Admin at 11:05, 19 September 2018

2018-09-19T11:05:25Z

Admin at 11:02, 19 September 2018

2018-09-19T11:02:09Z

Admin: Created page with "{{DISPLAYTITLE: Working with the SAP SAP Process Lifecycle}} == Introduction to Working with the SAP Process Lifecycle == Business processes are collections of one or more lin..."

2018-09-19T11:01:26Z

Created page with "{{DISPLAYTITLE: Working with the SAP SAP Process Lifecycle}} == Introduction to Working with the SAP Process Lifecycle == Business processes are collections of one or more lin..."

New page

{{DISPLAYTITLE: Working with the SAP SAP Process Lifecycle}}
== Introduction to Working with the SAP Process Lifecycle ==
Business processes are collections of one or more linked activities which realize a business objective or policy goal, such as fulfilling a business contract, and/or satisfying a specific customer need. The lifecycle of a business process involves everything from setting up process goals and requirements, capturing the processes in a computerized representation as well as automating the processes. This typically includes specific steps for measuring, evaluating, and improving the processes. Currently, commercially available workflow management systems (WFMSs) and business process modelling tools (BPMTs) provide for complementary aspects of business SAP Process Lifecycle management.

Furthermore, new concepts and interoperating tools in these categories are emerging to provide comprehensive support for managing the entire business SAP Process Lifecycle. In this chapter we provide an overview and an evaluation of the process analysis, design, build, implementation, governance and continuous improvement phases as well as with details around process modelling, analysis, automation, and coordination capabilities. Since the lifecycle represents the course of developmental changes through which the process evolves in terms of transformation and/or innovation as it passes through 6 different phases during its lifetime. From process analysis, process design, process construction, process deployment, implementation as well as process governance and continuous improvements, the lifecycle helps guide the practitioners to complete categorizations of process areas and groups as well as the mapping of processes, their steps and activities, the process operations, process improvements and planned changes for the future using Change Management as a driving force in the project.

The SAP Process Lifecycle thereby consists of a set of steps/phases in which each phase uses the results of the previous one. It provides a highly useful sequence of phases and steps that any Business Analyst, Process eXpert, Process Engineer, Process Architect, Business Architect and/or Enterprise Architect can follow during any of their planned process-related projects with their teams regardless of which organization they’re part of. Different process methods and approaches (e.g. BPR, BPM, LEAN and Six Sigma) exist today, but no end-to-end BPM Lifecycle models has been developed in the market thus far, however parts of the BPM Lifecycle can be found within COBIT and ITIL v2 and v3, which are both Application and Service Lifecycle concepts that concentrate only very little on process maturity and the architectural aspects of processes.

The proposed BPM Lifecycle concept interlinks and can be integrated with the previously mentioned lifecycles and helps practitioners place focus on all process-relevant aspects from business and application requirements to process modelling and process architecture.

[[File:Working with the Process Lifecycle - Figure 1.png|thumb|800px|left|alt=Figure 1: The BPM Lifecycle at a glance.|Figure 1: The BPM Lifecycle at a glance.]]

=== Phase 1: Analyze – Project Preparation & Blueprint ===
The ultimate goal when we model business processes is to describe what the business does in a hierarchy of detail from a high level down to the level where documents and other types of specific information components become visible. But when we analyze processes, the information we discover will come from many sources and at many levels of abstraction and granularity. It helps ensure consistency and completeness if we try to answer the same questions for each process that we encounter throughout the current landscape relevant to the processes. In this content process analysis is a step-by-step breakdown of all the relevant process aspects, including the inputs, outputs, and the BPM CoE operations that take place during the phase.

[[File:Working with the Process Lifecycle - Figure 2.png|thumb|250px|alt=Figure 2: The Analyze phase of the BPM Lifecycle.|Figure 2: The Analyze phase of the BPM Lifecycle.]]

As an example, if our goals are strategic, we would be taking a top-down approach and interviewing senior executives or managers with a holistic and big picture view of an organization to identify the critical business factors and the process goals. Process recognition on this level tends to yield processes that are very abstract or very generic, partitioning activity into large, goal-oriented chunks.

