Process Workflow Models: The Essentials

1. Process Workflow Models:The Essentials Chapter 8 Workflow Modeling

2. Swimlane diagrams • Chapter 8 – The Essentialsof WF • basic symbols and conventions for drawing swimlane diagrams • Chapter 9 - Techniques for managing detail • Chapter 10 – The finer points • Chapter 11 – Building As-is Process Workflows Workflow Modeling

3. Why use swimlane diagrams? • highlight the relevant variables — who, what, and when • simple notation that requires little or no training to understand • can show an entire business process from beginning to end • show a process at any level • from a very high view down to one showing each individual task • supports assessment — we can map, measure, and interpret, before or after implementation • Note: In practice, no one ever understands a complete business process Workflow Modeling

4. Swimlane diagrams: The Basics • Workflow process model • Activity diagram in Unified Modeling Language (UML) • To show what is done, by whom, and in what sequence • who does what, and when • Think of the three Rs • Roles are the actors or process performers who participate in the process. • Responsibilities are the individual tasks that each actor is responsible for. • Routes are the workflows and decisions that connect the tasks together Workflow Modeling

5. Swimlane diagram:Essential elements • The steps are shown as boxes in the swimlane of the actor who performs them. • Arrows show the flow of work from one step to the next. • A flow from one actor to another, one that crosses the line between swimlanes, is called a handoff. • A swimlane diagram traces the path of a single work item or transaction as it flows through the process • Not for multiple work items at a time Workflow Modeling

6. Swimlane diagrams: An example Workflow Modeling

7. Workflow Modeling: The Essence Example 1 (Page 205) • 10-minute swimlane diagram • Figure 8.3 (actors and “dots”) Example 2 (Page 205-213) • Who gets the work next? • Ask: What do you do? • How does it get there? • To find any new actor involved • Who really gets the work next? • Check if someone else is involved Workflow Modeling

8. Workflow Modeling: Some Questions raised • Example 3 (Page 213-216) • RB Tel • How do I show… • Branching? • Optional steps? • The role played by systems or mechanisms • When we hand off control to the system? • When the system is used to support an activity, but isn’t given control? • Interaction with other processes? • The appropriate level of detail? • Activities such as a conversation that involve multiple actors (activities that span multiple swimlanes)? • Questions or comments? • Etc. Workflow Modeling

9. Swimlane diagram:Flow, handoff, step, actor Workflow Modeling

10. 1. Actors and roles • “Swimmers” that actually do the work • E.g., • Student • Person playing a role • Admissions • Organization or department • Admin. Assistant • Job Title • Inbox • Holding Area • Student Info. System • Information System or machine Workflow Modeling

11. 2. Process steps • A task or set of tasks performed by an actor • Also called responsibilities, activities, actions • Keep it simple • Understandable to the most people with the least effort • no training or interpretation is necessary • Do not distinguish the types of steps such as: • value adding, handoff, and control • Less rigor and detail, but better involvement and buy-in Workflow Modeling

12. Process steps:multiple actors • Some situations such as meetings Workflow Modeling

13. Which steps to include? • Trace a single work item (or package of items) • Show every actor that holds the work that • adds value • causes a state change in the direction of completion • moves the work along • some steps may not change the work item in any way, except to transport it between other steps in the workflow • introduces delay • some subsequent step cannot proceed until the delay-introducing step completes Workflow Modeling

14. Process steps:Naming guidelines Action verb Assign, Validate, Sort, Optional qualifier Initial, Replacement, … Object(s) Service Request, Payment, … Information on how (optional) on Form MS-17, by fax, … Workflow Modeling

15. 3. Workflow Lines • Passing of work from one step to next • Shown as lines with arrowheads • When the first step completes, the second step begins, or can begin • Ask: Does the second step actually begin, or is another step or event necessary before the second step begins? • A handoff is a special kind of flow • Work passes, or is handed off, from one actor to another • Source of delay, errors, and expense Workflow Modeling

16. Workflow Lines:Drawing guideline • Draw your diagrams with the flow lines leaving the step from the right, and entering from the left • Exception: when returning or looping Workflow Modeling

17. Workflow Lines:What to avoid Avoid these forms: • flows that don’t convey timing and precedence • objective is to graphically show sequence, time & dependency -- not to save paper Workflow Modeling

18. Data flow versus workflow Workflow Modeling

19. Types of Flow Lines • Sequential • work proceeds from one step to the next in order • Conditional • a step (or sequence of steps) may or may not be accomplished at all, depending on the conditions • Parallel • two or more steps (or sequences of steps) proceed independently Workflow Modeling

20. Branching • Use a box with the term “decide” or “determine” when naming the step that decides which fork in the branch is taken • Annotate any “optional” step Workflow Modeling

21. Multiple flows: Types of branches a fork can have: • AND branch • OR branch • XOR branch • eXclusive OR Workflow Modeling

22. Multiple flows: Parallel flow • multiple flow lines leaving a step, drawn one above another to convey parallel flow; can’t precisely indicate the timing of particular steps Workflow Modeling

23. Multiple flows: Alternate Representation • Steps that do not happen in a set sequence Workflow Modeling