the performance of its processes. While there are many measures that can be used to assess business performance (such as EBIT, turnover sales and customer satisfaction), it is difficult to understand in detail how the business delivers that performance unless there are also process performance measures in place. The “three voices” described earlier are valuable in determining the business measures and how they are related to process measures which can be the thought of as the “voice of the process” (see Figure 7).

Figure 7: Process Measures It is a common mistake to design and implement processes and then to later consider how to put measures in place to assess performance. There are two main problems with this approach. Firstly, without knowing the performance measures and targets for the process, it is not possible to have a clear view of the process objectives. This means that is a great danger that the process will not deliver the business objectives, or if it does, then it may not meet them as effectively and efficiently as it could. The second problem is that is often difficult to find ways to measure a process once it has been implemented. If the correct measurement points have not been identified and the extraction of the correct data designed-in, then often it will be difficult or impossible to provide good process measures. Therefore, it is essential to define the process performance measures as part of the requirements capture exercise and to ensure that these measures and their targets are owned and signed off by the business. If during the design phase it turns out that it is not possible to implement the necessary measures, then the process or its objectives may have to be changed. Launching a process that can’t be measured is a sign of poor business management and will causes many problems in the future.


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Before you start modeling

Standards are the keyOnce you know why you are modeling, what sort of detail is required and how the model will be used, modeling standards can defined. Modeling standards are needed to:

• Ensure models created by different teams can link together and form a corporate asset

• Ensure process models can be easily understood by all

• Make the design tools simpler to use

• Reduce training costs and facilitate outsourcing and recruiting

• Enable designs to be transferred to other tools for implementation and automation

Many people use drawing tools to document their processes and invent their own templates and symbols. The meaning of these may be clear to them but are often unintelligible to others. As a result, they don’t form part of a corporate asset. ARIS Cloud is based on industry-leading ARIS technology and best-practice methodologies so that you can collaboratively define your corporate strategy and then model, analyze, and improve processes all at the same time. Consistency and a common understanding of process descriptions are guaranteed.

Process notationsThe most commonly used notations used for modeling processes are the ARIS Event Process Chain (EPC) and the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN™) (see Figure 8).

Figure 8: Modeling Notations

The EPC provides a rich notation ideal for modeling processes from a business perspective. The EPC provides objects and relationships that can represent the process flow, the resources needed for the process and the business environment. BPMN, on the other hand, has become an industry standard for modeling processes that will be implemented using workflow or process automation systems, like a Business Process Management System (BPMS). BPMN has additional modeling constructs for modeling process that will be automated (such as looped tasks and time-based triggers). However, the current BPMN notation does not support the richness of objects needed to also describe the business resources and environment essential to creating good-quality process models.

When setting the standards for modeling the business or to start a new modeling project, it is important to consider which notation to use. It may be necessary to use different notations for different aspects of the project or for different levels of detail (for example, EPC for high-level business models and BPMN for detailed implementation models). However, it is vital to define which models are to be used for which purpose and not to allow modelers to choose the notation on a whim or based on personal preference.


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Consider the following when choosing the notation:

• What will the models represent (business or implementation)?

• What level of detail is being modeled?

• Who will look at the models (business or IT)?

• Will other organizations use or contribute to the models?

• Will the models need to be transferred to a workflow or IT system?

• Will the models need to be electronically exchanged with other organizations?

Using ARIS Cloud simplifies these decisions by allowing businesses to integrate both notations. BPMN can be used to model the flow of the process, which can then be electronically exported in BPMN standard format, while the business resources and environment can be modeled using the rich ARIS business-oriented notation in a linked Functional allocation diagram.

Information from both BPMN and ARIS models is stored in the ARIS repository, and it can be combined and viewed by business users in ARIS Cloud using the steps or table views, thus making BPMN content accessible to business users. Thus ARIS Cloud makes it possible to use BPMN notation without compromising it in any way while at the same time having full access to a rich repository of business information.

ARIS Cloud also allows other standard notations and approaches to be used for modeling supporting information such as data (IEF, ERM and UML), IT architecture (TOGAF), IT applications (UML), business strategy (Osterwalder and SWOT) and process improvement (Six Sigma and Value Stream Analysis).

