ASSIGNMENT 1 Part II
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY Faculty of Science
Department of Computing ISYS301 Enterprise Systems Integration 2014 - Semester 2 http://unitguides.mq.edu.au/unit_offerings/6570/unit_guide
ASSIGNMENT 1 Part II 15 marks/15% of the semester Due: 18th September 2014 (Thursday) 5:00pm
To be submitted electronically using iLearn Please Print Clearly In CAPITALS Student Id#: Name:
Office Use Only: Task 1
4
Task 2
6
Task 3
5
Total mark
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
Assignment algorithm Task 1 – eBusiness background (4 marks) Explain how eBusiness (because of the internet) has transformed the structure of organisations, for example from a traditional organizational structure to a new organizational structure.1 2 -
what characterises the ‘new’ organizational structure? discuss the role in the new structure of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
Again as in the diagnostic assignment, use academic writing approaches. You should find references to support your argument (@700 words).
Task 2 – Business Process Modelling (6 marks) Macquarie Insurance Macquarie Insurance belongs to the Macquarie Group.3 Within the insurance company there is naturally a need to process claims or let us call them complaints. This process is relatively straightforward, but of course there are improvements that can be made to make the process more effective. The staff in the insurance claim processing section are represented in figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Complaint department with staff in processing, evaluation and support.
Briefly, the staff are: {Mike, Maria and Eric} in Evaluation (E) {Harry, Kate, Tracy, Bill} in Support (S) {Mike, Maria, Eric, Susan, Peter, John, Harry, Kate} in Processing (P) Note the overlap of some roles! An Activity Diagram showing how the basic complaint handling process works is displayed in figure 2 below. 1 2 3
i.e. week 3a slides – slide numbers 17 and 18. Academic writing approaches expected here (i.e. appendix 1 – diagnostic assignment). http://www.macquarie.com.au/mgl/au but in this case the scenario and company is fictional.
Page 2
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
Figure 2: Complaint handling process
To illustrate the concurrency of some processes a little better we can also model activities by way of Petri-nets,4 as shown in Figure 3 below. Here we see the basic life cycle of a single case for handling a compliant process using a Petri net approach.
Fig. 3: A Petri-net for the processing of complaints.
The overall steps for processing a complaint are as follows: 1. First the complaint is registered (task: Register), then there are two tasks, which are performed in parallel; a questionnaire is sent to the complainant (tasks: Send_Questionnaire) and the complaint is evaluated (task: Evaluate).
4
The Petri-net example is for your interest only – you are not required to produce a Petri-Net, but interested students may want to ‘google them’ to see what they are about!
Page 3
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
2. The next step is a conditional routing; if the complainant returns the questionnaire within two weeks, the task process questionnaire (task: Process_ Questionnaire) is executed. 3. If the questionnaire is not returned within two weeks, the result of the questionnaire is discarded (task: Time_Out). 4. Based on the result of the evaluation, either the complaint needs to be processed or not (conditional routing with tasks: Processing_Required and No_Processing). 5. The actual processing of the complaint (task: Process_Complaint) is delayed until the questionnaire is processed or a time-out has occurred. 6. The processing of the complaint is checked via task check processing (task: Check_Processing). If further processing is required then the task; ‘process complaint’ will be initiated as a result of iterative routing. 7. Finally, task archive (task: Archive) is executed. Table 2 in appendix 1 provides the basic ‘As-Is’ processes and costs for the above activity. Although it may appear that the above exercise is without cost, this is not the case! Quite a few of the ‘As Is’ processes in place are outdated. Processes could be made more efficient through re-engineering and/or taking certain processes and making them even more electronic in format (‘To Be’). Algorithm 1. Read pages 335-340 (section 12.6 - 12.7) with regard to BPMN (Papazoglou and Ribbers, 2006). These pages are included with this assignment. 2. The existing processes (Table 2) are to be modeled as the ‘As-Is’ Process (along the lines shown in figure 4 below) using IBM BPM Workbench Version 4.2, and a ‘To-Be’ process model (ADF Diagram) produced. a. Comparative metrics such as process cost and time are to be derived for both processes.5 b. You can make the following assumptions: • ‘As-Is’ and ‘To-Be’ process is typical of one ‘cycle’ of complaint handling. • Costs in the ‘To-Be’ process are only a preliminary feasibility and do not have to be highly accurate. c. You can use your initiative to modify some processes, if so, document/note your reasons why. HINT: a. Calculate the average costs for As-Is and To-Be b. Determine the cost savings (As-Is – To-Be) - If the To-Be cost is not cheaper than the As-Is, then redesign it! You will save the results of this process as your BPM file. Provide some examples of the metric (tabulated) data calculated in BPM as well. Screen dump (PrtSc) the results of this process into the appropriate section of the file AS WELL.
