Business Process Modelling Languages in Designing Integrated Information System for Supply Chain Management

A business process model is very germane to the formation of an appropriate information system. For a marked infusion of business processes in the supply chain, the status quo regarding the processes must be totally understood and well secured. Business activities and sequence have to be well kept and properly coordinated by predicting business procedures process from diverse views. This study examines seven BPMLs Data Flow Diagram (DFD), Unified Modelling Language (UML), Business Process Modelling Notation(BPMN), Event Driven Process Chain (EPC), IDEF, Petri Net, and Role Activity Diagram (RAD). The submissions of this study are the subject of the Business Process Modelling Languages (BPMLs) in developing an integrated dissemination mechanism and classification of modelling tools

Menadžment poslovnih procesa i znanja u hrvatskim poduzećima

Contemporary companies function in constantly changing and highly turbulent business environment which is the cause of a constant need for change and learning at individual, group, organizational as well as interorganizational level (61). Organizational learning is considered to be one of the most promising concepts in modern managerial literature. According to de Geus ‘ability to learn faster than your competitors might be the only sustainable competitive advantage you have’ (11). Dimovski (12) provides an overview of previous research and identifies four perspectives on organizational learning. His model manages to merge informational, interpretational, strategic and behavioral approach to organizational learning and defines it as a process of information acquisition, information interpretation and resulting behavioral and cognitive changes, which should in turn have an impact on organizational performance. In recent research, another measurement variable for organizational learning emerged – Information quality (18). Another research topic introduced in this research was determination and evaluation of the business process orientation construct. Although definitions of the business process orientation vary, we adopt the McCormack’s and Johnson’s (2001) definition of process orientation: An organization that, in all its thinking, emphasizes process as opposed to hierarchies with a special emphasis on outcomes and customer satisfaction. McCormack and Johnson (2001) conducted an empirical study to explore the relationship between BPO and enhanced business performance. The research results showed that BPO is critical in reducing conflict and encouraging greater connectedness within an organization, while improving business performance. The more business process oriented an organization, the better it performs both from an overall perspective as well as from the perspective of the employees. The BPO construct describes a four-step pathway for systematically advancing business processes along the maturity continuum (Ad Hoc, Defined, Linked, and Integrated level). Each step builds on the work of the previous steps to apply improvement strategies that are appropriate to the current maturity level. It is important to note that trying to skip maturity levels is counter-productive, since each level builds a foundation from which to achieve the subsequent level. An organization must evolve through these levels to establish a culture of process excellence. The goal of our contribution was to test differences in the way companies learn and perceive their business process orientation in Slovenia and Croatia. During September and October 2005 questionnaires were distributed to Slovenian and Croatian companies with more than 50 employees. In Slovenian case, 203 completed questionnaires were returned (which accounts for 16.5% response rate) while in Croatia 202 completed questionnaires were returned to the research group (which accounts for 11.5% response rate). Received questionnaires from both countries allow us to compare the results and to implicitly test the impact of various country-based factors on the organizational learning phenomena. Using data gathered from two independent samples (Slovenia and Croatia) analysis of variance method and t-test were used in order to get the answer to our research question relating to differences in organizational learning and business process orientation between Slovenian and Croatian companies. Results indicate that Slovenian and Croatian companies differ only in 17 out of 48 items considering organizational learning research – especially in the way they acquire information and the way they perceive behavioral and cognitive changes currently under place. Croatian companies are more outward directed when acquiring information and are witnessing more turbulent changes in their internal as well as external business environment. Nevertheless, there are much more similar traits in the way Slovenian and Croatian companies learn than there are dissimilarities. However, there are some indications that Slovenian companies already bridged the transition period, while majority of Croatian companies still has to cross that bridge. Data analysis considering second part of the research revealed some important aspects of business process orientation in Slovenia and Croatia. It showed that Slovenian companies have reached slightly higher maturity level than Croatian companies, which was not surprising considering Croatian contemporary history. Though statistically significant, the difference is not large and the general state of the BPO in both countries is promising. Still, a lot is left to change and improve in order to transform the companies into process-oriented ones. The investigation also revealed some differences between both counties. Slovenian companies give more emphasis to the quality of process data and have monitoring and control systems in place to assure it. Besides that jobs are more frequently multidimensional and not just simple tasks in Slovenia then in Croatia. This is important aspect of process orientation whereby employees need to be equipped with wide arsenal of knowledge and skills in order to participate in different areas of a process. To realize BPO projects, most companies use different business process modelling/management methods and tools, which integrate components for static and dynamic modelling, measuring and monitoring the performance of the processes, as well as enabling the transformation of business process diagrams into tailor-made applications supporting the execution of workflows. The focus of this paper is to discuss the application of business process oriented concepts in different areas, depending on different projects' objectives and goals. The paper provides the results of a search in literature as well as a summary and comparison of features concerning business process modelling and business process management tools, placing them within an empirically derived framework.menadžment poslovnih procesa, menadžment znanja

