Chapter 7
The Conceptual Model of Processing
Introduction
Notion of processing with MERISE
It is initially important to raise an ambiguity on the comprehension of the term “processing”.
Whether it comes from the first approaches of data processing or from the scientific and
technical data processing, the term processing was often limited only to the transformation of
data (see figure 6.1). To describe the processing then consists in describing the algorithm (flow
chart, programming tree …)
Input Processing Output
Figure 6.1: data processing
In Merise, the term processing is more general; it is assimilated to the operation (functioning)
of the information system perceived through its couplings with operative system and the system
of control. To describe the processing, it is to describe processes implemented in the field or
domain (seen like a system) in interaction with its environment (see figure 6.2).
Environment
Stimulus Domain Reaction
Figure 6.2: processing with Merise
Objective
The conceptual model of processing aims to formally represent activities carried on by the
field, activities of which knowledge is the base of the information system. It is turned towards
the taking into account of the exchanges of the field with its environment (other fields, outside
of the company, system of control). It is above all the identification of these exchanges and the
induced activities which will force and structure the operation of the field.
The modeling of these activities is carried out by disregarding the organization, i.e. means and
resources necessary to the execution of these activities. A conceptual model of processing
(CMP) expresses what the field does, and not by who, when, where and how these activities are
carried out.
In its general principles, the Merise method binds the levels of concern with the degrees of
stability. At the conceptual level of processing, this stability results in exchanged flows and the
associated activities; definition of the interactions of the field with its environment precedes on
the way in which these activities will be exerted.
Information Systems and databases 1
The development of a MCT thus makes it possible to specify the borders of the field by
describing the activities which are associated to him and the exchanges with its environment.
Besides its use in the step will come to confirm it.
I. Approach to organisational processes
Any organisation (company, association, public institution ...) aims to meet the needs of
its “costumers” through production (commercial or not) of goods or services. Organisations
define their work around the sequences of activities designed to improve their functioning and
their efficiency vis-à-vis customers: these are called processes.
The response to a request (expressed need) from a customer usually requires the
implementation of several coordinated activities within an organisational process.
The study of an organisation through its processes meets a double challenge:
Decompose the object "organisation" in processes in order to facilitate its analysis and
improvement,
To show that division of labour and coordination are complementary.
1. Management by processes
Toyotism imposed a more comprehensive approach which takes into account the
interdependence of the activities; it glues together the work divided into elementary activities
to form a whole: the process. One of its founders, Taiichi Ohno, explained it using a sporting
metaphor: a good coach must train the players on a team to master the individual technical
moves (the equivalent of Taylorism) but must also set the tactics of the team.
By taking into account the interdependence of the activities, the process facilitates the
search for a comprehensive (global) quality and the implementation of flexibility (to adapt
to the differences between the existing and the planned).
A process is therefore a set of activities coordinated by information, leading to the
satisfaction of a need (internal or external to the organization): incomes (resources) are
transformed, with added value in an outgoing measurable, forming the objective of the process.
A process is customer oriented: it is defined by what it has to provide and not what to do.
Process
Expression of a need:
Result
trigger event Activity Activity Activity
(accompanied by (Out coming)
entrants)
Transformation of incomes (data, Customer of the process
products, etc.) into outcomes (results)
with added value
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Examples:
The shipment of a package through the mail service is a process (business):
Oriented to the customer satisfaction (here the sender as well as the receiver of that the
parcel),
Implementing several activities: management, sorting, shipping and transportation,
delivery of the parcel),
Coordinated through the information: herein mainly the address on the parcel,
Producing information: postmarks, package tracking by internet...
Using incomes (package recipient's address, postage) and resources (organization,
work) to produce a measurable outcome: receive the package, status of the parcel,
delivery time.
A process is transversal since it incorporates different activities carried out by
services/functions of the organisation. The process management also requires appointing a
guarantor of the process accountable of the service rendered to costumers.
The interfaces between services are the main points for improvement in the process (and
the appearance of non-quality points). Learning must be done to reorient the action depending
on the existing. To continue with the sporting metaphor, the team has individualities and
collective tactics but also faces an opponent and must be able to adapt his tactics according to
that established by the opponent.
The concepts of process and information system are closely related because:
The activities of a process are coordinated and linked together through information
exchange,
The sharing of information is the consequence of the interdependence of activities
2. Process typology
Any organization implements some businesses (jobs) which constitute its identity, its reason
of being in consideration to its customers (in the broad sense, not just commercial) and its
distinction capacity compared to its competitors (opponents): it is its core business (which
depends of the industry).
There are three types of processes according to their nature:
Business processes (operational / for realisation)
They contribute directly to the achievement of an out coming product corresponding to
the core business, organization (research, production, sales, associated services ...); this
includes the detection of the external customer’s need and his satisfaction (through the
addition of value between incomes and outcomes). They include activities dedicated to
the product life cycle (Porter value chain)
Support processes (support / resources)
They deliver in-house goods and services to business processes, contributing to their
proper functioning. The customer therefore does not directly perceive their value (these
processes are only back-office).