Among the questions whose answers describe processes at this level are:
*What are the critical business factors?
*Which processes exist?
*What is the name of the processes?
*What are the goal and/or purpose of the processes?
*What industries, functional areas, or organizations are involved with the processes?
*Who are the stakeholders, owners and/or participants in the processes?
*What is the process landscape?
*Does process reference content exist that could be used?
*Are there any problems with the current processes?

The process analysis phase can therefore be used to improve understanding of how the process operates, and to determine potential targets for process alignment with business goals and identify increasing efficiency. Asking questions and recording their answers in a disciplined way rapidly creates a web of related information about interconnected processes from which we can develop models.

The various BPM roles will get more useful information if they both ask questions and record the answers, using;
#a standard vocabulary and definitions for the various process concepts described (see BPM Ontology)
#process reference content that already exists, within the domain the organization is working in.

In the following we will show various reference content that exist. The 1st phase, the Process Analysis Phase, is where the organization’s processes are analyzed, captured and defined and based on the business goals and specific process requirements (e.g. business needs and wants), as well as any interlinked business and process demands. Process goals and detailed process requirements are defined, and process choices are clarified through process blueprinting and the initial process maps are populated with the identified processes. Traditional output of the analyze phase would be problem analysis, AS-IS analysis, measurement analysis as well as establish business goals. This phase includes a link to change management and the Continuous Improvement loop through Change Management of the BPM Lifecycle, and the degree of changes made during this phase is considered to be high.

=== Phase 2: Design – Project Realization & Design ===
Business process design is the method by which an organization understands and defines the business activities that enable it to function. Process design is concerned with designing a business’ processes to ensure that they are optimized, effective, meet customer requirements and demands, and support and sustain organizational development and growth. A well-designed process will improve efficiency, deliver greater productivity and create more business value.

The most common initiatives behind business process design projects are:
*customer and supply chain management;
*operational performance improvement;
*business process integration, standardization and automation;
*cost reduction; and
*creating new business opportunities.

[[File:Working with the Process Lifecycle - Figure 3.png|thumb|250px|left|alt=Figure 2: The Design phase of the BPM Lifecycle.|Figure 2: The Design phase of the BPM Lifecycle.]]

Business process design typically occurs as an early, critical phase in BPM projects, rather than as an end in itself. The goal of the overall project is to implement business change, whether that change is primarily organizational (by improving the business’ operating processes), technical (implementing or integrating software systems), or a combination of the two.

In a process improvement project, the focus of the business process design phase is to streamline the process: to understand and measure the requirements, and to eliminate the risk of losing value through inefficient or inappropriate activities. In a technology implementation project, the focus is on understanding the processes that are being automated, and ensuring that the appropriate technology is selected, configured and implemented to support them. In both cases, the process designs activities can range from modest (e.g. tweak existing processes and look for some quick wins) to aggressive (e.g. identify major opportunities to increase value or drive down costs through radical process improvement or outsourcing). In short, business process design is a tool that can serve many different kinds of projects.

The 2nd phase, the Process Design Phase, is where the BPM CoE organization initiates, aligns, arranges, categorizes, defines, determines, as well as quantifies, drafts, outlines and designs the processes and the process structures. The process design phase considers the identified business requirements and the specific process design considerations for the processes, steps and activities as well as events and gateways. Relating requirements and goals to the identified processes, applies the composition principles and therefore process matrices are created to assist project teams in relating the relevant aspects. This phase also includes change management aspects of the defined process innovation and/or transformation. The Continuous Improvement feedback loop through Change Management of the BPM Lifecycle, and the degree of changes made during this phase is considered to be medium/high.

=== Phase 3: Build – Final Project Preparation ===
Process models (on all process levels 1-5) are created as flow charts to give a clear, graphical indication of what happens when. High level process models (process levels 1-2) – usually referred to as Value Chain Diagrams (VCDs) – are used to illustrate how primary and supporting (secondary) business units work together in order to fulfill one or more specific goals. A value chain is then a chain of activities that an organization performs in order to deliver a product or a service to the customer (whether internal or external).

[[File:Working with the Process Lifecycle - Figure 4.png|thumb|250px|left|alt=Figure 3: The Build phase of the BPM Lifecycle.|Figure 3: The Build phase of the BPM Lifecycle.]]

