The process approach for continuous improvement of organisational performance.

1. The Process Approach
Business Process Management
1
Nicola Mezzetti, Ph.D.
Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science University of Trento
e-mail: nicola.mezzetti@unitn.it

2. What is a Process?
A process is a set of interrelated or interacting activities that use
inputs to deliver an intended result.

3. What is a Process?
A process is a set of interrelated or interacting activities that use
inputs to deliver an intended result.
• Inputs and outputs may be tangible (e.g. materials, components or equipment) or
intangible (e.g. data, information or knowledge)

4. The Process Approach
Consistent and predictable results are achieved more effectively and
efficiently when activities are understood and managed as interrelated
processes that function as a coherent system.
• The quality management system consists of interrelated processes.
• Understanding how results are produced by this system enables an
organisation to optimise the system and its performance.

5. The Process Approach
The process approach includes establishing the organisation’s processes
to operate as an integrated and complete system
• The management system integrates processes and measures to meet
objectives
• Processes define interrelated activities and checks, to deliver intended outputs
• Detailed planning and control can be defined and documented as needed,
depending on the organisation’s context.

6. The Process Approach
Risk-based thinking, PDCA and the process approach form an integral
part of the ISO 9001:2015 standard. Risk may impact on objectives and
results must be addressed by the management system. Risk-based
thinking is used through the process approach to:
• Decide how risk (positive or negative) is addressed in establishing the processes
to improve process outputs and prevent undesirable results.
• Define the extent of process planning and controls needed (based on risk)
• Improve the effectiveness of quality management system
• Maintain and manage a system that inherently addresses risk and meets
objectives.

7. • Plan: objectives of the system are set, the
processes are modelled.
• Do: the process models are implemented.
• Check: the processes are executed and
measured against target metrics.
• Act: the process results and the actual
metrics are evaluated against the target
metrics. Guidelines for improvement are
produced.
Adopting the Process Approach

8. Adopting the Process Approach
Plan phase:
1. Define the context of the organisation
2. Define the scope, objectives and policies of the organisation
3. Determine the sequence of processes in the organisation
4. Define the process models (interfaces, activities, risks)
5. Define roles and responsibilities
6. Define the monitoring and measurement requirements

9. Adopting the Process Approach
Do phase:
1. Implement the process models
2. Determine the resources needed for each process
Check phase:
1. Execute the processes
2. Monitor their execution against target metrics
Act phase:
1. Analyse the process performance against target metrics
2. Define guidelines for improvement

10. Representing a Process
A process model
• indicates the tasks that must be carried out to produce the intended result.
• may involve conditions, have sub-processes, and consist in the execution of
many tasks.
• defines, for each task, its inputs, outputs, and the

11. Business Process Management
Business Process Management (BPM)
refers to methods, techniques, and tools
that support the design, management
and optimisation of business processes.

12. Business Process Management
A business process consists of a set
of activities that are performed in
coordination in an organisational and
technical environment.
These activities, jointly, realise a
business goal.
• the target that an organisation aims
to achieve by performing correctly
the related business process.
Business processes are at the core of
most information systems.

13. BPMN 2.0
• BPMN 2.0 (Business Process Model and Notation) is a notation for graphic
business process modelling
• Metamodel defining constructs (symbols for the various process elements)
and rules for combining the different constructs to create process models
• Five basic categories of elements:
• Flow objects (e.g., events, activities, gateways)
• Data objects (e.g., inputs, outputs, data stores)
• Connecting objects (e.g., sequence flows, message flows, associations)
• Swimlanes (e.g., pools and lanes)
• Artifact (e.g., groups, text annotations)

14. Categories of Processes
• BPMN 2.0 supports four main categories of processes
• Orchestration: they represent a specific business or organisation’s view of the
process. It describes how a single business entity performs. A BPMN diagram
may contain more than one orchestration; each orchestration appears within
its own container - called Pool; each Pool represents only one participant.
• Collaboration: a collection of participants and their interaction.
• Choreography: the expected behaviour between two or more participants.
• Conversation: the logical relation of message exchanges.

15. Orchestration

16. Collaboration

17. Choreography

18. Conversation

19. BPMN 2.0: Basic Elements
An event is something that happens during the course of a process or
a choreography. Events affect the flow of the model and usually have a
cause (trigger) or an impact (result). There are three types of events,
based on when they affect the flow: start, intermediate, and end
An activity is a generic term for work that company performs in a
process. An activity can be atomic or non-atomic (compound). The
types of activities that are part of a process model are: sub-process
and task. Activities are used in both standard process and in
choreographies.
A gateway is used to control the divergence and convergence of
sequence flows in a process and in a choreography. Thus, it will
determine branching, forking, merging and joining of paths. Internal
markers will indicate the type of behaviour control.

