Process models - IT or business oriented

[jo99]

there is also Business Architecture work - but difficult to find as a contract

[cojak]

Business modelling and system design I have done before has included both business process and system process modelling.

I usually use Use Cases with a stereotype of either Business or Process and the supporting Activity Diagrams for visualisation and scenario testing. Business process Use Cases help drive out system requirements and the System Use Cases realise these / i.e. parts of the Business Use Case process that are to be developed.

Process Use Cases - something that has disappeared to such an extent in Agile* that I have to do them on the QT these days.

And let's not go to sequence diagrams (I have to hide them completely until the appropriate moment).

*Yes, I know....

[GB9]

Business modelling and system design I have done before has included both business process and system process modelling.

I usually use Use Cases with a stereotype of either Business or Process and the supporting Activity Diagrams for visualisation and scenario testing. Business process Use Cases help drive out system requirements and the System Use Cases realise these / i.e. parts of the Business Use Case process that are to be developed.

[cojak]

Process models - IT or business oriented

Right, now that's clearer.

There is BPD work out there, but it's not often exclusively required from clients at the moment. It's not flavour of the month since Agile took over, as many clients don't understand that BA's are more than just Product Owners. I've just done some process design work for my client, only because I knew it was needed. They didn't understand why the project was about to fall apart as they were only thinking software, not people.

There explicitly process roles out there, but you'll find that they're mostly ITIL/ITSM processes and for that you'll need experience (definitely) and ITIL Expert qualifications (highly desirable) to get the gig.

Since I have both I don't have problems finding this kind of work.

But I don't do 'technical' BA work (your API example) as there are others out there better at it than I. Rambaugh by the sound of it . This kind of work is incorporated into general BA work. I specialise in 'upstream' business analysis - ITSM process architecture/business case/stakeholder management kind of stuff.

[rambaugh]

I find mapping processes a great way of understanding what an organisation is all about. A large part of IT is about automation of operational / business processes so it makes sense to start with developing a good understanding of how your client delivers a product or service in their own particular way.

[Antman]

Well I didn't say either/or.

So I suppose then which "layer" is the most common. I search for process modelling contracts and it is difficult to say whether clients are looking for process modelling skills which are business related or at the other end modelling IT architectures as part of a solution.

I'm guessing that pure BPM maybe a bit of a luxury in these straitened times and that the useful skills required by clients is more a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to process modelling.

That's why I posted on this popular area of the forum to gauge what people are seeing at client sites.

[cojak]

Actually, requirements are generally about use cases and user stories. From these you get processes.

[cojak]

It depends on the layer you're looking at. It's never either/or.

Oh, and processes are outputs as well as inputs of requirements.
HTH.

[Antman]

One for people producing requirements documents.

I'm interested to know what are the majority of models that you produce for your requirements documentation. Do you produce models with "business" processes, i.e. people in organisational roles doing a series of activities etc. or are the models produced more related to IT systems sort of "you need to get an additional field from this system over here if you want to call the API on that system over there." as the specified change?

I'd also be interested to know if you work in the public sector or private.

Thank you!