The document discusses integrating business process management (BPM) with workforce management. It describes how analytics data from a BPM system about work patterns and resource utilization can be used to simulate and optimize scheduling. The simulation and scheduling tools work in a loop, with the scheduler generating resource schedules that are simulated and used to refine workload demand estimates. This integrated approach is best for structured, repeatable processes and large resource pools, and can potentially reduce staff costs by 10-20%. A case study shows how these tools identified over $1 million in benefits for a wholesale lockbox operation.

1. Robert M. Shapiro Senior Vice President: Research Global 360 SessionTitle: Workforce Management & BPM integration

2. Overview Business Process Management Suite Analytics Architecture Simulator Workforce Management Scheduler Case Study: ROI in Wholesale Lock Box application Typical Pattern of Use Conclusions

3. BPMS Overview

4. Analytics Architecture Participants, UDFs, XPDL Publish AE Relational Database Events OLAP and DataMining Databases Process Analysis Engine Queries Context Data Client Staging and Event Queue Tables Fact and Dimension Tables Process Engine Administration Controls Analysis Engine Exposes UDFs Triggers Cube Processing Monitors DBs Web Service Business Operations

5. OVERVIEW OF SIMULATION The typical simulator for making predictions in a BPMS environment is a discrete event simulator. Preparation of a simulation run is commonly referred to as a scenario . The scenario consists of: Set of processes to be simulated Incoming work (arrivals) Resources, Roles and Shifts Activity Details Simulation Options

6. Incoming Work Actual Arrival rates for work items, based on historical data. Includes key attribute values. Forecast Projected arrival rates, including key attribute values.

7. Resources, Roles and Shifts Human Resource Data Roles Defines the process activities (Tasks) the person can perform. Availability Scheduled work hours. Includes breaks, holiday and vacation information. Proficiency Skill rating for each job position. Salary ( Hourly Rate). Equipment Data Equipment could be, for instance, Check Sorter in Check Clearing operation. Type Role Quantity Throughput

8. Activity Details Activity Durations How long each activity (Task) takes. May be characterized by a distribution. Decision distributions For each decision, the probability of each outcome.

9. Simulator Outputs Staff requirements by role and time period for each time period, how many people are required for each role. Staff utilization by period Equipment utilization by period Cycle time deadline and holdover reports Percent satisfying SLA for end-to-end cycle time. Unprocessed volume by period Work in Progress Report by period Work arrival profile report Arrival volume by period Activity summary report

10. Output Example: To-Be Staff Utilization

11. Scheduler A Workforce Management Scheduler assigns detailed schedules to the staff of an organization. It uses two input sets: Work load drivers that define how much work has to be done in each time period and what skills are required to perform the work. Resource characteristics that define staffing availability, preferred work hours, work rules, salaries and so forth.

12. Output Example: To-Be Work In Progress

13. Scheduling Algorithm The scheduling algorithm creates a schedule for each resource, trying to precisely match the work load. The result is generally not perfect. In some time periods there is more staff than is needed; in other time periods there is less. The algorithm has to contend with holiday and vacation schedules, minimum and maximum shift lengths, hours per week, skill sets and so forth.

14. Fit of a Schedule Understaffing in a time period implies that some work will not be completed. Schedulers usually do not propagate the incomplete work. It is treated like a dropped call in a Call Center. Overstaffing represents excess resource availability in a time period and offers the opportunity for cost savings by better scheduling. A scheduling program usually provides some measure of the ‘fit’ of a schedule based on the understaffing and overstaffing.

15. Scheduler Inputs Staff requirements by role and time period Workload demand. Historical Data or Projections. Roles For each person, what positions (roles) they can fill. Availability Preferred work hours, possible work hours. Proficiency Performance measure for each role. Minimum and maximum work hours per day, week and month. Break rules and Holiday schedules.