5
You can determine the cost and time for your metrics, along the lines of the practicals in weeks 2 and 3.
Page 4
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
Figure 4: Sample ‘As Is’ Order Items Process
Task 3 - Knowledge Management (5 marks)
What management is desirous of knowing, is how well the staff allocated to tasks (figure 1), actually work together in practice? As we saw from the Knowledge Management (KM) slides in week 1, Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a means of mapping actor or employee relationships. In examining relational networks among employees based on contact frequency, the complaint handling employees were asked to choose one of the options below for their general frequency of contact with colleagues.6 Contact Frequency: • • • • • •
6 - Hourly contact 5 - Every few hours 4 - Daily contact 3 - Once every couple of days 2 - Weekly 1 - Fortnightly
The result of this question is displayed in table 1 below:
Table 1: Sociomatrix of Actors /Employees7
6 7 8
.. this is usually done via a questionnaire … Marian is in fact Maria! Note E, P, S, PS … what do these mean?
Page 5
8
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
A sociogram (of sorts) resulting from table 1, may be seen in figure 5 below:
Figure 5: Partial sociogram of the above staff
Explain what is taking place via the sociomatrix and sociogram with regard to staff in Macquarie Insurance Group working together (@700 words). 9
9
Hint: Students aiming for a higher grade (4 or 5 out of 5) in this question, would again use academic writing approaches and find references to support their arguments!
Page 6
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
Appendix 1: Table 2: Process/Cost table Entities, Tasks, Decisions
Processing Register insurance claim Send questionnaire to complainant to determine if claim should proceed? a. If complainant returns questionnaire contact processing staff over claim b. If complainant does not return questionnaire then send questionnaire to archive Support If b. - questionnaire to be archived, support staff will record the request, print and store in store-room If a. - then send claim to evaluation staff Evaluation Evaluation staff further determine if claim is valid If claim valid, send to processing staff Processing Send to Susan for overall checking of complaint Susan okays complaint Processing staff record complaint in company systems Complaint is sent to Eric for evaluation for compensation owing. Evaluation Eric confers with Maria on past similar claims Maria checks the parameters of this claim and asks Bill in support what previous claims matched this one. Support Bill confers with records in the store-room Either Tracy or Bill send copy of similar claims back to Maria Evaluation Maria works out a claim amount and sends the amount to John or Peter
Current Document Type
Process Times Elapsed Working (min) (min)
Person responsible
Total Cost $
Paper form
15
10
Susan
25
Paper form
20
5
Peter
30
Email
5
3
John
5
Paper form
5
3
John
25
Paper form
10
5
Tracy
15
Paper form
10
5
Tracy
15
Paper form
60
20
Mike or Eric
40
Paper form
10
6
Mike or Eric
5
Paper form Email
10 5
4 1
Peter Susan
5 5
On-line
6
3
Peter or John
10
Paper form
5
3
Peter or John
15
Discussion
20
5
Eric, Maria
40
On-line and discussion
20
10
Maria, Bill
80
Paper form
15
5
Bill
20
Paper form
5
3
Tracy or Bill
15
Paper form
60
40
Maria
100
Page 7
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
Processing Either John or Peter record the amount of the claim in the system On-line Either John or Peter notify Kate that a record should be kept of the amount. Email Support Kate records the amount and places the copy in the store-room On-line, Paper form Tracy or Kate write a letter to the claimant revealing the amount awarded. Letter
7
3
John or Peter
20
5
3
John or Peter
5
5
3
Kate
15
30
20
Tracy or Kate
40
Table 1: One ‘As-Is’ cycle
Bibliography Macquarie Dictionary (1997) 3rd ed. Macquarie University Australia Papazoglou, M., Ribbers, P., (2006) e-Business: Organizational and Technical Foundations John Wiley & Sons West Sussex England
Page 8
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
Deliverables Soft copy 1. The BPM model as a zipped file10 2. One <doc> or file a. This assignment report as a <doc> or file should include detailed calculations or supporting data which should be relegated to appendices. b.
Use connectors in your ADF diagrams and export to your document using screen shots (PrtSc). I will require soft copies of your process models so I will be able to inspect the detail.
Submission 4. Place your soft copies (2 files) on iLearn. DATE DUE: 5:00 pm, Thursday 18th September.
10
Do not zip the 2 deliverables together.
