Effective application of process improvement patterns to business processes

Improving the operational effectiveness and efficiency of processes is a fundamental task of business process management (BPM). There exist many proposals of process improvement patterns (PIPs) as practices that aim at supporting this goal. Selecting and implementing relevant PIPs are therefore an important prerequisite for establishing process-aware information systems in enterprises. Nevertheless, there is still a gap regarding the validation of PIPs with respect to their actual business value for a specific application scenario before implementation investments are incurred. Based on empirical research as well as experiences from BPM projects, this paper proposes a method to tackle this challenge. Our approach toward the assessment of process improvement patterns considers real-world constraints such as the role of senior stakeholders or the cost of adapting available IT systems. In addition, it outlines process improvement potentials that arise from the information technology infrastructure available to organizations, particularly regarding the combination of enterprise resource planning with business process intelligence. Our approach is illustrated along a real-world business process from human resource management. The latter covers a transactional volume of about 29,000 process instances over a period of 1 year. Overall, our approach enables both practitioners and researchers to reasonably assess PIPs before taking any process implementation decision

Modeling and Simulating Causal Dependencies on Process-aware Information Systems from a Cost Perspective

Providing effective IT support for business processes has become crucial for enterprises to stay competitive in their market. Business processes must be defined, implemented, enacted, monitored, and continuously adapted to changing situations. Process life cycle support and continuous process improvement become critical success factors in contemporary and future enterprise computing. In this context, process-aware information systems (PAISs) adopt a key role. Thereby, organization-specific and generic process support systems are distinguished. In the former case, the PAIS is build "from scratch" and incorporates organization-specific information about the structure and processes to be supported. In the latter case, the PAIS does not contain any information about the structure and processes of a particular organization. Instead, an organization needs to configure the PAIS by specifying processes, organizational entities, and business objects. To enable the realization of PAISs, numerous process support paradigms, process modeling standards, and business process management tools have been introduced. The application of these approaches in PAIS engineering projects is not only influenced by technological, but also by organizational and project-specific factors. Between these factors there exist numerous causal dependencies, which, in turn, often lead to complex and unexpected effects in PAIS engineering projects. In particular, the costs of PAIS engineering projects are significantly influenced by these causal dependencies. What is therefore needed is a comprehensive approach enabling PAIS engineers to systematically investigate these causal dependencies as well as their impact on the costs of PAIS engineering projects. Existing economic-driven IT evaluation and software cost estimation approaches, however, are unable to take into account causal dependencies and resulting effects. In response, this thesis introduces the EcoPOST framework. This framework utilizes evaluation models to describe the interplay of technological, organizational, and project-specific evaluation factors, and simulation concepts to unfold the dynamic behavior of PAIS engineering projects. In this context, the EcoPOST framework also supports the reuse of evaluation models based on a library of generic, predefined evaluation patterns and also provides governing guidelines (e.g., model design guidelines) which enhance the transfer of the EcoPOST framework into practice. Tool support is available as well. Finally, we present the results of two online surveys, three case studies, and one controlled software experiment. Based on these empirical and experimental research activities, we are able to validate evaluation concepts underlying the EcoPOST framework and additionally demonstrate its practical applicability

Business Process Quality Management

During the past 25 years, research in the field of business process management as well as the practical adoption of corresponding methods and tools have made substantial progress. In particular, this development was driven by the insight that well-managed business processes enable organizations to better serve their stakeholders, save costs and, ultimately, realize competitive advantage. It is therefore not surprising that improving business processes ranks high on the list of priorities of organizations. In practice, this challenge is currently being addressed through approaches such as benchmarking, industry-specific best practice reference models or process reengineering heuristics. However, no systematic and generic proposition towards managing business process quality has achieved broad acceptance yet. To address this gap, this thesis contributes to the field of business process quality management with the results lined out in the following. First, it defines a concise notion of business process quality based on organizational targets, and applies it to a sample real-world case. This definition is not specific to any particular application field, and thus constitutes a vital first step towards systematic and generic business process quality management. On that basis, an approach is developed to model business objectives in the sense of the requirements that shall be fulfilled by the results of a business process. In turn, this approach enables appraising if a business process achieves its business objective as one of the core criteria relevant to business process quality. Further, this thesis proposes extensions to common business process meta-models which enable quality-aware business process modeling, and demonstrates how fundamental quality characteristics can be derived from corresponding models. At this stage, the results achieved have enabled an advanced understanding of business process quality. By means of these insights, a model of business process quality attributes with corresponding quality criteria is developed. This model complements and exceeds preceding approaches since, for the first time, it systematically derives relevant quality attributes from a business process management perspective instead of adopting these from related fields. It enables appraising business process quality independently of a particular field of application, and deriving recommendations to improve the processes assessed. To enable practical adoption of the concepts developed, the integration of procedures and functionality relevant to quality in business process management lifecycles and system landscapes is discussed next. To establish the contribution of this thesis beyond the previous state of the art, the proposed quality model is then compared to existing business process reengineering practices as well as propositions in the area of business process quality. Further, quality attributes are employed to improve a substantial real-world business process. This experience report demonstrates how quality management practices can be applied even if quality-aware system landscapes are not in place yet. It thus contributes to bridging the gap between the research results proposed in this thesis and the conditions present in practice today. Finally, remaining limitations with regard to the research objectives pursued are discussed, and challenges for future research are lined out. Addressing the latter will enable further leveraging the potentials of business process quality management

