Business Process Modelling and Improvement - Assignment Example

? BUSINESS PROCESS MODELLING al Affiliation) Key words: Designing Processes, Architecture Executive Summary I secured a job with the University of Sydney as a process analyst to carry out BPM initiatives related to the implementation of new information system. The report therefore, designs a process architecture reflecting the operations within the Sydney University. The paper is a fully researched and completed report detailing the designing process architecture. The designing process uses a reference model that was developed by APQC (American Productivity and Quality Center). The associated model and the report are used for general discussion within the setting regarding the general strategy. It also assists in overall understanding of the architecture process within the university. Consequently, the report will be important for specific understanding of the landscape model processes, crucial process map for the support services of students. Additionally, the report is helpful in exploring the services of students. The paper uses Harmon’s and Dijkman’s approaches to design process architectures. Process Identification Stage and Overall Strategy Overall Strategy Like many universities, University of Sydney has sought to articulate the educational nature they offer to students by describing their generic qualities and the skill of their graduates. The core part of the university’s strategy will be the thinking part to ensure their student’s tomorrow is bright. The University of Sydney leads the way in coming up with ambitious goals for reform that would be of benefit to the researchers, staff, and students and have a wide effect. The University believes that education is a transformation in the lives of people. The university seeks to offer education that would make the students maximize their abilities and capabilities. This is of importance to both economic potential and social equity. Additionally, engagement, education, and research have become part of the core operation of the university. Consequently, the overall strategy for the university is to maintain their current place in a competitive global education industry. The strategies are crucial in building the work and the operation of the university and implementing the strategies in a program that is consistent of collective planning, management and decision-making. They ensure that the on-going academic competitiveness and strength to continue in future. Designation and Evaluation phases Designated processes for the university’s overall strategy subject to periodic evaluation to assess their productivity and their quality. The processes ensure that the alignment with the priorities, opportunities, development, and future growth of the university. The processes are carried out at intervals of about five years unless stated otherwise. The interdisciplinary of the university has the responsibility of facilitating and administering the periodic reviews like the approval of the external reviewers. The review process entails preparing a self-study according to the guidelines of the university. After the university completes with the self-study, an independent review panel of the university is set up for review and action based on the actions and recommendations. The action of the university includes renewal of the university’s intercollegiate status, designation, departmental transition, termination, or collegiate center. Therefore, the processes that are relevant to the overall strategy include: Access which enables robust delivery and discovery of information Collection and Content which facilitate stewardship in a context that is global Scholarship and Research which enhance community Discourse and individual productivity Teaching and Learning which strengthen the campus capacity and enriches students' experience An organization that develops agility and advances efficiency Justification The content and collection ensure stewardship in a context perceived to be global. It ascertains that the rapid evolution of the education sector in collaboration with the trusted mechanism for preserving and accessing the educational content. It provides the crucial opportunity in exploring and collaborating approaches to collect the management and development. Access enables robust information delivery and discovery. The universities classic technique of providing educational access through domestic catalogs and systems have engaged on fundamental changes in the new model’s context and accessing and distributing content. Similarly, the dynamic expectations in delivery among the faculty and students have been affected by key players in the education system. This has led the university to recalibrate its useful and critical role in the inquiry of scholarly context of the education. The research and scholarship method of the university have changed in the arena of greater collaboration and interdisciplinary beyond the technology exploitation and institution borders. The university is challenged to support the rising methodologies, working in collaboration with other university and institutional partners. With the emergence of managing, sharing, and creating scholarly materials comes with a demand support of both products and processes of scholarship. The university supports the process evolution and plays a crucial role in educating the students about the issue. The university’s long term program to develop information and skills of the student expand through partnership with the curriculum redesigning support of competency based learning outcome of the university. Content integration, course specific resources and learning tools within the university enhances and supports online learning. Finally, the organization develops advanced and agility efficiencies through active engagements