Quality measures for ETL processes: from goals to implementation

Extraction transformation loading (ETL) processes play an increasingly important role for the support of modern business operations. These business processes are centred around artifacts with high variability and diverse lifecycles, which correspond to key business entities. The apparent complexity of these activities has been examined through the prism of business process management, mainly focusing on functional requirements and performance optimization. However, the quality dimension has not yet been thoroughly investigated, and there is a need for a more human-centric approach to bring them closer to business-users requirements. In this paper, we take a first step towards this direction by defining a sound model for ETL process quality characteristics and quantitative measures for each characteristic, based on existing literature. Our model shows dependencies among quality characteristics and can provide the basis for subsequent analysis using goal modeling techniques. We showcase the use of goal modeling for ETL process design through a use case, where we employ the use of a goal model that includes quantitative components (i.e., indicators) for evaluation and analysis of alternative design decisions.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Quality Measures for ETL Processes

ETL processes play an increasingly important role for the support of modern business operations. These business processes are centred around artifacts with high variability and diverse lifecycles, which correspond to key business entities. The apparent complexity of these activities has been examined through the prism of Business Process Management, mainly focusing on functional requirements and performance optimization. However, the quality dimension has not yet been thoroughly investigated and there is a need for a more human-centric approach to bring them closer to business-users requirements. In this paper we take a first step towards this direction by defining a sound model for ETL process quality characteristics and quantitative measures for each characteristic, based on existing literature. Our model shows dependencies among quality characteristics and can provide the basis for subsequent analysis using Goal Modeling techniques

An Examination of Business Process Reengineering Techniques and Their Contribution to Process Improvement

The Department of Defense\u27s Corporate Information Management Initiative is part of an effort to achieve savings through specified programs focused on business process improvement A major process improvement methodology being used by the DoD is Business Process Reengineering (BPR). BPR offers the possibility for a fundamental rethinking and radical redesigning of DoD business processes, but there has been little systematic study of the effectiveness of the various techniques used in BPR projects. This study evaluates whether organizations conducting BPR efforts using five specific techniques (strategic planning, activity modeling, activity based costing, benchmarking, and simulation) achieve improvement in critical process performance measures. The survey was sent to two Air Force sample groups. The first group consisted of respondents to the Defense Information Systems Agency 1994 Business Process Reengineering Survey, and the second group consisted of members of the Air Force Institute of Technology Information Resource Management e-mail list. The survey resulted in a small sample of cases that were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results of the survey indicate a surprisingly high success rate for BPR projects. Reliability analysis of the survey data was conducted and conclusions and recommendations for further research are presented

Pathways to Greener Pastures: Research Opportunities to Integrate Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainable Business Process Management Based on a Systematic Tertiary Literature Review

Sustainable Business Process Management (BPM) is a research field that aims to improve the sustainability performance of organizations’ operations. With its focus on business processes, it has the potential to bring sustainability considerations from external reporting to the core of organizations. We present a systematic tertiary literature study to provide a catalog of existing literature reviews and primary work and to give a consolidated overview of the state and research needs of the field. We find that Sustainable BPM research has focused on modeling approaches and most of the work so far is largely conceptual, with a limited sustainability perspective. Based on these findings, we propose an integration of BPM and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), an established and rigorous method for sustainability analysis. We present research opportunities to show how both disciplines can synergize and leverage methods and techniques for business process automation and innovation to effectively improve the sustainability performance of organizations

Parametric modeling for simulation based hypersonic vehicle design

The conceptual design stage offers the most opportunity for innovation and the capability to reveal costly design errors early. Integrating high fidelity design and simulation tools into the conceptual design stage enables engineers to develop design variations quickly and affordably. This work focuses primarily on the development and utilization of parametric modeling methods as they apply to a simulation based design process. It will also address the impacts to conceptual design development time. A blended wing-body (BWB) hypersonic wave rider demonstrates how state-of-the-art solid modeling techniques can be coupled to high fidelity CFD analysis codes to perform top down design. Performance trends are identified for several trade study variations which represent a single iteration through the simulation based design process. Performance metrics are based on interpretations from higher level customer, regulatory, business, and other requirements. The process of cascading these requirements down to the component level is the definition of top-down-design. This bidirectional tracing of requirements allows vehicle development to progress in a manner such that any change of the vehicle can be assessed in terms of the overarching requirements

Process mining using BPMN : relating event logs and process models

Process-aware information systems (PAIS) are systems relying on processes, which involve human and software resources to achieve concrete goals. There is a need to develop approaches for modeling, analysis, improvement and monitoring processes within PAIS. These approaches include process mining techniques used to discover process models from event logs, find log and model deviations, and analyze performance characteristics of processes. The representational bias (a way to model processes) plays an important role in process mining. The BPMN 2.0 (Business Process Model and Notation) standard is widely used and allows to build conventional and understandable process models. In addition to the flat control flow perspective, subprocesses, data flows, resources can be integrated within one BPMN diagram. This makes BPMN very attractive for both process miners and business users. In this paper, we describe and justify robust control flow conversion algorithms, which provide the basis for more advanced BPMN-based discovery and conformance checking algorithms. We believe that the results presented in this paper can be used for a wide variety of BPMN mining and conformance checking algorithms. We also provide metrics for the processes discovered before and after the conversion to BPMN structures. Cases for which conversion algorithms produce more compact or more involved BPMN models in comparison with the initial models are identified. Keywords: Process mining; Process discovery; Conformance checking; BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation); Petri nets; Bisimulatio

