Chapter 7 Process Analysis and Diagramming Chapter 5 introduced the concept of business process composition as an aspect of process design. But how can you recognize a process in a description of some business situation? How can you analyze a process by breaking it down to components? This chapter explores process analysis, which leads to diagramming a process that is identified. After reading the chapter and some practice, you will be able to pick out a business process from a textual description of business situation and to draw a process diagram. Let us return to the example of Customer Order Fulfillment discussed in Chapter 5. This a simple form of process diagram in which all steps are streamlined in one column. It does not show who opens an order, who delivers the ordered products, who handles the payment part, and if any IS is used. A full diagram provides such details. For now, the question to answer is, how can you arrive at any process diagram? Figure 1. Customer Order Fulfillment Process
First Steps in Customer Order Fulfillment Process In reality, the professionals in charge of analyzing business processes can talk with the people who handle customer orders. They can also look at documentation involved in this sort of operation. In the end, process analysts can put what they learned in writing as in the following narrative. It expands a bit over the previous Customer Order Fulfillment process to include IS. When a customer places an order with Computers International, a sales clerk opens an order, using a Sales System that adds a new order in its database. Then, the sales clerk fills the order in the system, and the Sales System stores the new data. When you analyze a narrative in order to identify components of a business process, you should focus on verbs. Notice the underlined words in the description above. Verbs stand for action. is taken by someone or something, such as an information system. Let us call this someone or something actor. In a sentence, actors are identified by nouns. Look at words in italic in the description above. Applying these guidelines helps to identify several actions and their actors, as the table below shows. Table 1. Starting customer order Place Order Customer Open Order Sales Clerk Add New Order Sales IS Fill Order Sales Clerk Store Order Sales IS Notice that actions are phrased as imperatives, resembling commands. This and other grammatical rules cited here are customary in the area of information systems. Taking a quick look back at data analysis covered in previous chapters, note that indications of data entities are also clear Customer, Order, and Sales Clerk. The Sales IS is not an entity, but entities are rather implemented in it. Shipping Part in the Customer Order Fulfillment Process Let us move forward in the description of customer order fulfillment process. A shipping clerk books a shipment with a carrier company, and selects a rush or regular service, depending on what kind of delivery the customer ordered. Looking at the words that are underlined or in italics, you can pick out one action and one actor, as the table below shows. But the narrative implies one more process component you did not
encounter so far. It is marked by the dashed line: customer selects between two types of delivery service. This is a decision point. It can be recognized behind the terms select, decides, or similar ones. Also, optional courses of action listed indicate a decision preceding the actions. The narrative can combine courses of action with the term if so that if-then reasoning is described. In a process diagram, a decision point is indicated by a shortened question followed by a question mark. A decision is just a special case of activity. Decision activity is about selecting or choice making. There are two choices in this case. Many decisions within business processes are with just two choices. However, a decision point can involve any number of choices. For example, a decision point can differentiate between several customer groups based on their level of spend: (a) spend < $1000, (b) $1000 < spend < $2000, (c) $2000 < spend < $3000, etc. Table 2. Shipment steps Book Shipment Shipping Clerk Select service (or Delivery requested?) Shipping Clerk (Decision) On the data analysis side, three entities are implied: Shipment, and Shipping Clerk (look for italics in the description above 2). Accounting in the Customer Order Fulfillment Process Next steps in the customer order fulfillment process are described below. A new aspect is that the process reaches out the company analyzed, Computers International, to involve a carrier company. The carrier delivers the shipment to the customer receiving it. At Computers International an accountant creates a new invoice and the company Accounting System adds a new invoice. The accountant sends invoice. If the payment is not received by the due date, the accountant sends a reminder notice to the customer. Applying the rules you have learned so far, you get the table below. Another IS has surfaced in this process. Also note how the decision is indicated. The sentence cites just one if the case of not receiving a payment. The case if a payment is received is not mentioned. But it is implied, thus leading again to a binary choice associated with the decision question yes and no.
Table 3. Accounting steps Deliver Shipment Carrier Company Create Invoice Accountant Add New Invoice Accounting IS Send Invoice Accountant Payment received? (Decision) - Loop Accountant Send Notice - Loop Accountant The binary decision above is interesting because it leads to a loop. That is another process component discussed in the context of process composition in Chapter 5. A notice will be sent to the customer every time the question is asked and negatively answered. The loop will exit when the answer is a yes. On the data analysis side, entities are the actors Accountant and Carrier Company as well as Shipment, Invoice, and Notice. Accounting IS, as any other information system, is an actor but not an entity. Finalizing the Customer Order Fulfillment Process In the final part of the process we analyze, control returns back in Computers International as the following text and Table 4 show. A payment received is recorded in the Accounting System. This event allows the Sales clerk to close the order and it is marked as fulfilled in the Sales System. Table 4. Final steps Record payment Close Order Mark Order Fulfilled Accounting IS Sales Clerk Sales IS The data analysis side includes one new entity, Payment, and two already introduced ones, Order and Sales Clerk. The last step sometimes introduces a dilemma when it involves an IS. Does the system or the system user execute it? A safe solution is to link the user to a step that prompts the system to end the job, and to link the final step to the system. It is possible that the system performs a whole set of steps before the very last step. Stills there should that very last shown, indicating some sort of closure that should be appropriately labeled. There is a special symbol for showing the process end (bull s eye), as there is a special symbol for showing a process start (a solid circle).
Complete Process Diagram The exhaustive description allows for drawing a complete process diagram that is more elaborate than the simple diagram in Figure 1. A complete process diagram appears in Figure 2. The entire procedure for arriving at a complete process diagram summarizes the discussion so far. It includes the following steps: 1. In a description of business, focus on verbs that describe how the work is done. Use common sense! These are process activities or decisions. Decisions can also be specially indicated. 2. Identify who/what performs activities. These are actors. 3. Draw a column for each actor (human or not). These are swimlanes. 4. Identify any other components, like loops. 5. Draw a process diagram component by component. 6. Insert a start point before the first step, and an end-point after the last step. Try your best and do not get disappointed if the first draft is not perfect. Errors are normal. With practice you will get better at process analysis and diagramming. It is best to use a pencil for drawing, so you can easily correct errors. Of course, correcting is even easier if you create the diagram on a computer (PowerPoint should work fine).
Figure 2. Complete Process Diagram for Customer Order Fulfillment
Exercises 1. Furniture Fantastique has to plan its annual production. Then, to produce the furniture, the company has to source materials from producers of semi-finished goods and some raw materials used in furniture products. The employees at Furniture Fantastique use these materials to make furniture products. The sales department sells to various stores and individual customers, and the delivery department or delivery partners then deliver the ordered products to customers. The sales function also handles any returns in case customers are not satisfied with products. (Note: this is a basic representation of supply chain.) Draw the process you can recognize as a simple process diagram (no swimlanes needed). Helpful words are underlined. 2. Tabulated below are details of a price quoting process, which a company performs upon a customer request. Create a complete process diagram (with swimlanes). Step ID Process Step (Activity or Decision) Who/What Performs 1 Request quote Customer 2 Develop requirement notes Salesperson 3 Decide if help is needed? Salesperson 4 Enter data into Sales System (no help) Salesperson 4 Check requirements (if help used) Technical Expert 5 Enter data into Sales System (if help used) Technical Expert 6 Calculate quote Sales System 7 Present quote to Customer Salesperson 8 Accept quote as order Customer