Faculty
Petra Schubert, Professor, and Jonas Hedman, Associate Professor

Course Coordinator
Petra Schubert

Since, the course is given in English a good understanding of English is a prerequisite. In addition a basic understanding of organizational and managerial theories is essential

Business processes is a central concept and a common approach to structure and organize business activities. The course focuses on business process management (BPM) approaches at strategic and tactical level. It introduces the concept of business processes and its historical evolution from radical change (business process reengineering) to continuous improvements (process innovation). Furthermore, the course provides an overview of the principles, concepts, methods and techniques necessary to change businesses from a functional organization to a process centric organization. The course covers both the underlying theories and the practical issues when dealing with BPM.

The course is structured along business process management lifecycle perspective and its phases, such as identification of processes, as-is modeling, process analysis, and process change and implementation. For this end the course introduces state of the art methodologies and modeling techniques.

The course is a must for every student interested in business process improvements and change. It is developed for future business managers, business analysts and systems analysts. The lessons provide the student with the necessary theoretical concepts and an opportunity to have hands-on experience in modeling tools.

The course is designed so that the student should develop understanding, capabilities, and skills in the field of BPM and process modeling. In addition we strive that the student should develop an insight into the shortcomings and management issues involved when introducing dealing with BPM. On completion of the course the student should be able to:

1. Understand the role BPM and process modeling in modern business

2. Understand the purpose of BPM and modeling in organizations

3. Identify, model, analyze, improve, measure and manage processes in organizations

4. Apply different modeling techniques

The course objectives are to introduce BPM and process modeling from both a theoretical and practical perspective. Business processes is a central theme in today’s modern corporate society. The goal is to prepare the students with an essential understanding and knowledge of principles and methodologies used to organize, structure and change in organizations.

The exam is a written home project of 12 pages

Aguilar-Savén R. (2004). Business Process Modelling: Review and Framework. International Journal of Production Economics, 90, pp. 129-149

Curran, T., G. Keller and A. Ladd (1998). SAP R/3 Business Blueprint: Understanding the Business Process Reference Model. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, page 19-44.

Harmon P. (2003). Business Process Change: A Manager’s Guide to Improving, Redesigning, and Automating Processes, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, ISBN: 1-55860-758-7

IDS Scheer (2003). ARIS 6 Collaborative Suite, Version 6.2, Quick Start Guide

Kilov, H. (2002) Business Models: A Guide for Business and IT. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, Kap 1.