with the programs of the academy and infrastructure development as well as the capacities needed within the university. These particular trends also need new expertise types, inherently collaborative strategies, and the university agility to configure resources to respond to demand changes and changes in the economic context. Category and Case Type Description. Case Type Code Student Support Services Accommodation S1 Torres Strait & Aboriginal Strait Islander Students S2 Career Centre S3 International Student Adviser S4 Multi-faith and Chaplains Centre S5 Scholarship S6 Counselling and Wellbeing S7 Disability Services S8 Child Care S9 Financial assistance S10 The university’s business function is categorized as producing, selling, or supporting. The producing sector involves research and development, production and quality, and distribution or logistics. The selling sector entails sales, marketing, and market research. Supporting function involves computing, HR/personnel, Recruitment Consultancy, Buying or purchasing, management consultancy, chartered Accountancy. Additionally, the external business functions entail public relations and management consultancy. Process Architecture for Student Support Services. The two university processes include the management and planning, and learning and teaching. The management and planning are the examining processes that are used in operational management and strategic planning of the university. University of Sydney has invested considerable expertise, energy, and time in planning and management. The university aims to ensure that their decisions achieve the perfect outcome for their students, community, and the staff. The teams behind management and planning include: academic governance, university management, vice-chancellor, regional offices, and planning, policies and quality. The university has an internal reporting technique that supports students and staff communication. This communication makes sure that quality monitor improvement and quick learning experience for their students. The study modules are constantly evaluated by students through module experience questionnaires and liaison between staff and students. The feedback allows the university to analyze and evaluate the efficacy of the teaching practices and course curricula and modify the units to suit the dynamic needs of the students. The university uses the standards compact that details the university improvement targets for teaching and learning. It includes the analysis of the university’s strength and weakness and the outline of enhancement strategies that they adopt. According to Dijkam approach, the university process, consisting of the university goals and their interrelationships, are designed first. Consequently, the university process architecture is developed from it, based on the business process definition. The importance of this approach is that it associates goals with the processes that help in determining why some processes are crucial or needed. The main concept of organizing in this approach is its goal and the various approaches that differentiate with the various types of goals. When different goals are focused they lead to different structured goals and thus, prospectively to a varied business process architecture. Additionally, various goals can be translated differently during construction of business process architecture. IBM WebSphere Model The section develops process maps using IBM WebSphere Modeler for the management and planning, and learning and Teaching. The two processes are related to the student health services, and career support services at the university. As explained in the above section, the management and planning are the examining processes that are used in operational management and strategic planning of the university. University of Sydney has invested considerable expertise, energy, and time in planning and management. The university aims to ensure that their decisions achieve the perfect outcome for their students, community, and the staff. The teams behind management and planning include: academic governance, university management, vice-chancellor, regional offices, and planning, policies and quality. The university has an internal reporting technique that supports students and staff communication. This communication makes sure that quality monitor improvement and quick learning experience for their students. The study modules are constantly evaluated by students through module experience questionnaires and liaison between staff and students. The feedback allows the university to analyze and evaluate the efficacy of the teaching practices and course curricula and modify the units to suit the dynamic needs of the students. The university uses the standards compact that details the university improvement targets for teaching and learning. It includes the analysis of the university’s strength and weakness and the outline of enhancement strategies that they adopt Business Functions Chart The producing function involves research and development, service production and quality, and logistics and distribution. Selling entails marketing and sales by demonstrating and presenting the university products to students. Additionally, through marketing they coordinate elements involved in promoting and selling of education products to students. The support functions include health, finance, computing, Human Resource, and purchasing. They provide required information needed for the financial planning and protection for both students and staff. This is achieved by preparing accounting and management information. The university also implements, maintains and designs the computer system of the university to meet the student’s needs (Holt, 2009). In relation to career and development, the university advises students on their career