20. BPMN 2.0: Basic Elements
A sequence flow is used to show the order that activities will be
performed in a process and in a choreography.
A message flow is used to show the flow of messages between two
participants that are prepared to send and receive them.
An association is used to link information and artifacts with BPMN
graphical elements.
A pool is a graphical representation of a participant in a collaboration.
It MAY have internal details, in the form of the process that will be
executed. Or it MAY have no internal details, i.e., it can be a black box.
A lane is a sub-partition within a process, sometimes within a pool.
Extends the entire length of the process, either vertically or horizontally.

21. BPMN 2.0: Basic Elements
A data object provides information about what activities require to be
performed and/or what they produce. Data objects can represent a
singular object or a collection of objects. Data input and data output
provide the same information for processes.
A message is used to depict the contents of a communication
between two participants.
A text annotation is a mechanism for a modeller to provide additional
text information for the reader of a BPMN diagram.

22. BPMN 2.0: Extended Elements
A start event indicates where a particular process or choreography
will start. Intermediate events occur between a start event and an
end event. They will not start or (directly) terminate the process. The
end event indicates where a process or choreography will end.
A task is an atomic activity that is included within a process. A task is
used when the work in the process is not broken down to a finer level
of process detail.
A choreography task is an atomic activity in a choreography. It
represents a set of one or more message exchanges. Each
choreography task involves two participants. The name of the
choreography task and each of the participants are all displayed in
the different bands that make up the shapes graphical notation.

23. BPMN 2.0: Extended Elements
The details of the collapsed sub-process are not visible in the
diagram. A ‘plus’ sign in the lower-center of the shape indicates that
the activity is a sub-process and has a lower level of detail.
The expanded sub-process makes the details (a process) visible
within the boundary of the sub-process. Note that sequence flows
cannot cross the boundary of a sub-process.

24. BPMN 2.0: Extended Elements
Icons within the diamond shape of the gateway will indicate the type
of flow control behaviour. The types of control include:
(a) Exclusive decision and merging. Both exclusive and event-based
perform exclusive decisions and merging. Exclusive can be shown
with or without the ‘X’ marker.
(b) Event-based and parallel event-based gateways can start a new
instance of the process.
(c) Inclusive gateway decision and merging
(d) Complex gateways model complex conditions and situations
(e.g., 3 out of 5).
(e) Parallel gateway forking and joining.
Each type of control affects both the incoming and the outgoing flows.

25. BPMN 2.0: Extended Elements
A sequence flow can have a condition expression that is evaluated at
runtime to determine whether or not the sequence flow will be used.
If the conditional flow is outgoing from an activity, the sequence flow
will have a mini diamond at the beginning of the connector. If the
conditional flow is outgoing from a gateway, then the line will not
have a mini-diamond.
An exception flow occurs outside the normal flow of the process and
is based upon intermediate event attached to the boundary of an
activity that occurs during the performance of the process.

26. BPMN 2.0: Extended Elements
Data Objects provide information about what activities require to be performed
(inputs) and/or what they produce (outputs). Data objects can represent a singular
object or a collection of objects. Data input and data output provide the same
information for processes.

27. BPMN 2.0: Extended Elements
BPMN uses the term fork to refer to the dividing of a path into two or
more parallel paths (also known as an AND-Split). It is a place in the
process where activities can be performed concurrently, more than
sequentially. There are two options: (a) multiple outgoing sequence flows
can be used to have ‘uncontrolled’ flow. (b) A parallel gateway can be
used; this is used rarely, usually in combination with other gateways.
BPMN uses the term join to refer to the combining of two or more
parallel paths into one path (also known as AND-Join or
synchronization). A parallel gateway is used to show the joining of
multiple sequence flows.
BPMN uses the term merge to refer to the exclusive combining of two
or more paths into one path (also known as an OR-Join). A merging
exclusive gateway is used to show the merging of multiple sequence
flows. If all the incoming flow is alternative, then a gateway is not
needed.

28. BPMN 2.0: Extended Elements
The attributes of tasks and sub-processes will determine if they are
repeated or performed once. There are two types of activity loops:
standard and multi-instance. A small looping indicator will be
displayed at the bottom-center of the activity.
Sequence flow loops can be created by connecting a sequence flow
to an upstream object. An object is considered to be upstream if it
has an outgoing sequence flow that leads to a series of other
sequence flows, the last of which is an incoming sequence flow for
the original object.

