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Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

Business Processes and Knowledge Work

Knut Hinkelmann


Motivation

■ Knowledge is increasingly used to differentiate physical goods, to diversify them into product-related services and to offer smart services.

■ Thus, knowledge work and knowledge workersare key to the success of many enterprises

■ Knowledge work is part of business processes.

■ Business Process Management, however, is often regarded as incompatible with the autonomy and work approaches of knowledge workers, because it is associated only with structured processes.

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Processes

Knowledge Work

?



Work Patterns of Knowledge WorkersPercent of the Day Spent in Different Modes

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Most of a knowledge worker’s day is spent working toward an identified outcome, yet the means for achieving this cannot be predetermined

Demand for agility at run timeBusiness Processes and Knowledge Work

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 4

Exercise Knowledge Work


Some categories of knowledge work

■ Decision-Making♦ Making a choice between

different alternatives.

■ Diagnosis♦ identification of the nature and

cause of anything; (can be a prerequisite for solving a problem)

■ Problem Solving♦ Finding solutions to a problem

satisfying specified goals

■ Design♦ construction of an artifact (object

or a system), satisfying a set of requirements, subject to constraints

■ Configuration♦ special case of design activity,

where the artifact being configured is assembled from instances of a fixed set of component types

■ Planning♦ organizing activities to achieve a

desired goal

5Business Processes and Knowledge Work


Types of Knowledge Work according to (Davenport 2010)

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(Davenport 2010)Business Processes and Knowledge Work


Process-orientation for Knoweldge Workersaccording to (Davenport 2010)Transaction workers. Need to understand the flow of their work and the

knowledge needed to perform it, but rarely have time to consult guidelines or knowledge sources. Process flow can be added into IT applications (workflows) bringing required information to the worker.

Integration workers. It is possible to articulate the process to be followed, e.g. by "standard operating procedures". Workers typically have enough time and discretion to consult the description.

Expert workers. High autonomy and discretion in the work. Expert knowledge work can be improved by providing templates, sample outputs, and high-level guidelines instead of specifying detailedprocess models.

Collaboration workers. If external knowledge and information are necessary to do the job, they must generally be made available through repositories and documents

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(Davenport 2010)Business Processes and Knowledge Work


Exercise: Categorization of Knowledge Work

https://goo.gl/forms/fwGLIwq9TOdgJNS42


Process Logic vs. Business Logic

Business Processes and Knowledge Work 9


Process versus Practice in Knowledge Work

■ Davenport distinguishes between process and practice♦ Process – the design for which work is to be done

● Process Logic♦ Practice – an understanding of how individual workers respond

to the real world of work and accomplish their assigned tasks● Business Logic

■ This roughly corresponds to the destinction between "flow" and"know"♦ "flow" is the process logic♦ "know" is the execution of tasks (business logic, practice)

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(Davenport 2010, p. 22ff)



Knowledge and Processes

knowledge in processes: • supports practice• skills, experiences• know how business logic

used at run time

knowledge about processes: • process flow• roles• resources process logic

used at design time

expertiseregulationsbusiness

rules

decisionmodel lessons

learned

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Proc

ess

Logi

cB

usin

ess

Logi

c



Business Logic in Processes

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The process model contains theprocess logic

Business logic can be assigned totasks in the process model

knowledge-intensive task (KIT)

The business logic can occur in different forms implicit, e.g

in mind of people unstructured, e.g.

as text (e.g. guidelines) structured, e.g.

rules decision table coded in an application

Process Logic

Business Logic

ruleshumanexperts

text

KITKIT


decision model


Decision-Aware Business Processes



Processes vs. Decision

■ Decision is a special kind of business task

■ Process modeling is a combination of two ideas♦ Process: an organized, coordinated flow of activities,

conducted by participants, acting on and deciding with data and knowledge, to achieve a business goal.

♦ Decision: decisions are made by applying business knowledge in the form of business rules or other decision logic to process data. A decision model likewise reflects how a decision is made.

