Aligning business processes and work practices

Current business process modeling methodologies offer little guidance regarding how to keep business process models aligned with their actual execution. This paper describes how to achieve this goal by uncovering and supervising business process models in connection with work practices using BAM. BAM is a methodology for business process modeling, supervision and improvement that works at two dimensions; the dimension of processes and the dimension of work practices. The business modeling component of BAM is illustrated with a case study in an organizational setting

Business process and practice alignment meta-model

Business Process Modelling (BPM) is one of the most important phases of information system design. Business Process meta-models allow capturing informational and behavioural aspects of business processes. Unfortunately, standard business process meta-modelling approaches, such as the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) Meta-model, Quality-Oriented Business Process Meta-Model (QOBPM) and Transactional Meta-Model for Business Process (TMBP) focus just on process description, providing different business process models. According to these meta-modelling approaches, it is not possible to compare and identify related daily practices in order to improve business process models. This lack of information recognizes that further research in Business Process (BP) meta-model is needed to reflect the evolution/change on software processes. Considering this limitation in BP meta-modelling, this paper presents a comparative study of the most recognized business process meta-models approaches and introduces a new BP meta-model designed by Business Process and Practice Alignment Meta-model (BPPAMeta-model). Our intention is to present observed problems in existing approaches and propose a business process meta-model that addresses features related to the alignment between daily work practices and business process descriptions. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

Contribution of EQA to improve Preanalytical practices by systematic verification of Laboratory Services

International literature describes the preanalytical phase as the most susceptible to errors due to the numerous non automated activities it involves Most EQA organizers offer preanalytical schemes to participants. There are basically three types of surveys procedures registration, samples circulation and errors registration The Portuguese EQA Programme ( provides these type of schemes for 13 years, using as a guide the ISO 15189 2012 In order to improve the evaluation of the preanalytical phase, PNAEQ recently launched two other preanalytical EQA schemes, mystery client and presential audits in 2015 and 2016 respectively. The aim of the mystery client survey is to verify whether the information provided to the patient is constant regardless the day and time or if it is dependent on the collaborator. The aim of the presential audit survey is to give the participants a tool to verify if the procedures performed daily are in accordance with laboratorial good practices recommendations. Conclusions: Results from Mystery Client surveys demonstrate the need for written procedures and harmonization of practices for all collaborators, as more than a third of the responses differed in date/time and operator in a global view. In the Presential Audit surveys we highlight as critical points the results regarding questions 3 5 and 6 as they point to specific problems that occurred during the blood collection procedure, such as operator and patient safety, as well as the quality of the sample collected, suggesting the need to review legal and normative issues and to train collaborators. Participants who use systematically these two methodologies are monitoring some of the requirements of ISO 15189:2012, namely 4. 1.2.6, 4.3, 4.4.1, 4.14, 5.4.2 (both), 5.4.4.2 (mystery client) and 5.1.2, 5.2.2, 5.2.5, 5.3.2.5, 5.3.2.7, 5.4.4 (presential audit), contributing to release reliable results for medical decisions. For the future, we will extend the questions and items in evaluation in these two surveys to Microbiology area and continuing to offer training in Preanalytical matters.N/

Projeto transversal em Engenharia Informática: continuidade nas unidades curriculares

O projeto transversal a várias unidades curriculares (UCs) constitui uma metodologia de ensino inovadora em qualquer sistema de ensino. O projeto mencionado neste trabalho consiste na construção de uma aplicação informática para organizações reais, indo além da dinâmica da sala de aula e exigindo a interação com o meio exterior. Este documento descreve o projeto transversal a quatro Unidades Curriculares do primeiro ciclo em Engenharia Informática. Uma vez que se pretende analisar a importância deste tipo de metodologia de trabalho, apresentamos estatísticas descritivas resultantes de questionários feitos aos alunos.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Towards a maturity model for higher education institutions

