BISM2203 Business Process Management
End of Semester Exam S2 2021
Section A
This section A has a total of 25 of the 100 marks available in this exam.
Question A1.
Please model the process below with all relevant constructs, including data.
This should, ideally, be modelled in Signavio. Please upload both the BPMN 2.0 XML file
(.bpmn) and a PDF (using the Import / Export menu function for the required file formats).
Alternatively, you may also draw this on paper, take a photo or scan, and upload an image file. For
any models you draw, please pay attention to legibility and understandability (pragmatic quality).
Be mindful that modelling in Signavio can be time consuming, so use your time wisely. If you have
sub-processes on another page, please include those. You may use expanded sub-processes
within the main diagram if you wish.
When a dog insurance claim is received by the Dogs Mean All Insurance Company’s Junior Claims
Handler, who first registers the claim and sends a reference number to the customer. The Junior
Claims Handler then checks the level of cover relative to the type of claim. If the customer does not
have cover for their dog for that specific type of claim, the insurance claim is rejected. Otherwise
the Junior Claims Handler checks the type of claim and classifies it as one of two possible claim
types: accident or illness. If the claim is for an accident-related injury to the dog, the Junior Claims
Handler undertakes a comprehensive check. For illness-related claims, the Senior Claims Handler
carries out a comprehensive check while also requesting a prior medical history of the dog from the
nominated vet. If the vet does not respond within 7 working days, the claim is cancelled. After the
comprehensive check(s) is complete (and the medical history is received if required), the Senior
Claims Handler performs a claim assessment, which may lead to two possible outcomes: positive
or negative. If the assessment is positive, the Junior Claims Handler processes a reimbursement
for the customer. In any case (whether the outcome is positive or negative), a letter is sent to the
customer to advise of the outcome and the process ends. At any time after the registration of the
claim and before the claims assessment, the customer may call to add further explanations to the
claim, which stops existing processing and leads to the claim being reviewed from the start.
[25 marks]
2
Section B has a total of 75 of the 100 marks available in this exam.
Instructions for section B:
Please complete this section by editing this document in a text editor such as Microsoft Word.
Please type your answers immediately below the relevant question.
Hint: Dot points are often a good way of communicating quickly, and they also help make your key
points readily identifiable.
This section includes multiple questions based on the process scenario described below.
This process / context should be already largely familiar to you, as we have discussed this in
tutorials this semester, though some of the details may be different.
Student admissions process
In order to apply for admission to I-PU, students first complete an online form, available via I-PU’s
website. Online applications are recorded in I-PU’s Student Registration system, an information
system to which all staff members involved in the admissions process have access. After a student
has submitted the online form, a PDF document is automatically generated and then automatically
sent as an email requesting the student download, sign, and return it by post together with the
required documents, which include:
• Certified copies of previous degree and academic transcripts
• Results of English language test
• Curriculum vitae.
When these documents are received by the Admissions officer, that officer checks the
completeness of the documents. If any document is missing, the officer sends an e-mail to the
student, reminding the student to send the missing documents by post. If the missing documents
are not received within 2 weeks, the application is cancelled, with the student being informed they
must restart a new application if they wish to try again. Once all the application documents have
been received, the admissions office sends the certified copies of the degree to an Academic
Recognition Agency by courier (at a $25 dollar cost), which checks the degrees and gives an
assessment of their validity and equivalence in terms of local education standards. This check
costs $245 per prospective student, and the agency requires that all certified copies of the originals
are sent to it by post. The agency also uses the postal service to send its assessment results to the
university. If the degree verification is negative, the process ends with an “Unsuccessful
application” email sent to the student. Where the degree verification is successful, the English
language test results are then checked online by an Admissions officer. If the validity of the English
language test results cannot be verified, the application is rejected (such notifications of rejection
are sent by e-mail).
Once all documents of a given student have been validated, the admission office collates and
forwards these documents by internal mail to the corresponding academic committee, which is
responsible for deciding whether to offer admission or not. The committee makes its decision
based on the academic transcripts and the CV. The committee meets once every 2 to 3 weeks and
examines all applications that are ready for academic assessment at the time of the meeting. At
the end of the committee meeting, the chair of the committee notifies the admissions office of the
selection outcomes. This notification includes a list of admitted and rejected candidates. The
Admissions Officer notifies the outcome to each candidate via e-mail, typically a few days later.
Additionally, successful candidates are then sent a confirmation letter by post.
An Admissions officer is paid $40/hour.
