What are business processes? Examples will allow us to better understand this subject, so we will actively use them.

general information

First, let's figure out what business processes are. This is the name given to the total sequence of certain actions aimed at transforming the resources received at the input into a completed product that has value for consumers at the output. Thanks to this definition, you can understand that there are business processes within every organization. Whether they are formalized or not does not matter. Remember: you can find business processes everywhere. Examples of them will be given later in the article.

let's consider everyday example. There is a housewife who wants to wash the dishes (business process). She entrusts this task dishwasher. At the entrance we have dirty dishes. Water will be used during the process, detergent and electricity. And at the end we will get clean dishes. Business processes are built according to a similar scheme. The examples that will be given later will only confirm these words.

Functional approach

Since we are interested in (specific examples), let’s not delay their consideration, but get down to business right away. Let's say we have a company that deals with management issues. According to him, an enterprise is a set of divisions. Moreover, each one works to perform its specific function. But in such cases, when individual departments are focused on achieving their indicators, the overall performance of the company often suffers.

Let's look at one typical conflict process. The sales department requires an increase in the maximum possible range to increase turnover. At the same time, they also want to ensure that the product is always in stock. Whereas the supply department plans to purchase a narrow range and in large quantities. Indeed, in such cases they will work efficiently, and their main indicator will increase (more precisely, the price from the supplier will fall). That is, there is a business implementation process that departments look at differently.

Process approach

He views everything that happens as a set of processes. There are basic and supporting. Each process has its own specific goal, which is subordinated to the task facing the entire company. In addition, there is an owner who manages resources and is responsible for the execution of everything necessary. There should also be a system for quality control and error correction. It goes without saying that no process can proceed without resources. And the list of components is completed by a system of indicators by which business processes are assessed. What are some examples of this, since it was promised that there would be some? Now let's look at one.

Imagine a map. In the very center is It is divided into separate components. They are accompanied by management and support processes that ensure that everything is executed as required. This is what will happen process approach. When the work of one element is completed, its work is transferred to the next.

Description of business processes

Examples of this in general view can be seen throughout the article. But full-length documentation is often comparable in thickness to small books (or even large ones if the work of a giant company is being studied).

(examples of which are also given here) requires that all operations of the enterprise be as clear and transparent as possible. This will allow them to be analyzed the best way and identify various problems even before they fail. It must be remembered that the main task of the descriptions is to understand the interaction of disparate units, to monitor what and to whom they transfer at each stage of the task. Thanks to this, it is possible to significantly simplify and reduce the dependence of the stability of the enterprise on the unstable human factor. Also, with a competent approach, the and This is how the description of business processes helps. An example of such optimization can be demonstrated by the manager of almost any successful company.

Development order

Let's look at a practical example of a business process in an enterprise. Initially we need to take care of the working team of the project. It is formed from company employees. More often than not, it turns out that one working team is not enough. What then can be done? To fill the lack of strength, you can attract a temporary group. It also doesn't hurt to create a description of how the process is functioning at a given point in time. At the same time, one should strive to identify all the connections between actions, and not record the smallest details.

To avoid sidetracking, you can use standard process maps and forms. When developing processes, it is recommended to use the method of successive approximations. In other words, it is necessary to repeat the cycle of improvement actions until an acceptable result is obtained.

What should you pay attention to?

You should focus on the following sections:

1. Standard forms.
2. Map.
3. Routes.
4. Matrices.
5. Flowcharts.
6. Description of joints.
7. Supporting descriptions.
8. Documentation.
9. Detailed description.
10. Definition of indicators and indicators.
11. Execution regulations.

The best idea of ​​the necessary elements can be given by a real example - business process reengineering existing enterprise. But in such cases, you need to be prepared for the fact that you will have to familiarize yourself with a huge amount of documentation.

Let's say a word about the cards

So, we have already looked at what business processes are, examples of them in real life. Now let's go through technical documentation, which must be if we want an accurate and clear description. So, initially I would like to pay attention to the business process map. It is a graphical representation designed as a flowchart. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that each participant has its own separate column. Time intervals are entered in the lines. A fully completed card allows you to check whether the transaction was synchronized.