Page 9
Department of Computing ISYS301 Enterprise Systems Integration 2014 - Semester 2 http://unitguides.mq.edu.au/unit_offerings/6570/unit_guide
ASSIGNMENT 1 Part II 15 marks/15% of the semester Due: 18th September 2014 (Thursday) 5:00pm
To be submitted electronically using iLearn Please Print Clearly In CAPITALS Student Id#: Name:
Office Use Only: Task 1
4
Task 2
6
Task 3
5
Total mark
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
Assignment algorithm Task 1 – eBusiness background (4 marks) Explain how eBusiness (because of the internet) has transformed the structure of organisations, for example from a traditional organizational structure to a new organizational structure.1 2 -
what characterises the ‘new’ organizational structure? discuss the role in the new structure of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
Again as in the diagnostic assignment, use academic writing approaches. You should find references to support your argument (@700 words).
Task 2 – Business Process Modelling (6 marks) Macquarie Insurance Macquarie Insurance belongs to the Macquarie Group.3 Within the insurance company there is naturally a need to process claims or let us call them complaints. This process is relatively straightforward, but of course there are improvements that can be made to make the process more effective. The staff in the insurance claim processing section are represented in figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Complaint department with staff in processing, evaluation and support.
Briefly, the staff are: {Mike, Maria and Eric} in Evaluation (E) {Harry, Kate, Tracy, Bill} in Support (S) {Mike, Maria, Eric, Susan, Peter, John, Harry, Kate} in Processing (P) Note the overlap of some roles! An Activity Diagram showing how the basic complaint handling process works is displayed in figure 2 below. 1 2 3
i.e. week 3a slides – slide numbers 17 and 18. Academic writing approaches expected here (i.e. appendix 1 – diagnostic assignment). http://www.macquarie.com.au/mgl/au but in this case the scenario and company is fictional.
Page 2
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
Figure 2: Complaint handling process
To illustrate the concurrency of some processes a little better we can also model activities by way of Petri-nets,4 as shown in Figure 3 below. Here we see the basic life cycle of a single case for handling a compliant process using a Petri net approach.
Fig. 3: A Petri-net for the processing of complaints.
The overall steps for processing a complaint are as follows: 1. First the complaint is registered (task: Register), then there are two tasks, which are performed in parallel; a questionnaire is sent to the complainant (tasks: Send_Questionnaire) and the complaint is evaluated (task: Evaluate).
4
The Petri-net example is for your interest only – you are not required to produce a Petri-Net, but interested students may want to ‘google them’ to see what they are about!
Page 3
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
2. The next step is a conditional routing; if the complainant returns the questionnaire within two weeks, the task process questionnaire (task: Process_ Questionnaire) is executed. 3. If the questionnaire is not returned within two weeks, the result of the questionnaire is discarded (task: Time_Out). 4. Based on the result of the evaluation, either the complaint needs to be processed or not (conditional routing with tasks: Processing_Required and No_Processing). 5. The actual processing of the complaint (task: Process_Complaint) is delayed until the questionnaire is processed or a time-out has occurred. 6. The processing of the complaint is checked via task check processing (task: Check_Processing). If further processing is required then the task; ‘process complaint’ will be initiated as a result of iterative routing. 7. Finally, task archive (task: Archive) is executed. Table 2 in appendix 1 provides the basic ‘As-Is’ processes and costs for the above activity. Although it may appear that the above exercise is without cost, this is not the case! Quite a few of the ‘As Is’ processes in place are outdated. Processes could be made more efficient through re-engineering and/or taking certain processes and making them even more electronic in format (‘To Be’). Algorithm 1. Read pages 335-340 (section 12.6 - 12.7) with regard to BPMN (Papazoglou and Ribbers, 2006). These pages are included with this assignment. 2. The existing processes (Table 2) are to be modeled as the ‘As-Is’ Process (along the lines shown in figure 4 below) using IBM BPM Workbench Version 4.2, and a ‘To-Be’ process model (ADF Diagram) produced. a. Comparative metrics such as process cost and time are to be derived for both processes.5 b. You can make the following assumptions: • ‘As-Is’ and ‘To-Be’ process is typical of one ‘cycle’ of complaint handling. • Costs in the ‘To-Be’ process are only a preliminary feasibility and do not have to be highly accurate. c. You can use your initiative to modify some processes, if so, document/note your reasons why. HINT: a. Calculate the average costs for As-Is and To-Be b. Determine the cost savings (As-Is – To-Be) - If the To-Be cost is not cheaper than the As-Is, then redesign it! You will save the results of this process as your BPM file. Provide some examples of the metric (tabulated) data calculated in BPM as well. Screen dump (PrtSc) the results of this process into the appropriate section of the file AS WELL.