Mediating Effects of Process Improvement between Lean Manufacturing and Financial Performance

Abstract: In today's competitive business environment, companies aim to boost financial performance (FP) through effective strategies. Lean Manufacturing (LM) optimizes resources while delivering customer value. Although LM's impact on FP is recognized, the mediating role of Process Improvement (PI) remains an area of interest. This study investigates the relationships among LM, PI, and FP within Libyan manufacturing companies. The primary objective is to explore the dynamics among Lean Manufacturing (LM), Process Improvement (PI), and Financial Performance (FP) within the context of Libyan manufacturing. By enhancing comprehension of these interrelationships, this research aims to provide insights for manufacturing entities. An empirical survey was conducted across various Libyan manufacturing firms to achieve this goal. The survey included dimensions related to LM, PI, and FP. Collected data underwent multivariate techniques, structural equation modeling, and measurement model validation for comprehensive analysis. Results confirm a positive correlation between LM and PI, signifying the effectiveness of incorporating lean practices for process efficiency. However, a notable finding suggests a lack of significant impact of PI on FP, challenging the notion that process improvement directly leads to better financial outcomes. Additionally, the hypothesized mediating role of PI in the LM-FP connection lacks empirical support, implying a more complex relationship. In conclusion, this study highlights the complex interplay of LM, PI, and FP in Libyan manufacturing, emphasizing nuanced strategies for financial optimization. Further research is needed to validate and expand these context-specific insights, offering empirical guidance to organizations navigating lean practices and financial performance. . Keywords: Lean Manufacturing- Process Improvement- Financial Performance- Libyan Manufacturing Companies&nbsp

Collaborative information systems and business process design using simulation

The Information Systems (IS) community promotes the idea that IS analyst should have a clear understanding of the way the organization operates before attempting to propose an IS solution. It is argued that to take a complete advantage of the underlying Information Technology (IT), organizations should first identify any process flaw and then propose a suitable IT solution. Similarly, many process design approaches claim that Business Process (BP) design should be done considering the advantages provided and the limitations imposed by the underlying (IT). Despite this fact research in these domains provides little indication of which mechanisms or tools can help BP and IS analyst to understand the complex relationships amongst these two areas. This paper describes the insights gained during a UK funded research project, namely ASSESS-IT, that aimed to depict the dynamic relationships between IT and BP using simulation. One of the major limitations of the ASSESS-IT project is that it looked at relationship between BP and IT as a three layered structure, namely BP, IS and Computer Networks (CN), and did not explore in detail the relationships between BP and IS alone. This paper uses the outcomes derived from this project and suggests that, is some cases, the relationship between BP and IT could be analyzed by looking at the relationship between BP and IS alone. It then proposes an alternative simulation framework, namely BPISS, that provides the guideline to develop simulation models that portray BP and IS behavior performance measurements, offering in this way an alternative mechanism that can help BP and IS analyst to understand in more detail the dynamic interactions between BP and IS domains

Simulation for business processes and information systems design

Business Process (BP) literature promotes the value of business processes as essential gearwheels that help organizations to reach their goals. Similarly, many process design approaches claim that Information Technology (IT) is a major enabler of business process, a view also shared by the Information Systems (IS) community. Despite this, BP and IS approaches do not provide clear guidance on how to assess the benefits that a given IS design may bring to the BP prior the IS implementation. Nor is clear indication of which modeling techniques could be used to assess such relationship. This paper uses the insights gained during a UK funded research project, namely ASSESS-IT, that aimed to depict the dynamic relationships between BP and IT to propose an alternative framework to develop BP simulation models that depict the dynamic behavior of the relationships between BP and IS

“ANALISIS PENGARUH FLEKSIBILITAS STRATEGIS DAN FLEKSIBILITAS MANUFAKTUR TERHADAP KINERJA BISNIS MELALUI SUPPLY CHAIN AGILITY SEBAGAI VARIABEL INTERVENING” (Studi Pada UMKM Fashion di Kota Bogor)

The small fashion industries in Bogor has been running for decades but they never developed into a big industry. they understand the rapidly changing of fashion industry environment, but they have not been able to make strategic decisions and run the manufacturing process quickly because their industrial supply chains are not yet effective. In any fashion industry, there is at least 4 seasons adjusting trend in Europe. Fashion industries in Bogor is required to follow the global trend because the Indonesian people themselves are already affected by the effects of globalization. Various trademarks of the fashion industry in Bogor should be swift and agile to face it especially when big brands and even bigger brands can launch their products up to 20 seasons per year with seasonal intervals one and other seasons only a few weeks. The purpose of this study to analyze Strategic Flexibility and Manufacturing Flexibility on Supply Chain Agility and the impact on Business Performance. The population of the study was all small and medium enterprises (UMKM) who had concentrate in fashion industry, where respondents are the owner of each small and medium fashion industry. The samples in this study were 158 respondents. The method of collecting data through questionnaires. This study uses analytical techniques of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with AMOS 22.0 as the analysis instrument. The result shows that the Strategic Flexibiliy has a positive and significant effect on Supply Chain Agility, Manufacturing Flexibility has a positive and significant effect on Supply Chain Agility, Strategic Flexibiliy has a positive and significant effect on Business Performance, Manufacturing Flexibility has a negative impact on Business Performance, and Supply Chain Agility has a positive and significant effect on Business Performance