Journal of Database Management (JDM) Volume 25, Issue 3 by Siau Keng

Author:Siau, Keng
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-01-05T20:01:36.399000+00:00

A business process consists of “a set of activities that are performed in coordination in an organisational and technical environment to realise a business goal” (Weske 2007, p.5). It is crucial to identify clearly the activities and participants involved in a business workflow, since a BI product can only be analysed if its business workflow is being modelled correctly (Aguilar-Saven 2003). To represent the processes or workflows of an organisation, business process modelling notation4 (BPMN) is commonly used so that current business processes or workflow may be analysed and improved in the future. In this research, BPMN, a well-supported standard modelling notation has been applied accordingly. BPMN has been unanimously endorsed as the de facto standard notation by the BPM Initiative Notation Working Group, which represents a large segment of the business workflow modelling community. After reviewing various notations and methodologies, the BPM Initiative Notation Working Group consolidates the best ideas from the divergent notations into a single, standard notation - BPMN. Based on flow-charting techniques, BPMN provides a standardised language for business and technical developers (Wang et al., 2006; White 2004). Thus, BPMN has been integrated into the BIP-Map framework. In other words, the BIP-Map layer one presents the business workflow to the users so that they can understand the relationship of all the participants and processes for a business transaction. Furthermore, when the activities and participants of a specific business workflow are defined at this layer, various manual tasks can be automated and, thus accomplished in a more efficient manner. It also has the added benefit of facilitating rapid changes and improvements to the business workflow. This can be achieved because the interaction of activities between different participants for a business workflow is indicated in this layer.

Although BPMN is a very useful modelling technique for managing business processes as it presents to the users a clear workflow of the transactions involved in the business, it does not, however, describe the manufacturing process of data. Therefore, users will not understand how corporate data are captured, processed, stored and utilised. This problem can be addressed, in part, by the use of an information product map5 (IP-Map) which describes the manufacturing processes of data in a detailed manner. Originating from the total data quality management concept, the purpose of an IP-Map is to deliver high quality information to users by treating data and information in much the same way as other products used in the manufacturing industry (Wang 1998; Wang et al., 1998; Shankaranarayanan et al., 2000; Shankaranarayanan 2005). It allows people to comprehend, evaluate, and describe how information is compiled. However, a limitation of the IP-Map is that it does not provide descriptions of the business processes that are related to the manufacturing or utilisation of data in an organisation. So, users are still unable to identify the business processes that have an effect on corporate data. Therefore, the adoption of business process modelling and information product map will complement each other. Applying the IP-Map concept, BIP-Map layer two illustrates

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