You can also monitor whether and how information flows between different departments of the company. To get the best results, you should ask a few questions. Who performs this operation? Why does it need to be done? What is she? When should the operation be performed? Where is it carried out? When improving existing processes, you should also ask whether it can be improved.

Matrices

They are necessary to highlight the most important business processes within the enterprise. During their compilation, the interconnection of everything that happens, as well as the degree of mutual influence, are taken into account.

When analyzing a chain of processes, it is easy to find that information exchange moves from the upper left to the lower right. That is, this mathematical form describes the relationship between supplier and consumer, presented in the form of a rectangle. In each cell of the matrix, all necessary requirements for actions that have been/are/will be done. They are a kind of two-dimensional models with the help of which one can judge what is being done and how it is being done and what purpose is being pursued. The difficulty in compiling a matrix here is that in order to calculate with maximum accuracy it is often necessary to use a significant amount of data. And this implies the presence of a large number of data. In such cases, digital information is usually used, which often still has to be calculated.

Vladimir Repin

General Director of Vladimir Repin Management LLC

Member of ABPMP Russia

Management Consultant

Business trainer

Candidate of Technical Sciences

The article discusses the issues of choosing a notation for describing processes for the purpose of subsequent regulation. Frequently used Work Flow notations are compared, such as: “Simple flowchart” in MS Visio, “Procedure” in Business Studio, ARIS eEPC notation and others. When comparing notations, the main focus is on creating process diagrams that are simple and understandable to organizational employees.

For business analysts of companies, the theses discussed in the article are a serious reason to think about how effective the development approaches they use are. graphic schemes organization processes.

Introduction

One of the most important goals of creating graphical process diagrams is their subsequent use in the organization’s regulatory documents. These schemes, as a rule, employ employees who are not trained in complex notations and do not have the skills system analysis etc. The simplicity and clarity of the diagrams is very important for them. Complex, confusing diagrams containing many different symbols, are poorly perceived by people, which makes their practical use difficult. Therefore, for practical purposes, it is important to correctly select and use the notation (methodology) for describing processes. What criteria should be used to choose such a notation? How to compare different notations with each other? Let's look at several examples of describing a business process using popular notations and try to answer these questions.

Comparison of notations

For comparison, the following process description notations were chosen:

1. “Simple flowchart” (displaying the movement of documents, using the “Solution” block);
2. “Simple block diagram” (without displaying the movement of documents, without using “Solution” blocks);
3. “Procedure” of the Business Studio system (one of the possible presentation options);
4. ARIS eEPC.

As test case a simple and intuitive process was chosen. The results of describing this process are presented in Fig. 1-4.

Rice. 1. Process diagram in the “Simple flowchart” notation in MS Visio (with the movement of documents, using the “Solution” block)

In the diagram presented in Fig. 1, the sequence of process operations over time is shown using thick arrows, and the movement of documents is shown using thin dotted arrows. Solution blocks are used in a classic way. They display information (questions) on which the subsequent course of the process “depends”. This approach to using “diamonds” is very common. But in fact, the entire logic of decision-making and the formation of certain outputs (documents) should be contained within the operations of the process. If you think about it, the value (meaning) of drawing these “diamonds” is not obvious. What kind of objects are these: process operations, events? It seems to be neither one nor the other. These are rather operators for making a decision based on some condition. But we are developing a process diagram for people, and not writing a computer program in a special language. IN computer program“diamond” would be a full-fledged operation for comparing conditions, etc. But the process diagram needs to show real objects - processes performed by people, documents, Information Systems etc. Think about whether it is correct to show “diamonds” separately from the process operation on the diagram? Instead you can:

• Describe the decision-making logic in the form of a sequence of operations on the diagram of the process under consideration;
• Describe the logic in the form of a diagram of the steps of the corresponding subprocess, moving to the next level;
• Describe the logic in text (in the text attributes of the operation) and subsequently display it in the process execution regulations.

Let us formulate the “pros” and “cons” of the method of using “diamonds” discussed above (Fig. 1).

