Description
The Assignment
Consider again the project on-boarding process for Garden State Associates, a management consulting firm specializing in process automation and redesign that was introduced as an Individual Modeling Assignment earlier in the term. You should consult the “As-IS” BPMN solution provided as a solution to that assignment.
Part I:
Draw a Scope Diagram for the project on-boarding process. Be sure to identify sources or destinations for each IGOE element. Use Harmon Figure 8.11 as a template and consult the Lecture Resource What is IGOE? (The Lecture Resources contain a blank Scope Diagram MS-Word template.)
What triggers this process?
What is the process outcome?
Harmon suggests that all process re-design problems are divided into one of six broad types (See Harmon, Appendix I). As a generalization, we identify the majority of the first four types of problems when we create a scope diagram and we define most of the latter two types of problems when we create process flow diagrams.
Based on your Process Scope Diagram, identify and briefly describe two potential problems you see in each of these four generic areas. You may need to make some reasonable assumptions because you lack specific details in the scenario. Just provide some reasonable problems and a sentence or two that clearly explains them, in the context of this scenario. Submit the problems as an ordered list in each generic area. The goal here is for you to properly apply Harmon’s Problem Analysis Checklists.
Based on the Process Flow Diagram, describe at least two Flow problems you feel should be addressed.
Based on the lecture on process characteristics and GSA’s project on-boarding process
How would you describe the degree of structure of the process? Is it appropriate?
How would you describe the range of involvement for the process? Is it appropriate?
What the level of integration between GSA and SJP’s process as described? Is it appropriate?
How would you describe the rhythm of the process?
Part II:
Make the following changes to the “As-Is” BPMN diagram. You will need to re-draw the BPMN diagram, incorporating these changes:
Rather than the Project Manager (PM) reviewing all projects with the COO, assume that just the project manager reviews the consulting engagement proposals. At the same time (in parallel), the Resource Manager identifies the resources needs for the project.
If there is an exceptional situation in the Resource Manager’s review, then the COO reviews the situation and decides whether to continue or decline the project.
The Project Manager (PM) does not escalate the issue to the COO if there are not sufficient resources. Either the project request is scheduled or cancelled depending upon business rules that have been specified.
The COO reviews all exceptions and the application of business rules at the end of the processing of each request. This allows the business executive to modify the exception handling process and the business rules used by the project manager. Treat this as one sub-process. It is not necessary to decompose this.
Part III
Specify four (4) Key Performance Indicators for the project on-boarding process for GSA. You may use ideas from Harmon, Chapter 5 or the Unit #3 lecture on process performance.
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Department of Informatics
IS 684 – Business Process Innovation
Unit #3 – How Work Gets Done
Professor David Ullman
Contents
Unit #3 – How Work Gets Done
• Unit #3A: Organizational Models for Change
• Unit #3B: Organizational Models for Work
• Unit #3C: Evaluating the Performance of Work
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
2
Department of Informatics
The Leavitt Diamond
Business Systems Diamond
Model of Strategic Change and Fit
Unit #3A – Organizational Models for Change
Unit #3 – How Work Gets Done
IS 684 – Business Process innovation
Unit Objectives
• Compare and contrast several organizational models of
change:
i. Leavitt Diamond for Organizational Structure
ii. Model of Strategic Change and Fit
iii. Business System Diamond
• Describe scenarios applying these models of change.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
4
Organizational Strategy
• Organizational strategy is a dynamic long-term plan that maps the
route towards the realization of a company’s goals and vision.
• It includes the organization’s design as well as the choices it makes
in its work processes.
• We want to look models of organizational systems and understand
how a company organizes in order to achieve its goals and
implement its business strategy, as well as how it adapts to change.
• Organizational System Models and Frameworks for Change:
i. Leavitt Diamond for Organizational Structure
ii. Model of Strategic Change and Fit
iii. Business System Diamond
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
5
Leavitt Diamond for Organizational
Structure
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
6
The Leavitt Diamond
• Harold Leavitt developed the
• Leavitt Diamond of Organizational
Structure (1965, 1973)
• It helps Understand the Factors Involved in
Change
• There are a number of variations of this basic
model that show how organizations adapt to
changes in their environment.
