ASPE Technology Training Information: Business Process Analysis and Design

COURSE 2350a | 3-DAY SESSION
Business Process Analysis and Design

Course Outline

I. Business Modeling and Analysis concepts
Basic business modeling concepts will be introduced along with the course learning objectives

Business Process Management concepts and application
Introduce key concepts in building a business process model.
Course learning objectives
Course agenda

II. Building the Enterprise Model
Chapter objectives are: 1) The value chain and the value of conducting an enterprise analysis; 2) Business process analysis concepts and application; 3) Overall analysis and design approach

Overview of business strategy
Identify and document the value chain processes
Assess the business opportunities, threats, weaknesses and opportunities
Selection of enterprise value opportunities
Approach to business process analysis and design

Group Activity: Create enterprise level model and conduct initial assessment
A summary of the business environment and internal conditions of the entity selected for the course exercises will be introduced for examination and to provide the framework for the class activities. Information will be provided on the business strategy and on the documentation of the operational results and internal conditions. The participants will be asked to produce the following deliverables:

Value chain processes and documentation
Assessment of the business strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
Identify and rank value opportunities
Select a number of initiatives

III. Process modeling techniques overview
Chapter objectives are: 1) Gain knowledge on the differences between logical and physical models and the need for creating these models to analyze a business; 2) Steps and approach in applying different process modeling technique

Logical vs. physical models
Process and functional decomposition
Data flow modeling and the context diagram
Event Modeling
Documenting data requirements
Process maps

Individual Practice: You will execute a number of practices to reinforce the skills required to apply the list of techniques covered and the creation of the work products.

IV. Create high level business process model
Chapter objectives are: 1) Apply the skills to decompose a business process, identify events, and document process properties; 2) Gain knowledge on the use of available documentation of the business organization to provide the information needed to model a business process; 3) Acquire the knowledge and skills to identify process owners

Decomposing the value chain mega processes and identification of major business processes
Mapping processes to the organization
Define and select process owners
Defining process purpose and scope
Identify and document business events
Identify and document process stakeholders needs and requirements
Define and document process transformation and key properties
Document major process information needs

Group Activity: Decompose a value chain process and identify and describe the key properties of its major processes
The participants are asked to examine additional details on a number of value chain processes and from the information gathered the participants will be asked to produce the following work products:

Decomposition of a value chain process into major processes
Definition of the scope and purpose of a major process
Document process transformation and key properties
Map of the business process to the organization and identification of process owners
Documentation of business events

V. Analysis of major process performance
Chapter objectives are: 1) Gain the knowledge and skills to rank and select critical major processes; 2) Gain the knowledge and skills to select performance measures and targets; 3) Learn the approach and steps in conducting an analysis of performance and identify value opportunities

Align major processes to business strategy and select critical processes
Select major process performance measures and performance targets
Identify and rank performance gaps
Identify root causes of performance deviations and value drivers
Assessment of information coverage and support
Establish and rank value opportunities
Determination of breadth and depth of analysis

Group Activity: Conduct analysis of the performance of a major process
You will be given additional information on the strategy of the business under study and the baseline solution to the previous exercise to create the following deliverables:

The termination of process criticality and selection of critical major processes for analysis
Selection of critical performance measures and performance targets
Documentation of performance gaps
Identification of value opportunities and value drivers

VI. Expand current state process model
Chapter objectives are: 1) Reinforce the skills to decompose and describe a business process; 2) Apply the skills to expand the definition and properties of business events; 3) Apply the skills to create a data flow diagram; 4) Gain basic knowledge of the approach to define the data requirements

Decompose major process into sub-processes
Map processes to the organization and jobs
Expand definition of business events and their properties
Create data flow diagram and document data requirements
Define properties and impact of elementary process and discrete events
Diagram and document elementary processes
Create event response matrix
Mapping elementary processes to organization and technology elements

Group Activity: Decompose a major process and describe its sub processes
Information will be distributed on the details of a major process transformation and the participants will be asked to decompose the given process into sub processes and elementary processes. The participant’s assignment is to produce the following work products: Process decomposition of the selected major process, Map of the sub processes to the organizational units, Identification of the events triggering the sub-processes, Data flow diagram, Event response matrix, Documentation of elementary process logic and properties

VII. Create model of current state implementation of a business process
Chapter objectives are: 1) Gain the knowledge and skills to build in parallel logical and physical models; 2) Apply the skills to build a workflow model; 3) Apply the approach and techniques to define roles, activities and for measuring actual performance

Introduce the concepts and application of a workflow model
Describe key components of a workflow model
Introduce different diagrams and diagramming conventions
Map tasks and roles to process model transformation, inputs and outputs
Describe approach to develop and integrate process and workflow models
Describe current state implementation and document roles and flows of documents and information

Group Activity: Model current state implementation of selected sub process
Additional information will be provided on the implementation of the business process selected for the previous exercise, and more details will be provided for a given sub-process. Participants will be asked to initially create a work flow model describing the implementation of the major process, and to create a more detailed work flow model for a given sub process. The required work products are as follows:

Documentation of tasks and roles
Work flow models
Updates to the process model built in the previous exercise

VIII. Conduct in-depth analysis of performance
Chapter objectives are: 1) Gain the knowledge and skills to establish the scope of the analysis; 2) Learn the approach and steps in conducting a detailed analysis of the current state performance; 3) Acquire the knowledge and skills to identify root causes from the information provided by the different modeling techniques

Establish scope of analysis
Measure sub process effectiveness and efficiency and align with major process performance
Align current measures and performance targets of tasks and roles to sub process measures and targets
Identify and rank problems
Approach to identify and confirm root causes of problems and the use of different models and techniques
Confirm value opportunities and select
Document business needs and requirements

Group Activity: Analysis of conduct detailed analysis of performance
This group exercise builds on the results of the exercises on modeling and analyzing a major process, and the exercise on describing the current state implementation of a given major process. The participants will receive a baseline solution for the previous exercises plus additional details on the implementation of a sub process to complete the following deliverables:

Scope of analysis
Measures and targets of performance
List of problems and their priority
List of problem root causes
Confirmed list of value opportunities

IX. Design the future state
Chapter objectives are: 1) Gain the knowledge of the scope of the decisions in formulating a future state vision and model; 2) Introduce the concepts and need to address the impact of the proposed changes; 3) Apply the skills to create a future state process model

Create future state vision
Create and document the future business process model
Evaluate and select best practices
Select benchmarks and performance targets
Completing the event/response matrix
Transition to design
Organizational impact and business change considerations

Group Activity: Future State design
The initial assignment will be a facilitated discussion on formulating the future state vision and addressing the changes to the business based on the analysis of the work products completed in previous exercises and an additional description of the business environment. An additional exercise will be assigned to complete the event/response matrix and create a workflow model to design the deployment of the selected process.

ASPE has been reviewed and approved as a CPE training provider for the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). 12 CPEs are awarded upon full completion of Business Process Analysis and Design.