Process Performance Management in Higher Education

Process performance management (PPM) has become one of the most important management tools in profit organizations. However, non-profit organizations also started to benefit from PPM aimed at the efficiency improvement. The goal of the paper is to investigate usefulness of embedding the simulation modelling approach for process performance management based on the case study of collaboration improvement in higher education. The case study methodology has been used in the study and the paper presents simulation modelling for PPM with the purpose of collaboration improvement at the University of Zagreb, Croatia

Modelo de simulación de sistema de comercio electrónico para evaluación de desempeño

El diseño de sistemas informáticos para comercio electrónico implica desembolsos económicos. Por tanto es importante analizar la posibilidad de obtener beneficios antes de su implementación. Para esto es necesario evaluar el desempeño del sistema no sólo desde una perspectiva informática sino además desde la visión de negocios. La simulación es una herramienta que permite experimentar con configuraciones alternativas de negocio previo a la construcción del sistema. Por ello el objetivo del trabajo es presentar un modelo para simulación de procesos de comercio electrónico construido sobre la base de un método de diseño de sistemas de evento discreto y obtener métricas tecnológicas y de negocios. Discrete Event System Especification (DEVS) es un framework de modelado para simulación de evento discreto, basado en la teoría de sistemas, con recursos para modelar problemas complejos y con capacidades para construir modelos con comportamiento estocástico. Sobre la base de una metodología de diseño de procesos de comercio electrónico orientada a servicios se construye un modelo de simulación para transacciones de comercio electrónico. El modelo consta de un marco experimental, una capa transaccional que define las operaciones de negocios y otra tecnológica que configura la plataforma informática. Para la plataforma informática se propone un modelo en tres capas de servidores Web, de Aplicación y de Base de Datos. La implementación del modelo se realiza con la herramienta DEVSJAVA. Es nuestro principal aporte la estrategia de construcción de modelos DEVS de comercio electrónico que parte de la estrategia de negocios y no sólo contempla los recursos informáticos. Se simula para una carga dada de clientes y se obtienen resultados sobre el tiempo de respuesta de las sesiones de clientes, así como un análisis de las posibilidades de retorno de la inversión. De este modo se pueden simular decisiones de negocio previo a su implementación, considerando el desempeño tecnológico y los resulados de negocios.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Renovacija procesa: Slučaj e-logistike

The paper deals with process renovation, the effective utilization of information technology and the role of process-based knowledge management in supply chain integration towards e-logistics. The paper describes business process renovation as the key element of an e-business orientation and the highest level of strategy for managing change that commonly cannot be handled by continuous improvement and reengineering methods or organizational restructuring. The theoretical findings are illustrated with a case study of the procurement process in a petrol company. Process modeling proved useful since it shows the process as a whole, the drawbacks of the existing process, bottlenecks in carrying out the process and it provides a critical insight into process execution and knowledge management.Članak se bavi renovacijom procesa, učinkovitom uporabom informacijske tehnologije i ulogom upravljanja procesno baziranim znanjem kod integriranja nabavnog lanca s e-logistikom. Članak opisuje obnavljanje poslovnog procesa kao ključni element orijentacije ka e-poslovanju i najviši nivo strategije za provođenje promjene koja se obično ne može postići metodama kontinuiranog poboljšanja i reinženjeringa ili organizacijskim restrukturiranjem. Teoretski se nalazi primjenjuju u analizi procesa nabave jedne benzinske tvrtke. Modeliranje procesa se pokazalo korisnim budući da pokazuje proces kao cjelinu, nedostatke postojećeg procesa, zastoje u izvršavanju procesa, te daje kritički uvid u izvršenje procesa i upravljanje znanjem

Modelo de simulación de sistema de comercio electrónico para evaluación de desempeño