"Simple flowchart" in MS Visio (with document movement, using the "Solution" block)

In Fig. Figure 2 shows an example of the same process, only described without the use of “Solution” blocks and documents. It is easy to check that this diagram has 24 fewer graphic elements than the diagram in Fig. 1. Scheme Fig. 2 looks much simpler. The graphic elements do not dazzle the eyes, and from the point of view of information content, this diagram is quite understandable and accessible to the end user. If for each process operation we describe the requirements for its implementation in text, then by combining tabular and graphic form presentation, one can quite adequately describe the procedure for executing the process for company employees.

Rice. 2. Process diagram in the “Simple flowchart” notation in MS Visio (without document movement, without using the “Solution” block)

“Pros” and “cons” of a graphical representation of the process in the form presented in Fig. 2 are shown below.

"Simple flowchart" in MS Visio (without document movement, without using the "Solution" block)

In general, the use of diagrams in a format similar to those presented in Fig. 2 is convenient for both developers and employees working on these schemes.

In Fig. Figure 3 shows a process diagram generated in the “Procedure” notation of the Business Studio modeling environment. The scheme has several features. Firstly, the “Decision” blocks are used in a non-standard way - not as a graphic element to display a question and branching, but as a full-fledged process operation associated with decision making. In Business Studio, the “diamond” has almost all the attributes of a full-fledged process, but cannot be decomposed (perhaps the system developers will make this possible over time). Using a “diamond” (instead of a quadrangle) makes the diagram more visual. At the same time, you can enter any text information into the “diamond” attributes: description, beginning, completion, deadline requirements, etc.

The second feature of the process diagram presented in Fig. 3, is the application of arrows. To display a sequence of operations, you can use an arrow with a single tip—the “precedence” arrow. You can use a double-headed arrow to show document movement. However, in Business Studio you can get by with using only one type of arrows - “precedence” arrows. At the same time, the required number of documents that are defined in the directory of activity objects can be linked to named arrows.

This approach makes it possible:

• Significantly reduce the number of graphic elements on the process diagram, and at the same time;
• Display in the process regulations the necessary information about incoming and outgoing documents.

Thus, without cluttering the diagram with unnecessary elements, we can nevertheless fully describe the process and upload all the necessary information into the regulations.

The fact that the name of the arrow does not depend on the documents that are attached to it allows you to name the arrows on the diagram in the most understandable and convenient way for employees. For example, a set of specific documents can be linked to the precedence arrow “A set of reports has been prepared.” The name of the arrow in this case indicates to the performer the event that completed the previous operation called “Generate collection report for the day.” (Note that in the methodology of the STU company, the arrow after the process operation is an entity, not an event. After the “Decisions” block, you can show possible results solutions).

Rice. 3. “Procedure” of the Business Studio system (option with non-traditional use of “Solution” blocks)

“Pros” and “cons” of a graphical representation of the process in the form presented in Fig. 3 are shown below.

“Procedure” of the Business Studio system (option with non-traditional use of “Solution” blocks)

When using Business Studio, the Procedure notation can be used in slightly different ways. The author of the article is inclined to the approach presented in Fig. 3.

In Fig. Figure 4 shows a diagram of the process under consideration, developed in the ARIS eEPC notation. Note that some process operations did not fit on the diagram. This partial diagram of a simple process, written in ARIS eEPC notation, contains four logic statements and eight events! The person reading the diagram must be able to correctly interpret all of these logical operators. Without special training and some skills in reading such diagrams, an ordinary employee is unlikely to be able to understand the logic of the process in question without a detailed text description or the help of a qualified business analyst.

Note that the process diagram in the ARIS eEPC notation takes up significantly more space than the diagrams presented in Fig. 1-3. The complexity of forming such a scheme is also significantly higher.

Rice. 4. Process diagram in ARIS eEPC notation (built in Business Studio)

Process diagram in ARIS eEPC notation (built in Business Studio)

In general, if you are not going to buy SAP R/3, then choosing and using the ARIS eEPC notation is not, from the point of view of the author of the article, the optimal solution. It is worth paying attention to notations for describing processes that are more visual and intuitive for performers. However, some may find the ARIS eEPC notation more visual and understandable. To a certain extent, this is a matter of taste.

