Presentation at ICORES 2012 on Enterprise models. This talk presents a computational model of a generic enterprise (BPEM, which stands for Business Process Enterprise Model), based upon the core concept of business process. BPEM may be seen as a bridge between two worlds of “Enterprise Models”, the world of mathematical models, formal and fully operational for optimization purposes and the world of conceptual models (boxes & arrows type) for management science, for reasoning and communicating about what a company is.

1. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 1/13
Operations Research for Managing BusinessOperations Research for Managing Business
Processes Communication and PerformanceProcesses Communication and Performance
BPEM : Business Process Enterprise ModelBPEM : Business Process Enterprise Model
ICORES
February 2012
Yves Caseau
Bouygues Telecom – Bouygues’s eLab
National French Academy of Technologies

2. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 2/13
MotivationsMotivations
 « Traditional » ICORES 
 Crisp, well-defined models corresponding to a clear issue
 Sophisticated optimization techniques that bring value
(compared to human judgment)
 « Enterprise as a System » optimization
 Cumbersome and coarse models, multiple issues
 Simple optimization/simulation methods
 Part of management sciences,
a tradition of models & simulation
 Why ?
 Structural issues (in addition to cultural, political, human …)
 How
 Enterprise modeling with operational semantics
 “As simple as possible but no simpler”
 White box model
 Complex system approach (rich interaction of various concerns)
Cf. “Garbage-can
model” of decision
Ill-defined problem
Human > computer
Cf. Vehicle Routing
problems
Computer > human
Not a « personal
fiction » !
Not a

3. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 3/13
OutlineOutline
 Motivations
Operations Research for Management Science
 First Part
Enterprise Models & Business Processes
 Second Part
BPEM: Business Process Enterprise Model
Four Dimensions of Enterprise Modeling
 Third Part
Applications – Two Examples
 Conclusion

4. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 4/13
Enterprise ModelsEnterprise Models
Part1:Motivations
Ressources
CEISAR BAPO (ESAPS)
IDEAS
CPP (Club Pilotes Processus) Altime
MODAF
Business Organization
Architecture
Process
Activity Activity Activityprocess
Manual/assisted/automated
value
Organization/ Actors
Information
objectives Units/roles
Enterprise Entity
Capability Role
ServicesProcess
Strategy /goals
Information System
Business Process
Action Plan
Innove / adjust / optimize
Results:
-Satisfaction
- value
- risk
Managing processes
Support process
Functions
Business processes
Business processes
Business processes
environment
customers
Logical Capability
project
delta
data function
Activity
Information
system
Organization
resource
skills
Strategy/vision
TasksEnterprise
IT

5. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 5/13
BPEM at a glanceBPEM at a glance
Part1:Motivations
Leadership Process KPI
people
Policy &
Strategy
Partnership
& resources
Leadership
Customer
results
Society
results
Innovation & Learning
enablers results
Left out
(long term)
Perimeter of
BPEM
Information Flows
activity activity
Environment
Management
Control
Coordination
customer
Production Factors
Products /
services
transfer
synchronization manage
 Enterprise macro-model
(Mintzberg)
 Executable
(operational semantics)
 Focus on Business Process
& Communication
 What BPEM is and
isn’t, based on EFQM
 Focus on structure
 Short-term vision
of enterprise
operations

6. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 6/13
BPEM : Enterprise ModelBPEM : Enterprise Model
Part2:BPEM
H
T
Communication Matrix
C1 C2
Cn…
Information System IT
BusinessProcesses
Market
Requests
delivery
Management
Capabilities
Functiona
l mapping
Four dimensions:
 Business Processes, associated with
customer requests, represent
enterprise operations
 Processes require time and consume
resources, value creation depends
on SLA (quality is expressed as
timeliness)
 Organization is the combination of
hierarchy (top-down mapping of
capabilities) and project/process
management
 Information flows derive from
processes (signal & content)
BPEM

7. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 7/13
BPEM Organization ModelBPEM Organization Model
Part2:BPEM
T
U
1
…
Hierarchical
Management
U
2
U
3 …
U
4
U
Un
-1
U
n
Process(Transverse)
Management
Functional
mapping
C1
C2 Cn…
Capabilities
R1(l1,l2, .. , lq)
Set of
Ressources
Activity
R2(l1,l2, .. , lq)
Rp(l1,l2, .. , lq)
WBS
Σ(skill, level, units)
 Hierarchy : tree structure
(organizational chart)
 Transverse : set of coordination
resources
 Communication throughput is
measured with man.hour
 Functional units are described
through capabilities
 man.hours
 skill levels
 Supports specialization
(one unit = one capability)
as well as polyvalence

8. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 8/13
BPEM : Business Process ModelBPEM : Business Process Model
 Business Process Patterns (sequence of activities with skill requirements)
 Business Process Instances (Actual load + value + SLA )
 Stochastic Load Generation
 Cover multiple scenarios (burst, overload, …)
 Events:
 Re-priorization based on value change
 Activity duration changes
Part2:BPEM
A1:C1
Σ(skill,level) A2 An
Process pattern
Stochastic
Request
Model1
Process
Instance
value
time
WBS
Σ(units
)
WBS
Σ(units)
WBS
Σ(units)
Variation in
rate & load
request
VV m
in
m
ax
SLA
(Service Level
Agreement)
Time is the only
dimension for
quality =
better skills means
faster execution

9. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 9/13
BPEM : Communication ModelBPEM : Communication Model
Part2:BPEM
H
T
Management
Process
Monitoring &
Management
Transfer &
Synchronize
WBS
Σ(units
)
WBS
Σ(units)
WBS
Σ(units)
Environment
Event:
Value
Variation
Event :
production
variation
 Business processes operations
entail 3 types of information flows:
 Inter-activity (ignored)
 Transfer & synchronization
between consecutive activities
 Monitoring & Management
between units and T&H
 BPEM information flows:
 valued in man.hour
 generated from BP measures,
using simple ratios
 BPEM semantics = scheduling :
Communication flows are broken
into communication units
Precedence constraints represent:
(a) BP orchestration
(b) event management

10. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 10/13
Optimizing the use of communication channelsOptimizing the use of communication channels
 Application of BPEM to study the impact of communication channels on
performance
 Four categories of communication channels
 “Communication Channel Model”
 Characteristics
 Policies
Part3:
Applications
Communication
Channel
Model
BPEM
Results
(value)
Learning
(optimization)
Activities to be
assigned to resources
Channel
PoliciesCommunication flow
units to be scheduled
Scheduler
Receivers
Organization
Rules/ Culture
Information
Flows
Meetings
Face-to-Face
Electronic – Synchronous
Electronic – Asynchronous
• Randomization
(Monte-Carlo)
• Evolutionary
algorithms (learning):
local opt, genetic
algorithm
Channel Performance Characteristics:
Throughput, Latency, Loss, Scheduling constraints

11. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 11/13
Simulation of Information FlowsSimulation of Information Flows
 Goals – How to ?
 Best use of multiple / new communication channels ?
 Study the resilience of organization w.r.t. load distribution and bursts
 Look at Organizational Architecture issues (e.g., flat hierarchies)
 Organization shapes communication channels (e.g., meetings)
 Simulation – Preliminary results
 BPEM simulation produces value, usage ratios, lead time statistics
 Effectiveness of email
 Importance of Affiliation Network
Structure (MSN 2012 paper)
 Organizational design impacts
information flows
 Next Steps
 Full compliance with BPEM 
 What-if scenarios
 New 2.0 communication tools
Part3:
Applications Leverage their specificity
• synchronous/ asynchronous
• Face-to-face vs electronic
• Ease of sharing (1-to-N)
• immersive vs. multitasking
• etc.

12. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 12/13
Understanding lean management of processesUnderstanding lean management of processes
 Two scenarios
Part3:
Applications
 Experimental verification of Taiichi Ohno’s insight :
a « tight system » is more robust
 Lean systems are more flexible
 Economic rationalization (cost of lowering
utilization rate) depends on CoD (Cost of Delay)
Strict SLA – 60% utilization
BPEM « lean »
Scheduling
Policies
Scheduler
BPEM « reg »
SameBusinessProcesses
Loose SLA, 80% utilization

13. Yves Caseau – Business Process Enterprise Model - 2012 13/13
ConclusionsConclusions
 We need Enterprise Models
 Use OR for Management science
 Other applications : Information System
 BPEM is compatible with most conceptual models 
 We need computational Enterprise Models
 Complex issues : simulation as an investigation tool
 Structural issues are only one of the dimensions, but it is critical and
amenable to analysis though simulation
 Managing Information Flows is a key part of management
science
 An old idea (March & Simon)
 A modern idea (Enterprise 2.0 & information overload)
 Communication requires time:
scheduling & structure matters
Yves CASEAU