choice. Additionally, the select and recruits staff who are involved in job descriptions, management development, university relations, and training. Other external services offered by the university involve chartered accountants, management accountants, market and education research, advertising, recruitment agency, and public relations. The university visits the community as an audit team to review the operation of their business to find out if the businesses are valid. They also identify and investigate policy problems, procedures, and organization methods. They also recommend the best actions and assists in implementing them. The university also acts a recruitment agency where it matches the job seekers with vacancies of the employer. They achieve this by assessing the skills of their students and the requirement of the employer. The university also collaborates on all marketing communication aspects by presenting proposals to partner companies. Additionally, the marketing department of the university conducts market research, by analyzing the problems, draft proposals, and prepare the survey and questionnaire methods. The university also conducts all aspects of public relations for their clients. They achieve this function by preparing press releases, organizing press briefing, public relations campaigns and conferences (Holt, 2009). Similarities and Differences In Dijkman approach, a goal structure is designed first. Goal structure consists of business goals and their interrelationship (Holt, 2009). The derivation of the business process architecture is based on the business process definition as a set of related activities in achieving certain goals. The advantage of using this approach is that, when they are associated with the business processes, they help in determining why certain business processes are crucial. The fundamental organizing process in this approach is the ultimate goal. Focusing on various goals leads to a varied goal structure, and, therefore to business process architecture that is different. The different Dijkman approach also varies various relation types between the goals. Approach existing within this framework prefers a realization between objectives. The approach achieves a higher leveled goal by relating it with a lower leveled goal. The influence between the higher leveled and lower leveled goal expresses that a single goal related to another goal. Dijkam differs in the way process architecture is related to the goal structure. In this approach, goals identify processes and how they relate to the set processes. On the other hand, Harmon’s approach designs an action structure first (Holt, 2009). It consists of business actions and their relationship. A business action is a set of activities where a provider finishes some work for an external or internal customer. Business action is almost similar to business process. The difference between the business action and business process is that business action presumes that the action of business and humans follow certain standard phases and patterns. This makes the action of businesses to identify, delimit, and divide the processes into sub-processes. The phases and patterns to determine which processes exist according to the phases and patterns begin and end because of the transition. When the action structures are designed, architecture of business process can easily be designed from the actions. The main organizing concept in Harmon’s approach is the action and the approaches that distinguish various action types. The approach assumes that every action undergoes a number of patterns and phases. However, the pattern and phrase’ real numbers and definition differ in respect to the approach. All Harmon’s approaches have phasing, triggering and decomposition relation (Holt, 2009). A decomposition relation means that an action can be decomposed into multiple and detailed elements. A triggering action shows that the action of one element triggers the action of the other. A phasing relation represents the beginning and ending of another action. Harmon’s approach differs in the manner in which the process architecture is related to the structure if actions. They differ in the manner they approach the concept of business process. Additionally, they differ in the design of the action structure’s scope. The architecture of a business process focusses on the structuring of businesses within a given scope (Holt, 2009). Conclusion The overall strategy for the university is the common objective of creating and sustaining a university to benefit Australia and the wider world at large. The university also ensures the students realize and thrive to leverage their full potential. Subsequently, the university promotes Torres Strait and Aboriginal Islander participation, research, education, and engagement among its students (Holt, 2009). The University developed process maps, work maps, or flowcharts because they help in giving an overview of business processes. The process maps help the university to present a summary in a formal way for insertion into the university’s handbooks, offer student services and review process procedures to evaluate efficiency. The university also develops processes to define roles when handling outsourced work or during creative partnership, where multiple groups participates in offering and creating new services. The Business process mapping offers the university with the opportunity to clarify how the business processes are performed. It also helps the university to reveal bottlenecks and variation on how the processes are performed by various individuals. Therefore, process maps are crucial component for the management and improvement of the six sigma process (Holt, 2009). Reference Holt, J. 2009. A pragmatic guide to business process modelling 2nd Ed.. Swindon: British Informatics Society. Read More