Improving construction site management practices through knowledge management

There are several challenging engineering and management problems that occur on construction sites. Failure in managing construction site problems results in a high proportion of rework, defects, delays, disputes and cost overruns on construction projects. In site management, knowledge is often embedded not only in documents and repositories but also in organisational routines, processes, practices and norms. However, site management teams still do not have a systematic approach to managing knowledge. Knowledge management (KM) processes can effectively be used to enable construction site managers deal with on-site problems and risks in a systematic and efficient way. With regard to these problems, the aim of this research was to investigate the improvement of construction site management practices through the integration of knowledge management processes. The research methodology adopted consisted of several methods. A literature review on site management practices and knowledge management as first undertaken . This was followed by case studies involving five construction sites which sought to investigate the key problems of site management practices and to examine existing knowledge management practices on the construction site. They also explored how KM processes could improve current site management practices. The cases tudy findings underpinned by literature results were used to develop a conceptual framework to managing construction knowledge that is entrenched in site management processes. The integrated K&4 framework (incorporating both proactive and reactive approaches) was intended to enable site managers to adopt a knowledge management approach to addressing site management problems. The framework was encapsulated in a computer-based prototype system (developed using Microsoft Visual Basic) to simplify the use of the integrated KM framework and provide construction organisations with a practical tool. Evaluation of the prototype system was carried out by industry practitioners and construction researchers to assess its appropriateness and functionality. It was established that the prototype system was highly effective in enabling site managers to address site management problems from a knowledge management perspective. Several benefits of the system were also identified. It is concluded that construction site management practices can be improved if the knowledge dimensions of the problems are well understood and appropriately managed. This research has developed an integrated KM framework that provides a structured approach to achieving this. The framework is simple to use, requires a relatively short time to implement, is scalable to any type of project and can easily be deployed on any construction site. Knowledge gains economic value when it is used to solve problems, explore opportunities and make decisions. The developed prototype system is expected to increase the ability of the site manager to learn from previous experience and to better address any site management problems that may occur. It also enables the site manager to be proactive in minimising the number of problems that occur on the construction site and to reduce the impact of those that do occur

Application of lean scheduling and production control in non-repetitive manufacturing systems using intelligent agent decision support

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Lean Manufacturing (LM) is widely accepted as a world-class manufacturing paradigm, its currency and superiority are manifested in numerous recent success stories. Most lean tools including Just-in-Time (JIT) were designed for repetitive serial production systems. This resulted in a substantial stream of research which dismissed a priori the suitability of LM for non-repetitive non-serial job-shops. The extension of LM into non-repetitive production systems is opposed on the basis of the sheer complexity of applying JIT pull production control in non-repetitive systems fabricating a high variety of products. However, the application of LM in job-shops is not unexplored. Studies proposing the extension of leanness into non-repetitive production systems have promoted the modification of pull control mechanisms or reconfiguration of job-shops into cellular manufacturing systems. This thesis sought to address the shortcomings of the aforementioned approaches. The contribution of this thesis to knowledge in the field of production and operations management is threefold: Firstly, a Multi-Agent System (MAS) is designed to directly apply pull production control to a good approximation of a real-life job-shop. The scale and complexity of the developed MAS prove that the application of pull production control in non-repetitive manufacturing systems is challenging, perplex and laborious. Secondly, the thesis examines three pull production control mechanisms namely, Kanban, Base Stock and Constant Work-in-Process (CONWIP) which it enhances so as to prevent system deadlocks, an issue largely unaddressed in the relevant literature. Having successfully tested the transferability of pull production control to non-repetitive manufacturing, the third contribution of this thesis is that it uses experimental and empirical data to examine the impact of pull production control on job-shop performance. The thesis identifies issues resulting from the application of pull control in job-shops which have implications for industry practice and concludes by outlining further research that can be undertaken in this direction

