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IS 788 [Process] Change Management

IS 788 [Process] Change Management. Lecture: Workflow and business process languages and Simulation of processes. For the next Class: Wednesday. 10/24/07. The next class meets in AB 208! Each group should have a draft BPMN model of their project process

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IS 788 [Process] Change Management

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  1. IS 788[Process] Change Management • Lecture: Workflow and business process languages and Simulation of processes IS 788 9.1

  2. For the next Class: Wednesday. 10/24/07 • The next class meets in AB 208! • Each group should have a draft BPMN model of their project process • Be prepared to develop a simple simulation of the process using SIMUL8 IS 788 9.1

  3. Workflow • Workflow management systems are a technology success story • Workflow is the automation of manual form processing. Many business documents require attention from multiple business roles. For example, an insurance form will need policy clerk and accounting signoffs. • Workflow turns the paper into a digital format and routes it via the network. IS 788 9.1

  4. Workflow (2) • In the 1990’s early workflow successes gave rise to the myth of the paperless office. • Paper consumption actually increased, but workflowing a manual process typically results in a 30+% productivity increase IS 788 9.1

  5. Workflow engines • A workflow engine is the software system responsible for routing work document(s) and associated data records and approvals according to a high level description of the workflow process • The process description can also specify process monitoring to determine bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement IS 788 9.1

  6. Workflow engines (2) • Typically client-server applications • Server Functions: • Data storage (document and associated data) • Interpretation of workflow description languages • Information routing • Client functions • Data display and entry • Error checking • (optional) recording of work statistics – time document opened, time in process, etc. IS 788 9.1

  7. Workflow processes • In a workflow approach to process change, an process is viewed as a set of changes to a document or form stored in a database. Each activity consists of the changes provided by 1 role. • Analysis consists of determining: • What data and approvals constitute a complete document transaction • Who supplies each datum and approval • Design the form to be presented for each data entry/approval role, including error checks • Design the routing sequence • Describe the above 4 steps in a usually proprietary workflow language IS 788 9.1

  8. A simple workflow-ing example IS 788 9.1

  9. A workflow case • Anova – a Dutch health insurance carrier • Required: • Software (packaged workflow engine) • Servers • Scanners • Laser disk storage banks • PC network connectivity for all users • Training, training, training IS 788 9.1

  10. Anova, continued • Results: • Jobs in process dropped from 60,000 to 4,000 (+93%) • Call center calls dropped from 18,000 to 10,000 and the character of the calls changed • Average time to process an application dropped from 16 days to 2 days with 75 % of all applications processed the same day IS 788 9.1

  11. Business process languages • In the beginning EDI • EDI was to be the lingua franca of information systems – any business could conduct any transaction with any other business using any type of computer at any time • A huge specification of ‘mix ‘n match’ document sections, i.e. PO header, etc. • Semantics – different meanings for different documents in different types of businesses – caused the universal language to fragment into domain specific EDI’s – grocery, auto manufacturer, etc. IS 788 9.1

  12. EDI, continued • EDI was and is expensive. So expensive (both to set up and to run) that only large organizations with in-house IS departments and large transaction volumes can justify the cost. • For security reasons (20 years old now) EDI still runs through 3ed party VAN’s (value added networks) adding to the expense and complexity IS 788 9.1

  13. Beyond EDI • The vision of universal business connectivity and commerce is a compelling one. • Many business communication and ‘trading’ languages have been proposed since EDI • All serious languages under consideration today are based on XML • Alas, as of this time all are ‘smoke and mirrors’ IS 788 9.1

  14. Beyond EDI, continued • Some systems have been implemented between large sponsor organizations (sponsors for a particular initiative) but the vision has yet to be realized • Some contenders: • XPDL – XML process definition language – but note – for all BPL’s – a language specifies syntax but not semantics (ex: “I see the blue cow, your friend.” – Syntactically correct but . . . IS 788 9.1

  15. Other acronyms • BPSS – business process specification language from the ebXML consortium • BPEL4WS – business process execution language for web services – from the unlikely collaboration of Microsoft and IBM • The above languages specify process execution. Some groups have seen the need for higher level “business process orchestration” languages that control how and when processes execute and with whom. IS 788 9.1

