Simulação de processos em projectos de reengenharia organizacional

Dissertação de mestrado em Sistemas de InformaçãoEm virtude da popularidade atingida pelos designados programas de reengenharia organizacional, como o Business Process Reengineering (BPR), Business Process Improvement (BPI), Total Quality Management (TQM), entre vários outros, ganhou particular relevância o conceito de processo organizacional, também designado por processo de negócio. Em termos simples, um processo organizacional pode ser definido como um conjunto de actividades executadas numa dada ordem, cujo resultado final consiste num produto ou serviço a entregar a um cliente. Para se prepararem para as condições exigentes da actual envolvente, as organizações adoptaram um novo paradigma organizacional, baseado no conceito de Gestão de Processos de Negócio (BPM1). Em termos simples, BPM é uma abordagem inovadora à operação e gestão das organizações em que os seus processos de negócio são modelados, automatizados, monitorizados e constantemente optimizados, de modo a aumentar o seu desempenho global. Intimamente associada à BPM está uma classe específica de plataformas software, designadas Sistemas de Gestão de Processos de Negócio (BPMS2), que suportam o conceito BPM através da orquestração dos processos de negócio com os recursos humanos e tecnológicos necessários à execução das actividades. Os BPMS permitem que as organizações mudem, muito rapidamente, a sua forma de operar através da simples alteração dos modelos dos processos de negócio. Em todo o caso, mesmo num ambiente de negócio em contínua mudança, as decisões de alteração têm que ser tomadas rapidamente mas, ainda assim, de forma consciente e informada. Neste âmbito, a simulação computorizada pode ser utilizada como uma abordagem eficaz para testar novas opções e cenários de negócio sem incorrer nos riscos e custos de os experimentar na prática. Assim sendo, a simulação computorizada, como abordagem económica à validação e optimização de processos de negócio, deverá desempenhar um papel significativo no contexto BPM.Because of the popularity hit by designated programs of organizational reengineering, as the Business Process Reengineering (BPR), Business Process Improvement (BPI), Total Quality Management (TQM), among several others, has particular relevance the concept of organizational process, also designated by business process. In simple terms, an organizational process can be defined as a set of activities performed in a given order, whose final result is a product or service to be delivered to a customer. To prepare for the demanding conditions of the current environment, organizations have adopted a new organizational paradigm, based on the concept of Business Process Management (BPM). In simple terms, BPM is an innovative approach to the operation and management of organizations in which their business processes are modelled, automated, monitored and constantly optimized, in order to enhance its overall performance. Closely associated with BPM is a specific class of software platforms, designated Business Process management Systems (BPMS), which support the BPM concept through the orchestration of business processes with the human and technological resources needed to implement activities. The BPMS enables organizations to change, very quickly, their way of operating through simple modification of models of the business processes. In any case, even in a business environment of continuous change, the decisions of change must be taken quickly, but still, so aware and informed. In this context, a computerized simulation can be used as an effective approach to test new options and scenarios of business without incurring the risks and costs of the experience in practice. Thus, the computerized simulation as economic approach to the validation and optimization of business processes should play a significant role in the BPM context

A framework for digital signature implementations for e-government services

The advent of the Internet has brought with it new innovations, new ways of doing business, new ways of working, new ways of engaging, and new forms of business models. It has ultimately disrupted the traditional ways in which we communicate, socialise, and live life in general. This era has heralded the requirement for digitization and has brought about the digital economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The fundamental ways in which companies and governments do business are changing due to the increased innovation, and the cost efficiencies that this era has brought with it. Like most governments worldwide, the South African government has responded to the Internet revolution and is taking advantage of it through e-government initiatives. The direct effects of e-government include cost savings, efficiencies, improved and continuous interactions and communications with citizens, better public procurement, and improved tax collection. The area of digitization has the potential to improve how the South African government delivers services to citizens and those that reside within the borders of the country. Amongst the five elements of successful e-government transformation, process reform is at the top of the list. e-Government is not just about the automation of existing processes and inefficiencies. It is also about the creation of new processes and new relationships between all the stakeholders involved. In the South African context, the lack of optimised, automated, and digitalised processes within various government departments has impeded crossfunctional processes’ effectiveness and efficiencies. Manual interventions in processing and transactions occur to comply with the legal requirement to manually sign documents. This poses difficulties in integrating processes within government departments to achieve a seamless experience for the citizen. As a result, this treatise sets out to answer the question of what needs to be in place to allow for the utilisation of digital signatures in automating the processing of e-government services for a seamless experience for citizens and businesses. The resulting Digital Signature Framework can be used by government departments to implement digital signatures and provides providing guidance, facilitating understanding, and providing ease of use, scalability, and agility

Workflow-Management für Produktentwicklungsprozesse

Workflow-Management-Systeme unterstützen die elektronische Abwicklung von Arbeitsprozessen, sogenannten Workflows. Heutige Systeme erzwingen meist die starre Ausführung vormodellierter Workflows, was ihre praktische Tauglichkeit auf Anwendungsgebiete mit starren Prozessen beschränkt. In vielen Anwendungsbereichen sind Arbeitsprozesse jedoch meist nur semi-strukturiert. Dieses Merkmal ist aufgrund kreativer Teilaufgaben auch typisch für alle Produktentwicklungsprozesse, für die in dieser Arbeit adäquate Modellierungs- und Ausführungskonzepte vorgestellt werden. Diese Konzepte wurden im WEP-Workflow-Management-Systems (WEP = Workflow Management for Engineering Processes) zur Demonstration der Machbarkeit und des praktischen Nutzens prototypisch implementiert

Evaluation and development models for business processes

Most organisations are working hard to improve their performance and to achieve competitive advantage over their rivals. They may accomplish these ambitions through carrying out their business processes more effectively. Hence it is important to consider such processes and look for ways in which they can be improved. Any organisational business process encompasses several elements that interact and collaborate with each other to achieve the required objectives. These elements can be classified into hard aspects, which deal with tangible issues related to the software system or the technology in general, and soft aspects, which deal with issues related to the human part of the business process. If the business process needs to be analysed and redesigned to improve its performance, it is important to use a suitable approach or intervention that takes into account all of these elements. This thesis proposes an approach to investigate organisational business processes by considering both soft and hard aspects. The approach, Soft Workflow Modelling (SWfM), is developed as a result of reviewing several workflow products and models using a developed workflow perspectives framework which involves several perspectives covering the soft and hard aspects of the workflow system. The SWfM approach models the organisational business process as a workflow system by handling the various perspectives of the workflow perspectives framework. This approach combines the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) with the Unified Modelling Language (UML), as a standard modelling language of the object-oriented paradigm. The basic framework adopted is that of SSM with the inclusion of UML diagrams and techniques to deal with the aspects that SSM cannot handle. The approach also supports SSM by providing a developed tool to assist in constructing a conceptual model which is considered as the basis to model the workflow system. A case study is developed for illustrative purposes.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo