Aligning Business Processes and Information Systems: New Approaches to Continuous Quality Engineering

244 Pages·2014·5.42 MB·English

by  Robert Heinrich (auth.)

Aligning Business Processes
and Information Systems
Robert Heinrich
Aligning Business
Processes and
Information Systems
New Approaches to Continuous
Quality Engineering
Foreword by Prof. Dr. Barbara Paech
Dr. Robert Heinrich
Karlsruhe, Germany
ISBN 978-3-658-06517-1 ISBN 978-3-658-06518-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-06518-8
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Foreword
Thequalityofbusinesssoftwareisdeterminednotonlybythefunctionality
and the quality properties of the software, but also by its fitting into the
businesscontext. Businessprocessesconstitutethemajorpartofthiscontext.
Missingalignmentbetweensoftwareandcontextinducesdisruption,ineffi-
ciencyandfrustration. Thedesign(andthusalsothequality)ofbusiness
processesandofbusinesssoftwarearenowadaystypicallyseparatedinthe
disciplineofbusinessprocessmanagementandinthedisciplineofsoftware
engineering. Businessinformaticsandinformationsystemsciencestudythe
concurrence of both, but typically focusing on functional aspects and not
addressingdetailedtechnicalsoftwareproperties. Aprecisespecification
of quality as well as its measurement and prediction is neglected both in
practiceandinresearch.
The contribution of this book is to give examples from research and
practice for an integrated design of the quality of business processes and
software. Thefirstresearchcontributionisafoundationfortheintegrated
specification of quality for business process and software in terms of a
business process quality reference model (BPQRM) which is compatible
withwellknownsoftwareproductqualitystandardssuchasISO/IEC25000.
ToapplytheBPQRMinpracticeanextensionoftypicalbusinessprocess
modeling notations such as BPMN is proposed and implemented. The
second research contribution is an integrated model of business process
andsoftwareperformanceandacorrespondingtoolforintegratedsimula-
tion and performance analysis and prediction. The book shows the limi-
tationsofaseparatedbutconnectedsimulationofbusinessprocessesand
information systems (BIIS) which could be viewed as a natural solution
to the alignment problem. Based on this the intricacies of a true inte-
gration are motivated and developed. Important parts of this integration
(IntBIIS) are a scheduling policy for human actors as well as the treat-
VI Foreword
ment of variable load which does not impact the stability of the simula-
tion.
Tosupportfurtherworkonqualityspecificationandalignmentthisbook
contains several case studies which show the potential of the integrated
approach. The usefulness of the BPQRM for elicitation of quality issues
is shown through a study in the medical domain. The usefulness of BIIS
andIntBIISisdiscussedfortheorderpickingprocessatamanufacturing
anddistributioncompany. Thisisfirstpublishedapplicationofperformance
modelingandpredictioninpracticeandprovidesseveralinterestinginsights
onthedifficultiesandopportunitiesofsuchapplicationinindustry.
Integration(ofthedesignofbusinessprocessandsoftwarequalityaswell
as of research and practice) is the underlying theme of this book. This is
exactlywhatweneedtoadvancethequalityofinformationtechnologyand
itsapplication.
Heidelberg Prof. Dr. BarbaraPaech
ChairofSoftwareEngineering
UniversityofHeidelberg
Preface
Oneofthemajorreasonswhyinformationsystemsencounterproblemsor
failinthecontextofanorganizationisthemissingalignmentwithbusiness
processes. Thismeansthatinformationsystemsaredesignedwithouttaking
the impact of business processes into account, and vice versa. Business
processesandinformationsystemsmutuallyaffecteachotherinnon-trivial
ways. Missingalignmentatdesign-timeoftenresultsinqualityproblemsat
run-time,suchasinterruptedbusinessprocessesduetooverloadedinforma-
tionsystems,orlargeinformationsystemresponsetimesduetounexpectedly
highworkloadsinducedbybusinessprocesses.
Aligningbusinessprocessqualityandinformationsystemqualityatdesign-
timerequiresthesolvingofthefollowingproblems(P).Businessprocess
qualityandinformationsystemqualityhavetobecharacterized. P1: Incon-
trasttoinformationsystemquality,whichisspecified,e.g. intheISO/IEC
9126 standard, there is no common and comprehensive understanding of
businessprocessquality. P2: Beyondthat,currentbusinessprocessmod-
elingnotationsdonotaimatrepresentingqualityaspects. Theimpactofa
