Chapter 1-A

Question 1

The art and science of overseeing how work is performed in an organization to ensure consistent outcomes and to take advantage of improvement opportunities

Answer 1

Business Process Management (BPM)

Question 2

The term “improvement” may take different meanings depending on

Answer 2

The objectives of the organization

Question 3

BPM is not about improving the way individual activities are performed

Answer 3

Rather, it is about managing processes

Question 4

The chains of events, activities, and decisions that ultimately add value to the organization, and its customers

Answer 4

Processes

Question 5

Type of process performed by a vendor, which starts when a customer submits an order to purchase a product or a service and ends when the product or service in question has been delivered to the customer and the customer has made the corresponding payment

Answer 5

Order-to-cash process

Question 6

Type of process that typically precedes an order-to-cash process. It starts from the point when a supplier receives a Request for Quote (RFQ) from a customer and ends when the customer in question places a purchase order based on the received quote

Answer 6

Quote-to-order process

Question 7

The combination of a quote-to-order and the corresponding order-to-cash process

Answer 7

Quote-to-cash process

Question 8

Type of process that starts when someone in an organization determines that a given product or service needs to be purchased. It ends when the product or service has been delivered and paid for

Answer 8

Procure-to-pay process

Question 9

Type of process that starts when a customer raises a problem or issue, such as a complaint related to a defect in a product or an issue encountered when consuming a service

Answer 9

Issue-to-resolution process

Question 10

Variant of the issue-to-resolution process that can be found in insurance companies that have to deal with insurance claims

Answer 10

Claim-to-resolution process

Question 11

Type of process that starts when someone applies for a benefit or privilege and ends when the benefit or privilege in question is either granted or denied

Answer 11

Application-to-approval process

Question 12

What companies do whenever they deliver a service or a product to customers

Answer 12

Business processes

Question 13

The way process are designed and performed affects

Answer 13

The quality of the service that customers perceive

The efficiency with which services are delivered

Question 14

Correspond to things that happen atomically, which means they have no duration. Example: the arrival of a piece of equipment at a construction site

Answer 14

Events

Question 15

An event may trigger the execution of a series of activities that take time. Example: when a piece of equipment arrives, the site engineer inspects it

Answer 15

Activity

Question 16

When an activity is rather simple and can be seen as one single unit of work. Example: just checking that the equipment received corresponds to what was ordered

Answer 16

Task

Question 17

If the equipment inspection involves several checks; such as checking that the equipment fulfills the specification included in the purchase order, checking that the equipment is in working order, and checking the equipment comes with all the required accessories and safety devices

Answer 17

We will call it an activity instead of a task

Question 18

Points in time when a decision is made that affects the way the process is executed. Example: as a result of the inspection, the site engineer may decide that the equipment should be returned or that the equipment should be accepted. This decision affects what happens later in the process

Answer 18

Decision point

Question 19

Including human actors, organizations, or software systems acting on behalf of human actors or organizations

Answer 19

Actors

Question 20

Equipment, materials, products, paper documents

Answer 20

Physical objects

Question 21

Electronic documents and electronic records

Answer 21

Informational objects

Question 22

Those who operate inside the organization where the process is executed. These actors are also called process participants

Answer 22

Internal actors

Question 23

Those who operate outside the organization where the process is executed. These actors are also called business parties

Answer 23

External actors

Question 24

The execution of a process leads to

Answer 24

One or several outcomes

Question 25

Ideally, an outcome should deliver value to the actors involved in the process

Answer 25

Positive outcome

Question 26

When a value is not achieved or is partially achieved. Example: when a piece of equipment is returned, no value is gained, neither by the buyer or the supplier

Answer 26

Negative outcome

Question 27

Among the actors involved in a process, the one who consumes the output

Answer 27

Customer

Question 28

Example: the customer is the site engineer, since it is the site engineer who puts the rented equipment to use. It is also the site engineer who is dissatisfied if the outcome of the process is unsatisfactory (negative outcome) or if the execution of the process is delayed

Answer 28

The customer can be an employee of an organization (internal customer)

Question 29

Example: in a process for selling a house, there is a buyer, a seller, a real estate agent, one or multiple mortgage providers, and at least one notary. The outcome of the process is a sales transaction. This outcome provides value both to the buyer who gets the house and to the seller who monetizes the house. Therefore, both the buyer and the seller are customers in this process, while the remaining actors provide various services

Answer 29

Sometimes, there are multiple customers in the process

Question 30

Questions to describe a particular process

Answer 30

Who are the actors in this process? Which actors can be considered as customers in this process? What value does the process deliver to its customers? What are the possible outcomes of this process?

Question 31

A collection of inter-related events, activities, and decision points that involve a number of actors and objects, which collectively lead to an outcome that is of value to at least one customer

Answer 31

Business process

Question 32

A body of methods, techniques, and tools to identify, discover, analyze, redesign, execute, and monitor business processes in order to optimize their performance

Answer 32

Business process management (BPM)

Question 33

The focal point of BPM

Answer 33

Business processes

Question 34

BPM involves

Answer 34

Different phases and activities in the lifecycle of business processes

Question 35

We can say that BPM inherits from the continuous improvement philosophy of TQM, embraces the principles and techniques of operations management, Lean and Six Sigma, and combines them with the capabilities offered by modern information technology

Answer 35

In order to optimally align business processes with the performance objectives of an organization