BCO1049 Business Process Modeling Assignment 1: Systems & Processes

This assignment delves into business process modeling, comparing functional and enterprise information systems, analyzing organizational structures, and examining the impact of globalization. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of functional structures, the role of information systems in operations management and decision-making, and the differences between functional and process views within organizations. The assignment further explains the three-way match process in procurement, differentiates between bill of materials and product routing, and addresses problems associated with manual business processes. Finally, it contrasts make-to-order and make-to-stock production strategies and explores the organizational responses to globalization, highlighting the shift towards international operations and policy engagement. Desklib offers a platform to explore similar solved assignments and past papers.

Running head: BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
Answer 1.
An organization is arranged following a melange of structures. These structures
represent how an organization will perform and operate. Among a variety of structures, the
most common organizational structure is the functional structure1. According to this structure,
the organization is divided into small groups based on field of specialty.
Advantages and disadvantages of implementing functional structure are as follows.
The first and most important advantage of functional organizations are that the employees are
categorized according to their specialization2. This ensures the maintenance of the
departmental competency level. Each group deals with the affairs regarding their own
specialization. This increases productivity as well as customer satisfaction. Another benefit of
functional structure is operational speed. This advantage can be explained through an
example, suppose the organization faces a problem related to IT. The amount of time IT
experts would take to resolve the problem will be much less than an employee who is not an
IT expert3. The disadvantages include the lack of coordination4. Communication acts as a
dominant feature in all organizations but isolated groups may lead to lack of sufficient
communication. This may lead to underperforming employees. Another disadvantage is the
occurrence of territorial disputes. The division of groups decreases cooperation among them,
which increases the probability of territorial disputes.
Answer 2.
1 Qin, Shaozheng, et al. "Large-scale intrinsic functional network organization along the long
axis of the human medial temporal lobe." Brain Structure and Function 221.6 (2016): 3237-
3258.
2 Rothaermel, Frank T. Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education, 2015.
3 Harper, Charles. Organizations: Structures, processes and outcomes. Routledge, 2015.
4 Heldman, Kim. PMP: project management professional exam study guide. John Wiley &
Sons, 2018.

2BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
A functional information system is the system that yields information regarding a
definite breed of activity or similar group of activities5. It also provides the information in a
summarized form for the management control of those activities.
Information system is important to an organization in various ways, the first one being
operations management. The management of a company’s operation depends on the
information possessed by the company6. Information system can provide recent and complete
information to the organization. This allows a company to operate efficiently. Help of
information system can be granted in order to derive a cost advantage over its competitors. It
can also be used for providing better customer service. One of the most important uses of
information system is decision making. The company information system can help in taking
better decisions. A best decision can be taken when all the information is updated. In case of
any difficulty in choosing among the alternatives information system can be used to run
different scenarios and give an estimated result. This helps in taking better decisions.
Drawbacks of functional information system include lack of job security.
Implementation of functional information system consumes less time in any task weather it is
paper work or financial transactions7. Most of the work is done automatically. With the
advancement of technology, computers now carry out the works that needed work force with
much more efficiency. One of the most dangerous drawbacks of information system is
security issues. Cyber criminals like hackers may get access to the information of a company
by any means. These data include bank records, vendor information and personal
5 Cassidy, Anita. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. CRC press, 2016.
6 Argyris, Chris. Integrating the Individual and the Organization. Routledge, 2017.
7 Laudon, Kenneth C., and Jane P. Laudon. Management information system. Pearson Education
India, 2016.

3BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
information8. Hackers may sell the data to rival companies or make use of it to spoil the
company’s image.
Answer 3.
Any sort of computing system, which belongs to enterprise class, is called enterprise
information system.
Difference between enterprise information system and functional system are as
follows. Enterprise information system belongs to enterprise class but functional system dos
belong to such breed9. Enterprise information system is not only capable of storing data but
also support large organizations. Functional system is only responsible for storing data and
updating them. Enterprise information system makes sure that the information is shared
across various levels including management hierarchies but information system secures a
data and assures that any unauthorized person does not access it.
Enterprise information system is valuable to an organization in many ways. Enterprise
information system assures that everyone is using similar kind of information and processes
in their business10. This helps in creating a uniform organization culture. It also improves
quality and efficiency of production, distribution and customer service. It boosts the
distribution by integrating the organization’s internal business processes. These processes
include finance, sales, custom logistics and production.
Answer 4:
8 Dryden, James, et al. "Issues With Access to Acquisition Data and Information in the
Department of Defense: Doing Data Right in Weapon System Acquisition." Thirteenth
Annual Acquisition Research Symposium. Naval Postgraduate School, 2016.
9 Kerzner, Harold, and Harold R. Kerzner. Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons, 2017.
10 Keyte, Beau, and Drew A. Locher. The complete lean enterprise: Value stream mapping
for administrative and office processes. Productivity Press, 2016.

4BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
Functional view and process view of an organization differ in various ways they are, a
process includes multiple numbers of functions and a functional approach preludes many
processes11. The process revolves around a product family but a function revolves around the
work it performs throughout the product families.
The importance of processes in an organization includes efficiency. The process
included in running an organization decides the efficiency of an origination. The process of
recruitment should be very effective. Possessing the right people, motivated enough and
performing well is the basic requirement of a company. The process of providing employees
with the required tools so that they can perform efficiently is also an important factor.
Answer 5:
Three-way match is used for various purposes. Firstly, it is used for preventing loss
due to carelessness or fraud. Three way matching makes sure that all the sections of three
documents are well examined and all the information is correct12. In addition to that, it also
prevents non-authorized purchases of any product. Three-way matching is also used for
preventing duplication. Sometimes an organization adds extra costs because a particular item
has been paid for more than once. The three-way matching process eliminates these kinds of
mistakes by checking the date on which the product has been ordered and the number of
products ordered.
Three-way match consists of three documents that are used to manage payments. The
three documents are purchase orders, packing slips and invoices. Purchase order includes the
confirmation of a particular order. A document sends to a vendor by a purchaser in order to
11 Harper, Charles. Organizations: Structures, processes and outcomes. Routledge, 2015.
12 Al-Ali, Ammar, and Anmol Majmudar. "Plethysmographic respiration processor." U.S.
Patent Application No. 15/095,912.

5BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
authorize a purchase13. This document includes the name of company that is purchasing the
product or service, description as well as the quantity of goods, date, mailing address, price,
invoice address, payment information and an order number. Packing slip is a proof of
payment along with delivery14. Along with the goods, an order receipt is delivered to the
purchaser. An invoice is a document that requests payments for on order that has been
placed15. They include the information similar to the purchase order, the invoice number,
payment schedule, discounts provided for early payments, contact information of the vendor
and the total amount to be paid to the vendor.
Answer 6:
The difference between the bill of material and product routing is that a bill of
material is a list of constituents needed in manufacturing a product. On the other hand, a
router controls the process of manufacturing. It guides the manufacturing process through
every step and allows the operator to sign out when the process is completed16.
Answer 7:
Key problems associated with manual based business process are as follows.
Traditional system of filing required corporal access. In case any document is misfiled, it
takes lot of time to look for it. It is very time consuming when it comes to looking for an
appropriate document. It might be on the employee’s desk among a bunch of files and he
might not know it. Second problem faced by organizations is losing documents. The best of
manual or paper-based filing systems are brought to an end because of data lost. It is difficult
13 Prakash, Surya, and Phalguni Gupta. "Introduction." Ear Biometrics in 2D and 3D.
Springer, Singapore, 2015. 1-20.
14 Crawford, Jessica. "Inland Vet Supply Employee Training Manual." (2015).
15 Dumas, Marlon, et al. "Introduction to Business Process Management." Fundamentals of
Business Process Management. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2018. 1-33.
16 Rushton, Alan, Phil Croucher, and Peter Baker. The handbook of logistics and distribution
management: Understanding the supply chain. Kogan Page Publishers, 2014.

6BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
to figure out whether the document was misplaced or it has been thrown away
unintentionally. This lost information is impossible to get back. Whereas a digital document
is easy to store as well as it is never lost.
Step to eliminate or reduce the impact of these problems include getting data that is
more reliable. An automatic AP system can be introduced in order to take care of the data
entry that is being done on regular basis. Electronic invoices can be used; they enter the
system easily in order to gather data. They avoid errors along with consuming less time. A
good quality software for AP automation can be used because they store the invoice
information permanently and make it easy to access too. The data is stored in a digital format.
Answer 8:
In make-to-order, the production orders are regulated with the help of sales orders.
There should be a strong link between the module of production planning and the sales order
module17. The progress of every production orders should be tracked and informs the
customers about a definite sales order. In case of make to stock, the production planning is
supported by a sales forecast. The production planning should be adjustable in order to
change the sales forecast.
The advantages of make-to-order approach include specialization. The biggest benefit
of make-to-order strategy is specialization of every product in order to fulfill customer’s
expectations. The second is no extra inventory. This approach eliminates the useless
inventories from an employee’s shelf. In this approach, the employer does not need to be
tensed due to unsold items. The disadvantages are low supply and the waiting time. Low
supply of inventory for sell is the basic disadvantage of this approach. The customer’s order
17 Ylänen, Joonas. "Continuous improvement in order delivery process of make-to-order products."
(2017).

7BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
stuffs online, which do not, gave them the advantage to go n see the products in real and buy
them at once. This could lessen the overall revenue of the company.
The advantages of make to stock approach is that it allows to spread the production
within a given time period. It provides high efficiency of production. The disadvantage is this
approach is not flexible in adapting new market circumstances.
Answer 9:
The impact of globalization on organizations is companies had developed joint
embark with partners located in abroad18. The multinational corporations had developed
trading operations worldwide. Workers continuously chased for job opportunities.
The organizations responded in various ways, some expanded internationally.
Organizations planned geographic expansions. Policy matter is also one of the responses.
Businesses were engaged with governments on issues such as regulation, protectionism and
trade issues as well.
Answer 10:
A product may have several views means when an order is placed, the data is
transferred to a process called procurement process. In this process, the availability of the
product ordered is checked. The availability is checked in master data. After this, the vendor
authorization is checked. It corrects the missing details without affecting other part of the
process that has already been carried out. It also checks if the orders are made reputedly.
A view is a process of representing information in database. This is carried out by
arranging the data in a particular manner and highlighting a definite number of items. Views
18 Baylis, John, Steve Smith, and Patricia Owens, eds. The globalization of world politics: an
introduction to international relations. Oxford University Press, 2017.

8BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
can secure mechanism, certain number of rows, columns can be selected, and it can be edited
in the order anyone wants to see it.
Answer 11:
Difference between an organization’s transactional and master data are as follows. A
transaction data is provided after any transaction that has been carried out. Suppose a bank
employee asks for someone’s account number. After providing it, the computer takes the
information and an amount is withdrawn. The remaining balance after the withdrawal is the
transaction details. When the bank’s database updates some information regarding user’s
name, age or sex this is called master data. They come from standard list.
Answer 12:
The four common material types of ERP system are as follows:
Raw materials (ROH), raw materials are those that are requires for manufacturing any
product. Raw materials are purchased from vendors but not sold to the end-customers. Some
examples are tires, wheels and tubes.
Semi-finished materials (HALB), they are produced with the help of raw materials.
They are also used to produce finished goods19.
Finished goods (FERT), these are manufactured following the production process
with the help of other materials. The other materials include semi finished and raw materials.
An example is a bicycle.
19 Ptak, Carol A., and Eli Schragenheim. ERP: tools, techniques, and applications for integrating the
supply chain. Crc Press, 2016.

9BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
Trading goods (HAWA), similar to raw materials, these are also purchased from
vendors. Unlike the raw materials, the trading goods are sold to end-customers. Any
additional process is not carried out. An example includes helmet.

10BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
Bibliography
Al-Ali, Ammar, and Anmol Majmudar. "Plethysmographic respiration processor." U.S.
Patent Application No. 15/095,912.
Argyris, Chris. Integrating the Individual and the Organization. Routledge, 2017.
Baylis, John, Steve Smith, and Patricia Owens, eds. The globalization of world politics: an
introduction to international relations. Oxford University Press, 2017.
Cassidy, Anita. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. CRC press,
2016.
Crawford, Jessica. "Inland Vet Supply Employee Training Manual." (2015).
Department of Defense: Doing Data Right in Weapon System Acquisition." Thirteenth
Annual Acquisition Research Symposium. Naval Postgraduate School, 2016.
Dryden, James, et al. "Issues With Access to Acquisition Data and Information in the
Dumas, Marlon, et al. "Introduction to Business Process Management." Fundamentals of
Business Process Management. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2018. 1-33.
Harper, Charles. Organizations: Structures, processes and outcomes. Routledge, 2015.
Harper, Charles. Organizations: Structures, processes and outcomes. Routledge, 2015.
Heldman, Kim. PMP: project management professional exam study guide. John Wiley &
Sons, 2018.
Kerzner, Harold, and Harold R. Kerzner. Project management: a systems approach to
planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons, 2017.
Keyte, Beau, and Drew A. Locher. The complete lean enterprise: Value stream mapping for
administrative and office processes. Productivity Press, 2016.
Laudon, Kenneth C., and Jane P. Laudon. Management information system. Pearson
Education India, 2016.

11BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
Prakash, Surya, and Phalguni Gupta. "Introduction." Ear Biometrics in 2D and 3D. Springer,
Singapore, 2015. 1-20.
Ptak, Carol A., and Eli Schragenheim. ERP: tools, techniques, and applications for
integrating the supply chain. Crc Press, 2016.
Qin, Shaozheng, et al. "Large-scale intrinsic functional network organization along the long
axis of the human medial temporal lobe." Brain Structure and Function 221.6 (2016): 3237-
3258.
Rothaermel, Frank T. Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education, 2015.
Rushton, Alan, Phil Croucher, and Peter Baker. The handbook of logistics and distribution
management: Understanding the supply chain. Kogan Page Publishers, 2014.
Ylänen, Joonas. "Continuous improvement in order delivery process of make-to-order
products." (2017).