• Harold Leavitt (1922 – 2007) was an American
psychologist of management
• Seminal work: Managerial Psychology. Multiple
Editions, University of Chicago Press, ChicagoLondon, 1975,
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
7
The Leavitt Diamond – Version 1
• Levels of hierarchy
• Spans of authority
• Centralization
• Job Design
• Repetitiveness
• Physical &
Cognitive Demands
• Autonomy &
Discretion
•
•
•
•
Values, Beliefs, Attitudes,
Motives,
Drives,
IS684 Unit
#3: How Competencies
Work Gets Done
Complexity
Degree of usage
Operator control
Responsibility
8
The Leavitt Diamond – Version 1
• Task, Technology, People, and Structure are
interrelated and mutually adjusting. Changing
one element has a direct effect on the remaining
elements.
• Organizations tend to behave in a homeostatic
manner, i.e. to maintain stability. (Sometimes resist
change).
• For example, when technology is changed, the
other components often adjust to damp out the
impact of innovation – or can change to adapt!
• It is the interaction of the four components that
determines the fate of an organization.
• Key takeaway: the focus of Leavitt’s diamond is:
• CHANGE and its IMPACTS!
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
9
The Leavitt Diamond – Version 2
• Introduction of a new IT system requires careful consideration of the associated
business process, people involved, and the organizational structure.
Original Source: Redesigning Enterprise Processes for e-Business, El Sawy, Omar A, 2001).
https://www.magnetismsolutions.com/blog/johneccles/2011/08/10/Dynamics_CRM_Change_Management_and_the_Leavitt_Diamond.aspx 9/7/2019
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
10
Applying the Leavitt Model
Fast food restaurant changes from FTF to digital ordering system:
• Tasks
• Key tasks are to take orders, cook the food and then serve it to
customers; as well as secondary tasks such as cleaning, customer service
and management.
• The change will affect how orders are taken; it may also affect the way
the food is cooked, as chefs now receive the order online, and how it is
served as table numbers are now automatically sent online, rather than
being told face-to-face.
• People
• All three of the roles (taking orders, cooking and serving the food) will be
affected by the change and training may be necessary for individuals to
adapt to the change successfully. Note individuals taking order are no
longer needed.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
11
Applying the Leavitt Model
Fast food restaurant changes from FTF to digital ordering system:
• Structure
• As the individuals taking orders are no longer needed a restructuring of
the workforce will take place. This will result in either a lay-off of
workers, or transferring them into new roles. If the second option is
taken training may be required.
• Technology
• This strategy is clearly heavily focused on technology. The technology
will need to be developed so that it is efficient enough to make the
order process faster than before.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
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Model of Strategic Change and Fit
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
13
Model of Strategic Change and Fit
• A firm’s business strategy drives the subsequent alignment and fit of organizational
structure, management processes, individual skills and roles, and technology
• People, processes and technology are the resources through which strategy is executed.
Source: Adapted from M.S. Scott Morton, ed. The Corporation of the 1990’s: Information Technology and Organizational Transformation, 1991,
Oxford University Press, p. 20.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
14
Model of Strategic Change and Fit
• The model arose form looking at many
business process engineering failures.
• Information systems strategy and
change is much more than focusing on
business processes and technology
alone.
• People matter and their capabilities and knowledge have to be nurtured.
• Information systems needed to be seen as social systems, admittedly with
an increasingly technological component – but not as technological systems
per se.
• This model moves beyond the Leavitt Diamond, even though the variables
are similar.
Source: Galliers, Robert D. “Reflections on information systems strategizing” (Book Chapter).
6/6/2021
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313699469_Reflections_on_information_systems_strategizing#fullTextFileContent
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
15
Quick Discussion
• It is easy to understand how the components in the Leavitt
Diamond (as well as the Model of Strategic Change and Fit)
interact with each other.