Description of the process for subsequent automation purposes

It is interesting to consider the above example of a business process description if it is presented in BPMN notations 2.0. This notation is intended to describe “executable” processes, i.e. processes that the BPM system supports.

Your opinion about using BPMN 2.0. A. A. Belaichuk, General Director of the Business Console company, shares:

"In Fig. Figure 5 depicts the same process in BPMN notation. As we can see, this figure is similar to Fig. 1: in BPMN notation, tasks are depicted as rectangles, forks as diamonds, and data as an icon similar to a document. Control flows are solid lines, data flows are dotted.

It should be taken into account that this diagram uses only a small part of the BPMN notation: only one type of fork out of 5 available in the palette, one type of task out of 8. In addition to a wider palette, this notation is distinguished by the ability to model not only an isolated workflow, but also several processes , interacting with each other through messages or data. In addition, this notation is more strict: it defines not only icons, but also the rules by which they can be combined with each other. The need for such rules is dictated by the fact that the BPMN notation is focused not only on the fact that people will read it, but also on direct execution by special software— “engine” of the BPM system.

At the same time, as this example shows, when using a limited subset of the palette, BPMN turns out to be no more complicated than a conventional flowchart. Well, for those who want to master BPMN professionally, we recommend specialized training bpmntraining.ru.”

Rice. 5. Process diagram in BPMN 2.0 notation

Life practice

In Fig. Figure 6 shows a fragment of a process diagram developed by business analysts of a very specific company in the notation they invented. The diagram is built using the principles of the “Simple flowchart” - the “Solution” block is used in its classic version. In addition, the diagram shows many other symbols used in a non-standard way.

Rice. 6. Examples of a process diagram for one of the companies

When forming the diagram Fig. 6, business analysts obviously “struggled” for clarity and maximum understandability for the average user. They sought to minimize, or even eliminate, textual commentary on process diagrams. The performers were simply printed with an A3 format diagram, upon reading which everything immediately became clear: what to do, how, what documents to use, etc.

The scheme under consideration is not, of course, an example of simplicity and clarity. But it was formed to convey maximum useful information to those involved in the process.

conclusions

So, it is obvious that when describing processes you need to strive for simplicity and clarity for employees.

The use of complex, formalized notations when describing processes leads to:

• Difficulties in using (interpreting) diagrams by ordinary employees;
• The impossibility (difficulty) of organizing work to describe processes by employees of departments who have not undergone special training;
• A significant increase in the labor costs of business analysts for the formation of schemes;
• Additional difficulties when documenting circuits (large volume, etc.).

Therefore, you should not clutter the process diagram with various graphic elements. But if you use them, it is better that they carry useful information for employees, rather than being simply a consequence of the formal application of modeling notations.

http://finexpert.ru/ - communication environment for professionals http://bpm3.ru/ - processes, projects, efficiency

We looked at the basic concepts of business processes. In this part we will look at business process modeling and give an example of modeling.

Business Process Modeling

Modeling is the process of studying the activities of an organization with the aim of constructing a formalized (graphic, tabular, text) description of the organization’s business processes.

• interviewing;
• work with legislation, organization documents;
• methods brainstorming etc.

The business process modeling process is unique within an organization. Before starting work, it is recommended to clarify the existence and content of this process in the organization.

Below we will look at an example of a business process modeling algorithm. So, to model a business process you need to:

1. Determine the result and owner of the business process.
2. Determine the set and order of actions that make up the business process.
3. Determine the executors of the business process: at this step, it is necessary to separate areas of responsibility, identify which employees of which departments are responsible for performing process actions, and link the executors to the actions.
4. Define business process events. Determine the types of events: initial, final, intermediate. Link intermediate events to actions.
5. Determine resources: documents, information, etc. consumed by business process actions. Link resources to actions.

A diagram illustrating the modeling algorithm is shown in the figure below:

Upon completion of the algorithm, it is recommended to perform a “what-if” analysis. Example: what will happen if the action input contains a document containing errors; what will happen if the approving manager rejects the document. There are two ways to take into account the results of the analysis:

• supplement the existing model with branches;
• provide separately for the actions of the “alternative” process.