  16. Microsoft’s BizTalk IS 788 9.1

  17. ebXML’s vision (cf. UDDI) Note that the scenario’s and profiles in the registry are babble without widespread agreement on semantics (business document standards). Just like EDI. IS 788 9.1

  18. Public process interfaces stand the best chance (IMHO) (discuss) IS 788 9.1

  19. Executable specifications • The ‘full bore’ business language vision includes direct translation of analyst process drawings (BPMN) to working software systems • Here’s the universal law that governs all such schemes: Large, predefined procedural units Analytic & implementation simplicity Granular procedural units Analytic & implementation complexity IS 788 9.1

  20. Simulation • System simulation or simulation modeling: • “Mimicking the activity of the operation of a real system in a computer with the focus on process flow, logic and dynamics.” El-Haik and Al-Aomar • The simulation model is exactly that – a model – and so captures only a portion of the actual system IS 788 9.1

  21. A simulation overview(astigmatics, look away) IS 788 9.1

  22. An aside: the simulation practicum for IS 788: • The TIBCO process modeling environment offers a simulation module. • However, after 8 hours of exploration, I was not able to get it to run. (Their example doesn’t run either.) • Thus, for the simulation lab we will be using SIMUL8, which is available on all COBA machines. The latest version is freely downloadable by 788 students. IS 788 9.1

  23. Process simulation basics • Most simulation software traces the flow of a piece of work (or it’s components) through a series of steps. • As the work-piece flows, small logic (program) routines are triggered to direct the flow conditionally and compute the time taken, cost, backlog, etc. • Most simulation software was designed for and is used by logistics and manufacturing personnel and so uses their terminology IS 788 9.1

  24. Basic terms and notations • Source (start) • Queue (SIMUL8 calls this ‘storage’) • Process step (or ‘server’, or what SIMUL8 calls a ‘work center’) • Routing connection • End (or ‘stop’ or ‘sink’) • Flow logic (control) entry (for SIMUL8 = ‘Visual Logic’) IS 788 9.1

  25. Elementary simulation process:single queue, single server (1) Entry of work into the system is usually specified by flow logic as a time distribution function: random, Possion, etc. IS 788 9.1

  26. Elementary simulation process:single queue, single server (2) Time in the queue can be specified by flow logic as a time distribution function or a function of the # of elements in the queue, etc. IS 788 9.1

  27. Elementary simulation process:single queue, single server (3) Likewise, time to process can be specified by flow logic as a time distribution function or a function of the # of elements in the queue, etc. IS 788 9.1

  28. Common simulation computations • Min, max an average time to process a unit; completely through the process or to step A, B, etc. • Taking downtime and repair cost into consideration as a function of # of units served or total time • Counting costs accrued at various points or for various lengths of production run IS 788 9.1

  29. An interesting and key simulation concern: • Time in queue (waiting) should be minimized • Free time (waste) of the servers should be minimized • But, the two quantities are interdependent and cannot both be optimized. • Moreover, when the entry into the system is stochastic (basically, ‘random’) then there is no ‘closed form solution’ – no ‘formula’ and so simulation is the only recourse IS 788 9.1

  30. Shorter wait process: single queue, three servers But – what is the unit cost now? Given what source arrival distribution? IS 788 9.1

  31. Why simulate? • In the net, simulation is much less expensive than any real-world pilot and frequently provides justification for a real-world pilot study. • However, simulation results are only meaningful if compared with a reasonably complete (statistically valid) sampling of the simulated measures on the AS-IS system. IS 788 9.1

  32. Note the different cases identified in the course of measurement. This is critical – the assumption of uniform claims cases would make meaningful analysis impossible. * Best case * Worst case * Average IS 788 9.1

  33. From El Sawy, Ch. 6. • Does the process have sufficient capacity? How much is capacity • improved in the TO-BE process? • 2. What are the bottlenecks in the AS-IS and TO-BE processes? Where • should resources be increased to improve the process? • Stress testing – what happens to the process under exceptional (but • possible) conditions? How well can the AS-IS and TO-BE processes • handle the event(s)? IS 788 9.1

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