Economics of the Electric Car
Tesla is the company that has propelled Elon Musk from obscurity to stardom. It’s hard to believe that the redundant electric vehicle market was made hugely popular by Elon Musk’s Tesla cars. Tesla cars are not an economy vehicle by any chance. Instead, the average price is close to $100,000. Tesla has become a role […]
Documentation in Customs Clearance
Any Importer wishing to bring in cargo into the country may do so through air, ship, and road or multi modal transport. Every import consignment is required to be deposited by the transportation agency or the freight forwarder into the Customs Designated Bonded warehouse for Customs Clearance. Customs Clearance is facilitated by Customs Clearance Agent […]
Logistics – An Integral Component of Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain Management encompasses, planning, design, control and implementation of all business processes related to procurement, manufacturing, distribution and sales order fulfillment functions of a business. All these activities involve multiple networks of vendors and service providers which are integrated and co-coordinated by the Supply Chain Experts of the organization to move raw materials and […]
BPO and the Transformation of Process Work
In previous articles in this module, we have discussed how the BPO sector has evolved and some future directions for BPO companies in Asia. This article looks at a little known aspect of the BPO phenomenon i.e. the fact that the very nature of the process work has been transformed because of the emergence of […]
Asset Management and Budgetary Control
One of the major financial functions is the management of fixed assets. Asset management module primarily maintains asset register, which provides information about asset related transactions. Asset Management thus helps in keeping track of fixed assets, handling fixed asset depreciation for fiscal reporting and revaluation of asset. Budgetary control (BC) module is another important finance […]
Gateways can split your processes into multiple paths. This is because the path which the process will take at execution is based on conditions at execution. It cannot be defined while designing.
Gateways thus model all the options that the process has i.e. all the possible paths that can be taken by a process at execution. Here are the types of gateways and when to use them:
| Gateway Name | Symbol | Implication |
| AND Gateway |  | An AND gateway, helps to execute parallel tasks. It diverts the workflow on all pathways that meet into or it or come out of it. For instance consider the making of a car. There are certain tasks which can be executed in parallel and this will save time. Use an AND gateway to model such tasks in your Process model |
| OR Gateway |  | An OR gateway will allow one or more routings based on certain pre-defined criteria. For instance, if your customer is taking the car along with the service contract, then the OR gateway will make both paths active. But if the customer is taking only the service warranty or only the car, only one of the process paths will become active. Use the OR split when you are not sure about how many paths the process will need to take from the gateway when it is executed. |
| XOR Gateway |  | An XOR gateway is one which allows the process to take one and only one of the paths that come in it or go out of it. This should be done when the process will move along one of the many paths based on certain conditions. For instance, a candidate appearing for an interview can be selected or rejected but not both. Hence use the XOR gateway and define both selection and rejection paths. Based on the input selected or rejected, the process-flow will be diverted to one but not all of the relevant paths. |
| Event | Symbol | Implication |
| Start Event |  | The start event signals a process to start. Each process can have one and only one start event. It can be manual, automatic (timer based) or message based. |
| End Event |  | An end event completes the process. A process can have multiple end events. This is denoted with a start event having a shading along its circumference. |
| Intermediate Event |  | An intermediate event is any event that takes place between the start and end of the process |
| Message Event |  | Message events are meant to increase the co-ordination between different processes. A message event starts a series of steps in the current process based on a message it has received from outside the process. For instance, the purchasing process should be started after it receives a message from the store. In this case, the store is supposed to pass on information to begin a process. The messages can be automated to ensure that the execution takes place on time and as desired. |
| Timer Event |  | Timer events are useful control procedures. They initiate a series of steps automatically based on the time which has elapsed after an activity has been performed/ not performed. The primary use of these events is to provide the customer with service levels i.e. customer can expect a repair mechanic to reach them within 24 hours. They then notify the management is there has been no preparation to send the mechanic after let’s say 16 hours. A single timer event can have multiple escalation paths. For example: 16-18 hours: Project Manager Hence the escalation goes on till higher and higher levels till it gets executed. There are therefore no chances of material information being withheld since a program has been written to escalate it automatically. |
| Ad-Hoc Event |  | Ad-hoc events are events which have no defined time. These are initiated by users with requisite level of access at any time within the execution of a process. Termination of a customer order is one such process. If the customer wants to cancel an order, the process must be capable of handling these events. An ad-hoc event is initiated by an authorised user in the middle of the process to trigger a series of actions that replace the original flow of process. For instance a termination of an order starts the cancellation formalities and refund process and stops the processing of an order. Ad-hoc events may have defined users or a group of users. This is usually the management or the supervisory level of users. Ad-hoc events can be based on internal needs, for instance ad-hoc reports or external needs such as the one mentioned above. |
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Continuous Improvement and Business Process Re-Engineering
February 12, 2025
