Process Modelling in a Rapidly Changing Organisation
Bruce Campbell, Bruce.Campbell@mq.edu.au
Joint Research Centre for Advanced Systems Engineering
Tuesday 22 September, 1998: 11am
Abstract
Gigante is a rapidly changing high-tech organisation which is
experiencing a deteriotion of processes over a period of time within its
customer service centres. The I.S. system is relatively stable but new
products are being introduced at an increasing rate, and it is Gigante's
experience that when a new product is introduced the process for
providing that product to customers remains stable for about 3 months
after introduction then begins to deteriorate. This is costing Gigante a
considerable amount of money in lost revenue.
Commonly used process modelling tools, such as DFD's and flow charts,
were used to gain an understanding of the process involved. These,
however, did not provide a view of the dynamics of the whole system
which includes the wider social system in which the IS system resides.
Nor did they adequately represent any of the socio-technical issues
which were felt to be the cause of the problem.
System dynamics (SD) was used in an attempt to understand the problem
situation and to address the shortcomings found in the more traditional
modelling techniques. Our experiences using SD to investigate the above
problems will be discussed. In particular its ability to model the
socio-technical aspects of a system and its ability to capture the
dynamic relationships between the IS and the wider organisation will be
investigated. Further areas for research will also be introduced.
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