If we clearly cannot propose a branch/alternative process action, we record the alternative condition in the "open questions" list. It is recommended that this list is then provided to subject matter experts and the Process Owner.

It is not recommended to analyze all possible and impossible cases of the process. Situations not covered by the process are usually dealt with by the functional head of the department (in whose area of ​​responsibility the situation arose).

To capture business processes in graphical form, a system of symbols for elements (notation) is used. The most famous notations: SADT/IDEF0, IDEF3, DFD, BPMN, ARIS, UML. Review and comparative analysis notations are not the subject of this article; Those interested on the Internet can find a lot of articles on the topic of comparing notations, for example “IDEF vs ARIS”.

Example of a business process description

Let's give an example of a business process description. As an example, let's take the process of granting unpaid leave. Let's consider the order and workflow that arises during the above process. Information collection method: Russian legislation as preliminary material before interviews with subject matter experts and the Process Owner. Description notation: ARIS eEPC.

1. Collection of source material.

1.1 The provision of leave is regulated by the Labor Code (when collecting material it is necessary to rely on the latest edition, at the time of writing - as amended on December 30, 2015 No. 434-FZ), Article 128 Leave without pay wages

For family reasons and others good reasons An employee, upon his written application, may be granted leave without pay, the duration of which is determined by agreement between the employee and the employer.

The employer is obliged, based on a written application from the employee, to provide leave without pay:

• participants of the Great Patriotic War— up to 35 calendar days a year;
• for working old-age pensioners (by age) - up to 14 calendar days per year;
• parents and wives (husbands) of military personnel, employees of internal affairs bodies, the federal fire service, and traffic control authorities narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, customs authorities, employees of institutions and bodies of the penal system who died or died as a result of injury, concussion or injury received in the performance of duties military service(service), or due to an illness associated with military service (service) - up to 14 calendar days a year;
• for working disabled people - up to 60 calendar days per year;
• employees in cases of the birth of a child, marriage registration, death of close relatives - up to five calendar days;

in other cases provided for by this Code, other federal laws or a collective agreement.

1.2. Document flow when registering leave is regulated by Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation dated January 05, 2004 N 1 “On approval of unified forms of primary accounting documentation for recording labor and its payment”, section “Order (instruction) on granting leave to an employee.”

They are used for registration and accounting of vacations provided to the employee(s) in accordance with the law, collective agreement, local regulations organization, employment contract.

Compiled by the employee personnel service or a person authorized by him to do so, are signed by the head of the organization or a person authorized by him to do so, and are announced to the employee against signature. Based on the order (instruction) to grant leave, marks are made in the personal card (form N T-2 or N T-2GS(MS)), personal account (form N T-54 or N T-54a) and wages are calculated, due for vacation, according to Form N T-60 “Note-calculation on granting vacation to the employee.”

We present the data necessary for modeling the business process (we act according to the previously described scheme):

1. Result of the business process- documents drawn up in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and organization standards.

2. Business process owner: Head of HR. How to determine the owner? The owner is an employee who has the resources to carry out the business process (in in this case resources - personnel service employees) and responsible for the result of a business process.

3. Recruitment and procedure:

writing an application -> drawing up an order -> -> –> .

There is no payroll calculation in the sequence of actions, because The article of the Labor Code according to which leave is issued is Leave without pay.

4. Business process executors.. To provide information more clearly, we present the sequence of steps and performers in the table:

5.Events. Let's supplement the above table with information about events:

6. Resources, documents and information. IN in this example we do not take into account resources such as performers’ time, materials and equipment, because We care about documents drawn up in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the standards of the organization (see the results of the process). We need to analyze which documents take part in the process. Let's add information to the existing table:

