Customer Reviews

Business Processes : Modelling and Analysis for Re-Engineering and Improvement

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The STRIM (Systematic Technique for Role & Interaction Modelling) approach provided in this book is a straightforward method for capturing and modeling business processes. The book completely and thoroughly covers how to model and analyze business processes, starting with a well-written overview of concepts, then introducing STRIM and its application in various modeling scenarios.

As a modeling approach, STRIM and its role activity diagrams, are not mainstream. However, they are an effective tool in the advanced practitioner's toolbox. I especially like the way RAD (role activity diagrams) clearly and cleanly deal with parallel tasks, and the way they can be clearly depicted as concurrent execution threads even with decision points are involved. In addition, this methodology captures interaction between and among roles. Therein lies the power.

If you are new to business processing modeling it's probably safer to stick to a more established methodology, such as IDEF0 or force fit UML as your modeling approach. A caveat about using UML is it is better suited for modeling software. However, STRIM can be used in conjunction with UML if you want a business process modeling and analysis approach and have not standardized on any other method.

Another aspect of this book I like is the scope of coverage - the author addresses process patterns, large processes, and even managing the modeling process itself.

One final point in favor of this book and its approach is the author provides no cost downloads of Process Architecture Diagrams and Role Activity Diagrams in Visio 5 format. Those artifacts will help jumpstart any project based on the STRIM methodology.

At dollars per pound, this book is probably more expensive than Russian caviar. Well... maybe not, but at 168 bucks, this is a bit pricey to say the least. Therefore, I am subtracting one star due to the ridiculous price. (Why did I buy it at that price? I guess I was sucked in by the glowing reviews. I also should have taken advantage of the "search inside this book" feature. Remind me to do that next time...)

In a premium-priced book (75 cents per page, to be precise), one would expect the book to be filled with exquisitely detailed diagrams, rendered in sharp beautiful color. Wrong. The diagrams look like photocopies that Milton Waddams might distribute at a business meeting, if he got invited to a business meeting. No, I'm sorry, I apologize. That's not true. They actually look more like photocopies of photocopies that Milton Waddams might distribute at a business meeting, if he got invited to a business meeting. They're bad. Really bad. Muddy dark gray and hard to read. Subtract another star.

To be fair, the book is well-written. Clearly the author knows what he is talking about. He figured out a system that worked for his company. He clearly resisted filling the book with needless blather to run the page count up. I particularly liked Chapter 1's Eight Laws for Process Modelling, Chapter 9 (Analyzing a Process Model) and Chapter 10 (Managing the Model). Chapter 9 has good solid advice for interviewing people and making sense of the information gathered from the interviews.

The system for diagramming the processes is interesting too. I was actually thinking that this might be The Way To Do Things. But then I realized that this system was developed quite a long time ago. The book was copyrighted in 1995, and reprinted in 2003, apparently without significant updates. This fact led me to keep looking around for other process modeling methodologies, just as a matter of due diligence.

That search lead me to BPMN - Business Process Modeling Notation. BPMN is a specification that was published in 2008. It is available free online from bpmn.org. It was developed by the same group that developed the BPMM - Business Process Maturity Model, also free online. I am very impressed with both the BPMN and the BPMM. I would suggest that you take a look at these free resources before you decide whether or not you need to purchase this book.

All in all, this is not a bad book. It's not a great book either.

The subject is introduced and explained very systematically and with very relevant examples. I wish it came with relevant software.