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Lecture 2: Businesses and Business Processes. BTS330. What is Business?. archaic : purposeful activity : BUSYNESS usually commercial or mercantile activity engaged in as a means of livelihood : TRADE
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What is Business? • archaic: purposeful activity : BUSYNESS • usually commercial or mercantile activity engaged in as a means of livelihood : TRADE • BUSINESS may be an inclusive term but specifically designates the activities of those engaged in the purchase or sale of commodities or in related financial transactions. COMMERCE and TRADE imply the exchange and transportation of commodities. INDUSTRY applies to the producing of commodities, especially by manufacturing or processing, usually on a large scale* • *Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Types of Businesses • Retail • Financial • Insurance • Manufacturing • etc
Business Areas • The organizational areas needed to support a business. • These can to equate to departments.
Organizational Roles to Support the Business: • An organizational structure made up of executives, middle management, supervisory management and operational staff.
Management • Executives (Top Management) • Those that make strategic and day to day decisions • Middle Management • Those that make tactical and day to day decisions • Lower Management • Supervisory personnel who make day to day decisions
Operational Staff • The individuals involved in the day to day processing of transactions I.e. Bank Tellers; Mutual Fund Sales People; Sales Associate
Systems that Solve Business Problems • Information systems • Collection of interrelated components that collect, process, store, and provide as output the information needed to complete business processes
Flow of Information • Horizontally - information flows across departments • Vertically - information needs of clerical staff, middle management, and senior executives
Business Processes • A Business Process could be an event that the business needs to respond to or it could be an event where the business needs to generate some kind of response back • Can include manual as well as automated processes
Business Process • “A commercial event is usually triggered by an event (for example receipt of an application form) and has at least one visible domain-specific result (e.g., a contract)”* * Developing Software with UML by Bernard Oestereich, p. 68.
Domain • “An area of knowledge or activity characterized by a set of concepts and terminology understood by practitioners in that area.”* *Use Case Modeling by Kurt Bittner and Ian Spence, p. 332.
Business Process • “The activities of a business process are usually chronologically and logically related to each other.”* * Developing Software with UML by Bernard Oestereich, p. 68.
What is a Business Use Case? • “A business use case describes how a business actor uses a business to achieve a goal and what the business does for the business actor to achieve that goal.”* *Use Case Modeling, by Bittner & Spence,p. 331.
What is a Business Use Case? • “It tells the story of how the business and its actors collaborate to deliver something of value for at least one of the actors.”* *Use Case Modeling, by Bittner & Spence,p. 331.
What is a Business Use Case? • “… is independent of the concrete possibilities and requirements for its (IT-related) implementation.”* *Developing Software with UML: Object-Oriented Analysis and Design in Practice, Bernard Oestereich, p. 72.
Business Use Cases • How to identify a Business Use Case? • Look for processes the company uses to satisfy the requests of the business actors • Processes could be an event that the business needs to respond to or it could be an event where the business needs to generate some kind of response back • Can include manual as well as automated processes
Business Use Cases • Where does a Use case start? • “At the start there is always a commercial trigger, a commercial event • Customer would like to conclude a contract • Customer would like to rent a vehicle • Marketing department would like a statistical evaluation of reservations”* *Developing Software with UML, Object-oriented Analysis and Design in Practice,Bernard Oestereich, p. 74.
Business Use Cases • Where does a Use case start? • “At the start there is always a commercial trigger, a commercial event • Customer would like to conclude a contract • Customer would like to rent a vehicle • Marketing department would like a statistical evaluation of reservations”* *Developing Software with UML, Object-oriented Analysis and Design in Practice,Bernard Oestereich, p. 74.
Business Use Cases • Where does a Use case end? • “At the end a result has been produced that has “commercial value” • A vehicle registration • A letter to the customer • A business management evaluation”* *Developing Software with UML, Object-oriented Analysis and Design in Practice,Bernard Oestereich, p. 74.
Business Use Cases • How to identify the Actors? • Look for who is placing requirements on the system. • Anybody who is directly or indirectly involved affected by the system. • Directly: someone who will have direct contact with the system • Indirectly: someone who does not have direct contact with the system but who is involved in the business that is supported by the system
Business Use Cases • Example of Actors: • Users of the system • Other departments (Marketing, Sales) • Clients or Management • Customers • System Administrators, Service Personnel, Training Personnel, Support Personnel • System Developers, System Maintenance Personnel • Buyers of the system
Business Modeling • What is Business Modeling? • It shows how people and business processes need to work together • Two diagrams support Business Modeling: • Use Case diagram which contains business use cases and actors • An Activity diagram which describes in more detail the flow of the Business Processes
Business Modeling • Why Business Modeling? • It shows the scope of the system • If building a system which will use several related systems, it clarifies what each system needs to be responsible for and what the relationships are between systems
Business Use Case Diagram • “A model of a business (defined in terms of business use cases, business actors, and the associations between them) that describes the requirements of a business.”* *Use Case Modeling, by Bittner & Spence,p. 331.
Business Modeling • What is a Business Use Case? • A business process that happens within an organization
Business Modeling • What is an Actor? • Someone who interacts with the business process
Business Modeling • Business Use Case Diagram Example