BTS330

Lecture 2: Businesses and Business Processes

What is Business? archaic : purposeful activity : BUSYNESS usually commercial or mercantile activity engaged in as a means

of livelihood : TRADE BUSINESS may be an inclusive term but specifically designates

the activities of those engaged in the purchase or sale of commodities or in related financial transactions. COMMERCE and TRADE imply the exchange and transportation of commodities. INDUSTRY applies to the producing of commodities, especially by manufacturing or processing, usually on a large scale*

*Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

 

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Types of Businesses

Retail Financial Insurance Manufacturing etc

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Business Areas

The organizational areas needed to support a business.

These can to equate to departments.

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Organizational Roles to Support the Business:

An organizational structure made up of executives, middle management, supervisory management and operational staff.

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Management

Executives (Top Management)▪ Those that make strategic and day to day

decisions Middle Management

▪ Those that make tactical and day to day decisions

Lower Management▪ Supervisory personnel who make day to day

decisions

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Operational Staff

The individuals involved in the day to day processing of transactions I.e. Bank Tellers; Mutual Fund Sales People; Sales Associate

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Systems that Solve Business Problems Information systems

Collection of interrelated components that collect, process, store, and provide as output the information needed to complete business processes

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Information Systems

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IS PlanningLevel

Type of planning Typical IS applications Organizational Unit Responsible for

Developing

Strategic Strategies in support of organizational long-term objectives

Market and sales analysis, Product planning, Performance evaluation

Senior Management/ Executives

Tactical Policies in support of short-term goals and resource allocation

Budget analysis, Salary forecasting, Inventory scheduling, Customer service

Middle Management

Operational Day-to-day staff activities and production support

Payroll, Invoicing, Purchasing, Accounting

Lower Management; Operational

Flow of Information

Horizontally - information flows across departments

Vertically - information needs of clerical staff, middle management, and senior executives

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Business Processes

A Business Process could be an event that the business needs to respond to or it could be an event where the business needs to generate some kind of response back

Can include manual as well as automated processes

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Business Process

“A commercial event is usually triggered by an event (for example receipt of an application form) and has at least one visible domain-specific result (e.g., a contract)”*

* Developing Software with UML by Bernard Oestereich, p. 68.

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Domain

“An area of knowledge or activity characterized by a set of concepts and terminology understood by practitioners in that area.”*

* Use Case Modeling by Kurt Bittner and Ian Spence, p. 332.

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Business Process “The activities of a business process

are usually chronologically and logically related to each other.”*

* Developing Software with UML by Bernard Oestereich, p. 68.

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What is a Business Use Case? “A business use case describes how

a business actor uses a business to achieve a goal and what the business does for the business actor to achieve that goal.”*

*Use Case Modeling, by Bittner & Spence, p. 331.

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What is a Business Use Case? “It tells the story of how the business

and its actors collaborate to deliver something of value for at least one of the actors.”*

*Use Case Modeling, by Bittner & Spence, p. 331.

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What is a Business Use Case? “… is independent of the concrete

possibilities and requirements for its (IT-related) implementation.”*

*Developing Software with UML: Object-Oriented Analysis and Design in Practice, Bernard Oestereich, p. 72.

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Business Use Cases

How to identify a Business Use Case? Look for processes the company uses to

satisfy the requests of the business actors▪ Processes could be an event that the business

needs to respond to or it could be an event where the business needs to generate some kind of response back

▪ Can include manual as well as automated processes

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Business Use Cases Where does a Use case start?

“At the start there is always a commercial trigger, a commercial event▪ Customer would like to conclude a contract▪ Customer would like to rent a vehicle▪ Marketing department would like a statistical

evaluation of reservations”*

*Developing Software with UML, Object-oriented Analysis and Design in Practice,Bernard Oestereich, p. 74.

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Business Use Cases Where does a Use case start?

“At the start there is always a commercial trigger, a commercial event▪ Customer would like to conclude a contract▪ Customer would like to rent a vehicle▪ Marketing department would like a statistical

evaluation of reservations”*

*Developing Software with UML, Object-oriented Analysis and Design in Practice,Bernard Oestereich, p. 74.

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Business Use Cases

Where does a Use case end? “At the end a result has been produced

that has “commercial value”▪ A vehicle registration▪ A letter to the customer▪ A business management evaluation”*

*Developing Software with UML, Object-oriented Analysis and Design in Practice, Bernard Oestereich, p. 74.

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Business Use Cases

How to identify the Actors? Look for who is placing requirements on

the system. Anybody who is directly or indirectly

involved affected by the system.▪ Directly: someone who will have direct

contact with the system▪ Indirectly: someone who does not have direct

contact with the system but who is involved in the business that is supported by the system

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Business Use Cases Example of Actors:

Users of the system Other departments (Marketing, Sales) Clients or Management Customers System Administrators, Service Personnel, Training

Personnel, Support Personnel System Developers, System Maintenance Personnel Buyers of the system

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Business Modeling

What is Business Modeling? It shows how people and business

processes need to work together Two diagrams support Business

Modeling:▪ Use Case diagram which contains business

use cases and actors▪ An Activity diagram which describes in more

detail the flow of the Business Processes

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Business Modeling

Why Business Modeling? It shows the scope of the system If building a system which will use

several related systems, it clarifies what each system needs to be responsible for and what the relationships are between systems

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Business Use Case Diagram “A model of a business (defined in

terms of business use cases, business actors, and the associations between them) that describes the requirements of a business.”*

*Use Case Modeling, by Bittner & Spence, p. 331.

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Business Modeling

What is a Business Use Case? A business process that happens within

an organization

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Business Modeling

What is an Actor? Someone who interacts with the

business process

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Customer

Business Modeling

Business Use Case Diagram Example

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