In what program to describe business processes. ARIS Express is a free software for modeling business processes and organizational structure

In this article, we will post a brief overview of programs for describing and modeling business processes.
As information becomes available, we will add brief descriptions of the programs to the article.
If you know a handy business process modeling program that is not included in our list, let us know in a comment or via the feedback form.

1. ARIS Express is a business process modeling tool that is easy to install and use, so that it can be used by both novice users and university students. This product belongs to the ARIS (ARchitecture of Integrated Information Systems) family of modeling tools by IDS Scheer (now part of Software AG), widely represented on the Russian market, localized several years ago and even provided with Russian-language technical support. The ARIS (ARchitecture of Integrated Information Systems) family of products manufactured by IDS Scheer includes not only tools for modeling business processes and publishing models, but also tools that integrate with each other to develop a balanced scorecard, evaluate and optimize the cost of business processes, their simulation modeling, tools that simplify the implementation of ERP systems, the design of distributed applications and IT infrastructure, as well as tools for monitoring the implementation of business processes. Leading analyst firms Gartner Group and Forrester Research rank IDS Scheer as a global market leader in business process modeling and analysis tools.

2. Bizagi Process Modeler - free software for creating process diagrams and documentation in BPMN standard notation.

3. Business Studio - a business modeling system from a domestic manufacturer that allows companies to speed up and simplify the development of their management system, the implementation of a quality management system. There is a free version. Main tasks to be solved:

Formalization of the strategy and control of its achievement
Design and optimization of business processes
Designing the organizational structure and staffing
Formation and distribution among employees of regulatory documentation
Implementation of a quality management system in accordance with ISO standards
Formation of Terms of Reference and support for the implementation of information systems

4. AllFusion Process Modeler - Allows you to describe, analyze and model the data model - the builder of meta-data models. It occupies one of the leading positions in its market segment.
Includes three standard methodologies: IDEF0 (functional modeling), DFD (data flow modeling) and IDEF3 (work flow modeling).

5. is a comprehensive tool with a user-friendly interface designed to model and organize collaboration between both production and IT staff.

Fast and seamless integration of modeling, workflow building and simulation functions.
Storage-based simulation, change reporting, and real-time performance evaluation tools.
Monitor workflows over the Internet using a standard browser.

6.ELMA - Russian development. The business process management system is based on a simple idea: you are building a model of your company's business processes using visual diagrams (BPMN notation), upload these descriptions to the ELMA computer system, and the program allows you to track the execution of processes in the actual practice of the enterprise. There is a free version.
In addition to managing sequential tasks that are beneficial to automate, there is a project management module. The existing control system (including through the KPI management module) and reports creates optimal conditions for working in a team, including remotely (especially valuable for branches).
Electronic document management is associated with all modules of the system and provides storage, classification of documents. This saves a lot of time and reduces the concept of an "indispensable worker" to a minimum.
Accounting for clients and access rights is solved in the CRM module: a function of integration with call centers has appeared. For an ordinary user, ELMA can be useful as an alternative to intra-corporate mail and a task management tool.

7. Fox Manager Business Processes Free. A program for building and analyzing business processes, as well as generating reports on the process model of an enterprise. The program allows you to build a single integral process model of the enterprise. The notation used is close to the Basic Flow Chart, which is well known to many for its ease of building business processes. The program automatically builds top-level processes, displaying the interaction between categories and business processes in the form of a visual diagram. The analytical functions of the program allow you to timely notice and eliminate errors made when building the constructed process model, namely, to highlight processes for which no one is responsible, to find links to non-existent documents, positions, suppliers or business processes.

tutorial

Process optimization has a difficult fate. In the middle of the 2000s, it was even forbidden to mention this word, as compromised by the implication of useless activity. Until now, people try to use synonyms like reengineering, improvement, performance, etc. However, improving efficiency is one of the goals of business process management activities. The basis for optimization is the result of the analysis of data about the environment and the content of the process. If it is not possible to collect statistical data (for example, when designing a new process), they are generated by BP simulators.
In one of the previous posts on Habré, I talked about the bpsimulator.com online business process simulation service. Today we will try with its help to solve a specific task of improving the efficiency of work, for example, the process of retail lending to a bank.