16. Availability

17. Employee Data, Roles and Work Hour Requirements

18. Match Resource Supply to Workload Demand

19. Generate A Schedule

20. Wholesale Lock Box Case Study BPMN Process Model Process Hierarchy Current Productivity Model FTE Requirements First Wave Opportunity Second Wave Opportunity Summary of Opportunity

24. Overview of Process Hierarchy Process Enterprise Payments Proof Items Remotely Item Processing Proof Work Receive Proof Work Register Inbound Transportation Receive and Scan Bag Open Bag and Scan Bundles Distribute Work for Encoding Encode Work and Correct Operator Difference Deposit Error Correction Tray or Box Work and Deliver to Capture Item Processing Operations Receive and Prep Checks for Capture Receive Items Open Package Prep and Tray Work for Capture Receive Encoded Proof or Lockbox Items Receive Branch Captured or Other Items for Power Decode Open Branch/Unencoded Bags Prep and Tray Branch/Unencoded Work for Power Encode

25. Process Hierarchy (continued) Capture and Sort Conventional Prime Capture Transit Repass Cycle and Exception Sorts Image Capture Power Encode Reject Repair Repair Prime Pass Rejects Process Repass/CP Hard Rejects Document Repair Reconcilement Reconcile Prime Entries Balance Image Presentment Reconcile and Repass Entries Endorse Entry and Post ICRE Cash Letter Prep and Dispatch Image Balancing Balance Teller Errors, ICR errors and Key Errors Balance Entries Endorse and Post Items IRD Processing Image Exchange Retail Lockbox

26. Current Productivity Productivity is reflected as total items per total paid hours Wholesale Lock Box Operation for one region of major bank: The current productivity of 41 WLB items per hour is equivalent to median benchmark productivity Based on the current productivity profile the model computed a labor utilization rate of 70% including paid time off

27. Model FTE Requirements Model FTE compared to current FTE The model FTE target is a long-term end state goal

28. First Wave Opportunity Based on experience working with similar customers, it is more realistic to implement the scheduling opportunity in two waves The first wave productivity target is slightly better than the benchmarking 66 th percentile

29. Second Wave Opportunity The longer term goal should be the end-state Model FTE target The second wave productivity target is slightly less than the benchmarking 85 th percentile

30. Summary of Opportunity Summary of paid hour benefit Summary of overtime reduction benefit Total combined benefit – $1,405,759

31. Typical pattern of Use The BPM system has been in operation for a while. The analytics component has collected statistics about work arrival patterns, resource utilization, work-in-progress and activity loads. The appropriate data, staff requirements by role and time period (Workload demand), is extracted from the analytics and fed to the scheduler.

32. Schedule The scheduler has other inputs that characterize the staff resources. These include for each person their roles, availability, proficiency, minimum and maximum work hours. Also included are ‘break rules’ and holiday schedules. The scheduler generates a best-fit schedule that matches the Workload demand to the staff, minimizing the understaffing/overstaffing according to adjustable criteria. The algorithm may be based on neural nets or some other constraint-based optimization technique.

33. Simulate The new resource schedule is passed back to the simulation component of the BPM system. A scenario is created based on the set of business processes being studied, work arrivals (derived from the analytics), the new resource schedule and activity details (also determined from the analytics). The simulation run generates a new set of data which includes an updated version of Workload demand, along with other information about the effect of the new staff assignment. This data includes: Staff utilization Equipment utilization Cycle time SLA report Unprocessed volume Activity summary report The optimization loops back to the scheduler until no further improvement is possible.

34. Conclusion This approach appears to be most suited to situations where the business process being executed is well structured (rather than ad hoc), the work item arrivals can be characterized as repeatable patterns and the total resource pool to be scheduled is large . Under these circumstances it is not unusual to achieve a 10 to 20% reduction in staff costs.

35. Thank You! Robert M. Shapiro Senior Vice President: Research Global 360 Contact Information: 617-823-1055 [email_address]