The need for structureA business does not rely on just one or two processes, but it operates through a complex web of processes that spans many departments and IT systems. Processes are composed of sub-processes and the key activities of a business can be described by a small number of end-to-end processes, such as order-to-cash, procure-to-pay and trouble-to-resolve. These end-to-end processes are built up from combinations of business processes and will often re-use basic sub-processes—for example, a product testing process may be used by order-to-cash and trouble-to-resolve (see Figure 9).

Figure 9: Complex Process Structures


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Understanding how all these processes fit together and are used is crucial to creating an enterprise process repository that can be easily understood and will be a valuable corporate asset. Such a process repository will, therefore, contain both a horizontal and vertical structure of linked models that describes the business. Before starting modeling, it is important to define the architecture that describes this structure. It will then be clear how each new process design should fit into the structure and when a new process design is completed its model can be slotted into the framework.

People use the terms “architecture,” “framework,” “enterprise process model” and “enterprise landscape map” loosely and often interchangeably. Here are useful definitions of these terms:

• Process architecture—a definition of the structure, ordering, interfaces, interdependencies, and relationships of the business processes to one another and to external processes. The process architecture may form part of an Enterprise Architecture (EA) and will contain information on process resources and the business environment.

• Process framework—a process architecture populated with a set of common processes that describe the operation of a typical business or a business in a specific market segment (for example, telecom and supply chain).

• Enterprise process model/landscape map—the process architecture for the business populated with relevant process models and supporting data. This may be built upon or contain adapted elements of a process framework.

Process architectureThe process architecture describes the structure of the business process and comprises:

• Horizontal structure—process linkages

• Vertical structure—process decomposition

• Modeling definition—the type of ARIS Cloud model required at each hierarchical level to represent different business information (for example, process, data, IT, risks and measures)

• Content definition—the type and level of detail required at each level

• Interfaces—the connection points between processes and to external processes

• Relationships—the connection between processes, business resources and the business environment

The vertical structure of the architecture is normally defined as a number of levels (for an example, see Figure 10). A hierarchical process structure is easier to understand as it manages the amount of information visible at any one level. The top levels usually consist of value chains showing the key business processes and the end-to-end processes. Lower levels will have more detailed descriptions of the sub-process. Not all processes will be described in the same detail, so may not have models at all levels. Supporting documents may be attached to processes at any level. Often people show “work instructions” (descriptions of basic manual processes that people will follow) as the lowest level. But not all processes will be decomposed to the same level of detail and so may have work instructions at higher levels.

The horizontal structure is determined by the way the end-to-end processes are constructed and how sub-processes are grouped into functional areas (lower part of Figure 9). Understanding where one process “hands off” to another and the way processes interface to external organizations (such as customers, suppliers and partners) is critical to ensuring end-to-end processes work effectively and efficiently and that high-quality customer experience is delivered.


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Figure 10: Four-level Process Hierarchy By clearly describing what is modeled at each level, both in terms of content and also the ARIS Cloud models, objects and relationships used, process designers will have clear guidance on what should be modeled and it how it links with other models.

Well-defined process architectures provide:

• A vehicle for agreeing the structure of business processes

• A guide for modeling the business

• A guide for finding process information

• Standards for modeling

• A communications aid

• A training aid

• A key component of an enterprise architecture

Once the architecture is populated with content the enterprise process model (see Figure 11) provides:

• A bird’s eye view of the business operation

• Visualization of the end-to-end processes

• The capability for impact analysis

• The ability to identify gaps and duplication

• The ability to align capabilities and resources

• Support for scoping process projects

• Identification of improvement opportunities

• Process simplification and standardization

• Identification of process automation opportunities


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Figure 11: Enterprise Process Map (levels 1 & 2)

It is rare that structure of the enterprise process model can be completely designed at the outset; however, it is important to start to build the architecture before modeling progresses too far. A typical approach is to develop a high-level view of the business and then to extend it by drilling down to further levels of detail as the need arises.