Piloting processes (leadership / management / strategic / decision)
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They correspond to the development of a strategy and deployment goals in the
organization.
Feedback from
Needs and expectations Piloting processes customers
of customers
Indicators
Policy, goals, organization …
CUSTOMER
CUSTOMER
Needs Realisation
processes
In coming elements
Needs of Products, services
Available resources
resources (out coming elements)
PROVIDERS
Supplies Support processes
N.B:
The organisation has customers (in the commercial sense or not, depending on the type
of organization) that are external to it, they are customers of realisation processes.
We sometimes talk about the "client process", that is, the one that requires the
completion of the process and benefits from its result: the customer of a business process
is a client (external) to the organisation; the customer of a support process is an internal
client to the organisation
The nature of the process depends on the context
Example:
Skills management is:
A support process in most organizations: this is to allow business processes to have the
people with the skills needed to achieve them,
A business process in a temporary employment agency because its activity is to provide
customers with people adapted to their needs (this is the result that it delivers)
Logistics is:
A business process in a transport company (such as mail service)
a support process in the majority of commercial enterprises: it is to manage the supplies
and shipments
There are two types of processes according to their progress:
Structured and repetitive processes
When a situation repeats itself, it is interesting to "codify" the process that will produce
the appropriate result. This creates economies of scale, since it becomes unnecessary to
prepare a response to new processes each time that this situation repeats itself: simply
reproduce the coded process.
It is likely that the first process developed will not be optimal immediately: the repetition
of the situation allows an apprenticeship, often accompanied by a process improvement
Unstructured or not repetitive processes
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When an unforeseen situation occurs, it should be treated with an unstructured process,
i.e., developed in response to this new situation.
But if we see that it is supposed to reproduce itself, it may be useful to structure the
process.
3. The contribution of ICT to processes
ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) is a source of productivity gains:
For the activities of the process: automated processing, data storage, etc.
For the process itself: interface and coordination between activities (sharing and
exchange of information).
ICT, particularly the shared databases and available on network, allows to combine the
following advantages:
Centralization: the pooling of data, no redundancy, and single update create economies
of scale.
Decentralized access: the real-time updated, continuous information availability, total
(subject to access rights) and in any place (in the case of client-server architecture using
Internet technologies)
The sharing of information can go beyond the boundaries of the organisation to extend (for
certain data only) to external partners (thanks to extranets)
The costs of acquiring information (economic transaction costs) are significantly reduced
but these interconnections and interdependence increase costs of system change.
II. Modelling processes
Organizations define their work around the sequences of activities to improve their
functioning and effectiveness vis-à-vis customers: it is the process. Coordinating the work of
the organisation by information requires a collective understanding of the processes: this is
facilitated by modelling. Process modelling describes the sequence of activities of an
organisation and treatment made by its permanent information system to produce results to its
customers (internal or external)
1. Objectives of process Modelling
Process modelling has several objectives:
Understand: modelling, from the observation of the IS, requires making an effort of
abstraction
Communicate: the model obtained is a shared medium of communication between
stakeholders of the IS or IS project for a collective understanding
Analyse: once the existing shown is understood, it can be analysed and optimised
Develop: the division of a process into operations allows to highlight the features of a
future computer application linked to all or part of this process
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2. Represented elements
A process is represented by a given events-results diagram. An organisation carries out
many processes of which some are linked (in particular support processes to business
processes). The exhaustive census of these processes is called “the cartography of processes”.
Example:
A bank operates in many areas: “management of means of payment”, “agreement of loans”.
Each of these areas can lead to several processes. For instance, in the area of the “management
of means of payment”, there are processes “opening of a current account”, “delivery of a bank
card”, etc.
In the approach of the analysis of an IS, the process is perceived as a set of activities
that produce and transform information (the goal of our study). Activities are therefore
approached from this point of view (and not for example according to physical actions or
production realised).
A- The actors of the process
Actors are natural persons, organisational entities (service of an organisation, etc.) or
technological objects (application, etc.) that receive, transform, create or send information.
Actors are named according to their role in the process (and not by their name for a natural
person for instance). To each actor correspond a column in the diagram.
We distinguish two types of actors as for their position according to the studied area:
Internal actors realise the activities (actions that create or transform information)
throughout the process.
External actors are uniquely transmitter or receiver of information without activity.
At least one external actor is beneficiary of the result of the process (it is usually the actor that
launches the process).
Example:
For the process of the “delivery of a cheque-book”, the customer that asks the cheque-book is
an external actor, the department of the bank that treats that demand is an internal actor, the
printing house in charge to make that cheque-book and then to send it is an internal actor that
can also be an organisation independent form the bank.
The distinction criteria between an internal actor and an external actor is not of a juridical or
organisational order, but is linked to the realisation of activities in the process framework.
An actor is internal or external to the process and not to an organisation, for there exists:
Intra-organisational processes of which internal actors are members and external
actors are members or not (for instance, in the case of a support process, an internal
actor to the process, and beneficiary of its result, that is a member of the organisation).