• However, if we were looking to implement change or
innovation, which factor should we choose as the driving force
for change or innovation?
• Does technology drives processes or do processes drive
technology?
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
16
The Business Systems Diamond
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
17
The Business System Diamond
• Proposed by Hammer and Champy in Reengineering the Corporation:
A Manifesto for Business Revolution (1993).
• A simple framework to understand the effects of change (reengineering)
in an organization.
• Four points of the Business System Diamond :
• business processes
• Jobs and structures
• management and measurement systems (management control)
• values and beliefs
• Useful for designing new organizations and for diagnosing
organizational troubles. Unless all four points are aligned, an
organization will be flawed and misshapen.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
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The Business System Diamond
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
19
The Business System Diamond
• Reengineering a company’s business processes ultimately
changes practically everything about the company, because all
these aspects – people, jobs, managers, and values – are linked
together.
• Therefore, in reengineering it is not sufficient to redesign
processes alone.
• All four points on the business system diamond have to fit
together.
• For further detail, see Lecture Resource: The Business System
Diamond
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
20
End Unit #3A
Please ask questions in the
Help and Open Discussion
Forum
Department of Informatics
General Environmental Influences:
Local and global economies
, government regulations,
and social trends
Labor
Markets
people
Managment
Engineering
Captial
Markets
Production
Finance
capital
Value Chain
Research
Community
Vendors
Marketing
Sales
Value Chain
Shareholders
service requests
& complaints
Markets
marketing
contacts
sales
contacts
technology
Customers
Customers
orders
products &
services
delivered
materials
Competition
Enterprise Business Model
information &
dividends
Your Organization and Value Chains
competitive products
BPTrends Organization Diagram
Work System Framework
Unit #3B – Organizational Models for Work
Unit #3 – How Work Gets Done
IS 684 – Business Process innovation
Unit Objectives
• Compare and contrast several organizational models of
work:
i. The Enterprise Business Model
ii. BPTrends Organization Diagram
iii. Alter’s Work System Framework
• Describe scenarios applying these models of work.
• Describe the role of people, process and technology in
building products and services.
• Explain how work gets done in an organization.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
23
Unit Lecture Resources
• For resources on Alter’s Wok System Framework:
• Chapter 2 of the Google Book link: Alter, Steven (2006), The Work
Systems Method: Connecting People, Processes, and IT for Business
Results. Work System Press.
• There are also several shorter papers explaining the Work System
Framework
• The BPTrends Organization Diagram is introduced in Chapter 3
of Harmon’s book, Business Process Change .
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
24
Organizational Strategy
• Organizational strategy is a dynamic long-term plan that maps the
route towards the realization of a company’s goals and vision.
• It includes the organization’s design as well as the choices it makes
in its work processes.
• We want to look models of organizational systems and understand
how a company organizes in order to achieve its goals and
implement its business strategy, as well as how it adapts to change.
• Organizational System Models and Frameworks for Work:
i. The Enterprise Business Model
ii. The BPTrends Organization Diagram (Harmon)
iii. Alter’s Work System Framework
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
25
The Enterprise Business Model
Source: Mahal, Arjit Singh , (2010) How Work Gets Done: Business Process
Basics and Beyond, Technics Publications.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
26
The Enterprise Business Model*
• The story of any enterprise begins with its business drivers,
originating from one or more influences on the marketplace:
• STEEPLE Social, Technological, Economical, Environmental, Political, Legal,
and Ethical factors.
• The model uses a simple way to view the high-level structure of an
organization and how it responds to business drivers.
• An enterprise responds to its drivers through two main functions:
• Planning – The Mission, Vision, and Strategies of the Business. It should
remain stable over time.
• Operations – a collaboration of processes, people, and technology supported
by an underlying infrastructure. It is dynamic and changes in response to
business drivers
* Source: Mahal, Arjit Singh , (2010) How Work Gets Done: Business Process Basics and Beyond, Technics Publications.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
27
The Enterprise Business Model
Planning
Operations
IS684Basics
Unit and
#3: Beyond,
How Work
Gets Done
* Source: Mahal, Arjit Singh , (2010) How Work Gets Done: Business Process
Technics
Publications, Fig. 1.1
28
The Enterprise Business Model
Planning:
• Mission is why the organization was
created.
