In this session, you will model the purchase order process of the "MyFavoriteBookExpress" company. You will describe how a customer makes an order. You will also model the activities involved and the organizational units that perform these activities.
To open the business process, click on "Business process" in the "Model types" area.
Business processes describe how states in a process trigger actions. States are represented by "events", actions are represented by "activities". There is a causal relation between events and activities. If an event occurs, related activities follow.
You will now place the event that triggers the purchase order process; it is called "Customer wants to buy a new book". Close the "Symbols" pane to have more space available for modeling. The customer's intention triggers activities. You model this by adding the activities "Open online shop Web site" and "Find book title".
If you select an object in the mini toolbar, you are offered the two available connections between the previously placed object and the new object. Keep the default connection.
If customers try to find a book, their search can have two results: They either find the book or do not find it. You therefore insert an EXCLUSIVE OR rule, which is also called an "XOR rule".
A single search can only have one of the two possible results. This is represented by the XOR rule: Only one of the model paths that follow can be used at a time. Place the two events that represent possible search results after the XOR rule.
You will now model what happen if no book is found.
In this case, the process ends, if customers end their search. The process contiunes, if customer continue their search. You therefore insert the customer's decision as an activity and model the end of the process for cutsomers who want to leave the online store.
You will now model a successful search.
Customers who have added a book to their shopping cart decide to either complete their purchase or search for another book. You insert an XOR rule and the two possible events that represent this decision.
All searches are represented by the same uniform process. You have already modeled it and can use it again.
Be aware that if customers do not find the first book, they may want to search for another one. Provide this option by drawing a connection between the two XOR rules that are placed side by side.
Now, you lead the process back to the search. For this purpose, you insert an XOR rule that precedes the "Find book title" activity. You then draw the connection between the "Other books requested" object and the new rule. You now model the process sequence for customers who want to buy the books in their shopping cart. If a customer decides to buy, the purchase order system is needed. This is modeled as an "IT system" object. You will later model additional IT systems. Therefore, you add the "IT system" object to the mini toolbar. You will now complete the purchase order process model. If an object is missing in the mini toolbar, insert it. The "Risk" object would be an example. It represents the risk of being unable to collect payment from a customer. You will finally insert the organizational units. You already know these from the organizational chart of the "MyFavoriteBookExpress" company. You need the "Accounts department" organizational unit for the "Send order confirmation" acitivty and the "Logistics" organizational unit for the "Send book activity".
Your model is complete now. But you can still add valuable information. You can link the "Accounts department" and "Logistics" organizational units to the organizational chart.
You can now open the organizational chart by simply pressing the "F7" key if one of the objects is selected. There you can check what person is in charge of an activity. You can now save the model as "MyFavoriteBookExpress order process".
If you want, you can place the model's name in the model window and format it. Use the "Attributes" pane and formatting buttons to do this. To return to the top of the model, press the "Control" plus "Home" shortcut keys.
You have modeled the purchase order process of the "MyFavoriteBookExpress" company. And you have added informational value by linking the model and placing the "Model name" attribute.