5
You can determine the cost and time for your metrics, along the lines of the practicals in weeks 2 and 3.
Page 4
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
Figure 4: Sample ‘As Is’ Order Items Process
Task 3 - Knowledge Management (5 marks)
What management is desirous of knowing, is how well the staff allocated to tasks (figure 1), actually work together in practice? As we saw from the Knowledge Management (KM) slides in week 1, Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a means of mapping actor or employee relationships. In examining relational networks among employees based on contact frequency, the complaint handling employees were asked to choose one of the options below for their general frequency of contact with colleagues.6 Contact Frequency: • • • • • •
6 - Hourly contact 5 - Every few hours 4 - Daily contact 3 - Once every couple of days 2 - Weekly 1 - Fortnightly
The result of this question is displayed in table 1 below:
Table 1: Sociomatrix of Actors /Employees7
6 7 8
.. this is usually done via a questionnaire … Marian is in fact Maria! Note E, P, S, PS … what do these mean?
Page 5
8
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
A sociogram (of sorts) resulting from table 1, may be seen in figure 5 below:
Figure 5: Partial sociogram of the above staff
Explain what is taking place via the sociomatrix and sociogram with regard to staff in Macquarie Insurance Group working together (@700 words). 9
9
Hint: Students aiming for a higher grade (4 or 5 out of 5) in this question, would again use academic writing approaches and find references to support their arguments!
Page 6
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
Appendix 1: Table 2: Process/Cost table Entities, Tasks, Decisions
Processing Register insurance claim Send questionnaire to complainant to determine if claim should proceed? a. If complainant returns questionnaire contact processing staff over claim b. If complainant does not return questionnaire then send questionnaire to archive Support If b. - questionnaire to be archived, support staff will record the request, print and store in store-room If a. - then send claim to evaluation staff Evaluation Evaluation staff further determine if claim is valid If claim valid, send to processing staff Processing Send to Susan for overall checking of complaint Susan okays complaint Processing staff record complaint in company systems Complaint is sent to Eric for evaluation for compensation owing. Evaluation Eric confers with Maria on past similar claims Maria checks the parameters of this claim and asks Bill in support what previous claims matched this one. Support Bill confers with records in the store-room Either Tracy or Bill send copy of similar claims back to Maria Evaluation Maria works out a claim amount and sends the amount to John or Peter
Current Document Type
Process Times Elapsed Working (min) (min)
Person responsible
Total Cost $
Paper form
15
10
Susan
25
Paper form
20
5
Peter
30
5
3
John
5
Paper form
5
3
John
25
Paper form
10
5
Tracy
15
Paper form
10
5
Tracy
15
Paper form
60
20
Mike or Eric
40
Paper form
10
6
Mike or Eric
5
Paper form Email
10 5
4 1
Peter Susan
5 5
On-line
6
3
Peter or John
10
Paper form
5
3
Peter or John
15
Discussion
20
5
Eric, Maria
40
On-line and discussion
20
10
Maria, Bill
80
Paper form
15
5
Bill
20
Paper form
5
3
Tracy or Bill
15
Paper form
60
40
Maria
100
Page 7
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
Processing Either John or Peter record the amount of the claim in the system On-line Either John or Peter notify Kate that a record should be kept of the amount. Email Support Kate records the amount and places the copy in the store-room On-line, Paper form Tracy or Kate write a letter to the claimant revealing the amount awarded. Letter
7
3
John or Peter
20
5
3
John or Peter
5
5
3
Kate
15
30
20
Tracy or Kate
40
Table 1: One ‘As-Is’ cycle
Bibliography Macquarie Dictionary (1997) 3rd ed. Macquarie University Australia Papazoglou, M., Ribbers, P., (2006) e-Business: Organizational and Technical Foundations John Wiley & Sons West Sussex England
Page 8
ISYS301 Assignment 1
Semester 2, 2014
Deliverables Soft copy 1. The BPM model as a zipped file10 2. One <doc> or file a. This assignment report as a <doc> or file should include detailed calculations or supporting data which should be relegated to appendices. b.
Use connectors in your ADF diagrams and export to your document using screen shots (PrtSc). I will require soft copies of your process models so I will be able to inspect the detail.
Submission 4. Place your soft copies (2 files) on iLearn. DATE DUE: 5:00 pm, Thursday 18th September.
10
Do not zip the 2 deliverables together.
Page 9
