Based on a on systems perspective on business processes. Presentation at BMDS 2018. The text of the paper is available at http://bit.ly/2NseOFu

1. Business Process Canvas
as a Process Model in a
Nutshell
BPMDS’18 Working Conference
Business process modeling, development and support
In conjunction with CAiSE’18
Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider
Department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV)
Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

2. Theoretical Background – A System
View on Business Processes
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV
Respondent System – The system created to respond to the situation where the parallel
bars indicate that this system interacts with the situation and transforms the situation
to a new situation.
System Assets – The assets of a bigger system that are to be utilized in responding to situations.
Systems coupling
diagrams
H. Lawson, A Journey Through the Systems
Landscape, College Publications, 2010

3. Theoretical Background – A System
View on Business Processes (continue)
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV
Make the text shorter
In this paper, we consider Business Processes (BP) from a systems perspective, both on the level
of process instances and process types:
● On the instance level, we consider a Business Process Instance (BPI) as a temporal system
created for handle a specific situation, for example a request for quotation. After the situation
has been dealt with, the temporal system is disbanded. This interpretation corresponds to the
idea of respondent system from Lawson.
● On the type level, we consider that there exists a permanent socio-technical system that is
responsible for starting and monitoring process instances of the given type, and supplying
them with resources/assets needed for attaining the instances operational goals, such as
people, tools (e.g. IT systems), procedures (e.g. manuals, process maps), etc. We call this
system a Business Process Work System or BPWS for short.
Note that not only a BPWS is a socio-technical system, but also a BPI. The latter can be quite
complex and with a long life length. However, our focus in this work is more on the BPWS than its
BPIs. Note also that a BPWS does not coincide with a particular department that is responsible for
the process, but it includes all people, methods, tools engaged in the process. For example, for a
sales process, BPWS includes people from marketing and product development.

4. Theoretical Background – FEM -
Connection between BPWS (processes)
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV

5. BPC Structure
Outside – upper
part of the
canvas marked
with the orange
color
Resources –
right bottom
part of the
canvas marked
with the green
color
Inside – left
bottom part of
the canvas
marked with the
blue color
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV

6. BPC
Layout
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV
Outside
ResourcesInside

7. Outside
section
components
● Purpose
● Strategic goal
● Category
● Initiation of instance
● Related processes
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV

8. Outside
section
components (continued)
Purpose
• The primary aim
of the process
• Α general
description of
why the process
exists
• Νο detailed
information is
included
Strategic goal
• Adds details to
the purpose
• Lists additional
goals that should
be achieved
• Usally long-term
and qualitative
• Attributes:
• Attainability
• Measurability
• Time-
boundedness
Category
• A classification of
the process as:
• Main: Value
delivering
process
• Supporting:
Facilitating or
enabling other
processes
• Strategic:
Enabling
organizational
transformation
Initiation of
instance
• A set of
conditions that
trigger the
creation of a
process instance
Related processes
• The processes
that exist in the
organization and
that are directly
or indirectly
connected to the
given process
• Each related
process has its
own category,
depicted as type
in tha canvas
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV

9. Inside
section
components
● Operational goal
● Milestones (sub-goals)
● Main activities/tasks
● Constraints
● Exceptions
● Outcomes
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV

10. Inside
section
components (continued)
Operational goal
• Defines what an
instance of the
given process
type is aimed to
achieve
• A condition on
when the
instance could be
considered as
finished
Milestones (sub-
goals)
• A number of
intermediate
process instance
states that
represent sub-
goals to be
achieved on the
way to achieving
the operational
goal of the given
instance
Main
activities/tasks
• A list of the most
important actions
performed by
participants
during the
execution of a
process instance
• Only the main
activities are
included
• May be atomic
or composite
Constraints
• A set of
conditions that
impose
constraints on
how the process
instance
execution is
driven
• Associated to
activities,
milestones or
both
• Defined
informally
Exceptions
• A list of possible
abnormal states
occuring during
the execution of
the process
instance
• Unexpected
events or absent
expected events
Outcomes
• A classification
of legitimate
process instance
endings as:
• Positive, when
value is
successfully
delivered to one
or more
beneficiaries
• Negative, when
partial or no
value has been
delivered
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV

11. Resources
section
components
● Participants
● Means
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV

12. • A list of human or organizational entities that may be:
• Active, if they perform actions during a process instance execution, and can be
further classified based on their degree of specialization as:
• Totally universal, when they have no specialization in any process
activity or task
• Totally specialized, when they have absolute specialization in the
performance of specific process activities or tasks
• Any state in between
• Passive, if they are directly affected by active participants’ actions, and can be
further classified based on their status of physicalness as:
• Physical, when they are material and tangible
• Virtual, when they are immaterial and intangible
• Both, which can additionally be classified based on their degree of mobility as:
• Totally immobile, when they cannot be moved to another location
• Totally mobile, when they can be moved without substantial costs
• Any state in between
• A special type of participant is the beneficiary
• Associated to these attributes in the canvas using code letters
• Participants can also be internal or external to the process
Participants
Resources
section
components (continued)
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV
• A list of tools, techniques
and methods used by
process instance
participants to perform
activities and tasks during
the execution of an
instance
• Can also be classified
according to mobility and
physicalness but this
categorization is not
needed in the canvas
Means

13. BPC demonstration - A use case
Harmony Inside AB is a Swedish company that
provides services and products to the
individuals who suffers from Irritable Bowel
Syndrome (IBS) using the FODMAP method.
The company is a startup coming into the
growth phase. It was started by two dietitians
that are now expanding their business and
moving it to the web. The products and services
include cooking recipes, food store, books,
general advice, an online course and individual
consultations.
The chosen method of payment is membership
with monthly fees. There are three levels of
member subscription: Starter, Standard and
Premium. The first two levels concern one way
only interaction, cooking recipes, general
advice, an online course and some other
services. The third level of membership includes
individual consultation and treatment by a
dietitian through an online platform.
The individual online consultation process is the
example used to demonstrate BPC.
The canvas is not fully filled, only representative
examples are included.
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV

14. The
use case
BPC
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV

15. Contribution
Using a canvas to depict a
process model in a nutshell
Introducing three sections that
depict a process and its position
in its ecosystem
Still under development
• Layout
• Section components
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV

16. Possible areas of application
Decision-making
•Design full canvas keeping all sections in balance
Process modeling
•Design canvas from inside out
New process design
•Design canvas from outside in
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV

17. Future research
Test BPC in practice
Decision-making
In progress
Modeling
Planned provision of BPC
to Master students
working on theses related
to process modeling
New Process Design
In progress
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV

18. Q & A
Thank you for your time and
patience
Questions and comments
Contact:
ilia@dsv.su.se
georgios@dsv.su.se
11/06/2018 Georgios Koutsopoulos and Ilia Bider, DSV