Analysis of RFC Payment Process and Enterprise Architecture

This case study analyzes the payment processing system of the Reliable Finance Company (RFC). The assignment begins with an overview of RFC's current business scenario, including its expansion plans and the need for an enhanced information system. It delves into the concepts of Enterprise Architecture (EA) and Business Process Management (BPM), highlighting their importance for process improvement and efficiency. The study includes a BPM diagram, a value stream map, and an Entity-Relationship (ER) diagram to illustrate the payment verification process, business entities (customers, loans, payment, staffs, and reports), and their attributes. The assignment discusses collaborative business strategies, including the use of subordinated capital, and the role of Business Intelligence (BI) tools and quality assurance frameworks in improving operations. The analysis aims to provide recommendations for redesigning the existing payment processing system to support RFC's growth objectives.

Running head: BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT
Business Process Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note

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Summary of last assignment
The last assignment was used for the introduction to the case of the Reliable Finance
Company. The company provides loan to the businessmen and farmers. The organization is
looking to expand the business of the organization and increase the number of branches for the
organization. The previous assignment was also use for the discussions on the problems faced in
the current business procedures of the organization. A BPM diagram was also developed in the
previous assignment for the description of the business scenario of the organization. The diagram
is provided below:
The diagram has been rectified according to the feedback received for the previous
assignment. The model has been used for the description of the current business process of the
organization that is being described in this report.
Enterprise Architecture
An enterprise architect specializes in collaborating with key personnel to define business
objectives and creates the business infrastructure that supports those objectives. Job

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responsibilities can include helping in the creation and execution of the roadmap of the
information technology architecture, working with domain architects to design roadmaps for all
domains and determining operational gaps and developing methods for to get better. Business
architects will need a bachelor's degree in computer science or a related discipline, and some
employers prefer a graduate degree. They can work for a variety of organizations, including
information technology services companies. The enterprise architecture can help the RFC
organization to rectify their business process model. Mapping out a business process allows a
manager to see where there is an inefficiency causing a bottleneck in the process and fix it to
achieve the desired results. Hence an Enterprise Architecture would be helpful in mapping out
the business procedures for the organization. Businesses of that size and scope rely on
nimbleness and adaptability to prosper. BPM is especially useful during times of rapid growth,
when it is necessary to bring employees on board quickly - mapping out existing business
processes will assist in ensuring that the new employees are able to replicate the reasons behind a
company's successful growth.
The BPM activity helps the Enterprise Architecture of the organization largely. By
mapping out how different employees carry out a given task, managers can see what the most
efficient way to carry out the task is, what the most effective (to the company) way is, and what
different variations are, given a scenario. This allows managers to create a process template that
can be customized across divisions and functions as necessary. Companies often have long-time
workers who are the only ones who know how something works or is done. By mapping out that
process, it becomes possible to keep it around even if that key employee isn't around. The report
has been used for the identification of the payment verification process for the organization. The
process model for the RFC enterprise would be able to identify the major activities involving the

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activities required to be performed by the departments of the organization. The roles and
responsibilities of the departments and the departmental staffs can be mapped easily with the
business process model. The flow of process is also described in the different type of
departments of the organization. The decision making for the payment verification process is
very important as this would be modeling the enterprise architecture for the organization
depending on the outcome of the verification.
Business process modeling shows a sequence of activities that helps to simplify analysis
and make the improvement of some process easier. EA is the framework that is used for the
definition of a particular framework and used as a methodology for the developing the notations
for business process model. The EA blueprints are used for the portfolio for the description of
the processes of creating, analyzing and managing the BPM processes.
Value stream map is a visualization which is used for the customers to identify the steps
required for the transformation of a request made by the customer and the goods and the services
that the customer is interacting with suppliers for the organization. It is challenging to identify
the personnel who are involved with the creation of the map. In situation where the VSM has
been reached the visualization can be shared by the stakeholders for the identification of the
limitations and the deficiencies in the system. The value stream map is used for the holistic view
of the procedures for a system. The non-value adding steps are also identified in this processes
and they are eliminated from the business model of the organization. This would help them in
achieving better and faster outcomes for the organization in very cost effective and safe work
environment.

