Buisness Informatics Theory - Exam prep. Open Questions

Organisational unit: Organisational units are responsible for the tasks that have to be performed in order to achieve the company goals, e.g., inventory, accounting, ...

Technical term: Technical terms are input or output objects, e.g. documents, data etc., which are necessary for processing a function or are derived from the processing results.

Application system: Application systems for process support (e.g. SAP R/3)

Position: The smallest organisational unit to be identified in the enterprise is the position. Employees are assigned to a position.

Process interface, which shows the horizontal process links

Disjunction, „either or“ e.g.: A or B, but not A and B

Adjunction, „at least one“ e.g.: A or B or A and B

Conjunction, „as well as“ e.g.: A and B

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Event-Driven Process Chains are more detailed than VACDs and show the exact flow of processes. If an EPC does not only use the main symbols but other model objects as additional information, the EPC is called (extended) Event-Driven Process Chain.

The eEPC shows the exact flow of business processes. It is based on the two model elements “events” and “functions”. Complicated eEPCs can be arranged in lines or columns – swimlanes. Functions can only be executed if certain events have occurred. Events trigger functions and are in turn results of them. Their name has to consist of an object of information (noun) and a performance/ status change (verb).

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A process can be further detailed to show the individual activities of which it consists. To model business processes more detailed a more expressive notation is used than those of the VACD, such as (extended) Event - Driven Process  Chains ((e)EPC) or Business Process Diagrams (of the Business Process Model and Notation) , which will be described in the next module.

The following figure sums up the level concept of process modeling: process areas ( presentation: process map) -->  Main processes (presentation: VACD) --> Processes (presentation: VACD) --> Activities (presentation: (e)EPC or BPD).

Executes, Is technically responsible for, decides about, works with, agrees to

Often the relevant organisational units, as well as input / output relationships between processes are represented in the value chain.

• Is process-oriented higher ranked ( --> process hierarchy)

• Is predecessor of ( --> process sequence)

Technical Term (from the Organisational Chart)

Technical terms are input or output objects, such as, for example, documents, data, etc., which are necessary for the processing of a function or result from the result of processing.

Organisational Unit (from the Organisational Chart)

Organisational Units are carriers of the tasks carried out to achieve the company goals, f.e. sales department, storage, accounting etc.

Aside of the main notation elements, there are two elements that provide additional information. The organisational unit element shows which department of the company is responsible for the task. And the Technical term element shows objects that are involved in the function, links documents or other data. They are connected to functions by control flow edges along with the information if the technical term is an input or an output element.

Control flow edges

Shows the control flow of the processes. The control flow of follow up processes is represented by an arrow with a dashed line. To be really sure which control flow is meant, the edges are named.

Detailed consequence function

Marking a function, which is in detail model by another diagram ((extended) Event-Driven Process Chain)

Consequence function

Description on a previous function following a function at a high level of abstraction.

Start function

Description of a function, which initiates a process chain on a high abstraction level.

There are two different types of functions, to show which one is process-oriented higher ranked and that the other one is a predecessor of the first function. Consequence functions are predecessors of Start functions.

The VACD is a part of the process map of a company, in which process areas are detailed at the level of main processes. The VACD aims to ensure the effectiveness of a company’s strategic business process analysis. It serves as a basis for the decision making process within companies.

...support the other processes. They are not directly visible for external customers, but essential for the smooth provision of performance. Examples: Maintenance, staff deployment (human resources), IT services, quality management (QM).

...are directly related to the external customer benefit and need. They begin and end with the customer.

Typical process areas are:

• CRM (customer relationship management):
Processes defined between customer needs and customer satisfaction (design of the customer relationships)

• SCM (supply chain management):
Processes between the customer order and the billing of solution/s (performance of the customer orders)

• PLM (product lifecycle management): Processes from product idea to product phase-out along the product life cycle.

... are used in the company for the controlling and strategic planning. The goal is the control of core business processes and support business processes. Example: Controlling (planning and reporting).

The process map of a company gives an overview of the core business processes, management processes and support business processes. In the following figure you can see typical process areas, grouped by management processes in the upper area), core processes (in the middle area) and supporting processes (in the lower area).