Improving construction site management practices through knowledge management

There are several challenging engineering and management problems that occur on construction sites. Failure in managing construction site problems results in a high proportion of rework, defects, delays, disputes and cost overruns on construction projects. In site management, knowledge is often embedded not only in documents and repositories but also in organisational routines, processes, practices and norms. However, site management teams still do not have a systematic approach to managing knowledge. Knowledge management (KM) processes can effectively be used to enable construction site managers deal with on-site problems and risks in a systematic and efficient way. With regard to these problems, the aim of this research was to investigate the improvement of construction site management practices through the integration of knowledge management processes. The research methodology adopted consisted of several methods. A literature review on site management practices and knowledge management as first undertaken . This was followed by case studies involving five construction sites which sought to investigate the key problems of site management practices and to examine existing knowledge management practices on the construction site. They also explored how KM processes could improve current site management practices. The cases tudy findings underpinned by literature results were used to develop a conceptual framework to managing construction knowledge that is entrenched in site management processes. The integrated K&4 framework (incorporating both proactive and reactive approaches) was intended to enable site managers to adopt a knowledge management approach to addressing site management problems. The framework was encapsulated in a computer-based prototype system (developed using Microsoft Visual Basic) to simplify the use of the integrated KM framework and provide construction organisations with a practical tool. Evaluation of the prototype system was carried out by industry practitioners and construction researchers to assess its appropriateness and functionality. It was established that the prototype system was highly effective in enabling site managers to address site management problems from a knowledge management perspective. Several benefits of the system were also identified. It is concluded that construction site management practices can be improved if the knowledge dimensions of the problems are well understood and appropriately managed. This research has developed an integrated KM framework that provides a structured approach to achieving this. The framework is simple to use, requires a relatively short time to implement, is scalable to any type of project and can easily be deployed on any construction site. Knowledge gains economic value when it is used to solve problems, explore opportunities and make decisions. The developed prototype system is expected to increase the ability of the site manager to learn from previous experience and to better address any site management problems that may occur. It also enables the site manager to be proactive in minimising the number of problems that occur on the construction site and to reduce the impact of those that do occur.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Re-configuring workflow management systems to facilitate a 'smooth flow of work'

The image of workflow systems as being context-insensitive technology, hindering rather than supporting people in performing their work may still exist at present. This impression is also raised in the well-known and often cited case study within Establishment Printers. Using this case as a starting point, this paper presents an analysis of more recent workflow implementations to support the view that modern workflow systems are widely applied in the services industry and are considered useful by performers to support their way of working. In cases where the introduction of workflow technology initially disrupted the flow of work, a wide range of configuration options was available to mend such situations. A detailed analysis of a workflow implementation in a Belgian financial organization clearly shows that re-configuration decisions, like a finer step granularity, can transform a pre-structured production-type workflow system into a flexible application allowing and supporting a smooth flow of work.status: publishe

Re-configuring workflow management systems to facilitate a "smooth flow of work"

The image of workflow systems as being context-insensitive technology, hindering rather than supporting people in performing their work may still exist at present. This impression is also raised in the well-known and often cited case study within Establishment Printers. Using this case as a starting point, this paper presents an analysis of more recent workflow implementations to support the view that modern workflow systems are widely applied in the services industry and are considered useful by performers to support their way of working. In cases where the introduction of workflow technology initially disrupted the flow of work, a wide range of configuration options was available to mend such situations. A detailed analysis of a workflow implementation in a Belgian financial organization clearly shows that re-configuration decisions, like a finer step granularity, can transform a pre-structured production-type workflow system into a flexible application allowing and supporting a smooth flow of work

Re-configuring workflow management systems to facilitate a "smooth flow of work"

The image of workflow systems as being context-insensitive technology, hindering rather than supporting people in performing their work may still exist at present. This impression is also raised in the well-known and often cited case study within Establishment Printers. Using this case as a starting point, this paper presents an analysis of more recent workflow implementations to support the view that modern workflow systems are widely applied in the services industry and are considered useful by performers to support their way of working. In cases where the introduction of workflow technology initially disrupted the flow of work, a wide range of configuration options was available to mend such situations. A detailed analysis of a workflow implementation in a Belgian financial organization clearly shows that re-configuration decisions, like a finer step granularity, can transform a pre-structured production-type workflow system into a flexible application allowing and supporting a smooth flow of work