• To successfully carry out the mission, values
and guiding principles are developed.,
which collectively with mission, become the
organization’s culture.
• Vision is where the organization is heading
– a future state to which it aspires.
• Goals deduced from the elements of the
Vision are the end towards which effort is
Alignment
Programs & Projects
directed.
• The effort is the Strategy. Strategies have specific Objectives that determine end-of-action ,
when achieved.
• The measure of that end-of-action or success is a Key Performance Indicator (KPI).
• The management activity of ensuring that the Objectives, their Strategies, and Goals continue to
be in sync with the desired vision is called Alignment.
• Organizational management is held accountable for “forward” execution of and alignment with
the Vision.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
29
The Enterprise Business Model
Operations:
• Programs and Projects are the means by
which Strategy is implemented. They bring
about change in the operation of the business
by enhancing the capabilities, products and
services offered to stakeholders.
• Operations are fundamentally the workings of
all parts of an organization in support of its
Mission.
• People, Technology, and Infrastructure are traditional assets and resources deployed to conduct
Operations.
• But business processes are the invisible asset that make it possible to deliver products and services to
end customers to stakeholders.
• People do not deliver products and services; people enable or execute the processes that deliver
products and services.
• Employees are assigned to functional areas of the business based on their skills and the type of work
expected from them.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
30
The Enterprise Business Model
Products and
Services
Customers
• Work is actually done cross-functionally.
Quick Discussion:
• If work is performed horizontally to deliver value to the
customer, then why are businesses organized vertically?
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
31
Discussion Answer:
• Answer is not simple. Recall the historical popularity of the “functional”
model –its simplicity and ease of use.
• Process-centric companies are trying to organize around processes – often
through matrix organizational structure
• Matrix structure has dual or
multiple managerial accountability
and responsibility.
• Success in such a structure requires
strong partnerships
• Partnerships among two disciplines
also essential: Business Process
Management and Organizational
Source: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/matrix-organization-structure-reason-evolution-1837 9/4/2019
Development.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
32
Key Points of Enterprise Business Model
• In an organization, the Mission describes the reason for its purpose and
existence. The Vision defines the future state that the organization aspires
to achieve, and the Strategies are the approach and actions by which the
Vision is achieved. Strategies are implemented through the execution of
processes.
• Business processes produce and deliver products and services in an
organization; people, technology and infrastructure are enablers to the
processes.
• In the complexity of any organization, processes are the most common
denominator where all objects, concepts, services, and products, connect
and have purpose of being.
• Understanding the business model and its complexities in an organization
promotes work effectiveness and thus delivers performance. This knowhow creates business acumen, which must be established as a core
competency for all employees.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
33
BPTrends Organization Diagram
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
34
BPTrends Organization Diagram
• Organizations operate in a business environment.
• Quick Question: What are the things that influence a business from its
environment? (Recall system concept)
• Answer: Everything that is
pertinent to the system outside
it’s boundaries . Can include:
Inputs
Outputs
Business System
• competitive challenges
• economic factors
• government regulation
• societal expectations
• corporate culture
Feedback
• STEEPLE factors
Source: Harmon, Business Process Change, 4th Edition, Figure 1.1
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
35
BPTrends Organization Diagram
Source: Harmon, Business Process Change, 4th Edition, Figure 3.5
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
36
BPTrends Organization Diagram
BPTrends View of Organizations:
• Organizations can essentially be viewed as a collection of value
chains.
• The goal of an organization diagram is not to define processes
in detail, but to get an overview of the whole organization and
think about customers, value chains, and major stakeholders.
