Introduction to

Business Process
Modelling
Introduction to Information
Systems

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A Framwork for Process

Enabler
A

process is supported by six enablers.

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Why and when is business

process modelling?
to

clarify the steps involved in a particular

process.

It

is used for:

understanding the current processes

clarifying responsibilities

identifying process inefficiencies

designing new procedures

training

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What is business process

modelling?

It is a technique that provides a

presentation of a series of process, how they
relate, who does what and in what order.
It shows the sequence of steps, decisions,
and handoffs carried out by the processs
actors between the initial event and the
final result.
The process workflow model is the work
plan for responding to a triggering event.

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| IIS | Week-11 | 2015

Holistic View of Process

Hierarchy
Process
Subprocess
Activities

Tasks

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Significance of Process
Hierarchy
Level

1: Business Processes.

Level

2: Activities.

Level

3: Tasks.

Defining processes at this level is important to ensure

that the components lower in the hierarchy correspond
to the business objectives and the critical success
factors (CSFs).
A significant operation to partially fulfill a particular
process and usually causing a significant object state
transition.
A piece of work which is part of the activity that can
usually be completed immediately, but can be broken
down further into subtasks (the smallest division of
work).

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Process Architecture

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Example of A Process

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The Process Modeling

Techniques
Swimlanes

Diagrams
BPMN diagrams
BPMN is a rigorous and powerful
notation that standardizes the
drawing of swimlane diagrams but
includes far more symbols (widgets)

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Swimlane Diagrams

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How to produce a process map

Identify the boundaries. Where does the process begin?

where does it end?
Identify the participants. What roles are involved in the
processes?
Identify the steps. What is done first? What is done next?
By who?
Identify the decision points. What are the alternatives?
What determines which alternative is chosen?
Draw an initial process flow. Draw and label the swim
lanes (see next slide for details) using standard symbols.
Check for completeness. Are all participants represented?
Are all processes shown? Are there any alternatives that
have not been considered? Refine and finalise.

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Draw and label the swim lanes

Employee

Supervisor

Administration

The swim lanes represent the area of involvement of each

participant who has a role in the processes being mapped.
The participant may be an individual, a team, a department
or an organisation.

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Add in the process flows

Employee

1.1 Fill out

expense form

1.2 Submit
expense form

Supervisor

Administration
Starting at top left with the start symbol.
Draw processes along the swim lane, and use arrows to
represent the sequence.
Each process is given a number, and starts with a verb.

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Swap lanes and enter decision

1.4.1 notification
to employee
1.1 Fill out
1.2 Submit
expense form
expense form
Employeepoints
No
Supervisor

1.3 Receive
expense form

1.4
Expenses
Valid?
Yes

1.5 Submit
authorised
expense form

Administration
When a process is performed by a different participant
switch lanes. If the next step depends on a decision show
this as in the example above, labelling the alternatives and
showing the steps that follow.

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Complete the process

modelling
Remove

any unused swim lanes.

Make

sure there is one start point and all flows

have an end point.

Check

that all decision points have all options

labelled and have flow arrows to the next step.

Review
An

with participants for verification.

example of a completed process map is

shown on the next slide.

Business process 1 Process expense claim

1.1 Fill out

expense
form

Employee

1.2 Submit
expense
form
m

1.8.1 notification
to employee

1.4.1 notification
to employee
m

1.3 Receive
expense
form
m

16

No
1.4
Expenses
Valid?
m

1.5 Submit
authorised
Yes expense
form
m

Supervisor
1.8 Make
payment

1.6 Receive
expense form
m
1.7 Log
expense form

Administration

M = manual

Sol = facilitated by solution

sol

sol
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Data Flow vs Workflow

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Next Topic (Week 12): A

Workflow-Driven Methodology
1.

2.

Frame the process.

Establish Process Context, Scope, and
Goals

Understand the current (as-is)

process.
3. Design the new (to-be) process.

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Any Question?

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