BUSINESS PROCESS ANALYSIS Methodology for Information System Requirements

BUSINESS PROCESS ANALYSIS Methodology for Information System Requirements Definition and Logical Design Utilizing Communicable Disease Investigation & Reporting Business Process Analysis Examples Presented by: Pete Kitch KIPHS, Inc.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE n Introduction to Business Processes n Elements of Business Process Analysis n Functional Analysis Approach n Context Diagramming n Task flow Diagramming n Information System Support

FRAMEWORK FOR MONTANA PHDS ASSESSMENT PROJECT State Stakeholders Presentation October 13, 2006 Presented by: Pete Kitch KIPHS, Inc.

WAYS AN ORGANIZTION CAN CHANGE

BUSINESS PROCESS ANALYSIS (BPA) DEFINITIONS n n n Business Process: A set of related work tasks designed to achieve a specific desired business objective. The process result may be customer or market oriented or internal to the organization. Business Process Analysis: Defining the task set required to support the achievement of the business objective. Logical Design: Design of the Information System User Interface needed to support the performance of each task in the business process task set.

WHY CONSIDER BUSINESS PROCESSES IN PUBLIC HEALTH? n n Belief that public health only “delivers services” -hinders more comprehensive evaluation of underlying business processes Public Health Departments are in fact businesses -their products and services can be defined and are similar across departments Best practices are a derivative of the associated business process Understanding the business practices helps optimize the use of information system requirements and content across all health departments

WHY CONSIDER BUSINESS PROCESSES IN PUBLIC HEALTH? n n n One must understand the way in which work is done before one can explore ways of improving or streamlining it. Public health is always being asked to “do more with less”. Becoming more efficient in the way in which work is done is one way to stretch limited resources. Understanding how work is done now is a baseline for evaluating and adopting all or parts of a best practice model.

A HISTORIC BPA EXAMPLE n Ford Motor Company -- Highland Park 1913 Automobile Assembly Paradigm prior to 1913: Result: Time cut from 750 minutes to 90 minutes/car through work simplification n What enabled Ford to build Highland Park? n In 1915 Highland Park employed 7, 000 people. Why didn’t other companies follow this example?

ANALYSIS FRAMEWORKS n n Functional Decomposition: process of continual sub setting Functional Analysis: a) logical process of building a framework and then fleshing out the details one logical step at a time b) the result of functional analysis is parallel to “assembly instructions ”for a product rather than a “parts explosion” (e. g. , assemblies, subassemblies, parts) n Use Case Analysis: Typically a random walk if multiple use cases are involved

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS n n How do you work a 1000 piece jig saw puzzle? Step #1: _________ Step #2: _________ Step #3: _________ Step #N: _________ How do you know when you’re done? What does it mean if there are still “holes” in the puzzle? What does it mean if you have “extra” pieces when there are no “holes” left?

BASIC MODEL (INPUT-PROCESS-OUTPUT)

THE KEY QUESTIONS IN DEFINING A BUSINESS PROCESS n What are the tasks in the task set that define the business process? n How are the tasks related to one another? n How is the process initiated? n What is the goal/objective associated with the performance of the business process?

OUR APPROACH Three Step Sequential Process n Step #1: Context Diagramming: Designed to identify the participants (know as entities) which are the stakeholders in a given business process and the interactions between them. n Step #2: Functional Flow Analysis: Identify the interactions and/or transactions associated with each entity that trigger a set of tasks to be performed or represents achievement of the business goals/objectives. The sum of all the task sets creates an integrated description of the work that defines the business process. n Step #3: User Interface Logical Design: Each task identified in the analysis is examined to define the corresponding screen or set of screens needed to fully support the user in the performance of the task.

CONTEXT ANALYSIS

EXAMPLE PROJECT CONTEXT DIAGRAM

FUNCTIONAL FLOW ANALYSIS

TASK FLOW DIAGRAMMING n Concept of “turning the Context Diagram inside out” n A transaction or set of transactions pointing to a given participant (entity) either: n n trigger a set of tasks to be performed represent the goal/objective of the business process Tasks must be identified and defined at the discrete level. In another sense, a task can be defined as “what goes on between the in-basket and the out-basket” The task flow tool set is the same as standard flowcharting (primarily boxes, decision diamonds, and arrows)

FUNCTIONAL FLOW ILLUSTRATION

PERSON DEMOGRAPHIC PROCESS

CASE INVESTIGATION

USER INTERFACE ANALYSIS

LOGICAL DESIGN CONTENT n In general we break the logical design out into a number of sections based on the segmentation of the functional flow analysis. Each section utilizes the same format: a) Introduction to the section contents b) Associated Functional Flow Diagram c) Associated Screen Navigation Diagram d) Screen mock ups, text description of the content and purpose of each screen and navigation buttons to access other screens e) Logical Data Structures associated with screens in section

DISEASE INVESTIGATION FUNCTIONAL FLOW

SYSTEM NAVIGATION DIAGRAM EXAMPLE

LOGICAL DATA SET EXPLANATION

Lab Report Logical Data Set Person ID Case ID Lab Report Date Lab Name Director Name & Phone # Laboratory Reports Test Report (1, M) Test ID Test Description Accession Number Specimen ID/Type Specimen Collection Date Results Reference Range Lab Test Results Notes (0, N) Note ID Text Line (1, M) Line Number Text Note ID Note Date Note Author General Lab Notes (0, N) Text Line (1, L) Line Number Text n n n Italics – Bold – (1, x) – (0, x) – { - Legend Data Set Name Code Table One to Many Null to Many Delineates a data set

SAMPLE SCREEN: CASE BASE RECORD

SAMPLE SCREEN: CASE-CONTACT DETAIL

SAMPLE SCREEN: LOCATION TRACKING

SAMPLE SCREEN: INVESTIGATION ACTIONS

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? Pete Kitch 316 -682 -0900 pkitch@kiphs. com