UML-BASED BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING
(BPR-UML) APPLIED TO IT OUTSOURCING
Edumilis Méndez, Luis E. Mendoza , María Pérez, Anna Grimán
Processes and Systems Department – LISI
Universidad Simón Bolívar
Caracas – Venezuela
Keywords: Business Process Reengineering, Information Technology, Information Technology Outsourcing.
Abstract: Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is one of the current approaches organizations take to address global
market pressures. BPR allows firms to analyze their internal processes with the view to developing
customized goal-oriented solutions. On the other hand, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) can be used: 1)
as a tool for new processes defined by reengineering, which allows Information Technology experts to
perform the business process involving that know-how; and 2) as part of a BPR, to reorient its
implementation regarding quality levels and client satisfaction. This paper presents a methodological
proposal that merges the BPR methodology proposed by Jacobson (1994) with Rational Unified Process
(RUP). It also describes how this proposal can be applied in a BPR for IT Outsourcing in order to improve
efficiency and quality levels in the corresponding business processes, specifically, the Printing Outsourcing
Service (POS). This methodological proposal ensures traceability between the models proposed for the
business and the features that the technological enablers should have for supporting them, thus reaching
higher effectiveness in the reengineering process.
1 INTRODUCTION
According to Irazabal (2001), IT Outsourcing
includes charging provider with some processes that
are not central part of a business, so that more
attention can be paid to those processes representing
the core of the organization-client relationship, with
the aim of achieving higher productivity and
competitiveness levels.
If the results are not favorable or promising, then the
provider should develop strategies or mechanisms,
many times radical ones, to redesign its service
offer. And it is precisely when the BPR proposal
emerges.
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is defined by
Hammer and Champy (1994) as “the fundamental
rethinking and radical redesign of business
processes to achieve dramatic improvements in
critical contemporary measures of performance such
as cost, quality and speed”.
There are numerous BPR methodologies, which
have failed due to the lack of a direct link between
modeling of a new process and the requirements of
the technological enablers proposed, because the
latter do not have any notation and/or documentation
to allow implementing BPR with the IT guidelines
required to complete it successfully. Based on the
above-mentioned, the main goal of this research is to
present a methodological proposal known as UML-
based Business Process Reengineering (BPR-UML),
with the aim of closing the gap between the
proposed solution and its implementation.
This work was based on the Systemic
Methodological Framework (SMF) by Pérez et al.
(2004), which, in turn, is based on the Action
Research Method (Baskerville, 1999) and the
DESMET Methodology (Kitchenham, 1996a) to
validate/evaluate the product obtained.
Some of the contributions include the use of RUP
artifacts as support for the BPR-UML phases, as
well as the reengineering of the IT Outsourcing
process on which the methodological proposal was
applied.
546
Méndez E., E. Mendoza L., Pérez M. and Grimán A. (2006).
UML-BASED BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING (BPR-UML) APPLIED TO IT OUTSOURCING.
In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - ISAS, pages 546-550
DOI: 10.5220/0002458305460550
Copyright
c
SciTePress
2 RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY – SMF
Pérez et al. (2004) developed the SMF, which is
adjusted to the research conditions, is systemic
regarding the research objective, and is adjusted to
the techniques or tools every time it is instantiated.
Once it is instantiated, SMF proposes the five (5) phases
(Diagnosing, Action Planning, Action taking,
Evaluation, and Specifying the learning) as well as
the ten (10) steps included in its implementation
(Documentary research, Objectives and scope
formulation, Instantiation of Action-Research,
Product design, Context Analysis, Application of
DESMET methodology, Product Evaluation,
Analysis of the results, Scope definition for the next
iteration, and Conclusions and Recommendations).
The BPR-UML was generated in Step 4 (Product
Design) of the SMF Phase “Taking action”. It is
worth mentioning that SMF iteration was carried out
to obtain the BPR-UML first version. Acceptability
of BPR-UML was tested using DESMET
Qualitative Effect Analysis (Kitchenham, 1996a) as
an evaluation method. The BPR-UML is shown in
the next section.
3 BPR-UML
This BPR-UML is based on the four stages of
Jacobson’s MBPR (1994) and some templates of the
RUP Business Modeling Discipline, such as
Business Vision, Organization Evaluation and
Business Architecture.
Figure 1 shows the workflow followed throughout
the four BPR-UML stages, which are as follows:
Development of business vision; understanding the
existing business (Reverse Engineering); design of
the new business (Forward Engineering); and
implementation of the new business. The following
activities, deliverables, and roles associated to each
phase were defined in the BRP-UML.
3.1 Phase 1: Development of
Business Vision
What does the organization desire in its processes?
This question is analyzed in this phase in terms of
the business vision, as shown in Figure 2. In this
case, the RUP document Business Vision was
adapted.
3.2 Phase 2: Understanding the
Existing Business
The environment of the Target Organization is
evaluated in this phase, in order to support the
analysis of the current situation and propose, in case
it is necessary in the future, a redesign of the
structure and modeling of the business processes.
