Knock-out heuristic : quantification of the implementation

This report has been written as a result of a simulation study in which the impact of the implementation of a particular redesign heuristic has been quantified. The heuristic investigated in this study is the knock-out heuristic (Reijers, 2003), (Van der Aalst, 2000). In order to be able to make a quantification of the impact of the implementation, a set of models has been created. These models have been simulated and the results have been analyzed and compared. Finally conclusions have been drawn, based on the results of the output analysi

Triage heuristic : quantification of the implementation

This report has been written as a result of a simulation study in which the impact of the implementation of a particular redesign heuristic has been quantified. The heuristic investigated in this study is the triage heuristic (Reijers, 2003). In order to be able to make a quantification of the impact of the implementation, a set of models has been created. These models have been simulated and the results have been analyzed and compared. Finally conclusions have been drawn, based on the results of the output analysis

Business process redesign for effective e-commerce processes in the service industry

Many companies have found out the hard way that successful e-commerce requires more than a flashy web presence. Existing business processes must be seamlessly integrated with the new, electronic form of interaction with suppliers and customers. Despite this insight, little research has focused on the transformation of doing business to achieve the presumed benefits of e-commerce. This paper gives directions on how processes may be reengineered with this aim, particularly within the service industry. The presented views are based on existing research into Business Process Reengineering best practices. Careful consideration in this paper is given to the description ofthe conceptual background, which is used to classify existing research and to position the contribution of this paper. The guidelines which are discussed are illustrated by process models, represented by UML Activity diagrams

Workflow patterns modelled in Arena

This document describes briefly how to translate certain workflow patterns into the simulation language Arena. The patterns used for translation are described in [1] and [2]. We refer to these references to learn more about workflow patterns. Because of the complexity of the simulation program Arena, we refer to [3] to learn more about Arena. This document is understandable without the use of books or websites, but a bit of experience with Arena would be preferable. Every modelling language has its own specific advantages and disadvantages. Arena has one major disadvantage when modelling workflow patterns; the way it deals with variables and attributes. The next chapter will give an explanation with an example to make this point clear. This document describes six groups of workflow patterns that have been translated. Each group consists of a certain number of patterns with an own specific behaviour. The six groups are: 1. Basic control patterns 2. Advanced branching and synchronization patterns 3. Structural Patterns 4. Patterns involving multiple instances 5. State-based patterns 6. Cancellation patterns For each workflow pattern a short description will be given. We used the Petri net notation to give an example of the patterns and refer to [2] for a flash animation of each pattern that shows the behaviour of each pattern in a very clear and understandable way. Finally each pattern will end with an explanation how to model the pattern in Arena. A short description will be given how the pattern can be modelled or why the patterns cannot be modelled in a straightforward manner in Arena. Then the graphical notation in Arena will be shown and tables with the settings for each building block will make this document reliable in a sense that it is repeatable. After the translation of the individual patterns, a real life case study will be modelled in Arena. The case study used, is described in [4, page 179]. The workflow and properties of the workflow including the resources will be given, and the direct translation of this workflow in Arena will be described. Finally a conclusion will be derived

Configurable Process Models as a Basis for Reference Modeling

Off-the-shelf packages such as SAP need to be configured to suit the requirements of an organization. Reference models support the configuration of these systems. Existing reference models use rather traditional languages. For example, the SAP reference model uses Eventdriven Process Chains (EPCs). Unfortunately, traditional languages like EPCs do not capture the configuration-aspects well. Consider for example the concept of "choice" in the control-flow perspective. Although any process modeling language, including EPCs, offers a choice construct (e.g., the XOR connector in EPCs), a single construct will not be able to capture the time dimension, scope, and impact of a decision. Some decisions are taken at run-time for a single case while other decisions are taken at build-time impacting a whole organization and all current and future cases. This position paper discusses the need for configurable process models as a basic building block for reference modeling. The focus is on the control-flow perspective. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006

BPR best practices for the healthcare domain

Healthcare providers are under pressure to work more efficiently and in a more patient-focused way. One possible way to achieve this is to launch Business Process Redesign (BPR) initiatives, which focus on changing the structure of the involved processes and using IT as an enabler for such changes. In this paper, we argue that a list of historically successful improvement tactics, the BPR best practices, are a highly suitable ingredient for such efforts in the healthcare domain. Our assessment is based on the analysis of 14 case studies. The insights obtained by the analysis also led to an extension of the original set of best practices