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adapted from (Debevoise & Taylor 2014)Business Processes and Knowledge Work


Exercise Decision-Aware Business Processes

https://fhnw365-my.sharepoint.com/personal/knut_hinkelmann_fhnw_ch/Documents/01_Teaching/2017-18%20FHNW/2017%20AS%20BPM/03%20Knowledge%20Work%20Processes/Example_Decision-aware%20process%20modeling.pptx


Decision-Aware Process Models: Managing Process Logic and Decision Logic Separately

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The process model containsthe process logic with thedecision tasks procedural

Decision logic is externalized from decision tasks and represented in a different kind of model declarative

Process Logic

Business Logic / Decision Logic

decision modelrules

text



Example 1: Declarative vs. Procedural Solutions

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Procedural

Declarative

(von Halle & Goldberg 2010, p. 69)


DecisionTask

DecisionLogic

Person Debt Person Employment History Person Credit Ratinglow, high good bad A,B,C

1 low good A2 low bad B3 high good B4 high bad C

Credit Rating


Procedural versus Declarative

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(von Halle & Goldberg 2010, p. 67)

processlogic

businesslogic"B"

"B""C"


Person Debt Person Employment History Person Credit Ratinglow, high good bad A,B,C

1 low good A2 low bad B3 high good B4 high bad C

Credit Rating


Distinguishing a Procedural Task from a Declarative Decision

■ A procedural solution specifies how, in a step-by-step manner, something is to be done. ♦ A business process model is a procedural solution

because it prescribes a set of tasks that are carried out in a particular sequence.

■ A declarative solution only specifies what needs to be done, with no details as to how, in a step-by-step manner, it is to be carried out, because sequence is irrelevant to arriving at the correct result. ♦ A Decision Table is a declarative solution because it is a

set of unordered business logic, not a set of ordered tasks.

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(von Halle & Goldberg 2010, p. 67)Business Processes and Knowledge Work


Example 2: Collapsing gateways for a complexdiscount decision into one decision task


(Debevoise and Taylor 2014)


■ Decision tasks are procedural. A decision task does something; specifically, it makes an operational business decision.

■ Decision logic indicates only what the outcome for each possible case should be. It is the set of all decision rules for a given operational business decision. Decision logic should be purely declarative.

■ The decision logic cannot actually make the operational business decision. So there always has to be a task or action to make an operational business decision.


Decision Tasks vs. Decision Logic

(Ross 2013, p. 8)


Distinctions between Business Process and Business Decision

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(adapted from von Halle & Goldberg 2010, p.70)


Business Process Business Decision

Procedural in nature Declarative in nature

It’s all about which tasks need to becarried out (step-by-step sequenceof tasks)

It is all about what is to beconcluded (rules = logic leadingfrom conditions to conclusions)

Improvements aim for increasedwork efficiency

Improvements aim for smarter business logic

Represented best in a proceduralbusiness process model

Represented best in a declarativedecision model


Advantages of separating Business Logic fromBusiness Process Model

■ Allows a much simpler business process model♦ If a business process is too complicated, a reason might be that business rules

are embedded in the flow

■ Makes changes to business process and business logic easier♦ Permits changes in the Decision Model without changing the business process

model and vice versa

■ Makes governance of business processes and business logic easier to manage

■ Decision Model can be reused in several processes♦ the whole decision model ♦ individual decision tables and rules

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+



Integrating the Decision Model with BPMN

■ Execution of a decision described by a Decision Model is a particular type of task in BPMN.

■ In BPMN 2.0 the corresponding task type is called a business rule task.

■ In the figure below, Validate Order is the decision task. Its logic is described by a Decision Model. The gateway simply tests the output of the decision and routes the flow either to A or B based on the result

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(Von Halle & Goldberg 2010, p. 425)



Agility



Analogy: Agility of a Sports Team

■ A good player must♦ sense what is happening♦ prioritize best next action♦ act effectively

■ A playbook defines moves♦ but: moves depend on the

opponent■ Playbook corresponds to

♦ Business process model♦ decision model

but must allow for flexibility

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adapted from (Cauley 2010)



Agility

■ Sensingbeing aware of own organisation and its operating environment(customers, competitors, macroeconomy) and changes of these

■ Prioritizingcoherent set of goals and priorities at all levels of the organisation

■ Actingexecute business processes exceptionally well and adapt them quickly as business needs change

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"An agile organization is one that can sense opportunity or threat, prioritize its potential responses, and act efficiently and effectively."

