Process | QualiWare Center of Excellence

Business Process Network

Purpose: The purpose of the Business Process Network is to at document a mid- to high-level view of Business Processes and their interrelationships.

Core concerns: The Business Process Network template enables the documentation of top to mid-level processes. The core objects available to model with are Business Processes, Business Events, Business Objects, Business Scope, Information Systems, and different types of connections. Below you can see two examples of a Business Process Network modelled in different styles.

High level process view without business events or connections between processes:

High-level process view where business events and connections indicate a flow between processes, stakeholders and customers:

Relation to other templates: The top-level processes would typically be broken down to one or more levels of mid-level processes. The last level of Business Process Networks can then be broken down to several Workflow Diagrams or Business Process Diagrams detailing the activities contained within the business process

Properties and metadata: The Business Process Network can for example retain the following information:

Description of the diagram
Link to the owner of the diagram
Link to the one responsible for executing the processes in the diagram
Audits (auto generated information regarding its current state and access rights)
Associated documents, diagrams and other objects
Inherent Risk detailing risk considerations
Governance information detailing information about the published diagram and who has been involved in the approval of the diagram

In the picture below you can see the Business Process Network’s properties dialogue window, where the diagrams properties can be viewed and edited:

Business Process Diagram

Purpose: The purpose of the Business Process Diagram template is to enable workflow modelling using the industry standard BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation).

Core concerns: The Business Process Diagram template supply you with the BPMN icons that enable you to draw a workflow diagram. These icons include different types of events, activities, gateways, connectors, as well as pools, lanes and artifacts such as data objects and messages. The Business Process Diagram is typically used to illustrate business processes and software processes used in requirement documentation. Below is an example of a classic BPMN diagram with swimlanes:

To ensure the right BPMN syntax, the Business Process Diagram template will continuously perform Graphic Syntax Checks while you model. When a graphic syntax error occurs, you will be met with an error message like the one shown below:

Other functionalities: The Business Process Diagram can enable the execution and automation of a process when the diagram is converted into XML type files.

If you don’t wish to have a visible pool in your diagram, you can choose to have a ‘default pool’ that doesn’t have to be graphically represented. You can see an example of a diagram without pool and lanes below:

Relation to other templates: The Business Process Diagram template is exclusively aimed at modeling using the BPMN standard. If the BPMN is not chosen as a mandatory standard, the WorkFlow Diagram template, which has fewer syntax limitations, can be used instead.

The Business Process Diagram is typically linked as a decomposition of a Business Process contained in a Business Process Network template.

Properties and metadata: The Business Process Diagram can for example retain the following information:

Description of the diagram
Expression and query language
Link to the owner of the process
Link to the one responsible for executing the process
Audits (auto generated information regarding its current state and access rights)
Associated documents, diagrams and other objects
Inherent Risk detailing risk considerations
Governance information detailing information about the published diagram and who has been involved in the approval of the diagram

In the picture above you can see the Business Process Diagram’s properties dialogue window, where the diagram’s properties can be viewed and edited:

For more information: about the BPMN standard please visit OMG’s dedicated website.

Business Ecosystem

Purpose: The purpose of the Business Ecosystem template is to enable an organization to understand itself from an outside-out perspective by modelling the environment in which the organization is embedded.

Core concerns: The Business Ecosystem supplies five elements to model with: Business, People, Things, Business Interaction and Business Moment. The Business Ecosystem template should primarily be used for modeling entities outside the enterprise to identify new business opportunities in the form of Business Moments.

Above you can see a model of a Business Ecosystem. The blue areas are Business Moments, where the interactions between People, Businesses and Things create business opportunities for your enterprise.

Relation to other templates: The Business Ecosystem model is based on the Enterprise Design theories and is as such in the same family as the Customer journey map.

The Business Ecosystem is a strategic model and can be used to document a strategic possibility or track along with for example Business Capability Models, Strategy Models, and Work Models.