• Note value chains cross functional areas.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
37
BPTrends Organization Diagram
General Environmental Influences:
Local and global economies
, government regulations,
and social trends
Organization Diagram
with Two Value Chains
Labor
Markets
people
Managment
Engineering
Captial
Markets
Production
Finance
capital
Value Chain
Research
Community
Vendors
information &
dividends
Your Organization and Value Chains
Marketing
Sales
service requests
& complaints
Value Chain
Markets
marketing
contacts
sales
contacts
technology
Shareholders
Customers
Customers
orders
products &
services
delivered
materials
Competition
competitive products
Source: Harmon, Business Process Change, 2nd Edition, Figure 3.7
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
38
BPTrends Organization Diagram
Organization Diagram
with Two Value Chains:
Michelin sells both tires
and restaurant guidebooks
Source: Harmon, Business Process Change, 2nd Edition, Figure 3.7
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
39
BPTrends Organization Diagram
BPTrends View of Organizations:
• Once we have defined the value chains within an organization, we
look at them one at a time.
• It’s too complex to try and analyze more than one at a time.
• Consider Organization X that produces and sells “widgets” and
consults with other companies about manufacturing practices (2
value chains).
• Value chains can be divided into core processes.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
40
BPTrends Organization Diagram
Organization Diagram
for “Widget Value Chain”
with three core processes:
Source: Harmon, Business Process Change, 4th Edition, Figure 3.8
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
41
Organization
Diagram:
Key
Stakeholder
Relationships
Source: Harmon, Business Process Change, 4th Edition, Figure 7.5
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
42
Key Point:
Process Hierarchies
• A value chain is the largest
process we talk about.
• However, we can decompose
the value chain into its core
processes, sub-processes, and
activities.
Source: Harmon, Business Process Change, 2nd Edition, Figure 4.2
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
43
Alter’s Work System Framework
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
44
Looking at Work in Organizations
• Alter’s Work Systems Framework for
thinking about business processes and the
information systems that support them.
• It focuses on the work being done,
drawing on:
• Total Quality Management
• business process reengineering
• systems theory.
• Work – The application of human and
physical resources such as people,
equipment, time, effort, and money to
generate outputs used by internal or
external customers.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
Steven Alter
Professor Emeritus
University of San Francisco
45
Looking at Work in Organizations
• Alter’s Work Systems Framework for
thinking about business processes and the
information systems that support them.
• It focuses on the work being done,
drawing on:
• Total Quality Management
• business process reengineering
• systems theory.
• Work – The application of human and
physical resources such as people,
equipment, time, effort, and money to
generate outputs used by internal or
external customers.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
46
The Work System Framework
Alter’s Work System Framework was originally
designed to help understand IT-enabled information
systems. Nine elements comprise a work system
that Alter defines as: “… a system in which
human participants and/or machines perform
work (processes and activities) using
information, technology, and other
resources to produce products and/or
services for internal or external
customers…”
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
47
The Work System Framework
Alter’s Work System Framework was originally
designed to help understand IT-enabled information
systems. Nine elements comprise a work system
that Alter defines as: “… a system in which
human participants and/or machines perform
work (processes and activities) using
information, technology, and other
resources to produce products and/or
services for internal or external
customers…”
Participants
Information
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
Technologies
There is a 10th work system
element for “Other Resources”
that is implied and would
show in the framework
Interacting with Processes and
Activities.
Other
Resources
48
Work System is a “System”
Work System –
• a system in which human participants and/or machines perform work
(processes and activities) using information, technology, and other resources
to produce products and/or services for internal or external customers.
• Typical business organizations contain work systems that procure materials from
suppliers, produce products, deliver products to customers, find customers,
create financial reports, hire employees, coordinate work across departments,
and perform many other functions.
• Every work system can be viewed as a subsystem of a larger work system, the
boundaries of a work system are treated as a carefully considered decision by the
work system modeler.
