BA 302 Business Process Management

BA 302 Business Process Management - Processes - Homework

Introduction

In Information Systems Analysis & Design, Ned Kock (2007) presents the following business process of a car-rental company that practices preemptive, predictive car maintenance:

"The business process example starts with a customer filing a complaint online regarding problems with a car that the customer supposedly rented in the past. The details of the complaint filed by the customer are stored in an online file of car rental complaints. The assistant manager of the rental company then downloads the information about the complaint using a Web-based computer system called RentalWizard, which automatically generates a complaint form to be used for internal processing of the complaint. The assistant manager then places that complaint form in a box for later processing, together with other complaint forms.

Once every week, the assistant manager of the rental company reviews each complaint form, using a manual containing several rules for reviewing complaints. Those rules had been devised so that certain complaints could be filtered out (e.g., complaints not related to car maintenance problems) before they progressed any further in the business process. Once the assistant manager is finished reviewing each complaint form, (s)he hand delivers a reviewed complaint form to the rental company's manager, briefly explaining why the complaint should proceed in the process.

The rental manager then hand-delivers the reviewed complaint form to the assistant maintenance manager, again briefly explaining why the complaint should be processed. The assistant maintenance manager is the main point of contact for the rental company's manager in the company's maintenance department, which is the organizational unit that processes reviewed customer complaints.

The assistant maintenance manager then, upon receipt of a reviewed complaint form, places the form in a box for processing by the quality control specialist. The quality control specialist is an employee who formerly worked for a software development company that owns and commercializes a computer system called SmartFleet. The computer system cost the rental company approximately $800,000. It incorporates artificial intelligence algorithms that operate on predictive maintenance rules, which are both used and updated by SmartFleet based on each new complaint processed through the system and on details about previous maintenance activities. The algorithms allow the SmartFleet system to create a schedule of predictive maintenance activities (called 'jobs') that reduces maintenance costs to a minimum while also reducing the likelihood of future car problems occurring while the cars are with the customers of the car rental company.

The schedule of predictive maintenance jobs generated by SmartFleet is a printed set of pages (one page per job), organized according to the order of execution prescribed by the computer system. The quality control specialist then places those pages in a box with other predictive maintenance jobs. The box is located at the entrance of the workshop used by the maintenance department.

A team of mechanics then processes each predictive maintenance job. Upon completion of each job, the team enters the details about each completed job into a fleet maintenance details file, using a data entry screen of the SmartFleet computer system."

Answer the following questions:

In class we described processes as the 'behavior' of a system; i.e., the elements of a system changing their states and/or communicating with each other. Consider the above rental company as a system.

Name five (5) elements of this system, only three of which may be humans.

For each of these five elements name a relation that it has with another element. What are the directions of these relations?

Does this system have feedbacks? If so, describe them.

In the above process description, consider SmartFleet to be a system all by itself. What are some of its elements?

What distinguishes so-called deterministic processes from stochastic ones? Give an example of both a deterministic and a stochastic process other than the ones listed on the course notes or discussed in class.

The preventive car maintenance process described above contains both deterministic and stochastic components. Provide two examples of both. Explain your answers.

Writing guidelines

Submit the homework in word-processed hardcopy (printed on paper).

Make sure your work has a title (cover) page containing:

Title.

Your name.

Course number (BA302), course session, and name of the instructor of record.

Date.

Add your name (format: Last name, First name) to the document header so that it shows on the left upper corner of each page !!!Including the title (cover) page!!!.
Do not use the back side of the title (cover) page; leave it free for the instructor to make notes.

Use one-and-a-half (1.5) line spacing, 11- or 12-point font and reasonable margins.

Separate your text in logical blocks and sections.

Number pages (Title page has no number. First page with content has page number 1).

Integrate figures and tables into the text; do not add them as an appendix in the back of the report.

If you use a figure or a table, properly number and caption it (use your textbook as a guide and your text processor's support for this -- DO NOT HAND-TYPE THE FIGURE AND TABLE NUMBERS).

Use cross-references to refer to figures and tables (again, use your textbook as an example and your text processor's support for this -- DO NOT HAND-TYPE THE FIGURE AND TABLE REFERENCES).

Spell check (both automatically and manually!).

Grammar check!!

Peer review!! Before handing in your work, consider asking one of your colleagues to review it in exchange for you reviewing his/hers. When reviewing, carefully (!!) read what your colleague wrote. Notice ambiguities, note each and every spelling/grammar error, break up long and awkward sentences into shorter, more elegant ones, etc. In other words: show that you care. Peer review is super powerful -- Use it!!!