The business, ideas and strategic framework within
the context of the project, internal and external
factors involved in the business process, support
enablers, and the firm's internal structure are
established. The result of this phase is documented
with the RUP artifact: the Organization Evaluation,
which can be observed in Figure 2.
Figure 1: Methodological proposal for BPR (BPR-UML).
3.3 Phase 3: Design of the New
Business
This phase includes redesigning the business process
allowing for the fulfillment of the organization
goals. In this sense a business architectural
description is shown, using a number of different
architectural views which describe the various
aspects of the business. The aim is to obtain and
convey the relevant decisions regarding business
architecture.
To this end, the activities shown in Figure 2 are
carried out, thus producing the supporting RUP
document Business Architecture, which details:
Business Context model, Use Cases model,
Sequence diagrams, Business Classes, General
Behavior Patterns, Communication View, and
Traceability diagrams.
Development of
Business Vision
Understanding the
Existing Business
Design of the
New Business
New Business
Implementation
Development of
Business Vision
Understanding the
Existing Business
Design of the
New Business
New Business
Implementation
UML-BASED BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING (BPR-UML) APPLIED TO IT OUTSOURCING
547
Figure 2: Roles, activities and deliverables in Phases of BPR-UML.
Table 1: Roles, activities and deliverables in BPR-UML.
Phase Activities Deliverables Roles Associated
Development of
Business Vision
Identifying the new business or processes to redesign;
describing the vision of the future business processes;
defining the properties and goals to quantify for every
process; specifying the IT that will support the new
processes.
Business Vision Consultants and
Process Engineers
Understanding
the Existing
Business
Establishing the strategies of the current business; analyzing
the activities that shape the business process; analyzing the
internal and external factors to create its views; determining
the performance and effectiveness of the current business.
Organization
Evaluation
Consultants and
Process Engineers
Design of New
Business
Constructing the views of: Market, Business Process,
Organization, Human Resources, Geographical, Domain and
Communication.
Business
Architecture
Organization
Representatives,
Consultants and
Process Engineers
New Business
Implementation
Installing the new process; testing; performing of iterations,
and proposing progress.
Implementation
Evaluation
Consultants and
Process Engineers
3.4 Phase 4: New Business
Implementation
Activities in Figure 2 should be carried out in order
to fully document the implementation of the new
business and to generate the RUP document
Implementation Evaluation, in which the setting up
of the new business process is specified, tests are
conducted, and iterations are carried out based on
the best proposals. An analysis of the technological
enablers that will be used to implement the new
business should also be performed.
Table 1 presents a summary of the BRP-UML
proposal, showing activities, deliverables, and roles
involved in each phase.
Figure 3 shows a summary of the comparison
between BPR-UML and other four BPR
methodologies.
4 SELECTION OF THE BPR-UML
EVALUATION METHOD
After analyzing the practical and technical selection
criteria proposed by the DESMET methodology
(Kitchenham, 1996b), in this case the BPR-UML,
the method Qualitative Effects Analysis was found to
be the best suited for this research, because
according to the practical criteria, it is recommended
for research with a short evaluation time, low cost,
and high risk, being this latter reduced by the
availability of experts.
The Qualitative Effects Analysis offers a subjective
perspective of the quantitative effect of a process. In
this research, the evaluation was based on the
opinion of four (4) experts while a case study was
being applied, which is show below.
Document
“Business Vision”
[RUP Artifact]
Process
Engineer
Describe the vision
of the future
business processes
Define the properties
and goals to quantify
for every process
Identify the new
business or
processes to re-
design
Specify the IT that will
support the new processes.
Consultants
Document
“Organization
Evaluation”
[¨RUP Artifact]
Process
Engineer
Analyze the
activities that shape
the business
process
Analyze the internal
and external factors
to create its views
Establish the
strategies of the
current business
Determine the performance
and effectiveness of the
current business
Consultants
Process
Engineer
Install the
new
process
Document “Implantation
Evaluation”
[Rup Artifact]
Consultants
Execute tests Perform
iterations and
to propose
progress.
Process
Engineer
Construct the
Market view
Document “Business
Architecture”
[Rup Artifact]
Consultants
Construct the
Business
Process view
Construct the
Organization
view
Construct the
Human
Resources
view
Construct the
Geographical
view
Construct
the Domain
view
Construct the
Communication
view
Representatives
of Organization
Phase 1
Phase 3
Phase 2
Phase 4
Document
“Business Vision”
[RUP Artifact]
Process
Engineer
Describe the vision
of the future
business processes
Define the properties
and goals to quantify
for every process
Identify the new
business or
processes to re-
design
Specify the IT that will
support the new processes.
