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REALIZING BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT BY HELP OF A PROCESS MAPPING DATABASE TOOL

Established for EN Department – HE Group – HM Section

Work Project ReportCERN, Summer Students Programme, August 2016

Ceren VERGILI

Supervisor: Oliver Boettcher

ABSTRACT

In a typical business sector, processes are the building blocks of the achievement. A considerable percentage of the processes are consisting of business processes. This fact is bringing the fact that business sectors are in need of a management discipline. Business Process Management (BPM) is a discipline that combines modelling, automation, execution, control, measurement, and optimization of process by considering enterprise goals, spanning systems, employees, customers, and partners. CERN’s EN – HE – HM section desires to apply the BPM discipline appropriately for improving their necessary technical, administrative and managerial actions to supply appropriate CERN industrial transport, handling and lifting equipment and to maintain it. For this reason, a Process Mapping Database Tool is created to develop a common understanding about how the section members can visualize their processes, agree on quality standards and on how to improve. It provides a management support by establishing Process Charts and keeps all the section processes’ data in the same database. The current version of the tool is tested by the section and the studies on the tool will continue. In case of the accomplishment of all planned goals of the tool, it is considered to be used by the section actively.

Keywords: BPM, Process Mapping Database Tool, Process Charts

1. Introduction

During the growing business life, companies encounter different challenges that require a set of interrelated activities which interact to achieve a result. So, it can be said that processes are like the bricks of a building for the businesses. As it can be seen in the Graph 1, the main part of the activities belongs to the business processes. These are all service processes that support the production which comes into physical contact with the product that will be delivered to an external customer.

10%

90%

Production Processes

Business Processes

Graph 1. Typical Manufacturer Process Distribution

In the circumstances, business sectors are in need of Business Process Management (BPM). BPM is a discipline involving any combination of modelling, automation, execution, control, measurement, and optimization of business activity flows, in support of enterprise goals, spanning systems, employees, customers, and partners within and beyond the enterprise boundaries. So, it can be said that BPM is about improving processes and the most important instrument of this discipline is providing greater visibility into organizational performance.

The main purpose of this project is to make contribution to the business process management of EN Department – HE (Handling Engineering) Group – HM (Handling Maintenance) Section by help of a Process Mapping Database Tool. This tool works regarding to BPM discipline and it is established according to needs of the section. In the project period, it is started to be tested and with the improvements it is considered to be used by the section actively.

In this report, it will be mentioned respectively about the current system of process management, problem definition, proposals for solution, and application of them.

2. Current System

The HM section covers all necessary technical, administrative and managerial actions to supply CERN industrial transport, handling and lifting equipment and to maintain it in a state in which it can perform the required function. All of these actions contain several business processes and that’s why HM section considers about BPM.

In the current system, the section attempted to several process management techniques but still it could not be reached to the desired outcome. The data belonging to processes are kept in different places and the information transfer among the section is getting harder. For an employee to follow the processes’ procedures and documentations is requiring a big effort. Also, employees cannot track the discussions about processes and while discussing absence of a visualisation is decreasing the efficiency of meetings. Also for young/new/temporary colleagues to understand the section’s processes takes considerable time.

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Ceren Vergili | CERN - August 2016

3. Problem Definition

HM section is in need to apply the BPM discipline appropriately. The challenges that creates the main problem are as follows:

Description of processes of the EN – HE – HM section regarding supply and maintenance activities of handling and lifting equipment

Presentation of the section’s work volume related to the mandate Analyses of existing processes and description of them in the sense of process quality

management and resource management Communication of existing processes for section management (knowledge-transfer)

and delegation of tasks to young/new/temporary colleagues Transparent time constraints and/or impaction of new procedures within the work

flow

4. Solution Proposal

Process Mapping Database Tool is created to facilitate to the BPM part of the section. The tool works regarding to BPM discipline and it is established according to the needs of the section.

The purpose of the tool as follows:

The tool is used for automating, measuring, and optimizing processes by establishing BPM Overviews and Charts.

The tool keeps all business process’ data in the same database. The tool visualizes the processes and provides you to share with colleagues. The tool allows the process managers to get an overview about process costs and

resource needs. It helps to measure the level of fulfilment and to manage the quality of the work outcome and to adapt the process whenever needed.

Process Documentation Techniques are considered while constructing the tool. As a database software MS Office Access 2013 is linked to the interface created by MS Visual Studio C# 2015.

The tool is kept in the HM part of CERN Documents and it is reachable only by the employees who have an access to the HM Documents. It is easy to setup and to use. The functions of the tool is listed below:

Adding a new process or updating and deleting an existing process Automatically creating Process Charts after inserting all necessary data into a pre-

defined Process Chart Form Linking all files in different formats related with the processes and keeping all

documents in a same database Highlighting single data for special purpose (e.g. completion, discussion). Creating a HM Process Document in a standard format automatically in MS Office

Word Inserting other data related to processes (e.g. roles and employees data) By the queries creating overviews about all inputs, outputs, procedures and

instructions of the processes Visualizing the links among the process by a tree view

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Creating an Excel file that helps to calculate the cost of the processes and by that simulation tool optimizing the objectives and performances.

Reporting the responsibilities an employee by listing the processes that the employee participates in.

In addition to these functions, all queries are printable and they can be exported to the Word, Pdf, or Excel files.

The flow diagram of the tool is given in Appendix 1. Also, the user manual is written for the section and the programming part of the tool is reported in case of upgrading the tool.

5. Application of the Proposal

The studies on the tool will continue and day by day developed versions of the tool will be created. The current version of the tool is tested by the section now and it is considered to be used actively in case of the accomplishment of planned goals of the tool. These achievement goals are as follows:

Developing the tool till it involves all types of Process Documentation Techniques Making available to work with flowcharts by connecting processes to a Flowchart

Tool Making the tool adaptable to new requirements (transparent programming) Including forms and reports that directly help to establish a Process Documentation as

specified by BPM Literature which is the basis for the Quality Management Norm ISO-9001.

6. Conclusion

BPM is a discipline defining, organizing, and managing processes and helps developing overview about cost, productivity, time, and quality. Customer service level improves by help of BPM discipline and it increases the customer satisfaction. BPM manages risks and meets compliance to regulations. Also, most useful feature of BPM is providing greater visibility into organizational performance.

As processes are linked to each other, efficient BPM requires visualization and database tools. The Process Mapping Database Tool realized in the project will enable the EN – HE - HM section at CERN to develop a common understanding about their processes and how these can be improved.

Realizing Business Management is an iterative process. As the tool will be filled with data communication about work processes will increase. This will probably also lead to requests for new functions of the tool.

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APPENDIX

Appendix 1. The Flow Diagram of the Process Mapping DataBase Tool

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Welcome Page

Control Center

BPM Chart Form

BPM Chart Report

Queries and Other Functions

Reporting

Exit

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