(McCauley 2010)



Analogy: Sports TeamAgility in different levels:

♦ manage business processes business transformation process improvement/re-engineering decision management process mining

♦ process planning task selection human judgment

♦ process adaptation unforeseen tasks adhoc decisions

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adapted from (Cauley 2010)


desi

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Structured Processes vs. Adhoc Processes

Structured Processes Adhoc Processes/Projects

Characteristics Prescribed process flow

Typical objectives of BPM Efficiency, productivity Traceability, Uniformity Automation

Process flow defined at design time

Characteristics Ad hoc process flow Unforeseeable events High variability Complex tasks

Typical objectives of BPM Flexibility Autonomy of the workers

Tasks and process flow is determinedusing knowledge at run time



Classification of Processes

partly translated from (Gadatsch 2005, S. 44)

structuredprocess case ad hoc process

• structured processflow

• activites known in advance

• many repetitive elements

• no degree offreedom for peoplewrt process flow

• process flow canpartly be structured

• activites partly knownin advance

• some repetitive elements

• some degree offreedom for peoplewrt process flow

• process flow cannot bestructured – new tasks on the fly

• activites partly knownin advance

• few repetitive elements

• very high degree offreedom for people wrtprocess flow

can be modelled cannot bemodelled



Case Management

■ Synonyms for Case Management are♦ Adaptive Case Management (ACM)♦ Dynamic Case Management (DCM)

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Case management is the management of long-lived collaborative processes that require coordination of knowledge, content, correspondence, and resources to achieve an objective or goal. The path of execution cannot be predefined. Human judgment is required in determining how to proceed, and the state of a case can be affected by external events.

(McCauley 2010)



Case Management Processes: Examples

Case management processes: common in many industry segments, where activities and documents required depend on the circumstances of each case

♦ Benefits Administration● Examples: welfare assistance, student financial aid, grants programs,

disability benefits

♦ Underwriting● Examples: commercial lending, life and disability insurance.

♦ Project Management● Examples: launch of a new product/service, major IT system upgrade

♦ Dispute Resolution● Example: customer demands a refund

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(Silver 2011, p. 88f)



Case Management as Part of Routine Work

■ Case Management can also occur in routine processes

■ Examples♦ Distinguishing between routine and non-routine cases, e.g.

for credit assessment, claims management♦ Doing something extra for the customer, e.g. offering an

insurance product during claims management♦ Dispute resolution: Processing payments is a conventional

structured process, but when a customer disputes a charge or demands a refund, case management is usuallyrequired



Literatur

■ Davenport, T. H. (2010). Process Management for Knowledge Work. In J. vomBrocke & M. Rosemann (Eds.), Handbook on Business Process Management 1(pp. 17–36). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-00416-2

■ Debevoise, T. and Taylor, J. (2014) The Microguide to Process and Decision Modeling in BPMN/DMN.

■ Palmer, N. (2011). BPM and ACM. In L. Fischer (Ed.), Taming the Unpredictable(pp. 77–86). Lighthouse Point, FL.

■ McCauley, D. (2010). Achieving Agility. In K. D. Swenson (Ed.), Mastering the Unpredictable (pp. 257–275). Meghan-Kiffer Press.

■ Silver, B. (2011). Case Management: Addressing Unique BPM Requirements. In L. Fischer (Ed.), Taming the Unpredictable (pp. 87–98). Lighthouse Point, FL: Future Strategies.

■ Von Halle, B., & Goldberg, L. (2010). The Decision Model: A Business Logic Framework Linking Business and Technology. CRC Press Auerbach Publications.
