Business Process Model (BPM)

Definitions

Business Process Model (BPM)

the architecture work product that is typically produced during the business architecting activity that documents the customer organization’s business processes

Objectives

The objectives of the business process model are to document the customer organization's business in terms of its:

• Existing business processes.
• Rearchitected business processes.

Benefits

The typical benefits of the business process model are:

• It analyzes the most important processes and workflows in the business.
• It presents these processes in a new organized manner that helps the customer organization better understand their business.

Contents

The typical contents of the business process model are:

• Overview:
  • Major Processes (and Work Flows)
• For each Process X:
  • Description
  • Goals
  • Benefits (value proposition)
  • Stakeholders
  • Preconditions
  • Steps (via list, sequence diagram, or activity diagram)
  • Postconditions
• Conclusion
• Appendices:
  • Major Issues
  • TBDs
  • Assumptions

Stakeholders

The typical stakeholders of the business process model are:

• Producers:
  • Architecture Team
• Evaluators:
  • Architecture Inspection Team
  • Customer Organization, which inspects the content for correctness
• Approvers:
  • Technical Leader
  • Project Manager
  • Customer Representative
• Maintainer: Architecture Team
• Users:
  • Business engineering architecture team, which uses the business process model during the rearchitecting of the customer organization's business.

Phases

• Initiation: Completed
• Construction: Maintained
• Delivery: Maintained
• Usage: Maintained
• Retirement: Archived

Preconditions

The business process model typically can be started if the following preconditions hold:

• The initiation phase is started.
• The architecture team has been staffed and trained in process modeling.

Inputs

The typical inputs to the business process model include:

• Work Products:
  • Glossary
  • Customer Analysis
  • Market Analysis
  • User Analysis
  • Business Vision Statement
  • Business Object Model
• Stakeholders:
  • Business Domain Experts

Guidelines

• This is a living document that is developed incrementally and iteratively in parallel with other documents.
• The business process model typically starts by modeling the original business and evolves until it models the newly architected business.
• A copy of the business process model for the original business is often archived so as to enable a clear before/after comparison.

Conventions

The business process model is typically constrained by the following conventions:

• Work Flow
• Content and Format Standard
• MS Word Template
• XML Template
• Inspection Checklist

Examples

• Example Business Process Model