Similarly, not every process that is identified in the architecture will actually be modeled. Processes will be modeled as necessary, concentrating on those that have the highest business value, the most impact on the customer, known issues or significant improvement potential. Over time, more and more of the enterprise process map will be populated, which in turn will make it more valuable as a corporate resource. Existing legacy processes may not fit exactly into the current architecture and may be documented on paper or in non-standard modeling tools. However, it is important to catalog these, and using ARIS Cloud these processes can still be represented in the architecture and links made to the documents or locations of the models. In this way, the complete repository of process can be represented, even if not all documented in ARIS Cloud.

Process architecture does not stand by itself, but is the business aspect of a larger EA that describes the whole infrastructure that supports the business. It is typically divided into four domains (see Figure 12):

Figure 12: Enterprise Architecture Domains


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• Business architecture (including process)

• Data architecture

• Applications architecture

• Technology architecture

In the past, EA concentrated almost entirely on IT, but in recent years there has been a drive to ensure EA consider all aspects of the business (see Rob Davis, “Putting the ‘E’ back into Enterprise Architecture,” BP Trends, July 2011). TOGAF 9 from the Open Group (see www.opengroup.org/togaf) is the most popular EA methodology and framework. The TOGAF framework provides guidance on the types of diagrams and elements needed to document an EA. The TOGAF methodology provides a procedural model describing how to go about building it. ARIS Cloud fully supports TOGAF 9.

Process frameworksAlthough the processes of every business will be to some extent unique, many of the processes will follow a similar pattern in all businesses. For instance, HR and finance processes are generic for many businesses; sales processes may also be very similar for businesses in the same market segment. Increasingly what differentiates a business from its competitors is not the overall design of their processes, but the effectiveness with which they implement them and the customer experience that is delivered. Therefore, when setting up a new business or designing a new process, it is not necessary to start completely from scratch building unique processes. Process designers instead can use standard process frameworks to provide a starting point. A process framework is a pre-populated architectural model that defines the structure of the processes for a business and, in some cases, provides detail for specific processes. A typical problem when designing process architecture is getting the various stakeholders to agree on the key business processes and their names. The use of a process framework significantly reduces the time needed to achieve consensus among stakeholders and the subsequent design of the processes.

The ARIS frameworkARIS is not just a tool but a concept or a framework that supports the design, analysis, optimization and implementation of business processes. ARIS was developed to provide a way of expressing business processes sufficiently, precisely to allow effective communication and detailed analysis. It also provides an unambiguous basis for the development of the IT-based systems necessary to support them. Unlike many other tools that use relatively unstructured drawings or diagrams, ARIS provides a structured approach to modeling known as the ARIS Method. In addition, ARIS is also an “architectural framework” that provides a specification of how to organize and present all of the information that comprises an enterprise’s architecture. Using these models, it is possible to trace the impact of organizational change on IT systems and also the business impact caused by changes to the systems.

The ARIS HouseThe ARIS framework provides the concept of the “ARIS House,” which is a structuring view for all the modeled information. The ARIS House defines a standard set of model categories called “views” each of which have a specific purpose (e.g., process view, organizational view, IT application view, data view, products and services view) (see Figure 13). The core of the ARIS House is the representation of business processes as value-added chains or as detailed process models. The ARIS framework not only describes processes, its views also include other important information related to the process flow:

• Organization and organizational structures

• Business objectives and strategies

• IT systems and software applications

• Data and data structures

• Resources (e.g., people and materials)

• Information flow

• Risks

• Products and services

• Skills and knowledge


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www.opengroup.org/togaf

Figure 13: The ARIS House Concept

Industry process frameworks include:

• APQC Process Classification Framework (PCF)—a taxonomy of business processes that allows organizations to objectively track and compare their performance internally and externally with organizations from any industry (see www.apqc.org).

• eTOM Business Process Framework—a comprehensive, industry-agreed, multi-layered view of the key business processes required to run a service-focused business in the telecommunications or related sectors. Part of the TM Forum’s Frameworx® (see www.tmforum.org).

• SCOR—the Supply Chain Operations Reference-model (SCOR) is a process reference model developed by the Supply Chain Council linking business processes, performance metrics, practices and people skills into a unified structure for supply-chain management (see www.apics.org).

• VRM—a process framework from the Value Chain Group that supports and enables corporations to integrate their three critical domains—Global Product Developments, Global Supply Network Integration and Global Customer Success—using one reference model to support the vision of an integrated value chain (see www.value-chain.org).

