Method and System for Defining One Flow Models with Varied Abstractions for Scalable lean Implementations

• US 20100005469A1
• Filed: 07/02/2008
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Natarjan, Arjun, Saha, Debanjan, Sahoo, Ramendra K., Ramakrishnan, Sreeram, Bose, Abhijit, Chang, Huang-Yang, Kumaran, Santhosh Babu
• Application Number:
  US12/167,184
• Publication Number:
  US 20100005469A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals

Abstract

A method and system for representing one or more families of existing processes in a composite abstraction such that process improvement techniques can be implemented in a more scalable manner. The invention enables abstracting a set of pre-defined process models into a composite model that represents sufficient operational details while being compliant with process improvement techniques such as, but not limited to, Lean Six Sigma, Kaizen, and others (collectively “lean” techniques). The invention provides the ability to flexibly represent the operational and lean-related information in varied abstraction levels at different stages of the process as and when necessary. The invention provides the ability to dynamically generate and represent process models based on user-selected defining characteristics (or attributes) used for process “family” formation. This allows users to define process models based on a set of customized attributes deemed critical by that particular user, including the ability to prioritize the selected attributes.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a set of existing processes;

selecting groups of processes within said set of existing processes to consider for defining process flows;

organizing said selected groups of processes based on common subsets of attributes;

enriching said selected groups of processes to be compatible with process improvement techniques;

forming at least one process platform from said selected groups of processes; and

adding at least one key performance indicator to said at least one process platform.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising creating at least one optimized process platform from said at least one process platform and said key performance indicators.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said set of existing processes include at least one business process.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein enriching said selected groups of processes includes assigning common definitions to said organized groups.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein enriching said selected groups of processes includes identifying requirements consistent with process improvement techniques.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said process improvement techniques include Lean Six Sigma processes or Kaizen processes.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein enriching said selected groups of processes includes adding attributes and details to said organized groups.

8. A system, comprising:

means for receiving a set of existing processes;

means for selecting groups of processes within said set of existing processes to consider for defining process flows;

means for organizing said selected groups of processes based on common subsets of attributes;

means for enriching said selected groups of processes to be compatible with process improvement techniques;

means for forming at least one process platform from said selected groups of processes; and

means for adding at least one key performance indicator to said at least one process platform.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein said set of existing processes include at least one business process.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein said means for enriching said selected groups of processes includes means for assigning common definitions to said organized groups.

11. The system according to claim 8, wherein said means for enriching said selected groups of processes includes means for identifying requirements consistent with process improvement techniques.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said process improvement techniques include Lean Six Sigma processes or Kaizen processes.

13. The system according to claim 8, wherein means for enriching said selected groups of processes includes means for adding attributes and details to said organized groups.

14. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

receive a set of existing processes;

select groups of processes within said set of existing processes to consider for defining process flows;

organize said selected groups of processes based on common subsets of attributes;

enrich said selected groups of processes to be compatible with process improvement techniques;

form at least one process platform from related groups of processes; and

add at least one key performance indicator to said at least one process platform.

15. A computer program product according to claim 14, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computer to:

create at least one optimized process platform from said at least one process platform and said key performance indicators.

16. A computer program product according to claim 14, wherein said set of existing processes include at least one business process.

17. A computer program product according to claim 14, wherein enriching said selected groups of processes further causes the computer readable program to cause the computer to:

assign common definitions to said organized groups.

18. A computer program product according to claim 14, wherein enriching said selected groups of processes further causes the computer readable program to cause the computer to:

identify requirements consistent with process improvement techniques.

19. A computer program product according to claim 18, wherein said process improvement techniques include Lean Six Sigma processes or Kaizen processes.

20. A computer program product according to claim 14, wherein enriching said selected groups of processes further causes the computer readable program to cause the computer to:

add attributes and details to said organized groups.

21. A method, comprising:

receiving at least one set of business processes;

selecting at least one group of processes within said at least one set of business processes to consider for defining process flows;

assigning commonality definitions to said at least one group of selected processes;

assigning lean requirements to said at least one group of selected processes;

integrating said commonality definitions and said lean requirement to make said at least one group of selected processes compatible with process improvement techniques;

forming at least one process platform from said at least one group of selected processes;

adding at least one key performance indicator to said at least one process platform;

creating at least one optimized process platform from said at least one process platform and said key performance indicators; and

integrating lean process methodologies and tools into said optimized platform to create at least one lean compliant process platform.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein said at least one set of business processes are operational processes.

23. The method according to claim 21, wherein selecting at least one group of processes further includes:

identifying and selecting at least one group of task sub-sets within said at least one group of processes for defining at least one logical service flow;

forming said at least one logical service flow by integrating said task sub-sets into an ordered task flow;

forming at least one physical task flow by partitioning the tasks of said ordered task flow based on common requirements for performing said tasks; and

forming procedures for performing the tasks of said at least one logical task flow based on service provider job roles.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein said common requirements include at least one of platforms, technologies, tools and skill sets.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein selecting at least one group of processes enables leaning.