Optimization Goal

One of the mistakes is to start optimization for the sake of optimization, but we are like that, we have an introductory one: a point of sale of a competing bank offering a similar product has opened next to a bank branch. The technology and product cannot be changed, it is necessary to reduce the time from the moment of application to the issuance of a loan in order to create a competitive advantage.

Collecting business process data

First you need to collect data on the necessary functions, their sequence and performers:
Feature List
1. "Filing a loan application" is performed by the "Operator" in 15-30 minutes
2. "Verification of data" is performed by "Verifier" in 5-15 minutes
3. "Risk Identification" performs "Scoring (automatic)" in 1 minute
4. “Security Check” is performed by “Security Officer” in 10-15 minutes
5 “Decision making” is performed by the “Credit manager” in 5-10 minutes, the percentage of approval (Approval Rate) AR=0.1
6. "Informing the client" is performed by the "Call center operator" in 5 minutes
7. "Reject Notification" performs "SMS Gateway (Auto)" in 30 seconds
8. "Loan processing" is performed by the "Operator" in 10-20 minutes
9. "Transfer funds" performs "ABS (automatically)" in 1 minute
Composition of organizational structures
1. Operator: 2 employees in 10 additional offices
2. Verifier: 6 employees in the branch
3. Security officer: 10 employees in the branch
4. Credit manager: 5 employees in the branch
5. CC operator: 2 CC employees
External factors
1. An average of 32 visitors visit the branch per day, evenly throughout the working day

Visitors do not go evenly, the operator has a dozen more tasks for other processes, tasks are distributed to the verifier only once a day, AR depends on the product, the second operator is going on maternity leave, etc. This is extremely important for the next step, but today we will learn from a simple example.

Visual modeling of a business process

We go to the service, launch the application and select the Russian language and create a new model. By right-clicking on the name, we change it to "1.0.0 Retail lending in the bank JSCB" XXX ".

This will seem reasonable in the future, when colleagues see the screen of your monitor.

The only thing currently in the workspace is the control panel with sections: Model, Design, Simulation and View. In the Design section, click "Add generator" - this is a task generator, in our case it is a generator of bank visitors who want to apply for a loan. Nearby is also the "Add function" button, we need 9 of them. Let's place these objects on the model sequentially from top to bottom with the mouse.
Each object has an "input" - the upper part and an "output" - the lower one. To connect the objects, click on the "+" in the area of the "exit" of the higher object and then on the "+" of the lower (or any other). So there will be a connection with the arrow from the output of one object to the input of another.

Double-clicking on an object will open its properties window. There it is necessary to change the default values to the data that we have collected about the process.

To change the position of the performer, double-click on the line with the resource (marked with the number 3 in the figure). The resource manager window will open. The name of the position must be changed and click on the “Save resource” checkbox in the same place, then the name will change in all functions where this specialist is involved. For the “Loan processing” function, in the drop-down list, select the “Operator” already created by us, and delete the extra line. At the end of the simulation, the “Resource Management” window looks like this (I deleted one unused automatically created position):

The "Decision making" function must have two outputs, one for the "Informing" function, and the second for the "Rejection notification". Thus, at the output of this function, a rule for distributing the course of the process, a logical "OR" is formed (either a positive decision on the loan will be made and the client should be invited to the office -10%, or it will be enough to inform the client about the negative decision -90%). The function properties should look like this:

Let's name the generator "Customer's request", in the section "Working time" by double-clicking on the line "09:00-18:00" you can edit the number of clients during the working day.
At this stage of modeling usually ends, our model looks like this:

The model will pass the correctness test, but it will not pass the adequacy test. Our employees of the middle office of the branch serve the applications of 9 more branches, and this must be modeled in order to obtain adequate results.

Of course, you can merge all the tellers into one abstract department, but then if three visitors come to the office with two tellers, then the latter will stand in line for service, and in the abstract additional office he will be “received” by a free specialist from another city. And if you divide the number of branch employees by the number of branches, it will be ridiculous and not adequate.
It is also possible to duplicate the generators and functions of the operator on the model 9 more times, it will turn out clearly, but cumbersome.