29. Types of Start Event
Generic: the trigger for starting the process is unspecified.
Message: process start is triggered by the reception of a message.
Timer: process start is triggered by a defined timer.
Conditional: process start is triggered by a change in business
conditions.
Signal: process start is triggered by a signal produced by another
process.
Multiple: process start is triggered by one out of a set of events.
Parallel: process start is triggered by all out of a set of events
Start Events
35
• A Start Event shows where a Process can
begin.
• A Start Event is a small, open circle with a
single, thin lined boundary.
• There are different types of Start Events to
indicate the varying circumstances that can
trigger the start of a Process.
• These circumstances, such as the arrival of a
message or a timer “going-off,” are called
triggers.
• A Start Event can only have outgoing
Sequence Flows.
• Trigger-based Start Events can only feature
in top-level Processes (hence they are never
used in Sub-Processes).
None
Message
Timer
Conditional
Signal
Multiple
Parallel
Multiple
Start Events
35
• A Start Event shows where a Process can
begin.
• A Start Event is a small, open circle with a
single, thin lined boundary.
• There are different types of Start Events to
indicate the varying circumstances that can
trigger the start of a Process.
• These circumstances, such as the arrival of a
message or a timer “going-off,” are called
triggers.
• A Start Event can only have outgoing
Sequence Flows.
• Trigger-based Start Events can only feature
in top-level Processes (hence they are never
used in Sub-Processes).
None
Message
Timer
Conditional
Signal
Multiple
Parallel
Multiple
Start Events
35
• A Start Event shows where a Process can
begin.
• A Start Event is a small, open circle with a
single, thin lined boundary.
• There are different types of Start Events to
indicate the varying circumstances that can
trigger the start of a Process.
• These circumstances, such as the arrival of a
message or a timer “going-off,” are called
triggers.
• A Start Event can only have outgoing
Sequence Flows.
• Trigger-based Start Events can only feature
in top-level Processes (hence they are never
used in Sub-Processes).
None
Message
Timer
Conditional
Signal
Multiple
Parallel
Multiple
Start Events
35
• A Start Event shows where a Process can
begin.
• A Start Event is a small, open circle with a
single, thin lined boundary.
• There are different types of Start Events to
indicate the varying circumstances that can
trigger the start of a Process.
• These circumstances, such as the arrival of a
message or a timer “going-off,” are called
triggers.
• A Start Event can only have outgoing
Sequence Flows.
• Trigger-based Start Events can only feature
in top-level Processes (hence they are never
used in Sub-Processes).
None
Message
Timer
Conditional
Signal
Multiple
Parallel
Multiple
Start Events
35
• A Start Event shows where a Process can
begin.
• A Start Event is a small, open circle with a
single, thin lined boundary.
• There are different types of Start Events to
indicate the varying circumstances that can
trigger the start of a Process.
• These circumstances, such as the arrival of a
message or a timer “going-off,” are called
triggers.
• A Start Event can only have outgoing
Sequence Flows.
• Trigger-based Start Events can only feature
in top-level Processes (hence they are never
used in Sub-Processes).
None
Message
Timer
Conditional
Signal
Multiple
Parallel
Multiple
Start Events
35
• A Start Event shows where a Process can
begin.
• A Start Event is a small, open circle with a
single, thin lined boundary.
• There are different types of Start Events to
indicate the varying circumstances that can
trigger the start of a Process.
• These circumstances, such as the arrival of a
message or a timer “going-off,” are called
triggers.
• A Start Event can only have outgoing
Sequence Flows.
• Trigger-based Start Events can only feature
in top-level Processes (hence they are never
used in Sub-Processes).
None
Message
Timer
Conditional
Signal
Multiple
Parallel
Multiple

30. Types of Tasks
Generic: a generic or undefined task.
Send: dispatches a message to an external participant.
Receive: waits for a message from an external participant.
User: a user carries out the task with the assistance of software.
Manual: non-automated task.
Business rule: an automated business decision.
Service: any sort of service (e.g., web service, automatic application).
Script: executes a script.

31. Intermediate Events
An intermediate event indicates where
something happens/occurs after a Process
has started and before it has ended.
• They may interrupt the normal processing
of an activity
• Each type of intermediate event can either
throw or catch the event.
• A catching intermediate event waits for
something to happen.
• A throwing intermediate event
immediately fires.

32. BPMN 2.0: Complex Gateways

33. BPMN 2.0: Default Conditions
One way to ensure that the process
does not get stuck at an exclusive
gateway is to use a Default
Condition for one of the outgoing
sequence flows
• The default is chosen if all the
other sequence flow conditions
turn out to be false.

34. BPMN 2.0: Data Objects

35. Process Mapping with BPMN 2.0

36. The Process Approach: Debriefing
Actions you can take:
• Define objectives of the system and processes necessary to achieve them.
• Establish authority, responsibility and accountability for managing processes.
• Understand the organisation’s capabilities and determine resource constraints prior to
action.
• Determine process interdependencies and analyse the effect of modifications to
individual processes on the system as a whole.
• Manage processes and their interrelations as a system to achieve the organisation’s
quality objectives effectively and efficiently.
• Ensure the necessary information is available to operate and improve the processes
and to monitor, analyse and evaluate the performance of the overall system.
• Manage risk that can affect outputs of the processes and overall outcome of the quality
management system.

37. The Process Approach: Debriefing
Key benefits:
• Improved understanding of the organisation as a system of processes
• Enhanced ability to focus effort on key processes and opportunities for
improvement
• Consistent and predictable outcomes through a system of aligned
processes
• Optimised performance through effective process management, efficient
use of resources, and reduced cross-functional barriers
• Enabling the organisation to provide confidence to interested parties as
to its consistency, effectiveness and efficiency