In BPMN standard format, while the business resources and environment can be modeled using the rich ARIS business-oriented notation in a linked functional allocation diagram.

Using a business process framework can:

• Create a common language for communicating with the business, customers, partners and suppliers

• Speed up consensus over process structure and naming

• Reduce process design time

• Speed up standardization and interworking within industry sectors

• Support the purchase and implementation of standard IT applications

• Provide a checklist to reduce gaps and duplications


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www.apqc.org

www.tmforum.org

www.apics.org

www.value-chain.org

The process of process design

The need for a process design methodAn important step before starting process design is to consider how to actually go about it. As with any design activity there needs to be a clear and consistent approach that ensures the quality and completeness of the end result. Designing processes is a collaborative activity so everyone involved needs to be aware of the approach being taken, if not the detailed methodology. A lone process modeler working in a random and unstructured way will struggle to create quality processes.

The development of process is a process in its own right forming part of a process design project or part of a larger business transformation project. Software AG has developed the Prime methodology, which includes an approach for process transformation (see Figure 14). For each of the transformation adoption work packages, detailed process models are provided showing the necessary steps along with details of the deliverables, roles, skills and tools needed to carry them out and assets that can be used to speed up implementation.

Figure 14: The Prime Methodology

Defining process rolesIn any significant process design activity a number of different roles will be involved. Some of these roles (such as chiefprocess officer and end-to-end proces owner) are senior process management roles that would only be present in a large organization while others (like process architect, process manager and process specialist) are always required. In a very small business or project, these roles may not be explicitly defined and may all be undertaken by the same person. In most organizations, different people will hold these distinct roles and carry them out for a number of projects (see Figure 15). Ensuring these roles are available with appropriately trained people is vital before undertaking detailed design and modeling.

• Chief process officer (CPO)—defines process strategy and objectives; establishes a process governance structure with process owners; owns the enterprise process map; and ensures core processes deliver customer-driven performance and meet strategic objectives.

• Executive process sponsor—leads and inspires development of core processes to deliver the very best for customers; defines the end-to-end process vision; assigns process ownership roles and communicates ownership and accountability; and champions process developments using process as a driver of business performance.

• End-to-end process owner—defines detailed end-to end (E2E) process measures (KPIs); ensures the design of the E2E process; integrates and re-uses business unit processes; ensures customer satisfaction is measured and delivered and that revenue and efficiency targets are met; ensures the E2E process aligns with corporate strategy; initiates and manages E2E process improvement initiatives; and promotes standardization and optimization and agrees IT system changes that have an impact on the process.

• Process architect—defines the corporate process architecture; manages the enterprise process map and secures consensus and agreement; works with end-to-end process owners and process managers to ensure architectural conformance; and works with IT to promote business service re-use.


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• Process manager—manages day-to-day operation of business unit processes to targets set by end-to-end process owners; responsible for design of business unit processes, manages allocation of resources and ensures collection of agreed-upon KPIs; provides process infrastructure (such as documentation, systems and equipment) to support process users; and coordinates business unit process improvement.

• Process specialist—undertakes detailed process design, analysis and improvement using agreed standards, methods and tools; ensures processes meet process objectives and customer experience targets and are compliant with architectural standards; and verifies and validates that the process is fit-for-purpose.

• Process administrator—manages the process repository and enterprise process map under the guidance of the process architect; ensures all process models follow corporate standards, ensures consistency and correctness of the repository; and provides process modeling tool technical support.

Figure 15: Process Design Roles Process competency center Getting the necessary skilled people to fill the roles described above can be challenging for many organizations. One approach for making this easier is to set up process competency center. The center will bring together and train appropriate people who can then provide support, mentoring, consulting and process-related services to the rest of the business. Focusing skills within a competency center ensures the most effective use of resources; it maintains a consistent approach and ensures a process-focused approach is established as quickly as possible. Such a center may simply concentrate on providing technical process skills and support for the process modeling tool or it may have a wider remit to establish Business Process Management (BPM) as a management discipline within the business. Competency center activities may include:

• Undertaking process maturity assessments

• Identifying process stakeholders

• Defining process roles

• Establishing process training

• Defining the process tools portfolio

• Developing process standards and guidelines

• Defining process governance processes

• Providing process and technical support

• Managing the process repository and Web portal


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There are two approaches to setting up a competency center. It can be set up as a self- contained business unit with its own staff or as a virtual team drawing resources from various parts of the business. There are pros and cons for both approaches. Drawing all the required skills from the business (and from external agencies) into a central team is by far the best approach for quickly establishing the skills and being able to manage and coordinate them. However, the disadvantage is that the rest of the business can view this team as rather detached and not business-focused. On the other hand, running a virtual team allows people to stay within their existing business units and to focus on delivering day-to-day projects, thus ensuring better connection with the business. However, this approach is much more difficult to manage and coordinate and, hence, progress is slower.

The ideal is to combine both approaches. Establish a central team with a well-respected leader with a good business track record and a passion for process. Establish a core of experts in the key disciplines (for example, process modeling, change management and performance measurement). Then involve well-motivated people from the business units on short-term assignment (say for six months to a year). These people can then drive process techniques into their own business areas, supported by the core experts. As soon as the key process methods and tools are up and running, these people can go back to their normal roles. The center can then recruit new people from other business areas. This way, the competency center maintains an effective core size, and it’s not seen as disconnected from the business.

Collaboration with ARIS CloudIt is not only the different process roles described above that need to collaborate in process design; everyone in the business who has an interest in process has a role to play. ARIS Cloud (see Figure 16) is a social collaboration platform that provides process improvement tools to everyone within the organization and even those beyond the organization’s borders.

Figure 16: ARIS Cloud Social Collaboration Platform Involving suppliers, partners and even customers in the design of the supply chain can yield significant improvements in process speed and quality. Because ARIS Cloud runs in the cloud:

• Improvement projects can start immediately with limited investment

• Procurement is fast—no IT involvement is required

• ARIS Cloud can be scaled up as projects evolve

• Participation barriers are removed

• High availability is delivered through cloud deployment

• Zero operation costs in contrast to systems maintained by internal IT Along with offering informal collaboration tools (such as reviews, posts and likes), ARIS Cloud also has a number of built-in “design cycle workflows” that support more formal ways of working—for instance, change management and release cycle management. ARIS administrators can modify these workflows or create new ones to implement the “process for process management” for the business. ARIS Cloud provides a cost and effective shortcut to getting ready to design processes for digital transformation.


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Process improvement

Why improve processes?Few organizations are performing at their highest potential so there is always room to improve processes or establish new ones. Even when a business has high-quality processes already in place, the world doesn’t stay still. Process improvement is required to:

• Ensure processes continue to deliver business objectives

• Respond to the changing market and business environment

• Rapidly deliver new products and services

• Adapt to organizational change

• Ensure effective use of resources

• Take advantage of new technology

• Establish seamless process automation

Process improvement improves existing processes or improves the designs for new processes. Important tools for process improvement include:

• Process analysis

• Process simulation

• Process improvement methods

Process analysisProcess analysis looks at the static design of a process to identify potential problems and to ensure that it will operate as effectively and efficiently as possible. Many of the techniques for static process analysis are similar to those used for process verification. It usual to walk through the process examining each process step and checking for:

• Organizational handoffs—Does the process move from department-to-department or role-to-role? Minimizing organizational handoffs speeds up process performance and reduces opportunity for error.

• Media breaks—Does the information the process uses and transforms exist in different formats or sources (such as paper, fax or email)? Manual or automated conversion can lead to errors.

• Data errors—Is the data used by a process step available from previous steps or processes and is it in the correct format? Problems of this sort are often hidden in manual processes because the process users will correct the format or obtain the correct data. Such manual intervention may ensure the process works correctly, but it is inefficient and slows the process down.

• System breaks—Is the end-to-end process implemented by multiple IT systems? Reducing the number of systems and interfaces reduces costs and can improve performance. If several systems are used, is the information automatically transferred from one to the other or does it have to be manually re-keyed? Manual re-keying of information is one of the biggest sources of error in processes that are not fully automated.