• In general, the relevant work system for a particular analysis is the smallest
work system that exhibits or possesses the problem, issue, or opportunity that
prompted the analysis.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
49
Examples of Work Systems
Calculating rates for insurance
renewals
Managing software
development projects
Acquiring clients at a
professional service firm
Receiving materials at a large
warehouse
Approving real estate loan
applications
Planning and dispatching
trucking services
Performing pre-employment
background checks
Performing financial
planning for wealthy
individuals
Scheduling and tracking
health service appointments
Operating an engineering call
center
Purchasing advertising
services
Determining salary increases
Invoicing for construction
Planning for outages in key
real time information
work
systems
(from papers by MBA students an Georgia State University, published by Alter in several papers. See course syllabus.)
Collecting and reporting
sales data for a wholesaler
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
50
Clarification of Terminology
• A work system is a system in which human participants and/ or machines perform
business process that uses (which may use) information, technology, and other
resources to produce products and/or services for internal or external customers.
• An information system is a particular type of work system that whose processes
and activities are totally devoted to information processing (using technology) to
capture, transmit, store, retrieve, manipulate, delete or display information;
normally thereby supporting one or more other work systems.
• A business process is a related group of steps or activities that use people,
information, and other resources to create value for internal or external customers.
Business Processes consist of steps related in time and place, have a beginning and
end, and have inputs and outputs.
• Consider a supply chain – an inter-organizational work system whose goal is to
provide supplies and other resources required for the operation of organizations
that use whatever the supply chain produces.
• Projects are temporary work systems that are designed to produce a set of
products/services, after which the work system ceases to exist.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
51
The “Big Picture”
• Information Technology – the hardware,
software, and networks that make IS
possible. Today referred to often as
technology infrastructure.
• Information System – a work system that
uses information technology to capture,
transmit, store, retrieve, manipulate, and
display information.
• Work System – In an organization, a
“system” where people and/or machines
“perform work” (i.e. their work practices)
using IT, information, and other resources to
produce a product or service for internal or
external customers.
• A Firm (or organization) – consists of a large
number of interdependent work systems
that work together to generate products of
services in a business environment.
• The Business environment includes the
firm and everything else that affects its
success, such as competitors, suppliers,
A firm is often thought of as a collection of work systems. customers, regulatory agencies, and
demographic, social, and economic
conditions.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
52
Steven Alter’s Work System Framework
The Work
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
53
On Work Systems
• Typical business organizations contain work systems that
procure materials from suppliers, produce products, deliver
products to customers, find customers, create financial
reports, hire employees, coordinate work across
departments, and perform many other functions.
• Every work system can be viewed as a subsystem of a larger
work system, the boundaries of a work system are treated as a
carefully considered decision by the work system modeler.
• In general, the relevant work system for a particular analysis is
the smallest work system that exhibits or possesses the
problem, issue, or opportunity that prompted the analysis.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
54
Work Systems vs. Value Chains
• The BPTrends Organization
Diagram model looked at the firm
as a collection of value chains .
• Alter looks as the firm as a
collection of work systems .
• Alter sees work as broader than
simply a business process
• Likewise he sees a work system as
broader than a value chain .
• Alter’s Work System Theory grew
out of an attempt to describe the
role of technology and Information
systems in enabling work systems –
what we might call IT-enabled
The Work System
Includes all nine
elements shown.
The Work
work.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
55
Putting Things in Context – The Big Picture
Alter looks as the firm as a
collection of work systems.
An information system is
(generally) only part of a work
system.
Business environment – includes
the firm and everything else that
affects its success, such as
competitors, suppliers, customers,
regulatory agencies, and demographic,
social, and economic conditions.
STEEPLE Influences
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
56
Work systems vs. information systems
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
57
Work Systems vs. Information Systems
Work System
• A system in which people
and/or machines perform
work (i.e. their work
practices) using resources
(e.g., information,
technology, common
infrastructure, other
resources) to create
products/services for internal
or external customers
Information system
• A work system that processes
information, thereby
supporting other work
systems
Capture
• Transmit
• Store
• Retrieve
• Manipulate
• Display
•
•
An information system may not
use information technology
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
58
Distinction of Information Systems vs.
Work Systems they Support
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
Source: Alter, Steven. Information Systems: The Foundation of E-Business, 4th edition, 2002. Table 2.2
59
Different Relationships Between
Information Systems and Work Systems
• Specific information systems exist to support (other) work
systems.