The adoption of business process improvement strategies is currently a concern of most organizations. The quest for the benefits of this improvement on resource optimization and the responsiveness of the organizations has raised several proposals for process improvement methodologies. These approaches differ both in the principles that support them, and in the specific area to which they are intended. However, proposals and results of scientific research on process improvement in higher education institutions, extremely complex and unique organizations, are still scarce. This research project aims to propose an extension to a business process maturity model for this particular type of organizations

Collaborative methods for business process discovery

Information flows across the organization are complex and procedures employed to understand, share and control organizational knowledge and experiences should be properly supported by collaborative environments. Nevertheless, few collaborative methodologies had been proposed to describe and evolve business processes. Existing tools don't provide the right methods for business processes discovery, modelling, monitoring and improvement. In the future, business processes models should be the result of cross-team and cross-departmental collaboration, with involved business people sharing their personal knowledge and formalizing it. This discussion paper focuses on collaborative process discovery methods, tools and the importance to integrate local information into coherent and sound process definitions. Business Alignment Methodology is a methodology that provides guidance about how organizational practices and knowledge are gathered to contribute for business process improvement against current Business Process Modelling approaches

Modelo de maturação de processos em Instituições de Ensino Superior

A adopção de estratégias de melhoria de processos de negócio é actualmente uma procupação de qualquer organização. Os benefícios desta melhoria na optimização dos recursos e na capacidade de resposta das organizações tem suscitado diversas propostas de metodologias de melhoria de processos. Estas diferem quer nos princípios que as suportam, quer na área específica a que se destinam. No entanto, são ainda escassas as propostas e os resultados de investigação científica acerca da melhoria de processos em instituições de ensino superior, extremamente complexas e com características únicas. Este projecto de investigação pretende propôr a extensão de um modelo de melhoria de processos para este tipo específico de organizações. Este trabalho está a ser desenvolvido no âmbito do projecto de Doutoramento em Engenharia Informática.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Performance of PNAEQ participant’s results for HIV and HCV infection in the First EQA round 2019

The Portuguese National External Quality Assessment Program (PNAEQ) has been collaborating with Labquality since 2002. One of the first schemes distributed to PNAEQ participants was for HIV laboratory tests, followed by HCV laboratory tests scheme in 2003. A suitable scheme for Point of Care Testing (POCT) is available for HIV since 2012 and for HCV since 2018. Given the burden of HIV and HCV diseases, the Portuguese legislation allows, since 2018, that other locations than laboratories, such as pharmacies and Non-Governmental-Organizations (NGOs), perform tests for detect HIV and HCV infection. For this purpose, and in order to assure reliable results that leads to an early correct diagnostic and a timely treatment, leading to a decrease in the person-to-person transmission of HIV and HCV infection, a specific training to perform POCT for HIV and HCV is mandatory for these entities, as well as the participation in such EQA schemes, namely the PNAEQ-Labquality. The performance of PNAEQ participants for HIV and HCV tests in the First EQA round 2019 was considered in general good. For HIV POCT, the user that reported an undetermined result proceeded correctly requesting a second sample for confirmation. Regarding the two incorrect results reported by laboratories, it is necessary to review the internal validation procedure and revalidation of the laboratory test, and implement corrective and preventive actions. The training of participants that used POCT for the first time proved to be effective in acquiring skills to perform the tests properly. PNAEQ will continue to provide education and training in quality control and motivate all the participants to continuously evaluate the results from the internal quality control and the reports from the external quality assessment.N/

Maintenance Planning of aircraft in a fusion environment: identification of method of success

The proposal of this paper is to analyze the airlines maintenance planning processes in a merger environment, in order to propose a method that enables the construction of a single process. The methodology used was a case report. The competition between companies is increasing by the globalized world, consequently process management and planning become strategic for the company to remain competitive. In this globalized world is also increasingly the amount of cases of merger and acquisitions. In this context, the present paper analyzes the definition of the airline maintenance planning processes in a moment of merger, with the purpose of recommending a method that guarantees the efficiency of the unification of the processes. The result of the analysis confirms that it is possible to define a successful method for an aircraft maintenance planning processes in a merger case. The method is composed of four steps, definition of culture, involvement of top management, process mapping and process definition