Let's add another task generator with the name "Filing an application in another DO" and the number of tasks 32 * 9 = 288 during the working day. We will feed the generator output to the input of the “Data verification” function. Between informing the client and applying for a loan, you need to put a filter so that the applications of the second generator do not go to one branch. Let's put the "Control point" object between them from the "Design" section and in its properties you need to click "Allow" the generator with the name "Customer request" - only those requests that this operator processed will go further. The final model looks like:

Now you can run.

Business Process Simulation

On the toolbar in the "Simulation" section, click "Start" - the simulation will start, the numbers on the model objects will reflect the state of the process on a time scale of 1 second of real time is equal to 1 minute of process time. The simulation will stop after a day of process time, i.e. 24 minutes real. This is a long time, so you can click the next button "Speed up" - then it will take only 24 seconds to calculate the day. At the end of the simulation, we will have collected all the data on the state of the process, tasks, functions and workload of employees during the entire simulation period.

Business process analysis

In the "View" section of the toolbar there is a button for opening the "Statistics" window, in which the process status graphs are located in the tabs. Since our goal is to reduce the time to complete tasks, we look at the "Tasks" tab:

The average operating time is about an hour. We will need to somehow reduce this value. The first thing that comes to mind is to increase the number of employees in the busiest areas. On the "Person" tab resources” it is clear that verifiers are working at the limit of their strength.

In the "View" section of the toolbar there is a button "Resources" to open the "Resource Manager" window, we will increase the number of verifiers from 6 to 8 people (do not forget to click the save resource checkbox)

The operational time for working on tasks has not changed, but the verifiers have too much free time. So you need to dig in a different direction, for example, on the execution time of a critical function. The "Data Verification" function has a maximum execution time of 15 minutes that is three times the minimum of 5 minutes. But what if you can reduce the maximum verification time to 10 minutes? To test the hypothesis, we will return the number of verifiers -6, and set the execution time of the "Data verification" function to 6-10 minutes. Let's run the simulation.

Operating time decreased by 15 minutes, i.е. by 25%, and on some runs this result reaches up to 50%, which is the fact that it makes sense to carry out further optimization at the level of a specific function.

Conclusion

As you can see, to start using and get practical results of simulation modeling, easily accessible data, a simple tool and non-professional skills are quite enough. Everyone will be able to solve their own tasks of optimizing business processes, testing hypotheses for making changes, and rationing the number of staff. If you are wondering what the rest of the function settings fields are for and in what cases they need to be applied, you can look at

1.ARIS Express http://www.ariscommunity.com/aris-express is a business process modeling tool that is easy enough to install and use, so that it can be used by both novice users and university students.This product belongs to the ARIS (ARchitecture of Integrated Information Systems) family of modeling tools by IDS Scheer (now part of Software AG), widely represented on the Russian market, localized several years ago and even provided with Russian-language technical support. The ARIS (ARchitecture of Integrated Information Systems) family of products manufactured by IDS Scheer includes not only tools for modeling business processes and publishing models, but also tools that integrate with each other to develop a balanced scorecard, evaluate and optimize the cost of business processes, their simulation modeling, tools that simplify the implementation of ERP systems, the design of distributed applications and IT infrastructure, as well as tools for monitoring the implementation of business processes. Leading analyst firms Gartner Group and Forrester Research rank IDS Scheer as a global market leader in business process modeling and analysis tools.

2. Bizagi Process Modeler http://www.bizagi.com/- free software for creating process diagrams and documentation in BPMN standard notation.

