Business models serve as an abstraction of complex business reality, and provide basis for the static and dynamic business operation analysis. The term Business Process Modeling implies documenting as-is and to-be business processes of an organization for the purpose of analysis and improvements of the existing ones.
Why Do We Use Business Modeling?
In practice, business modeling is used for different purposes, and as most important uses we can distinguish:
Alignment of business processes to business strategy and business goals
Shared understanding of the business system by various interested parties
Understanding existing problems and identifying opportunities for improvements
Assessment of organizational change impacts
Deriving requirements for IS development according to the business needs and goals
the need of transforming company's strategic goals into goals and tasks which need to be realized on the business processes level
impact of business strategy change on change of business processes
impact of business processes efficiency on achieving strategic goals
Practical value of business models is mostly determined by their simplicity and intelligibility to people with different interests and specialized knowledge. In that respect, our approach to business modeling can be characterized by the use of common and standard notation (e.g. BPMN, UML), multilevel models for stratified display of various levels of abstraction, and diverse set of models for complete account of all relevant static and dynamic aspects of the business (organizational structure, resources, information, processes, as well as business goals and their success measures).
In light of having to face with new business requirements on a daily basis, such as cost reduction, quality improvement or shorter time to market, business modeling is considered an important means for identification of problems and/or opportunities for improvement as well as for increasing general business abilities for adjustment to new requirements.
In regards to business modeling as a starting point in software application process, our years-long experience in business IS development shows that understanding of the business context is a crucial prerequisite for IS development, providing timely, accurate and relevant information to support the business decision making process and business operations. In that respect, business modeling is an inevitable element of any modern IS development process.
How to Model a Business?
Business Modeling addresses different dynamic and static aspects of business operation. Therefore, various models can be developed:
Process model describes what kind of work is performed, and provides a visual representation in a workflow form. Basic elements being defined are processes, tasks and process logic flow. Process model can be further detailed with additional elements, e.g. expenses, revenues, duration of processes and individual tasks, allocated resources for execution of tasks, inputs and outputs of processes and tasks.
Organizational structure model describes how business operation participants are organized, and provides a definition and structure of an organization along with the related resources. Elements of this model define specific groups within an organization, which can be used to describe who is responsible for specific parts of the process.
Resource model describes who is doing the business, i.e. all business agents who execute the tasks and processes, e.g. employees, equipment, material, software applications etc. Furthermore, roles can be modeled as additional resource features, as well as costs and schedules of resources availability enabling more realistic simulations and analysis of the process.
Data model describes on what do we execute the tasks, and provides an overview of data and other objects which are the subject of the business process, e.g. documents, raw materials, products etc. In a process, elements of data models are used to define the data logic flow, i.e. informational inputs and outputs of tasks and processes.
Business measures model describes what needs to be monitored, or rather it defines the metrics by which business performance is quantified in relation to organizational goals and Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Connection of process elements with other model elements (process mapping), provides real insight into the actual business operation: resources needed for task execution; organizational unit owning the process; which information is needed for a particular task and which information is the result of the same; and what are the process goals and its measures. This way, one can gain a better overview of the existing business operation; identify bottlenecks and other deficiencies, perform process analysis of duration and income and expenses, as well as recognize the opportunities for improvement.
By using modern-day tools for business modeling (e.g. WebSphere Business Modeler) with simulation and dynamic analysis features, it is possible to evaluate the effect of redesign on business system behaviour, and compare different process variants before change implementation itself.
Why Entrust Business Process Modeling to CROZ?
CROZ’s approach to business modeling is based primarily on years-long practical experience in business system analysis, within IS development projects as well as independent projects concerning business optimization.
Effectiveness – Based on knowledge of various modeling techniques and experience in their implementation into different business domains and with different objectives, CROZ experts can assist with selection and planning process of the actual approach to business modeling, which will be fully customized to the needs of the target organization and profile of its employees and their prior knowledge. More simply put, we know how to assess what is worth changing in a specific situation.
Efficiency – Complexity of real business systems is the key incentive for simplification of their presentation, i.e. modeling. On the other hand, inefficient use of modeling techniques may result in large amounts of incoherent, inconsistent and redundant information. Thus, it is not rare that in practice models become more complex than the reality they abstract, and as such, are useless. Knowledge and experience of CROZ experts in organizing large amounts of information, and usage of sophisticated tools for business modeling support assures creation of comprehensive, meaningful and consistent business models.