El diseño de sistemas informáticos para comercio electrónico implica desembolsos económicos. Por tanto es importante analizar la posibilidad de obtener beneficios antes de su implementación. Para esto es necesario evaluar el desempeño del sistema no sólo desde una perspectiva informática sino además desde la visión de negocios. La simulación es una herramienta que permite experimentar con configuraciones alternativas de negocio previo a la construcción del sistema. Por ello el objetivo del trabajo es presentar un modelo para simulación de procesos de comercio electrónico construido sobre la base de un método de diseño de sistemas de evento discreto y obtener métricas tecnológicas y de negocios. Discrete Event System Especification (DEVS) es un framework de modelado para simulación de evento discreto, basado en la teoría de sistemas, con recursos para modelar problemas complejos y con capacidades para construir modelos con comportamiento estocástico. Sobre la base de una metodología de diseño de procesos de comercio electrónico orientada a servicios se construye un modelo de simulación para transacciones de comercio electrónico. El modelo consta de un marco experimental, una capa transaccional que define las operaciones de negocios y otra tecnológica que configura la plataforma informática. Para la plataforma informática se propone un modelo en tres capas de servidores Web, de Aplicación y de Base de Datos. La implementación del modelo se realiza con la herramienta DEVSJAVA. Es nuestro principal aporte la estrategia de construcción de modelos DEVS de comercio electrónico que parte de la estrategia de negocios y no sólo contempla los recursos informáticos. Se simula para una carga dada de clientes y se obtienen resultados sobre el tiempo de respuesta de las sesiones de clientes, así como un análisis de las posibilidades de retorno de la inversión. De este modo se pueden simular decisiones de negocio previo a su implementación, considerando el desempeño tecnológico y los resulados de negocios.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Modelo de simulación de sistema de comercio electrónico para evaluación de desempeño

El diseño de sistemas informáticos para comercio electrónico implica desembolsos económicos. Por tanto es importante analizar la posibilidad de obtener beneficios antes de su implementación. Para esto es necesario evaluar el desempeño del sistema no sólo desde una perspectiva informática sino además desde la visión de negocios. La simulación es una herramienta que permite experimentar con configuraciones alternativas de negocio previo a la construcción del sistema. Por ello el objetivo del trabajo es presentar un modelo para simulación de procesos de comercio electrónico construido sobre la base de un método de diseño de sistemas de evento discreto y obtener métricas tecnológicas y de negocios. Discrete Event System Especification (DEVS) es un framework de modelado para simulación de evento discreto, basado en la teoría de sistemas, con recursos para modelar problemas complejos y con capacidades para construir modelos con comportamiento estocástico. Sobre la base de una metodología de diseño de procesos de comercio electrónico orientada a servicios se construye un modelo de simulación para transacciones de comercio electrónico. El modelo consta de un marco experimental, una capa transaccional que define las operaciones de negocios y otra tecnológica que configura la plataforma informática. Para la plataforma informática se propone un modelo en tres capas de servidores Web, de Aplicación y de Base de Datos. La implementación del modelo se realiza con la herramienta DEVSJAVA. Es nuestro principal aporte la estrategia de construcción de modelos DEVS de comercio electrónico que parte de la estrategia de negocios y no sólo contempla los recursos informáticos. Se simula para una carga dada de clientes y se obtienen resultados sobre el tiempo de respuesta de las sesiones de clientes, así como un análisis de las posibilidades de retorno de la inversión. De este modo se pueden simular decisiones de negocio previo a su implementación, considerando el desempeño tecnológico y los resulados de negocios.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

A General Model of Mobile Environments: Simulation Support for Strategic Management Decisions

Since the ability of Workforce Management Systems to handle mobility induced challenges of mobile environments like data-communication cut-offs, reduced network bandwidth, and security concerns improved recently, the optimization efforts of mobile enterprises increasingly focus on the organizational setup of their mobile environment. This includes issues like, e.g., the dimension and staffing of regional subdivisions, qualification balance of the workforce, and resource allocation strategies. While this multitude of possible adjustment parameters for optimization prevents from the analytical prediction of organizational change efforts, simulation is a promising approach to analyze mobile environments and their change. In this work we present a formal model representing a generalization of mobile environments. This model can be utilized to examine the cost situation and performance of both real mobile enterprises and projected future development scenarios of such enterprises. The model is developed using colored petri nets (CPN) and the software suite CPN Tools. We show that our model is capable of predicting the outcomes of organizational change projects by the utilization of simulation and present a validation of our model based on real-world data of a German gas and power supply