3.Business Studio http://www.businessstudio.ru/- a business modeling system from a domestic manufacturer that allows companies to accelerate and simplify the development of their management system, the implementation of a quality management system. There is a free version. Main tasks to be solved:
- Formalization of the strategy and control of its achievement
- Design and optimization of business processes
- Designing the organizational structure and staffing
- Formation and distribution among employees of regulatory documentation
- Implementation of a quality management system in accordance with ISO standards
- Formation of Terms of Reference and support for the implementation of information systems

4. AllFusion Process Modeler http://www.ca.com/en/default.aspx- Allows you to describe, analyze and model the data model - the builder of meta-data models. It occupies one of the leading positions in its market segment.
Includes three standard methodologies: IDEF0 (functional modeling), DFD (data flow modeling) and IDEF3 (work flow modeling).

5. IBM WebSphere Business Modeler http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/us/en/modeler.. is a comprehensive tool with a user-friendly interface designed to model and organize collaboration between both production and IT personnel.
-Fast and seamless integration of modeling, workflow building and simulation functions.
-Storage-based simulation, change reporting, and real-time performance evaluation tools.
-Monitoring workflows over the Internet using a standard browser.

6.Overview of programs for modeling business processes ELMA http://www.elma-bpm.ru/- Russian development. The business process management system is based on a simple idea: you are building a model of your company's business processes using visual diagrams (BPMN notation), upload these descriptions to the ELMA computer system, and the program allows you to track the execution of processes in the actual practice of the enterprise. There is a free version.
In addition to managing sequential tasks that are beneficial to automate, there is a project management module. The existing control system (including through the KPI management module) and reports creates optimal conditions for working in a team, including remotely (especially valuable for branches).
Electronic document management is associated with all modules of the system and provides storage, classification of documents. This saves a lot of time and reduces the concept of an "indispensable worker" to a minimum.
Accounting for clients and access rights is solved in the CRM module: a function of integration with call centers has appeared. For an ordinary user, ELMA can be useful as an alternative to intra-corporate mail and a task management tool.

7. Fox Manager Business Processes

The structure of the system includes the following functional areas:

business process management
Electronic archive
KPI scorecard

Modeling

Business processes are modeled in the system web interface in the business process card. To do this, the user is offered a set of simple block diagrams:

The resulting graphical diagram of the business process with all performers and related procedures is displayed in the process card:

Each point (stage) of the business process is assigned a certain set of attributes (details), including the name, the indication of the performers, the document type:

The next step in building the logic of a business process is setting up its details:

The collection of indicators can be carried out manually and using business processes.
When the process starts, the responsible user receives the corresponding task:

Changes to existing processes can be made on the fly. It is enough just to remove or add new blocks to the graphical process model.

Typical processes can be configured for regular execution automatically:

Control panels and analytics

The head is provided with consolidated reporting on all indicators of the company's activities:

Process analysis with indicators

A summary of all types of business processes of the company, indicating the number of running instances and their statuses, planned and actual time indicators, is presented in the process execution report:

Also, reporting on the status of processes can be displayed in a graphical version. The status of operations (tasks) in a process is marked with a color:

The impact of KPI employees and departments on the overall results of the company can be seen in the example of such an element as calculated indicators.

Estimated indicators are total values that are made up of a number of key indicators using a special formula. For example, to calculate the value of "Finance", the indicators "Sales volume" and "Marginal profit" are added together:

The terms of this formula can be flexibly configured for each calculated indicator.
The relationship between the calculated indicator and the KPI is shown graphically in the Dashboard.

The view model can be customized for a specific user.

General impression of the system

The Process Management solution based on 1C: Enterprise 8 provides an extensive set of tools for building company business processes. There is also a graphical editor, tools for monitoring/improving business processes, and custom dashboards for visually displaying indicators.

KPI here is not just an optional "appendage", but an element of controlling the company's process model.

All this is implemented with the scrupulousness inherent in the products of the 1C line. For example, the construction of each stage of the process chain requires the introduction of a large amount of related data.

ELMA BPM Suite

ELMA is a BPM class system and at the same time a platform for developing modules and solutions aimed at various aspects of business. The ELMA-based KPI module serves to visually display employee performance indicators, which are considered in relation to the company's strategic goals.

A complete business solution that combines BPM functionality, process metrics, strategy management tools and staff motivation tools is offered in the ELMA BPM Suite.
Consider what functionality is supplied by the developer as part of this package.