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INFS5002
Foundations in
Business Information
Systems
Lecture 8: BIS as workflow
Dr. Mylène Struijk
The University of Sydney
Agenda for today
1. BIS and workflow
2. Workshop BPMN
3. Activity: Practice drawing a BPMN
BIS as workflow
Business processes
Business process modeling is hardly a new idea
• Companies know how to do a lot of things that can be understood as business
processes, with and without any technology (IT) support
• “Officially” the concept of BPs can be traced back to the early 1920’s under the term
‘methods and procedure analysis’
• But ‘unofficially’ BPM have been around for a long, long time…
Functional perspective of the organisation
Focus on
specialised
functions.
Vertical,
hierarchical
relations up &
down in the
organisation
Visions,
Strategies, Goals,
Objectives,
…
Quantifying
Reports, sales
data, expenditure,
KPI…
Lateral Communication
What is a business process?
• A business process consists of a group of logically related coordinated activities
(tasks) that use organisational resources to provide defined results in support of the
organisation’s objectives.
– A business process is a set of interlocking activities that work together across the
organisation to achieve a predetermined organisational goal.
e.g. Procuring
resources
e.g.
1.Determine what to buy
2.Find vendor
3.Order
4.Check goods
5.Pay
e.g.
1.Purchasing
2.Logistics
3.Finance
Process perspective of the organisation
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Procurement Process
Focus on
business
processes,
across the
organisationF
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Lateral Communication
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Function versus process perspective
Functional
perspective
Process
perspective
Focus What is done How it is done
Orientation Vertical Horizontal
Objective Task driven Customer driven
Personnel Specialists – highly
defined tasks
Generalists – tasks
across the
process; BP
owners

What is a business process?
• BPs constitute a significant portion of organisational costs
• There is significant opportunity to improve efficiency by improving BPs
• BPs exist at all organisational levels
• BPs create a sustainable competitive advantage
• BPs improve organisational decision-making
• BPs are one of the key organisational assets
BPs need to
be managed!
Goals:
*Making processes efficient
*Making processes effective
*Making processes adaptable (agile)
The University of Sydney
Summary
• What BPs are and why they are important
• The relevance and value of a BP orientation
Workshop:
An introduction into BPMN
BPMN Notation and Syntax 1: Events
Events
Start Event:
– Every process begins with a
start event.
End Event:
– Every process ends with at
least one end event.
Timer event:
– This is a so-called inter-
mediate event, which can
happen anywhere in the
process
– The event waits for something
to happen (e.g. a specified
time to pass); can be used to
model a delay or pause.
Start event
End event
Timer event
BPMN Notation and Syntax 2: Activities and sub-processes
Activities Task
– An atomic activity.
– Represents the work
performed in this process step
– Usually requires some input
and creates an output.
– These are depicted as documents.
Sub process
– A compound activity.
– Represents a complex activity.
– The plus symbol Indicates that
it can be opened for more
detail.
– Can be detailed in a separate
model.
Activity
Activity
+
Sub process
Task
BPMN Notation and Syntax 3: Flows and objects
Process flow
– Also called: sequence flow.
– Models the order of activities
(normal flow).
– Activities happen strictly in the order
they are connected by sequence
flow elements.
Message flow / data flow
– Represents the flow of data objects.
– Data objects can be attached to
sequence flow arrows; no separate
message flow is needed.
– Message flow only needed, when
data flows separate from sequence
flow.
Connections
Process flow
Message flow
Artefact
Transation
details
Data object
BPMN Notation and Syntax 4: Gateways
Gateways
Gateways control the process flow and help
implement process logic.
Parallel Fork / Join
–Read symbol as “AND”
Exclusive Decision / Merge
–Read symbol as “X-clusive”
–Distinguish between splits and merges
– Split: divides process flow in
separate paths (multiple outgoing
flows)
– Merge: Brings together process
paths (multiple incoming flows)
X
+ Parallel Fork/Join
Exclusive Decision/
Merge
BPMN Notation and Syntax 5: Pools and lanes (entities)
Pools
– Act as containers for processes
– Each pool represents one participant
in a business process (e.g. customer or
supplier)
– Empty pools are sometimes used to
model document exchanges
Swim lanes
– Used to better visualise the activities
carried out by different internal
business roles
Entities
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A summary of the notation
Events
Start event
End event
Timer event
Gateways
X
+ Parallel Fork/Join
Exclusive Decision/
Merge
Entities
L
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2
L
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Activities
Activity
Activity
+
Sub process
Task
Connections
Process flow
Message flow
Transation
details
Pizza Delivery example
General steps to create a Business Process Model
1. Conduct interviews with relevant people
2. Constructing a process narrative from the
interviews
3. Create a Table of Entities and Activities
4. Construct BPM using the appropriate
syntax
What activities are performed?
What records of the activities do they maintain?
What data are required and generated by each activity?
From whom are the data received?
To whom are the data sent?
…
Verify your narrative!
Get your informants to
read the narrative and
ask them if there is
anything they missed?
Entities are your pools and swim lanes.
Activities are the ‘boxes’
Documents indicate information flows
Maps are often drafted roughly
…Before being tidied up in Visio, Adonis:CE, ARIS, bpmn.io
or other software
Summary
• BPMN is a powerful tool for modelling
business processes
• BPMN shows us:
• Who is involved (entities)
• What is done (activities)
• Where a process starts and ends
• The flow of the process including
alternatives
Activity
Draw a BPMN
Events
Start event
End event
Timer event
Activities
Activity
Activity
+
Sub process
Task
Gateways
X
+ Parallel Fork/Join
Exclusive Decision/
Merge
Connections
Process flow
Message flow
Transation
details
Customers phone the sales person to place
an order. The sales person completes a 3-
copy pre-numbered order request that lists
the customer’s name, delivery address, and
the items being ordered. Copy 1 is verified
by the sales person and filed in a tray. The
sales person sends Copy 2 to the sales
manager. The sales manager signs Copy 2
and mails it to the customers. Copy 3 is sent
to the Accounting Dept by the sales person.
Your task: Draw a BPMN
Entities
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Debrief: Entities and Activities
Customers phone the sales person to place an order. The sales person
completes a 3-copy pre-numbered order request that lists the customer’s name,
delivery address, and the items being ordered. Copy 1 is verified by the sales
person and filed in a tray. The sales person sends Copy 2 to the sales
manager. The sales manager signs Copy 2 and mails it to the customers.
Copy 3 is sent to the Accounting Dept by the sales person.
BPMN.IO to start constructing your BPMN

BPMN Getaways:
Control the process flow and implement process logic
Comes in pairs with splits (outgoing) and merges (incoming)
Exclusive
decision:
Only one
outgoing path
can be followed!
Parallel decision:
Both outgoing paths
must be followed! And
both incoming paths
must be fulfilled!
Enjoy your mid-semester break!
See you in week 9
INFS5002
Dr. Mylène Struijk
first.last@sydney.edu.au

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