A Jump-Start on BPMN Modeling
BPMN is the standard for business process modeling, but business analysts are frequently at a loss for where to begin their process modeling efforts. To help jump-start BPMN process modeling and analysis efforts, we are supplying a set of pre-built models and simulations for popular processes. These models were built through real-world process improvement engagements. These models are not expected to match your organization’s own processes, but should help you get a head start on your modeling and process improvement efforts. To help you better understand the models, simulation results, and improvement reports, a companion guide (.pdf) is offered in the .zip file to provide a summary of the business situation that established their creation.
More About the Accounts Payable Situation
Acme Inc. is a medium-sized company with just under 1,000 employees. Today, they employ three accounts payable clerks and one accounts payable supervisor. Each day the AP organization receives around 240 invoices and receipts from their internal purchasing and payment processes. Most invoices are paid automatically by the ERP system at Acme Inc., however there are a significant number of exceptions that the accounts payable clerks and supervisor must handle. Of the total invoices handled by the ERP system, an average of 22% are kicked out to the AP clerks for exception handling.
Summarizing the situation at Acme Inc.:
» 78% of AP transactions are processed without exception by the ERP system
» 5% of AP transactions go to clerks due to receiving an invoice or receipt that is not known to the system
» 10% of AP transactions go to clerks because the invoice or receipt does not arrive within 5 business days
» 7% of AP transactions go to clerks because of QA errors such as a mismatch between receipt and invoice
Following process discovery, the Business Analyst created a model of the current process. What-if scenarios were used by the Business Process Analyst to compare process improvement alternatives.