INFS 1000 Session 10: Business Process Analysis & Improvement

Vocabulary flashcards covering key performance indicators, BPMN gateways, and the principles of outcome, activity, and resource-related business process improvements.

Output rate

The amount of products or services produced by a business process per unit of time (e.g., a barista making $30$ cups of coffee per hour).

Throughput rate (flow rate)

The rate at which units flow through a specific activity in the process (e.g., customers going through an order-taking counter at a rate of $20$ per hour).

Process capacity

The maximum output rate of a business process per unit of time (e.g., if $2$ baristas each make $30$ coffees/hour, the capacity is $60$ cups/hour).

Capacity utilization

The percentage of process capacity that is actually used, calculated as: $\frac{\text{output rate}}{\text{process capacity}}$.

Lead time

The average time required for a process to unfold from start to end (e.g., $6$ minutes from a customer walking in to receiving coffee).

Activity time

The average time required for a specific activity in the process (e.g., brewing a cappuccino takes $2$ minutes).

Activity resource requirements

The average units of resources required for a specific activity (e.g., $1$ espresso shot, $150\,ml$ of milk, and $1$ minute of barista time).

Exclusive Decision (BPMN)

A gateway where only one outgoing path can be followed.

Parallel fork (BPMN)

A gateway where both outgoing paths must be followed.

Join (BPMN)

A gateway where all incoming paths must be fulfilled to proceed.

Merge (BPMN)

A gateway where the process proceeds when any of the incoming paths are fulfilled.

Zero-based start

A principle for outcome-related improvement where every outcome is eliminated and must be justified to be re-incorporated.

Evaluated Receipt Settlement

A substitution technique where payment is made without an invoice by counting the quantity of goods received and paying based on an agreed unit price.

Horizontal harmonization

Standardizing documents or products along the same business process, such as structuring quotes, orders, and invoices in the same way.

Vertical harmonization

Standardizing and integrating processes that take place in parallel for economies of scale, such as integrating online and offline channels.

Lean Management

A method of activity-related improvement that involves identifying and eliminating all non-value adding activities.

Pull principle

The rationale that processes following a demand-driven approach should never have a bottleneck.

Bottleneck

A point in a process where the throughput rate of a single activity limits the overall process capacity.

Simultaneous Engineering

The practice of parallel routing where sequential activities are performed at the same time to reduce lead time.

Job enlargement

A resource-related improvement that integrates two related activities of the same difficulty level, such as sorting and distributing mail.

Job enrichment

A resource-related improvement that incorporates more challenging activities into a role, such as combining production with quality control.

Specialization

An assignment of resources where staff are made more specific to complicated tasks to increase efficiency through practice.