University of North Alabama Business Process Discussion Paper

Instructions

1. Business Process. Identify a specific and discrete business process. This may be from your work experience, from your observation, from asking a friend or colleague, or from your experience as a student or customer.

Include process characteristics, clearly labelled and listed: (set up), input(s), process/transformation, output(s), (break down), feedback, integration.

Address this from a logical, technology-independent standpoint. That is, leave out APPs, Devices, IT, etc.

What is the nature of the information: structured/unstructured. What is the nature of recurrence: frequent/infrequent?

2. Steps. List a step-by-step execution of this process. This may include physical aspects and specific technologies. Try to capture how this process *actually* occurs in the real world.

3. Quality Analysis. Provide a commentary on the overall quality of this process – the “net benefits” – identify and comment on each:

• What aspects are of good quality?
• What aspects are of poor quality?
• What is the maturity level of this process? (hint: refer to process-related lectures for specific maturity levels)
• What is the overall “net benefit” of this process?

4. Process Proposal. Present a recommendation to management about improving this process. Your recommendation should step through each part of the Info Sys Model, with a heading and commentary for each model component. Some tips:

• GOAL: In addition to any immediate benefit of the process improvement:
  • A clear connection to the organization’s value proposition /how the recommendation would improve value creation
  • what specific metrics to use to manage this process / what key performance indicators are affected
• TECH (and elsewhere)
  • Fully define, describe all technologies and terminology described (suggest using outside sources)