Business process models (process level 3) are used to demonstrate the activities of an organization or within or around a specific project team (they can also move across multiple business units), such as planning activities, people’s actions (what they do), and reactions (internal and/or external outputs) necessary to carry out given tasks within the organization. Creating a business process model allows employees an easy-to-use reference guide of the tasks expected of them including the responsibilities and steps necessary to complete the tasks correctly and proficiently. Not only will this aid the employees in executing their task more efficiently, but also their competency will translate into better business behavior and ability to better facilitate the customers.

Business Process Modelling Notations (BPMN) models (process levels 4 and 5) is a standard for business process modeling that provides a graphical notation for specifying business processes in a Business Process Diagram (BPD), based on a flowcharting technique very similar to activity diagrams from Unified Modelling Language (UML). The objective of BPMN is to support business process management, for both technical users and business users, by providing a notation that is intuitive to business users, yet able to represent complex process semantics. The BPMN specification also provides a mapping between the graphics of the notation and the underlying constructs of execution languages, particularly Business Process Execution Language (BPEL).

The primary goal of BPMN is to provide a standard notation readily understandable by all stakeholders. These include the process experts, process engineers and process architects who create and refine the processes, the technical developers (process engineers and process architects) responsible for implementing them, and the business managers (process owners, process experts, process architects and business analysts) who monitor and manage them. Consequently, BPMN serves as a common language, bridging the communication gap that frequently occurs between business process design and implementation.

Regardless of whether a business process model’s level (levels 1-5, the higher the more detailed, i.e. level 4 and 5 are considered BPMN diagrams), the same rules apply to all process models.

A business process therefore:
#Has a goal.
#Have specific inputs.
#Have specific outputs.
#Uses resources.
#Have a number of activities that are performed in some order.
#May affect more than one organizational unit.
#Creates value of some kind for the customer (internal or external).

The 3rd phase, the Process Build Phase, is where the BPM CoE organization builds, creates, develops and crafts the processes and the process structures of the organization. The process build phase takes into account the identified business requirements and the different process design solutions that have been generated for the purpose of process construction. This phase is where the process models (i.e. BPM Notations) are created. This phase also includes Change Management aspects of the To-Be process innovation and/or transformation enabled in the value driven process design. The Continuous Improvement feedback loop through Change Management of the BPM Lifecycle, and the degree of changes made during this phase is considered to be low/medium.

=== Phase 4: Deploy/Implement - Go Live ===
The 4th phase, the Process Deployment & Implementation phase, is where the organization launches, implements, executes, deploys, activates, completes, concludes and transitions the processes to execution (go live). The Process Release & Deployment Management in the BPM Lifecycle aims to plan, schedule and control the movement of releases to test in live environments. The primary goal of Release & Deployment Management is to ensure that the integrity of the live environment is protected and that the correct components are released on time and without errors.

[[File:Working with the Process Lifecycle - Figure 5.png|thumb|250px|left|alt=Figure 4: The Deploy/Implement phase of the BPM Lifecycle.|Figure 4: The Deploy/Implement phase of the BPM Lifecycle.]]

Release & Deployment Management aims to build, test and deliver services to the customers specified by process design by deploy releases into operation, and establish effective use of the service in order to deliver value to the customer. As illustrated in figure 11, process implementation involves multiple aspects from coordination with process owners, change management to process training.

=== Phase 5: Run/Maintain – Run Processes & Govern Performance ===
The 5th phase, the Process Run & Maintain Phase, is where we govern and monitor the active processes that were deployed and implemented during the previous phase. Governance, derived from the greek verb [kubernáo] - which means to steer - is essentially the act of governing what already exists or is in the process of getting developed, deployed/implemented and/or something that is running.

[[File:Working with the Process Lifecycle - Figure 6.png|thumb|250px|left|alt=Figure 5: The Run/Maintain phase of the BPM Lifecycle.|Figure 5: The Run/Maintain phase of the BPM Lifecycle.]]

The LEADing Practice Way of Process Governance relates to decisions and guidance that define expectations and direction, grant power, or verify and ensure value identification and creation. It consists of process governance within the entire SAP Process Lifecycle in terms of process analysis, process design, process construction (build), process implementation, process execution (run/maintain), and allows for process monitoring and governance as well as continuous process improvements and optimization disciplines.

