Requirements for modelling e-Business processes

Companies must not see e-Business as a panacea but instead assess the specific impact of implementing e-Business on their business from both an internal and external perspective. E-Business is promoted as being able to increase the speed of response and reduce costs locally but these benefits must be assessed for the wider business rather than as local improvements. This paper argues that any assessment must include quantitative analysis that covers the physical as well as the information flows within a business. It is noted that as business processes are e-enabled their structure does not significantly change and it is only by the use of modelling techniques that the operational impact can be ascertained. The paper reviews techniques that are appropriate for this type of analysis as well as specific modelling tools and applications. Through this review a set of requirements for e-Business process modelling is derived.

[1]  Stewart Robinson,et al.  Applications of business process simulation and lean techniques in British Telecommunications PLC , 2000, 2000 Winter Simulation Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37165).

[2]  George M. Giaglis,et al.  Dynamic Modeling to Assess the Business Value of Electronic Commerce , 1999, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[3]  Henry C. W. Lau,et al.  A simulation approach in supply chain management , 2002 .

[4]  F. Caeldries.  Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution , 1994 .

[5]  Doug Love,et al.  Evaluation of design decisions through CIM and simulation , 1996 .

[6]  Qian Wang,et al.  Modelling and Simulation of Integrated Operations and Information Systems in Manufacturing , 2002 .

[7]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Re‐engineering manufacturing processes through simulation modelling , 2000 .

[8]  Michael J. Shaw,et al.  Simulation of Order Fulfillment in Divergent Assembly Supply Chains , 1998, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[9]  M. Stemberger,et al.  SIMULATION MODELLING TOWARDS E-BUSINESS MODELS DEVELOPMENT , 2002 .

[10]  M. Hammer,et al.  REENGINEERING THE CORPORATION: A MANIFESTO FOR BUSINESS REVOLUTION , 1995 .

[11]  E. P. Michael.  Strategy and the Internet. , 2001 .

[12]  Dennis Kehoe,et al.  Contingent approach to Internet-based supply network integration , 2001, SPIE Optics East.

[13]  Kerim Tumay.  Business process simulation , 1995, WSC '95.

[14]  Peter Ball,et al.  Assessing the impact of electronic commerce in business processes: A simulation approach , 2002 .

[15]  Stephen J. Childe,et al.  Frameworks for Understanding Business Process Re‐engineering , 1994 .

[16]  Vlatka Hlupic,et al.  Business process modelling and analysis using discrete-event simulation , 1998, 1998 Winter Simulation Conference. Proceedings (Cat. No.98CH36274).

[17]  Michael Pidd,et al.  A conceptual framework for understanding business processes and business process modelling , 2000, Inf. Syst. J..

[18]  P. Albores-Barajas,et al.  Generic business process models for e-business in manufacturing companies: is simulation useful? , 2002, IEEE International Engineering Management Conference.

[19]  Christopher A. Voss,et al.  Case research in operations management , 2002 .

[20]  Andrew Greasley.  Effective uses of business process simulation , 2000, 2000 Winter Simulation Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37165).

[21]  B. Stolle.  Competing for supply. , 2001, Harvard business review.

[22]  Markus Ettl,et al.  Experience using the IBM Supply Chain Simulator , 1998, 1998 Winter Simulation Conference. Proceedings (Cat. No.98CH36274).

[23]  D. Kehoe,et al.  The development and evaluation of Internet-based supply of non-production (MRO) items , 2003 .

[24]  Benjamin P.-C. Yen,et al.  The migration of electronic commerce (EC): from planning to assessing the impact of EC on supply chain , 2003 .

[25]  Charles J. Miller,et al.  Analysis of the virtual enterprise using distributed supply chain modeling and simulation: an application of e-SCOR , 2000, 2000 Winter Simulation Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37165).