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BPM Diagram Discussion
The process segments identified in the BPM are:
 Payment: This process is an external one for the organization. This process is performed
by the customer. The customer sends the payment voucher via the mail to the
organization. After the payment has been dispatched from the end of the customer, the
home office department of the organization receives the payment on behalf of RFC.
 Payment Verification: The verification of the payment is the done by the staffs of the
Home Office department. In case the verification of the payment is done successfully the
staffs directly moves on the next activity that is the reporting process. In situation where
the payment is not verified the process is forwarded to the analysis system. The analysis
on the payment is done and the results are returned to the Home office.
 Payment Reminder: The analysis system would be helpful for the storing of the result of
verification for the system. The system would be gathering data about the outstanding
loan amounts and provide the customer reminders about the loan value that is to be paid
by them to the organization.
 Payment Report: The system develops a report after the verification of the payment. The
loan amount and the status of the loan amount is being described in the report generated
by the staffs in the organization.
The business entities that are being identified in the RFC system are the Customers,
loans, Payment, Staffs and reports.
The status of the entities change after the payment verification process:
 Customers: The status of the customer remains same throughout the process.

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 Loans: The status of the Loan Changes after the payment is validated and the status
changes from outstanding to being paid.
 Payment: The status of the payment entity change from being drafted to being received
by the organization. The payment entity when reaches the staffs in the home office
department changes the status to review.
 Staffs: The staffs handle the payment, however the status of the staffs remain same
throughput the process of finalization and verification of the payment.
 Report: This entity is the final output of the entire process for the organization. The final
status change of the report entity is published.
The list of attributes for each of the entities in the system is listed below:
Loans:
 Loan Number
 Loan Amount
 Loan Date
 Interest
 Terms
 Loan Status
Payment:
 Payment Mode
 Card Number
 Account Details
 Amount Paid

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 Date of Payment
Staffs:
 Staff ID
 Name of the Staff
 Address of the Staff
 Contact of Staff
 Salary
 Department
Report:
 Report ID
 Report Details
 Report Date
Customer:
 Customer Name
 Address
 Contact
 Email
 Account Details
 Name of Bank

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The above ER diagram is being developed for understanding the activities that are taking
place within each entity. The main entities that are described within the ER diagram are loan,
report, payment, customer and staffs. Customer makes the payment and can take loans for
making the payments. Staffs are responsible for handling the payments related to each customer.
Staffs further focuses on generating reports that can be used for determining the processing that
takes place between the entities. Each entity plays a major role in processing the loan amount.
Once the loan is being processed towards the respective customers than it becomes essential to
maintain a proper report. These reports are further used in future for reference purpose. Thus
each staffs needs to have proper knowledge about the way reports associated with the loan are to

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be generated. This report plays a crucial role in determining the loans and payments related to
each customer.
The size of the business process modeling depends on the size and the budget of software
used by the RFC organization. Additionally, the objectives of the business are also used for
dictating the size of the BPM.
Collaborative Business
Any business must look in to the basic design (operations-key elements), development
(right from customer up to your R&D); Execution (production/all facilitation elements); and
service(both pre and after sales). The vision must be clear as to where the competitive advantage
will accrue to the company and that will throw up the priority clusters. The RFC organization
considers Payment and loan related processes in their business cluster. The organization is
looking to expand it with the development of new branches that would be helpful for them in
gaining supremacy only over a single region but throughout the world.
The RFC organization can collaborate their business with the business of the organization
laying in the banking sector. The business would be required to adopt the subordinated capital
model for collaboration within their enterprise. Many cooperatives use a technique called
"subordinated capital", wherein they issue bonds to investors at a fixed interest rate. The
investors don't own the business, but they become the highest priority creditors to the business.
The reason so many cooperatives exist in capital-intensive, low-margin, high-risk areas
(agriculture, fishing, community banking, etc.) is because takeovers in those sectors are so rare.
Hence the RFC organization is required to model their business in such a way that they would be

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having equal rights over the business. Any large co-operative would mean that the brand value of
the RFC organization would be minimized and they would suffer from recognition crisis. Hence,
the organization is required to select the appropriate company for the collaboration, so that
business values and recognition are not hampered.
Business Intelligence
BI tools helps in the conversion of the available data in the business into knowledge
which is delivered to the stakeholders of the organiztion. BI tool basically would help the RFC
organization to analyze the exhaust of data (data analytics) and generate reports to the
stakeholders at a very minimal time. The payment reporting process of the organization would be
enhanced with the use of the Business Intelligence tools.
Collaborative intelligence is mainly referred to the characteristics of multi agent, human,
or machine that is uniquely positioned for the purpose of contributing towards the problem
solving mechanism. The main aim for the RFC organization is expansion and hence,
collaboration would be helpful for the organization. Collaborative intelligence would help in
solving the problem associated with the business mission of the RFC organization.
The quality assurance framework is very necessary for any type of organization and the
RFC organization is no exception. The quality factors are generally involved in the production
sector in the industries; however the finance sector handles the quality. As the quality
compromises might hamper the business of the organization. The quality of the verification
process should be optimum for the RFC organization. The QA framework should keep in mind
that the customers are kept happy and there are no unnecessary reminders for them.

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