If process parts are loosely coupled, then it is possible to discern between a Public Process and a Private Process. A Public Process contains all process parts and dependencies of the process of a Participant, that are relevant for the interaction to the other Participant. For example in a buyer – seller relationship it is not relevant if the seller has an internal approval process of of what form it is. It is only relevant if the order request is to be confirmed or not and in which time.
Therefore designing public processes gives flexibility within Participants to change processes as necessary – often without or with reduced side effects to the interation to the other Participant. This reduces cost in Process adaptations.
BPMN 2.0 has been submitted to the OMG. How to leverage success using BPMN 2.0?
Integration of Software Systems is the realization of the underlying Business Processes. Realizing As-Is Processes often leads to suboptimal results. No doubt – As-Is processes Analysis needs to be done. But Process Design is ImhO the decisive part.
It must be absolutely clear, which parts of a process are tightly coupled and which parts are loosely coupled. Tightly coupled means for example: A Customer Order can not be created unless the price determination is done. Loosely coupled means: A Customer Order can be created independent from the creation of the Delivery. The delivery creation is a loosely coupled followon process.
However, of course there are interaction between loosely coupled process parts. These need to be defined – i.e. designed. BPMN 2.0 gives the possibility to model them in a way never possible before.
In BPMN 2.0 tightly coupled process parts are those within a pool. Loosely coupled process parts are those that are modeled cross pools in Collaborations or in Choreographies.
The cut of the process – thightly or loosely coupled – is decisive for success. It is not only a system modeling or implementation question. It is also a business process question. Or why do companies outsource parts of their operations? Because they want to loosely couple, what was tightly coupled earlier. This principle makes sense within companies as well, because of enhanced flexibility.
The question how to add more intelligence to Business Processes provokes me to share a my opinion on this.
Yes, of course we can discuss about business rules and automated decisions. But in the end, the most intelligent entity on earth is still the user. Yes, we can discuss about AI and Deep Blue being Chess Champion. But my statement still holds.
Yes, it is all about decisions. But that does not imply, that the decisions need to be automated. Some can. But often the business process should push the necessary decision to the user.
And to allow for intelligent decisions, it is crucial to allow for enough decision alternatives. This may sound simplistic in the beginning. But it is not. Bare with me for a moment.
So what is as simple as an approval? Approve or Reject. The simplest decision in the world. But not so simple. Of course, if only Approve or Reject is modeled / implemented, then what should the user do, if he wants to do something else? What else could a user do other than Approve or Reject? He might want to send it back to revision for example. Another user might want to change the underlying approval object – what influence does this have on the process? A realignment of the process is necessary. What, if an approver wants to merge several approvals into one or if he wants to split one into several. Partly Approve. Partly Reject. Partly Edit. Define new Followup – Approval. Change the Approval Type. Merge unterlying objects. Split them. And Realing the Process. Or substitute the Business Process by an equivalent different one. If you only begin to think about it, then you can hardly stop. And if you think, what that means for a process model, then I would say this is a real challenge. Certainly far more than giving only two branches: Approve and Reject.
So in my opinion adding intelligence to business process means also adding flexibility to the business process, that allows for more than simple alternatives for the user and to push decisions to the user. And to allow for automated decisions to be overruled by the user in many cases.