3
The process can be modelled as follows:
4
Question B1. [18 marks total]
Consider the following three process improvement possibilities:
1. Blockchain technology enables verifiable digital copies of all documents to be sent. As
such, I-PU integrates its online application and student registration systems, drastically
reducing timelines due to student error rates and the repeated requests for information to
students because the system can now verify that the correct documents have been
received. The cycle and processing times for each of these registration and checking
activities now reduces to 1 minute. This also leads to increasing student satisfaction with
the application process and to reducing the amount of checking the Admissions officer has
to do.
2. I-PU provides the Academic Recognition Agency with approver access privileges to its
student registration system. This accelerates the approvals process, and eliminates the
cost of sending certified copies by courier.
3. The English language test is conducted before sending the application to the Academic
Recognition Agency.
For questions a) to d) below, use the table provided to answer:
a) Which of the 8 Lean wastes are likely to be behind the issues being addressed by these
improvements? [6 marks]
b) Which performance measure(s) are affected by these (Hint: consider the Devil’s
Quadrangle)? [4 marks]
c) Is the effect is positive or negative? [3 marks]
d) Which Process Redesign heuristic is behind each of these changes? [5 marks]
NB: there may be more than one heuristic behind each improvement, so please insert
additional lines for each listed improvement option (1, 2, 3) as needed!
Improvement
option #
Possible Lean
Waste
Performance measure
impacted
Effect: positive
/ negative?
Process redesign
heuristic
1
2
3
5
Question B2. [20 marks total]
The cycle times for the process model above are shown in the table below, followed by a list of
assumptions. Please review those prior to answering questions a) and b) below.
a) Calculate the cycle time of the entire process and explain your calculations by showing
clear workings. State any additional assumptions you have made. [14 marks]
b) State whether you can calculate the theoretical cycle time (TCT) based on the information
provided in this question, and briefly explain your reasoning. If TCT can be calculated
based on the information provided in this question, please calculate it and the cycle time
efficiency. [6 marks]
Assumptions:
• Application documents are incomplete in 55% of the cases.
• Students provide updated documents in 90% of the cases.
• 15% of the cases reviewed by the Academic Recognition Agency are unsuccessful.
• 75% of the English language tests are valid.
• 65% of Academic Committee selection outcomes are successful.
• There are 8 working hours each day, and 5 working days per week.
Question B3. [15 marks total]
a) Identify where in the above process you should create a sub-process BPMN construct in
order to improve pragmatic quality. [5 marks]
b) Explain under what circumstances you would normally (i.e., it does not have to be linked to
this scenario) consider using a sub-process BPMN construct when modelling a process.
[5 marks]
Activity Cycle time
Record student application 1 minute
Generate form in PDF 1 minute
Check documents’ completeness 1.5 hours
Application documents received (when students respond to
the updated documents requested message)
9 days
Academic assessment by Academic Recognition Agency 2.5 days
Check English language test results 20 minutes
Collate all documents 15 minutes
Examine applications 1 week
Check selection outcomes 0.5 days
6
c) Please explain when you would use a global vs. a local sub-process? Please provide an
example (which does not have to be from this scenario). [5 marks]
Question B4. [22 marks total]
Choose TWO of the three process improvement possibilities in question B1 above, and quantify
the impacts of each one compared to the “as-is” model. NB: for each improvement, you need to
compare just that improvement (i.e. a small fragment of the overall process).
Please use the following assumptions, and state any further assumptions you make.
Quantification
Improvement number + description (Solution) As-is cost To-be cost
$ $
$ $
Please explain your working calculations for each.
[11 marks each]
Assumptions:
• There are 1,000 student applications each year.
• Application documents are incomplete in 55% of the cases.
• Students provide updated documents in 90% of the cases.
• 15% of the cases reviewed by the Academic Recognition Agency are unsuccessful.
• 75% of the English language tests are valid.
• 65% of Academic Committee selection outcomes are successful.
• The Admissions Officer hourly salary is $45.
• The combined hourly salary of the Academic Committee is $300.
• There are 8 working hours each day, and 5 working days per week.
• Cycle time values in the As-Is process are as follows:
Activity Cycle time Processing time
Record student application 1 minute 1 minute
Generate form in PDF 1 minute 1 minute
Check documents’ completeness 1.5 hours 15 minutes
Application documents received (when students respond
to the updated documents requested message)
9 days 0 minutes
Academic assessment by Academic Recognition Agency 2.5 days 1 hour
Check English language test results 20 minutes 10 minutes
Collate all documents 15 minutes 5 minutes
Examine applications 1 week 10 minutes
7
Activity Cycle time Processing time
Check selection outcomes 0.5 days 30 minutes
Questions you would have liked to ask
Please use this section to ask the questions you would have liked to ask relating to the exam, but
were unable to. You may also use this section to include any additional, generic assumptions that
are not related to any specific question or questions.
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END OF EXAMINATION