Re-engineering knock-out processes

The core of many workflow processes in banks, insurance companies, governmental departments, and administrations of multinationals is formed by a set of tasks that are used to classify cases into two groups: accepted and rejected. Each of these . tasks has two possible outcomes: OK or NOK i.e., Not OK . If for a specific case all tasks result in OK, the case is accepted, otherwise it is rejected. In this paper, we concentrate on the order in which these tasks need to be executed to yield an 'optimal' process with respect to the utilization of resources and flow time. Both sequential and parallel routing are considered. The effect of combining tasks is also investigated. A step-wise approach consisting of 11 concrete re-engineering rules is given. The approach is supported by a simulation toolbox ExSpectrKO. q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

[1]  Setrag Khoshafian,et al.  Introduction to Groupware, Workflow, and Workgroup Computing , 1995 .

[2]  S. Wittevrongel,et al.  Queueing Systems , 2019, Introduction to Stochastic Processes and Simulation.

[3]  Mischa Schwartz,et al.  Telecommunication networks , 1987 .

[4]  D. G. Fisher,et al.  Introduction to Queuing Networks , 1989 .

[5]  Niklaus Wirth,et al.  What can we do about the unnecessary diversity of notation for syntactic definitions? , 1977, Commun. ACM.

[6]  Michael Hammer,et al.  Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate , 1990 .

[7]  Raymond L. Manganelli,et al.  The Reengineering Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Business Transformation , 1994 .

[8]  M. Z. Muehlen,et al.  Workflow Management Coalition , 2000 .

[9]  W.M.P. van der Aalst,et al.  Business process redesign: a Petri-net-based approach , 1996 .

[10]  Robert Padulo,et al.  Business Process Reengineering: BreakPoint Strategies for Market Dominance , 1994, J. Inf. Technol..

[11]  Sheldon M. Ross,et al.  A Course in Simulation , 1990 .

[12]  M. Hammer,et al.  Reengineering the Corporation , 1993 .

[13]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Verification of Workflow Nets , 1997, ICATPN.

[14]  John A. Buzacott,et al.  Commonalities in Reengineered Business Processes: Models and Issues , 1996 .

[15]  Gregory A. Hansen,et al.  Automating business process reengineering : using the power of visual simulation strategies to improve performance and profit , 1997 .

[16]  K. Mani Chandy,et al.  Open, Closed, and Mixed Networks of Queues with Different Classes of Customers , 1975, JACM.

[17]  Peter Lawrence.  Workflow Handbook 1997 , 1997 .

[18]  Shamkant B. Navathe,et al.  Information and Process Integration in Enterprises: Rethinking Documents , 1998 .

[19]  D. Morris,et al.  Re-Engineering Your Business , 1993 .

[20]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  The Application of Petri Nets to Workflow Management , 1998, J. Circuits Syst. Comput..

[21]  Nico M. van Dijk.  Queueing networks and product forms - a systems approach , 1993, Wiley-Interscience series in systems and optimization.

[22]  Wil M.P. van der Aalst,et al.  Short-term simulation: Bridging the gap between operational control and strategic decision making , 1999 .

[23]  A. John Pendlebury,et al.  Business Process Reengineering: Breakpoint Strategies for Market Dominance , 1993 .

[24]  Thomas H. Davenport,et al.  Process Innovation: Reengineering Work Through Information Technology , 1992 .

[25]  Christoph Bussler,et al.  Workflow Management: Modeling Concepts, Architecture and Implementation , 1996 .

[26]  Leonard Kleinrock,et al.  Queueing Systems - Vol. 1: Theory , 1975 .