Ana Carolina S. M. Campos1, Ana Paula C. S. Costa 1, Adiel T. de Almeida1, Daniela G. Calabria2

1Department of Management Engineering, Federal University of Pernambuco, 2São Francisco Hidro Electric Company (Eletrobras Chesf),

Recife, Brazil

Many organizations are adopting BPMpractices:

Enhance their performance;

Reduce costs;

Create a competitive advantage!!!

Many processes within an organization:difficult task to apply BPM concepts to all ofthem;

Solution: list of critical processes (those thatmost urgently need to be improved andmonitored)

Advantages:

plan the implementation of BPM within hisbusiness unit;

implement BPM strategically;

manage his efforts and resourceseffectively .

Problem: how to apply BPM concepts to all ofbusiness processes although organization'sresources (money, time, and people) are scarceand limited?

Propose of this paper: a model based onMulticriteria Decision Aid to help managers in histask of prioritizing business processes;

Model: classify business processes into classes ofstrategic implementation of BPM and thusindicates which processes to tackle first;

MCDA aims to support decision makersduring a decision process;

Tools to deal with multiple and conflictingobjectives that occur frequently in most real-decision situations;

Advantages of use MCDA in this problem:

several criteria related to the objectives that it wishes to attain by implementing BPM within a business unit to be taken into account simultaneously;

this methodology can resolve conflicts among criteria;

a solution is proposed takes the decision maker's preference structure into account.

Multicriteria method: ELECTRE TRI-B

Why?

Tackles a sorting problem;

Outranking method (non-compensatory method):classify business processes based on theirperformance in all the criteria, and thus it avoidscompensation among criteria;

Not difficult to define the boundaries of classes forthis problem;

Allocates a set of alternatives (ai) topredefined ordered class by using outrankingrelations;

Each class is limited byreference profiles (Irk);

Irk - determined by decisionmaker;

1º -> builds outranking relations S betweeneach ai and Irk;

2º -> explores these relations in order toallocate each alternative to a particular class;

The ELECTRE TRI-B method has 2 assignmentprocedures: pessimistic and optimistic;

Pessimistic procedure is more demanding ->use it when it is desirable to be cautious.

B) List the objectives that the organization wishes to attain

by implementing BPM

A) Identify and define all business

processes

C) Evaluatebusiness processes

D) Apply multicriteriamethod

E) Classification ofbusiness processes

F) Strategic planning for

implementing BPM

Presence of an analyst is suggested: help the manager

structure the problem and quantify his preferences

The model was applied in the InformationTechnology Department of the São FranciscoHidro Electric Company (Eletrobras Chesf);

Eletrobras Chesf is responsible forgenerating, transmitting and sellingelectricity in the Northeast of Brazil;

Decision maker: manager responsible forapplying the management concepts ofbusiness processes in the IT department;

A) Processes: 37 business process;

B) Objectives: 8;

The objectives that it wishes to attain byimplementing BPM were established and wellunderstood by the manager and the criteria forevaluating the IT business processes weredefined based on those objectives.

Objectives: 8

A) Directly supports achieving the company’s strategic objectives;B) Meets external requirements (e.g. compliance with legal requirements, regulatory agencies, SOX, certifications such as ISO, OSHAS, adherence to market best practices/ITIL, COBIT);C) Incorporation of new technologies;D) Reduces business costs;E) Information security;F) Customer contact;G) Criticality of automation;H) Efficiency for the company's business.

C) IT business processes evaluation against the criteria;

D) Apply the multicriteria method:

Analyst elicited the manager’s preferences inorder to define the parameters.;

The pessimistic procedure was used;

3 classes;

E,F) Established for each class a different BPMimplementation strategy:

Class Description Implementation Strategy of BPM

Immediate implementation

of BPM

The business processes allocated to

this class urgently need to be improved

and monitored.

Implementing the BPM initiative in the processes allocated to this class in the short

term. Investing effort and resources in business processes allocated to this class in order to

improve their performance in terms of quality, costs, flexibility and time. These processes are

the priority ones.

Medium-term implementation

of BPM

The business processes allocated to this class need to be

improved and monitored.

Implementing the BPM initiative in the processes allocated to this class in the medium

term. Investing some effort and resources in business processes allocated to this class in

order to improve their efficiency and effectiveness.

Long-term implementation

of BPM

There is no urgency as to improving and

monitoring the business processes

allocated to this class.

Implementing the BPM initiative in the processes allocated to this class in the long-term. Improving the performance of business processes allocated to this class to the extent possible. However, they are not priority ones.

The manager should apply the BPM concepts, and consequently focus her efforts and resources on the business processes allocated to the class of “Immediate implementation of BPM”.

•Processes:

1;2;4;5;7;8;9;12;15;16;18;22;24;27;31

;34;35;36;37

Immediate

implementation of

BPM

•Processes:

3;6;13;14;17;19;20;21;23;26;28;29;30

;32;33

Medium-term

implementation of

BPM

•Processes:10;11;25

Long-term

implementation of

BPM

The model is very helpful: deal with many criteria simultaneously;

resolve conflicts among criteria;

consider and compare several business processesin the same decision-making process.

Major advantages: provide a simple and straightforward way of

assessing business processes;

serves as a support to managers when makingdecisions;

enable manager to evaluate a business processusing both qualitative and quantitative measures.

Main disadvantage:◦ all business process within an organization, or

within a division of an organization which intendsto apply BPM, have to be identified and described.This is a large and complex task!

◦ the ELECTRE TRI-B multicriteria method requiresthe manager to establish some parameters.

Hence, we suggest the presence of an analystin order to help the manager structure theproblem and elicit his/her preferences.

Investigations related to the use of this modelby a group of managers need to be carriedout in future studies.

Thank you for your attention!

AcknowledgmentsThis study work received financial support fromCNPq* and CAPES** for which the authors aregrateful.

*Brazilian National Research Council

**Brazilian Government Agency that supports Higher Education Personnel seeking to enhance their academic qualifications