Inter-organisational processes, i.e., the activities are realised by the members of
different organizations (of which the internal actors of the process belong to many
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Information Systems and databases 6
organisations).
B- The activities (or operations) of the process
From the point of view of the IS, an activity is conceived as an action that manipulates, transforms,
or creates information.
An activity is constituted by a non-interruptible succession of elementary tasks (that can eventually
be mentioned in the rectangle representing the activity)
The non-interruptible character is linked to the fact that any external event at the entry is not
necessary to the functioning of the operation, once this last is triggered by its launchers.
By detailing the activities, the event-result diagram constitutes a “zoom” on the diagram of flow
which represents only actors and the flow of information.
C- The events of the process
An event is a flow of information (eventually representing a flow of material) received or emitted by the
IS. We distinguish two types of events as for their position in relation to the activities:
The trigger events cause the implementation of an activity
The result events are the outcome of an activity (a result event can be the trigger of another
activity)
Example:
The bank sends the balances to its customers at the end of each month.
This activity is triggered by a temporal event (the day before the last working day of the month).
It has as result the reception of a monthly balance by the customer.
Hereafter are detailed the tasks of the represented operation.
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Information Systems and databases 7
Bank Customer
The day before the last
working day of the month
Edition of balances
Edition of statements
Printing
Wrapping
Sending
ALWAYS
Monthly balance sent
D- The rules or conditions to emit results
When an activity gives different results according to specific criteria, it is necessary to indicate
the emission rules corresponding (at the bottom of the rectangle of activities): an emission rule
indicates the conditions for which the event(s) represented in its continuation can happen.
Example:
Let’s take back the preceding example and add to “ALWAYS” an additional second rule of
emission
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Bank Customer
The day before the last
working day of the month
Edition of balances
Edition of statements
Printing
Wrapping
Sending
ALWAYS OVERDRAWN
Letter of agios sent
Monthly balance sent
Example:
The activity of processing orders has two alternative cases:
If the products are in stocks, the delivery can be realised.
If the products are not available, the customer is informed via a mail that the state of
stocks leads to delay in total his/her delivery.
Note: due to lack of space, we can just name emission rules with generic terms like “OK”, “Not
OK” or abbreviations (RU1, RU2, etc. which will be specified in the legend of the diagram).
Order form
Processing of order
Available stock break of stock
Delivery order edited Parcel prepared Notice of delay
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Summary of the modelling rules
Process
The modelling takes place from a particular point of view (the one of the internal actors
of the area of study).
A process is always launched by a temporal trigger event or is issued from an external
actor.
A process always ends with at least one result event.
Many different processes can be linked by events: thus, a complex process can be
decomposed into many processes more simple to model.
Event
The description (label) of an event can be expressed at the past participle (to reflect an
action realised; caution: do not make the confusion between event and document).
An event precedes or follows an activity realised by an internal actor (to the area of
study).
The schematisation (making the diagram) event-result does not presents any flow
between external actors (even if they exist, they do not contribute to the realisation of
the process by the area of study).
Activity
We represent only the activities realised by the internal actors to the area of study.
An activity is not triggered without any reason: it has at least one trigger event.
When an operation is triggered by many events, we specify by a Boolean expression of
synchronisation the possible combinations of events that can trigger the activity.
An equation of synchronisation uses one or many Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT
(caution: take care to gather the conditions with brackets).
An activity leads to at least one result event.
Two activities cannot follow each other directly (there is at least one result event and
one trigger event) or are combined if they constitute a non-interruptible continuation of
tasks.
An activity can lead to many alternative or additional events of which the monitoring
is specified by the emission rules (alternative or additional).
3. Example: the attribution of the French nationality
The naturalisation must be asked to the prefecture, this application goes with official
documents to be studied. The prefecture gives an acknowledgement of receipt, proceeds to
investigations and forward the file with its opinion to the ministry in charge of naturalisations.
The ministry examines the file and decides. If the decision is positive, you receive a letter
informing you that a favourable answer is being considered.
You therefore have to confirm your address to the ministry by sending back a statement on
honour. This leads to the preparation of a decree, sent to the official journal for publication and
to the prefecture. You also receive a notification.
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The prefecture treats positive or negative decisions that it receives and send you a
notification (with the civil state modified in the case of a positive decision).
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Private individual Prefecture Ministry
(External actor) (Internal actor) (Internal actor)
Naturalization
requested
b
Official docs a
a AND b
sent
Examination of the file
ALWAYS
Acknowledgement
Opinion sent
receipt delivered
File forwarded
c d
c AND d
Examination of the file
positive negative
decision decision
Acceptance
notified
Decision of
inadmissibility sent
Statement on
honour realised
Preparation of the decree
ALWAYS
Positive decision sent Decree sent to the news
Notice of decree
e
f
e OR f
Examination of the file
positive negative
decision decision
Civil state modified
Refusal notified
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