7. Let's carry out “what if” analysis.

• What if the application contains errors (ranging from grammatical errors to incorrect details)? The initiator of the application is not required to have sufficient qualifications to fill out the application correctly (but must be able to competently perform his immediate duties). To eliminate the case of incorrectly filling out an application, we will add the action of checking the application to the main process, because It is important for us to prevent the presence of an erroneous document in the process.
• What if the vacation order is not written correctly? Because The duties of a HR specialist include the preparation of personnel documents, then we assume that in large quantities cases the order is drawn up correctly. This does not replace the verification of the qualifications of a personnel service specialist (hiring and certification processes) and the periodic verification of documents (the audit process of personnel documents).
• What if the manager does not sign the order and the initiator:
  • has the right to leave, according to Article 128 Labor Code. We will write this question in open questions By this process and assign it to the Process Owner when agreeing on the process. The Process Owner bears full responsibility for the execution of the process; it is he who determines the rules for performing work in the department entrusted to him;
  • does not have the right to leave, according to Article 128 of the Labor Code. We will also write this question into open questions.

• What if the initiator refuses to sign the order (for example, the circumstances under which he took leave have changed)? We stop the process.
• What if the entries in personnel documents T-2 and T-54a are incorrect? This question is similar to the question discussed in paragraph 3.2.

Let's supplement the existing table with the information received. In fact we got preliminary description process in tabular form:

Open questions

• What if the initiator’s manager refused to sign the leave order and the initiator has the right to leave, according to Article 128 of the Labor Code
• What if the initiator’s manager refused to sign the leave order and the initiator does not have the right to leave, according to Article 128 of the Labor Code

A brief designation of the elements of the ARIS eEPC notation is given in the table below (not all elements of the notation are described, but the used ones. The graphic designation of the elements is taken from the MS Visio package):

A diagram showing the interaction of elements is shown below:

The graphical representation of the process provided is as follows:

Graphic and tabular display of the process are subject to approval by experts and the Process Owner. A business process analyst often cannot know all the intricacies of the domain under consideration, so it is recommended to always coordinate their models with domain experts and the Process Owner.

Instead of a conclusion

After writing the article, but before its publication, I had a chance to talk with a good friend, I explained to him the topic and essence of the article. An acquaintance asked several interesting questions, I decided to publish our conversation, I think our conversation will be interesting to readers:

- I have no doubt that you wrote an interesting article. But why such difficulties? Why are business processes needed, is it really impossible without them?

- Look, business processes reduce the variability of results by standardizing operations. Variability means reducing the spread of acceptable variations in the outcome of a process. I described a simple example; business processes apply not only to personnel matters, but also to the activities of the organization. Imagine that an organization specializing in the supply of spare parts will produce parts with different levels of quality (we remember that quality is compliance with the characteristics of the product). Next, auto parts will be installed on cars, and we will receive... AvtoVAZ products. AvtoVAZ products find their buyer, but we Lately We prefer quality built cars.

- I think it's all about the performers. It is enough to find competent performers and we will get a good result. As in your example, you need to find a competent personnel officer, that’s all.

- Good performers are already provided with work, their work is expensive. You don’t think about optimizing the organization’s expenses, hiring smart specialists, and providing specialists with methodological support. Another factor is the scaling of work. Let's imagine that our organization has 2,000 employees. In this case, we will have several HR specialists and they will have different experience. Our task in this case is to provide a tool for training, implementation of operations and control of operations by the head of the department.

- Even if there are 2,000 people and even if the experts make mistakes. What is the price of a mistake - just incorrectly executed personnel documents, these pieces of paper.

- Firstly, I gave an example of a business process. Business processes can cover the most various activities businesses, be it finance or manufacturing. Secondly, even incorrectly executed personnel documents can lead to fines for the organization from regulatory authorities.

Thanks to the readers for making it this far. A lot could be said additionally: talk about the tools used to describe business processes, touch on notations in more detail... But this is all a continuation of the introduction to business processes.

Evgeniy Ponomarev

Instructions

The first is to accurately formulate the name of the process being described, which should be understandable and reflect the general essence of the sequence of actions that make up the process. For example, instead of “Submitting an application for production and monitoring its execution,” it is enough to name the process “Product Control.” The second thing is to correctly break down the entire described process into smaller (“atomic”) tasks or subprocess functions and determine the sequence of their execution . With such a division, the described process will be a top-level process. The level of detail in the top-level process may vary, but should be adequate to be understood by the audience who will use your description.