Consultants
Document
“Organization
Evaluation”
[¨RUP Artifact]
Process
Engineer
Analyze the
activities that shape
the business
process
Analyze the internal
and external factors
to create its views
Establish the
strategies of the
current business
Determine the performance
and effectiveness of the
current business
Consultants
Process
Engineer
Install the
new
process
Document “Implantation
Evaluation”
[Rup Artifact]
Consultants
Execute tests Perform
iterations and
to propose
progress.
Process
Engineer
Construct the
Market view
Document “Business
Architecture”
[Rup Artifact]
Consultants
Construct the
Business
Process view
Construct the
Organization
view
Construct the
Human
Resources
view
Construct the
Geographical
view
Construct
the Domain
view
Construct the
Communication
view
Representatives
of Organization
Phase 1
Phase 3
Phase 2
Phase 4
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548
Once the BPR-UML was proposed, the evaluation
method was selected. The selection procedure and
the chosen evaluation method are shown below.
5 RESULTS OF APPLYING
BRP-UML – CASE STUDY
The case study in this research is represented by the
Printing Outsourcing Service (POS). For agreements
of confidentiality, the actual name of the
organization where the research took place will not
be revealed. WNV (supplier-firm) is very prestigious
among the IT market, particularly in the integration
of products, solutions, and services with added value
towards clients. The environment where POS carries
out its processes is financial institutions at both the
main office as well as branches level. The personnel
working at the client-firm, at the operational level,
range between 2-10 employees, with a printing work
volume depending on the space where the work is
taking place.
The documents Business Vision, Organization
Evaluation, Business Architecture and Implantation
Evaluation were produced.
Methodologies
Features
Adair & Murray
Currid &
Company
Davenport
Hammer
&Champy
Based UML
Methodology
Re-engineering Definition
Start point: business goals Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Process focused Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Corporative Goals/process relation Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Priority for Aggregated Value Process Yes 1 Yes Yes Yes
Customer oriented Yes 1 Yes Yes Yes
Proposes a radical change 1 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Extends BPR to suppliers/partners No No Yes Yes Yes
Studied processes
Only one Yes 2 No No Yes
Multiple processes Yes 2 Yes Yes Yes
Added value processes Yes 2 Yes Yes Yes
Support processes Yes 2 Yes Yes Yes
Methodology
It´s described Yes No No No Yes
It has adequate details Yes No No No Yes
It uses a management technique Yes No No No Yes
It includes a new process vision No No No No Yes
It includes sub-divisions for the new
process
No No No No Yes
It includes technical design No No No No Yes
It includes HHRR design No No No No Yes
It considers obstacles for change Yes No No No 1
It includes an implementation plan No No No No Yes
Role of Automation
Start point No No No No No
Training No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Legend:
Yes: feature is present 1: not specified
No: feature is absent 2: not considered
The phase 4 supported the redesign of the POS
processes by means of an analysis of the
technological enablers supporting the redesigned
processes. Technological enablers can be defined as
those technological tools supporting business
processes with the aim of obtaining results in shorter
response times, customized according to the client’s
needs, and with a better performance at the business
level.
The target firm, WNV, had a technological tool
known as Printing Administrator (PA), which
currently does not support the POS business
processes. As a result, those processes relevant for
the service lack of technological support. After
applying BRP-UML through a case study, the
activities of the Qualitative Effects Analysis
evaluation method were conducted to obtain results
regarding the performance of BRP-UML.
6 RESULTS OF THE BPR-UML
EVALUATION
The evaluation process involves the evaluation of
BRP-UML, in this case, activities inherent to the
Qualitative Effects Analysis. This paper will show
only the results per characteristic, and the results of
the evaluation of the General Characteristics for
BPR-UML are analyzed below. Figure 4 shows the
results obtained for each characteristic. Consistency
with the Goals, Correspondence with the Vision,
Organizational Structure, Definition of Activities,
Process Implementation and Learning Time are
placed in the Excellent category (Figure 4). In other
words, the six characteristics evaluated were over
the minimum acceptation level. It is also observed
that BPR-UML is widely accepted.
Characteristics Evaluation
1818
17,5
18 16,520
0
5
10
15
20
25
Consistency
with the Goals
Correspondence
with the Vision
Organizational
Structure
Definition of
Activities
Process
Implementation
Learning Time
Score
Figure 4: Results of the BPR-UML Evaluation.
7 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents a methodological proposal for
UML-based BPR (BPR-UML) and its application in
a case study. This research was successfully
developed due to the following achievements: 1)
Figure 3: Comparative table of BPR-UML and other BP
R
methodologies; adapted from Manganelli and Klein, 2004.
UML-BASED BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING (BPR-UML) APPLIED TO IT OUTSOURCING
549
satisfactory results with the application of BPR-
UML, specifically, a BPR proposal for an IT
Outsourcing; demonstrating the strengths related to
the notation, documentation, and traceability
improvements 2) favorable results with the
evaluation of BPR (BPR-UML) through the
Qualitative Effects Analysis evaluation method, with
a high acceptation degree by the POS experts
regarding the six characteristics evaluated.
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