A South African perspective to factors influencing sustainable business process modelling

Abstract

Business process modelling is an activity that is performed in most organisations. Some organisations are involved in business process modelling formally, others do modelling as part of projects or when making important decisions. Toe thinking, analysis, and understanding of how an organisation creates value for its customers; that is captured in a process model, need to be re-usable. This study investigated factors that influence the sustainability of business process modelling in South Africa. Toe study focussed on aspects of the nature business process models, and the act of modelling, to identify factors that contribute to sustainable business process modelling. A series of potential factors were identified from international literature. These potential factors were presented to, and discussed with, South African process experts during structured interviews. Analysis of the results showed that the sustainability of business process models has a lot more to do with the people involved, than with the tools, techniques or software that can be used to capture business process models. Analysis further showed that process consultants working for external consulting firms, and process custodians working for large organisations, have different opinions regarding the factors that can have the highest impact on sustainable business process modelling. The key findings of this study are that participation by all stakeholders in the process of creating business process models, and process ownership after the initial modelling project by designated process owners, are the key factors that could have the most influence on ensuring sustainable business process modelling.