Properties and metadata: The Business Ecosystem can for example retain the following information:

A description of the diagram
Link to the owner of the application architecture
Link to the one responsible for the application architecture
Audits (auto generated information regarding its current state and access rights)
Associated documents, diagrams and other objects
Inherent Risk detailing risk considerations
Governance information detailing information about the published diagram and who has been involved in the approval of the diagram
Project status: information about budgeted and actual man-hours spent, percentage completed and the latest milestone, result and quality control of a change process.

For more information: If you want to learn more about Enterprise Design, we have a four-part webinar by Milan Guenther available for viewing. You can also visit Milan’s website, where you can learn more about the Enterprise Design framework.

Business Diagram

Purpose: The purpose of a Business Diagram is to show the functional structure and relationships of the whole or part of an organization.

Core concerns: The Business Diagram template enables you to model Business Functions, Information Systems, Inventory, Business Scope, Lines of Business, Information Flow and Logistical Flow. The diagram’s syntax can be extended to also include strategic elements such as Goals, Objectives, Stakeholders and Performance Indicators.

The Business Diagram should be broken down into several levels of recurring Business Diagram templates. In the model below, you can see an example of a high-level Business Diagram showing Business Functions and their Information Flows and Logistical Flows – describing the flow of products and services – in this case for a car rental service.

The Business Functions are placed with the operational functions in the bottom together with the Logistical Flow and with management control at the top of the Business Diagram.

On lower levels (decompositions) of Business Diagrams, Information Systems are placed close to the Business Functions that are responsible for or own the Information Systems.

Relation to other templates: The Business Diagram can be used as an addition to a Business Process Network and Strategy Models, giving a practical view of how the organizations functions fit together, illuminating interdependencies.

Properties and metadata: The Business Diagram can for example retain the following information:

A description of the diagram
Link to the owner of the Diagram
Link to the one responsible for the Diagram
Indication of the diagram portrays an as-is situation or a to-be situation
The Perspective can be defined as either: Holistic, Sub-functional, Process, or IT Focused.
Audits (auto generated information regarding its current state and access rights)
Associated documents, diagrams and other objects
Inherent Risk detailing risk considerations
Governance information detailing information about the published diagram and who has been involved in the approval of the diagram

The above picture shows the properties dialogue window for the Business Diagram where you can view and edit the diagram’s properties in QualiWare Lifecycle Manager.

Activity Diagram

Purpose: The purpose of the Activity Diagram is to show the overall flow of control through workflows for computational and organizational processes using the UML standard.

Core concerns: The Activity Diagram enables you to document stepwise activities and actions with support for choice, iteration and concurrency. The template allows you to connect the following objects using either Control Flows, Object Flows or Exception Handlers:

Below, you can see two different examples of an Activity Diagram. The first illustrates a structure for an ideation process, the second shows the process for Booking an order – divided into two different Activity Partitions:

Relation to other templates: The Activity Diagram can be used instead of a Workflow Diagram or a Business Process Diagram, though the different languages have their own pros and cons. The Activity Diagram is part of the UML templates QualiWare supports along with the Communication Diagram, Deployment Diagram, Class Diagram, Composite Structure Diagram, State Diagram, Package Diagram, Component Diagram, Sequence Diagram, Use case diagram and Timing Diagram.

Properties and metadata: The Activity Diagram can for example retain the following information:

A description of the diagram
Link to the owner of the diagram
Link to the one responsible for the diagram
Audits (auto generated information regarding its current state and access rights)
Extensions: Stereotypes, constraints and tagged values
Associated documents, diagrams and other objects
Inherent Risk detailing risk considerations
Governance information detailing information about the published diagram and who has been involved in the approval of the diagram

The above picture shows the properties dialogue window for the Activity Diagram where you can view and edit the diagram’s properties in QualiWare Lifecycle Manager.

For more information: about the UML and Activity Diagram, please visit the Object Management Group’s Website, where you can find the complete specification.