There are several ways to describe a business process. The most popular of them is graphic, using, made in various notations (notation is a set of symbols to denote something).
The most common types of notations for describing business processes are IDEF0, BPMN, EPC (ARIS), etc.
As an example, let's look at a diagram made in BPMN notation ( Business Process Modeling Notation) using the PowerDesigner CASE tool (Fig. 1). The main elements in the diagram are:
1. “Process” (function) - a rectangle rounded at the corners;
2. “Transition” - an arrow connecting processes;
3. “Decision” - a diamond containing a question that can only be answered “Yes” or “No”;
4. Conditions - text expressions under which a transition from a function to another occurs. Conditions are always enclosed in square brackets. Sometimes it is useful to divide your work into “Tracks” - vertical or horizontal sections indicating the divisions of the enterprise or employees responsible for the implementation specific function. In this case, this function must be located within its section. In addition to the listed elements, it may also contain a list of data that are input or output for the process, as well as links to the rules or regulations according to which a particular function is performed. An example of a description of the business process “Product production control” is shown in Fig. 1. It is easy to see that this diagram is very similar to the flowchart of the algorithm for solving the problem.

A graphical description of a process can also be supplemented with a text description of its functions-subprocesses in the form of a table containing the following columns: process name, department (process owner), process description, process execution result. An example of such a description is shown in Fig. 2. If further optimization of the described business process is expected, then another column can be added to the table describing the difficulties or shortcomings of the currently performed functions-subprocesses.

Helpful advice

Always adhere to the rules of the chosen graphic notation for describing business processes.

Sources:

• M. Rybakov. Optimization of business processes.
• how to create a business process

The process as a phenomenon is a qualitative change that occurs with the object of observation over some time. Therefore, even before starting the description, you must indicate the object and time period of observation.

Instructions

First, you need to describe the essence of the process, in other words, the qualitative change you observe. For example, it caught fire, burned out, went out (the essence of the event is the combustion process). The change can be externally visible (a whole match has turned into a rod), the structure of the object, the system of connections can change, depending on what exactly you are tracking. In any case, when describing the change, you will need to additionally indicate time and speed (for example, the match burned for 20 seconds, the charring speed was 2 millimeters per second). Sometimes a process characteristic such as “cyclicality” is added to this (the change you observe occurs once or periodically).

Having shown the essence of the change, they usually proceed to describe the process as a sequence of “states.” For this purpose, usually all the time of observation with

One of the options for presenting information about a business process can be its text description. This approach to description does not require special skills, but it creates difficulties for the perception and analysis of information about the business process. the main objective any description of a business process - clarity and clarity of the company’s activities. It is difficult to describe in the text the parallel execution of some work, and when reading a text description of a business process, it is simply not possible to keep in mind all the details that were written above. In addition, the human subconscious perceives information more effectively through images. When we read a text description of something, our subconscious translates the text encoding into a set of images, which, of course, takes time and effort. It is also necessary to take into account the different perceptions of the same information by different people, and for joint work it is necessary to have the same understanding and presentation of the essence of the matter.

Another option is a tabular description of business processes. This method of transmitting information is more effective. Compared to text, a tabular description of a business process makes it easier to understand the sequence of work.

The newest and most effective option is a graphical representation of business processes. In this case, the human subconscious no longer needs to create images. Graphical representation increases the efficiency of working with the description of business processes. Another advantage this approach- ability to quickly adapt information for presentation foreign partners(ease of translation).

On rice. 10 An example of a text, tabular and graphical description of one of the fragments of a business process is presented.

Figure 10. Ways to describe business processes

Any description of a company’s business processes is built on the principle of decomposition: first, business processes are described in large detail, and then they are detailed. Thus, in the description of the company’s activities, processes of various levels appear: top-level business processes, second- and third-level processes, etc. The level of detail of processes can correspond to the level of its owner. Thus, the owners of top-level processes are deputies general director. Second-level processes are managed by the heads of divisions/departments, depending on the size of the company. The third level of processes determines responsibility for individual functions/work of the company's divisions. At the fourth level of detail, operations of the production process are distinguished. It is important to note that the number of levels of process detail depends on the tasks and goals of the project for describing business processes and can be reduced or increased