The governance phase also includes the many different relationships among the many practitioners in the mentioned phases to ensure that each task enables specific value identification, creation and realization in achieving the outlined goals. Process governance involves setting standards and priorities for BPM efforts, identifying process governance leaders and defining BPM project participant roles - all for the purpose of executing and improving upon an organization’s process transformation and innovation strategies. The ultimate goal of both business governance and process governance is to both optimize an organization’s business processes and make workflow more efficient and effective by implementing and using the built-in continuous improvement concept during phase 6 of the BPM Lifecycle.

As a part of the continuous improvement concept, the process governance steps includes the establishment of internal BPM or process centers of excellence or competency centers to share process improvement, best practices as well as leading practices applied within the organization, and spread awareness of the process standards and priorities. Process governance also works to monitor and document both the successes and shortcomings of an organization’s operational execution.
In Business Process Management an additional purpose of governance is to assure (sometimes on behalf of others in terms of stakeholders) that an organization produces the defined pattern of good results while avoiding an undesirable pattern of bad circumstances. Therefore, the process governance and continuous improvement processes and systems are typically administered by a governance body.

Business process governance is often overseen by teams made up of both business and IT professionals. The daily process governance consists of assuring, on behalf of those governed, the desired business innovation, transformation and value creation while avoiding an undesirable pattern of high cost, process ineffectiveness and process inefficiency (low performance). Process governance therefore consists of the set of governance gates within the lifecycle that ensures quality and value aspects within the various phases and tasks.

=== Phase 6: Continuous Improvement – Continuously Optimize & Develop Processes ===
Business Process Improvement (BPI) is a systematic approach to help an organization optimize its underlying processes to achieve more efficient results. The methodology was first documented in H. James Harrington’s 1991 book Business Process Improvement . It is the methodology that both Process Redesign and Business Process Reengineering are based upon. BPI has allegedly been responsible for reducing cost and cycle time by as much as 90% while improving quality by over 60%. In the meantime the idea and concept of Continuous Improvement (CI) or Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) is applied in multiple areas.

[[File:Working with the Process Lifecycle - Figure 7.png|thumb|250px|left|alt=Figure 6: The Continuous Development phase of the BPM Lifecycle.|Figure 6: The Continuous Development phase of the BPM Lifecycle.]]

There are many frameworks, methods and approaches that have some sort of CI and or CPI incorporated in one or the other way as an ongoing effort to improve products, services or processes.

To mention some:
*Business process reengineering
*Six Sigma
*TOC Lean Six Sigma
*Kaizen
*Toyota Production System
*Zero Defect
*Mottainai
*Muda
*Total productive maintenance

Many critics of these approaches however claim that these methods are more resource and thereby cost-cutting focused and that the measures come at the expense of fair labor practices and quality products. They argue furthermore that real Continuous Improvement governance models would have to consider more than only cost drivers. They would have to incorporate both performance/cost as well as value drivers in order to link to business transformation and innovation aspects.

'''Document''': [[Media:Working with the Business Process Management Lifecycle.pdf|Download the Working with the Business Process Management Lifecycle document]]

[[Category: Process Management and Process Optimization]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:05, 19 September 2018
Line 142:		Line 142:
	'''Document''': [[Media:Working with the Business Process Management Lifecycle.pdf\|Download the Working with the Business Process Management Lifecycle document]]		'''Document''': [[Media:Working with the Business Process Management Lifecycle.pdf\|Download the Working with the Business Process Management Lifecycle document]]

−	[[Category: ~~Process Management and Process Optimization~~]]	+	[[Category: Processes for SAP]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:02, 19 September 2018
Line 10:		Line 10:


−	[[File:Working with the Process Lifecycle - Figure 1.png\|thumb\|~~800px~~\|left\|alt=Figure 1: The BPM Lifecycle at a glance.\|Figure 1: The BPM Lifecycle at a glance.]]	+	[[File:Working with the Process Lifecycle - Figure 1.png\|thumb\|1400px\|left\|alt=Figure 1: The BPM Lifecycle at a glance.\|Figure 1: The BPM Lifecycle at a glance.]]

LEAD Reference Content:Working with the SAP Process Lifecycle - Revision history

Admin at 11:05, 19 September 2018

Admin at 11:02, 19 September 2018

Admin: Created page with "{{DISPLAYTITLE: Working with the SAP SAP Process Lifecycle}} == Introduction to Working with the SAP Process Lifecycle == Business processes are collections of one or more lin..."