businessprocessonthequalityofaninformationsystem,andviceversa,is
unknownatdesign-time. P3: Themutualimpactbetweenbusinessprocesses
andinformationsystemsmustbepredictedatdesign-time.
Inthisbook,theBusinessProcessQualityReference-Model (BPQRM),
a quality model for business processes, is introduced. The model allows
foracomprehensivecharacterizationofbusinessprocessquality(P1). The
BPQRM is applied successfully in a case study to identify potentials for
processqualityimprovementinpractice. BasedontheBPQRM,anexist-
ingprocessmodelingnotationisextendedbymodelelementstorepresent
quality aspects (P2). Simulation is a powerful means to predict the im-
pact of a business process on the quality of an information system, and
viceversa,atdesign-time. Thisbookproposestwosimulationapproaches
VIII Preface
topredictthemutualimpactbetweenbusinessprocessesandinformation
systems in terms of performance (P3). The approach Business IT Impact
Simulation(BIIS)definesinterfacesbetweenthebusinessprocesssimula-
tion and the information system simulation. Performance-relevant infor-
mation is exchanged via the interfaces between both simulations. When
using business process simulation and information system simulation in
isolation, workload burstiness is not adequately reflected. This is espe-
cially true for occasional, volatile peak loads. Workload burstiness can
significantlyaffecttheperformanceofbusinessprocessesandinformation
systems. TheapproachIntegratedBusinessITImpactSimulation(IntBIIS)
fortheintegrationofbusinessprocessesandinformationsystemsinasingle
simulationallowsreflectingworkloadburstinesscorrectly. Thesimulation
approaches support the comparison of design alternatives and the verifi-
cation of a certain design against requirements. A case study confirms
the feasibility in practice and the acceptance from practitioners’ point of
view.
Thisbookisequivalenttothedissertationtitled“AligningBusinessPro-
cessQualityandInformationSystemQuality”submittedbymetotheCom-
bined Faculty for the Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the Ruprecht-
Karls-UniversityofHeidelberg. ThedegreeDoctorofScience(Dr. rer. nat.)
hasbeenawardedtomesubsequenttothesubmissionanddemonstrationof
myscientificabilitybyoraldefense.
Numerouspeoplesupportedmeinthecourseofmyresearchforandduring
writingthisbookoverthelastyears. Withoutthesupportofthesepeople,it
wouldnothavebeenpossibletodeveloptheproposedcontributionsandto
applytheminpractice.
Takingtheriskofforgettingsomeone, Iexplicitlywanttonamethein-
volvedpeople. First,Ithankmysupervisors,BarbaraPaechandRalfReuss-
ner, for their helpful comments, fruitful discussions, and support during
my research. I thank Jörg Henß, Philipp Merkle, Wilfrid Utz, and Franz
Broschforvaluablediscussionsonthepropertiesofbusinessprocessesand
information systems, their mutual impact, the prediction of such impact,
andmuchmore. TheextensionofEventSimfortheintegratedsimulation
ofbusinessprocessesandinformationsystemswasstronglysupportedby
PhilippMerkleandJörgHenß.
Preface IX
Ihadthechancetoapplythemajorcontributionsofthisbookinpractice.
Thiswouldnothavebeen possiblewithout the support ofpractitioners. I
thankalltheresponsiblepeopleattheCenterofInformationTechnologyand
MedicalEngineeringofUniversityHospitalHeidelbergfortheirsupportin
thedischargeletterstudy. SpecialthanksgotoUlrikeKutscha,AntjeBrand-
ner,andBjörnBerghfortheircommitmentwhilecreatingthequestionnaire,
andtoallparticipantsinthequestionnairesurvey. Moreover,Ithankallthe
responsiblepeopleandalltheemployeesatThorGmbHfortheirsupport
in the order picking study. Special thanks go to all the participants in the
questionnairesurvey.
IthanktheCombinedFacultyfortheNaturalSciencesandMathematics
of the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg and all its members for
providing a pleasant work environment and for supporting my research.
Furthermore,Igotgreatsupportfromstudents,forwhichIamverygrateful.
Isupervisedthreemasterstudents,aswellasbachelorstudents,internship
students,andstudentassistants. Eachofthemcontributedher/hispieceto
thepuzzleofmyresearch.
Last, but not the least, I thank my family for their support during my
studies and the preparation of this book. My parents, grandparents, and
sistergavemepersonalsupport. Specialthanksgotomygirlfriendforher
encouragementandpatienceduringthistime-intensiveendeavor.
Mannheim RobertHeinrich
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