PROCESS MODELS AS TRANSFORMATION VEHICLE FOR STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT

Practitioners within the IS-field tend to engage in different kind of modelling activities for the purpose of analysis, design and evaluation of information systems. Business process models has been used for several purposes such as reconstructing existing practice (AS-IS) and to design the future (TO-BE). So far little research has been conducted on process modelling practices, the role and characteristics of models mean for business transformation. This paper elaborates on the role of process models as transformation vehicle to create alignment between a strategic business plan and business processes. The empirical base in this paper is an action research project where researchers together with a retail chain in sports and recreation (Intersport), as a part of a bigger change program, has designed Intersport´s future practice based on a new strategic business plan. The results in the paper are descriptions about the role, characteristics and usage of different models during process design. The design of the future is a transformational process where models will have different roles during different phases of the project; scoping models, chiseling models, design models and change models. Good design results can be ensured through that the business process models in the end manage to express vital business dimensions such as transformation, coordination and interaction. The conclusions also depict the need for incremental design to create strategic alignment. The main reason for this is that people need to digest the evolving design in order to be able to understand characteristics and consequences of the final design