• Hidden dependencies—Is the process step dependent on some operation or input that is not explicit in the process design? The process may get stuck at this point waiting for manual intervention, which is inefficient and slows the process.

• Relevance—Does every step or activity contribute to a process or business objective? Often things are done because “it has always been done this way” when, in fact, the need for it disappeared long ago. This is often true of wait periods added into processes that were originally required to allow for dependent manual tasks to be completed which no longer exist or have been automated.

• Operation—Who or what does the task? Is the correct or most appropriate person or system carrying it out? Again the “it has always been done this way” syndrome may apply when in fact the task may be better done elsewhere or combined with other activities.


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Dynamic process simulationStatic analysis can only go so far to identify process issues or improvement opportunities. A process is, by its very nature, dynamic, and the process will perform differently depending on the inputs provided, the resources utilized, the decisions taken, the paths followed and the progression of time. Dynamic or discrete event simulation builds a software model from the process design that allows the behavior of the process to be assessed over time. Different distributions of inputs can be fed into the model and the flows resulting from different decision points can be tested based on setting probabilities for each decision outcome.

Figure 17: Dynamic Process Simulation ARIS Simulation (see Figure 17) provides dynamic analysis of the process that lets you quickly understand and improve the business processes and to easily identify:

• Bottlenecks

• Throughput

• Cycle times

• Resource requirements

• Costs

• Risks

Different resource profiles can be tried out, throughput rates adjusted or changes made to the process and the likely impact quickly seen. This helps improve process efficiency and cost effectiveness. It also reduces the risks of introducing new processes by allowing experimentation without direct operational impact.


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Figure 18: ARIS Simulation

Different resource policies, shift calendars and priorities can simulate realistic resource deployments and throughputs can be modeled with a variety of different distributions and time allocations. The simulator also provides an animated graphic (see Figure 18) of the processes, which is valuable in providing stakeholders with a direct visualization of how the process will operate.

Process improvement methodsTools and techniques for process improvement are best deployed systematically as part of a process improvement method. Popular methods include:

• Lean

• Muda

• Value Stream Modeling (VSM)

• Six Sigma

Lean is a technique that provides tools to help identify and remove waste (“muda”) and to improve the flow of work through a process. Originally developed for production lines in manufacturing industries, it has since been adapted for service industries. Its prime aims are to improve quality and reduce waste, time and cost. Process improvement should be a key part of a Lean approach, but often the output of Lean projects are functional and tactical improvements that may not deliver long-term benefits. Making process improvement the core of a Lean approach ensures that the improvements will actually be delivered and the benefits realized.:

Muda is a Lean technique for waste reduction. Each step in a process (and even the process itself) is evaluated to see if it adds value to the customer or business. If it doesn’t add value, then it must be wasteful and the type of waste is then evaluated and classified into one of seven categories (see Figure 19):

• T: Transportation

• I: Inventory

• M: Motion

• W: Waiting

• O: Over-processing

• O: Over-production

• D: Defect Figure 19: Muda Categories of Waste


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These categories are primarily focused on manufacturing industry and can be modified to suit more service-based industries. Additional categories can also be added to represent specific wasteful but necessary business tasks (such as health and safety, regulatory compliance and accounting). Once the types of waste have been identified they can be further analyzed for impact and likelihood of removal and then prioritized for action.

Value Stream Modeling (VSM) is a Lean technique used to define all the activities and information flows required to create a product from its raw materials (see Figure 20). VSM can be used for modeling manufacturing industry supply chains and also for service-related industries.

Figure 20: A Value Stream The ARIS VSM model supports industry-standard symbols to visualize and analyze the total value chain. It can calculate the process timeline and generate Kaizen and process efficiency reports that show losses due to downtime, inefficiencies and quality issues. It can also evaluate the need for efficiency improvements. It focusses on the whole end-to-end value stream while, at the same time, improving individual process quality. Using ARIS, VSM models can be integrated into the process architecture along with value chain models, Event Process Chains (EPCs) and SIPOC diagrams.

Figure 21: ARIS Value Stream Mapping Six Sigma has a variety of model types that range from scope definition (SIPOC), identifying problem areas (fishbone diagrams), defining measurable critical success factors (CT X diagrams) and reporting in RASCI charts to show Responsible/Accountable/Supportive/Consulted/ Informed roles.


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Figure 22: SIPOC Diagram ARIS provides full support for the Design for Six Sigma (DMAIC) lifecycle (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control).

The SIPOC diagram in Figure 22 is a useful tool for capturing all the necessary information to capture ‘AS-IS’ process information or to design a new process. Many people use paper templates to document the SIPOC, but a much more valuable approach is to use the ARIS Cloud SIPOC model or to put the information straight onto the ARIS Cloud process model (the EPC model).

A collaborative approachProcess improvement needs the involvement of many people throughout the business. It requires teamwork that blends talents from business and IT. It also needs to be “agile” so that it responds to business and customer needs in a timely and efficient manner. ARIS Cloud provides the ideal environment for process improvement. It connects stakeholders using a process-focused social collaboration environment that allows everyone to take part in process design and improvement. The resulting processes are of high quality, meet business and customer requirements and, most importantly, have “buy-in” from everyone in the business who now takes responsibility for their operation.

ARIS Cloud provides process improvement tools to everyone within the organization and even those beyond the organization’s boundaries. Involving suppliers, partners and even customers in the design of the supply chain can yield significant improvements in process speed and quality. Because ARIS Cloud runs in the cloud:

• Improvement projects can start immediately, with limited investment (Capex vs. Opex)

• Procurement is fast since IT involvement is not required

• ARIS Cloud can be scaled up as projects evolve

• Participation barriers are removed

• High availability is delivered through cloud deployment

• No operation costs in contrast to systems maintained by internal IT


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Process governanceA vital part of any process design or improvement project is process governance. This is needed to ensure that processes requirements and change requests are collated, prioritized, reviewed and implemented in a controlled manner.

Governance can be thought of as three layers of control:

• BPM governance

- Strategic alignment

- Process ownership

- Business improvement

- Performance management

• Process governance

- Process objectives

- Change management

- Process improvement

- Review and release management

- Process publication

• Model governance

- Access rights

- Change management

- Versioning

- Release management

- Configuration management

BPM Governance is concerned with roles of senior management in establishing process ownership, business objectives and performance measures.

Process Governance is concerned with establishing the “process of process management” (see Figure 23); that is, the process that controls the setting of process objectives, gathering of requirements and change requests, and the actual design, review and release of the processes.

Figure 23: The Process of Process Management


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Model governance is concerned with the detailed aspects of managing access to the process models in the modeling tool.

ARIS Cloud provides built-in workflows that can be used to manage all aspects of process governance and model governance. These can be extended as required and new governance processes created to suit the needs of particular organizations. The workflows operate within the ARIS Cloud collaboration environment and use on screen messages and email (see Figure 24) to notify users that tasks are waiting for them. Users can directly submit formal suggestions and change requests and these will automatically be routed to the responsible person for approval.

Figure 24: The Process of Process Management Using the ARIS Cloud’s process governance capability, organizations can ensure that their process design and improvements activities are carried out in a well-controlled and quality manner and without the need for additional tools.


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Recommended resources“Getting processes ready for your digital transformation,” Software AG 2015.

“Customer Experience Management with ARIS Cloud: Building Customer-Centric Processes,” Software AG, 2015.

“Putting the “E” back into Enterprise Architecture,” BP Trends, July, 2011.


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https://www.softwareag.com/corporate/rc/rc_perma.asp?id=tcm:16-128680

https://www.softwareag.com/corporate/rc/rc_perma.asp?id=tcm:16-128680

http://www.bptrends.com/publicationfiles/07-05-COL-%20Processes%20in%20Practice%20-%20Putting%20the%20E%20in%20Enterprise%20Architecture-Davis-Final.pdf

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ABOUT SOFTWARE AGSoftware AG helps organizations achieve their business objectives faster. The company’s big data, integration and business process technologies enable customers to drive operational efficiency, modernize their systems and optimize processes for smarter decisions and better service. Building on over 40 years of customer-centric innovation, the company is ranked as a “leader” in 14 market categories, fueled by core product families Adabas-Natural, Alfabet, Apama, ARIS, Terracotta and webMethods. Learn more at www.SoftwareAG.com.

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