• Many different degrees of overlap are possible between an
information system and a work system that it supports.
• Part of the utility of work systems theory is the assistance it
provides professionals in distinguishing work systems from the
IT-based tools that support work and are used by users.
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
60
Different Relationships Between Work
Systems and Information Systems
A:
B:
C:
IS684 Unit #3: How Work Gets Done
D:
61
Different Relationships Between
Information Systems and Work Systems
A. Jury selection uses information system to select and summon
potential jurors. Work system of selecting jurors involves
randomly selecting potential jurors and questioning by opposing
counsels.
B. Most web and mobile based self-service e-procurement. The
functionality of the information system is nearly all of the work
system, excepting packing and logistics. (e.g. Amazon.com)
C. Salesperson uses IS for sales call tracking. The system has models
that predict sales based on stage in sales process and historical
sales cycle. The model is also used by Finance for revenue
projections.
D. Integrated ERP or CRM system.
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Different Relationships Between
Information Systems and Work Systems
• Another Case: Information Systems is Separate from the Work
System. “E:”
“E”: A web-based information system develops a prospect list by
extracting information from web sites. The Work System for direct
sales uses the prospect list for cold calls.
However, with the use of robocalls and chatbots, “E” is fast approaching
“A”, and maybe even “B”.
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Work System Framework: A Quick
Overview
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Alter’s Work Systems Framework
Alter’s Work System Framework was originally
designed to help understand IT-enabled systems. However,
A work system is defined as:
“… a system in which human participants and/or
machines perform work (processes and activities)
using information, technology,
and other resources to produce products
and/or services for internal or
external customers…”
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Earlier Versions
• Earlier versions of the Work Systems
Framework used slightly different
terminology for the Processes and
Activities component of the
framework. (Business Processes, or
Work Practices )
• Earlier versions also used the term
Context instead of Environment , and
did not include the Strategies
component.
• For most of our discussions, we will
ignore these differences. You may see
older diagrams used to illustrate a
point. When important, we will
clarify the distinction.
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Nine Elements of the Work System Framework
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Nine Elements of the Work System
Framework
1. Customers are people who receive direct
benefit from products and services the work
system produces. They include external
customers who receive the organization’s
products and/or services and internal
customers who are employees or contractors
working inside the organization.
2. Products and services are the combination
of physical things, information, and services
that the work system produces. This may
include physical products, information
products, services, intangibles such as
enjoyment and peace of mind, and social
products such as arrangements, agreements,
and organizations. Outputs and outcomes.
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Nine Elements of the Work System
Framework
3. Processes and Activities are the business
processes and activities that include everything
that happens within the work system.
• The term “Processes and Activities” is used
instead of the term business process because
many work systems do not contain highly
structured business processes involving a
prescribed sequence of steps, each of which is
triggered in a pre-defined manner. Rather, the
sequence and details of work in some work
systems depend on the skills, experience, and
judgment of the work system participants.
• In effect, “business process” is but one of a
number of different perspectives for analyzing
the activities within a work system. Other
perspectives with their own valuable concepts
and terminology include decision-making,
communication, coordination, control, and
information processing.
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Nine Elements of the Work System
Framework
4. Participants are people who perform the work.
Some may use computers and IT extensively,
whereas others may use little or no technology.
• When analyzing a work system the more
encompassing role of work system participant is
more important than the more limited role of
technology user (whether or not particular
participants happen to be technology users).
5. Information includes codified and non-codified
information used and created as participants
perform their work. Information may or may not be
computerized.
• Data not related to the work system is not
directly relevant, making the distinction
between data and information secondary when
describing or analyzing a work system. Codified
knowledge recorded in documents, software,
and business rules can be viewed as a special
case of information.
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Nine Elements of the Work System
Framework
6. Technologies include tools (such as cell
phones, projectors, spreadsheet software, and
automobiles) and techniques (such as
management by objectives, optimization, and
remote tracking) that work system participants
use while doing their work.
7. Envir
