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# System prepended metadata

title: Introductory Session

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# Business Processes


Business-IT Alignment:
- The importance of aligning business and IT departments to improve efficiency and meet business goals
- Reasons for misalignment include lack of communication, unrealistic expectations, and lack of understanding between departments  
- Steps to achieve alignment: clear communication, defining measurable goals, documenting strategies

Business Process Management (BPM):
- BPM is a systematic approach to improve and optimize processes by leveraging IT
- The 4 components of BPM are business strategies, business goals, organization setup, and implementation phases
- The goal of BPM is to help organizations manage, improve and innovate their business processes

Organizational Setup:
- The differences between functional and process orientation 
- Functional orientation has specialized departments working independently
- Process orientation has cross-functional collaboration focused on end-to-end processes
- Each has pros and cons depending on the organization's needs

Business Process Modeling:
- Business process models provide a common framework to understand and discuss the business
- Key components include activities, events, participants, inputs/outputs
- The 6 types of models are organization, location, collaboration, workflow, resource, business rules
- Organization model shows roles and reporting structure 
- Location model shows geographic distribution of the business
- Models help identify bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement

Other Concepts:
- Asking who, what, when, where, why, how to understand a business process
- As-is vs to-be process modeling to define current state and future state
- The importance of aligning models with business strategies and goals
- Abstract components of a business process like events, activities, gateways
- Swim lane diagrams to show activities of different actors

In summary, the students learned foundational concepts of business-IT alignment, BPM methodology, organizational structures, business process modeling techniques, and related analysis frameworks. The hands-on practice with examples helped solidify their understanding.

Citations:
[1] https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/623344/c3e39ec3-fbe2-490f-b625-24c02c0192f1/B6W01-Learn.csv
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business%E2%80%93IT_alignment
[3] https://deviniti.com/blog/enterprise-software/how-does-business-and-it-alignment-work-with-itsm/
[4] https://automateddreams.com/blog/key-business-process-management-statistics/
[5] https://www.gainsight.com/blog/7-takeaways-from-cco-organizational-structure-survey/
[6] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/achieving-success-crucial-role-alignment-business-goals-steve-butler
[7] https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/feature/What-is-IT-business-alignment-and-why-is-it-important
[8] https://blog.happyfox.com/must-have-features-in-business-process-management-system/
[9] https://www.cio.com/article/191822/the-hard-truth-about-business-it-alignment.html?amp=1
[10] https://www.itconvergence.com/blog/components-of-business-and-it-alignment-framework-culture/
[11] https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/tip/7-business-process-management-challenges-and-how-to-fix-them
[12] https://www.cio.com/article/194067/7-ways-to-effectively-ensure-it-business-alignment.html?amp=1
[13] https://www.blueprism.com/resources/blog/the-future-of-business-process-management-bpm/
[14] https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/organizing-for-the-future-nine-keys-to-becoming-a-future-ready-company
[15] https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/culture/organizational-structure/
[16] https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjaminlaker/2023/08/10/redefining-leadership-the-rise-of-new-organizational-structures/?sh=58d7bc6020f6
[17] https://codeconspirators.com/10-uncommon-yet-essential-kpis-for-business-success/
[18] https://www.process.st/company-culture-examples/
[19] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/big-3-top-takeaways-from-organization-design-projects-eric-curtis
[20] https://www.dualoop.com/blog/11-key-takeaways-from-transforming-a-product-organisation

Here are the key points I gathered about what you should focus on when explaining the differences between functional and process orientation to undergraduate students:

1. Provide clear definitions and examples of functional vs process orientation:
- Functional orientation organizes people by areas of specialization (e.g. marketing, finance, operations). Each department focuses on its own tasks and goals.
- Process orientation organizes people around end-to-end business processes that deliver value to customers. Cross-functional teams work together on a complete process.

2. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of each in simple terms:
- Functional advantages: Specialization, clear accountability, easier budgeting 
- Functional disadvantages: Silos, lack of coordination, sub-optimization
- Process advantages: Customer focus, flexibility, teamwork across functions
- Process disadvantages: Requires major change, matrix reporting, harder to measure

3. Use relatable examples and analogies undergraduate students will understand:
- Compare to sports - functional is like separate offense/defense that practice separately vs process is like a unified team practicing plays together
- Use examples from companies and products they know - Apple's cross-functional product development vs traditional automakers' separate departments

4. Emphasize the increasing importance of process orientation in today's fast-changing, customer-centric world while noting most organizations use a hybrid approach

5. Engage the students with discussion questions on the pros and cons of each approach and ask them to analyze companies they are familiar with

In summary, focus on clear explanations suitable for an undergraduate audience, use relevant examples they can relate to, discuss advantages and disadvantages, and engage them in applying the concepts. Avoid getting too technical and emphasize the growing need for process orientation balanced with functional skills in modern organizations.

Citations:
[1] https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/623344/c3e39ec3-fbe2-490f-b625-24c02c0192f1/B6W01-Learn.csv
[2] https://christoph-jahn.com/processes-and-process-orientation-functional-view-and-process-types-part-3/
[3] https://www.apqc.org/blog/can-functional-and-process-thinking-live-together-harmony
[4] https://youexec.com/tools/functional-vs-process-oriented
[5] https://www.jstor.org/stable/23420019
[6] https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_distinguished_a_functional_from_a_matrix_or_process_organization
[7] https://www.coursehero.com/file/226769535/PierAnswersdocx/

Here are the key things I learned from summarizing the student comments:

1. The importance of business and IT alignment for organizations to achieve their goals efficiently. Misalignment often stems from lack of communication and understanding between business and IT departments.

2. Business process management (BPM) is a systematic approach to improve processes by leveraging IT. The 4 key components of BPM are business strategies, business goals, organization setup, and implementation phases. 

3. Functional vs process orientation are two ways to set up an organization. Functional focuses on specialization within departments while process focuses on end-to-end processes across departments. Each has pros and cons.

4. Business process modeling captures how an organization operates. Key components include activities, events, participants, inputs/outputs. Models provide a common framework for discussion.

5. Two specific models covered were the organization model showing reporting structure and roles, and the location model showing geographic distribution of the business. Different models serve different purposes.

6. Abstract components of a business process can be understood by asking what, why, when, who, where and how questions. This provides a comprehensive view.

7. As-is models document the current state while to-be models envision the future state after improvements. Analyzing the as-is is important to identify issues and design effective to-be processes.

In summary, students gained an appreciation for the importance of aligning business and IT, modeling and improving business processes systematically, and the various techniques and perspectives involved. Let me know if you need any clarification or have additional questions!

Citations:
[1] https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/623344/c3e39ec3-fbe2-490f-b625-24c02c0192f1/B6W01-Learn.csv
[2] https://dl.icdst.org/pdfs/files/21ebef594be72994ce96c16bd911ff45.pdf
[3] https://mrcet.com/downloads/digital_notes/CSE/IV%20Year/SOFTWARE%20PROCESS%20%26%20PROJECT%20MANAGEMENT%28R17A0539%29.pdf
[4] https://ieeecs-media.computer.org/media/education/swebok/swebok-v3.pdf
[5] https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2193&context=etd
[6] https://stelar.edc.org/events-and-opportunities?_format=csv
[7] https://www.abainternational.org/events/program-details/event-detail.aspx?by=CE&cetype=BACB&intConvId=57
[8] https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/e9c5f431-eb92-45dc-a4ab-3f7ecbf91426/978-3-031-08848-3.pdf
[9] https://www.jiscollege.ac.in/pdf/projectcasestudy.pdf