Intent
The Process Interaction pattern is another Process Modeling pattern; it shows how to model and organize the numerous interactions that occur between different business processes.
Motivation
All business processes interact with other business processes, typically via the transmission and exchange of resources or information (which is a kind of resource) between the processes. For example, a business process can be a sales process whereby the interaction between them occurs by transmitting resources such as orders, price information, material, products, statistics, and so on. A sales process can also transmit orders to a production process or receive marketing material from a marketing process. Regardless of what and how it is transmitted, the interaction between business processes is often difficult to model because of its complexity. In addition, the vast number of potential resource combinations and exchanges can make these types of interaction difficult to model. Also, details of the interaction’s configuration are usually not interesting; the focus should be on the resources exchanged between the processes.
The Process Interaction pattern offers a simple way to model a complex interaction through the use of an assembly diagram.
Let’s invoke the car industry example again, this time to examine the marketing process.
To model the marketing process completely, we have to consider how the process interacts with the market—the consumer base and the car designers. The consumer base is in a constant state of change; the demand of the market changes according to the economy, trends, and new technologies. The car design process is also continually changing. Car models must be developed that can keep up with the market’s new and changing demands (not present demand, since those car models are already in
production). Therefore, we have a marketing process that interacts with both a fickle and ever-changing consumer and with a production process that must continually adapt and try to predict the market’s future demands.
Can we model a business process, like our car marketing process that interacts with two separate processes that are difficult to predict and in a constant state of change? The answer is no. It would be impossible to specify every possible interaction between these processes, because the potential interactions are extensive.
The solution to this problem is to model both the abstract and the physical resources that connect the business processes, instead of attempting to specify every possible
interaction between them. In our car marketing example, we would first determine the business resources that are exchanged between the marketing process and the
consumer, the consumer and the marketing process, the marketing process and the car design process, and, finally, the car design process and the marketing process. For example, the consumer delivers reactions, demands, needs, and wishes to the marketing process. The marketing process delivers product data sheets, advertising material, visions of car ownership, and specific feelings associated with a particular car to the consumer. The marketing process delivers information about the market’s behavior, current demands, and predictions about future demands to the car design process. The car design process then delivers ideas about new models, upcoming buzzwords, and so on.
The key to capturing complex interactions between business processes is to design them so that they handle the resources transmitted among them, instead of trying to capture every single interaction such as sequences, iterations, and selection. The resources are placed in assembly line diagrams. As you may recall from Chapter 4,
“Business Views,” a business process communicates via assembly lines. As the example here shows, it is better to model the resources exchanged by the processes rather than all possible combinations of detailed interactions among the processes. The assembly line diagram has been constructed for the explicit purpose of highlighting the exchange of resources between business processes.
Applicability
The Process Interaction pattern can be used wherever complex interactions between business processes are modeled. Customer relationship management (CRM) is a typical complex interaction that has benefited from this pattern, and Amazon.com is a Web site that has implemented the CRM. Amazon engages in a personal dialog with its customers to be able to recommend products—books, CDs, electronics, toys, and so on—based on a specific customer’s behavior or profile. And because the interaction between Amazon and its customers is difficult to predict, it is a typical candidate for the Process Interaction pattern.
Structure
Figure 9.3: Process Interaction pattern structure.
Participants
P1 and P2 are business processes that interact with each other. The P1 process delivers an object, which is shown as a filled circle, which is a stereotyped object (refer to
Chapter 4, “Business Views,” for more information on modeling with the assembly line diagram). The P2 process receives an object, which is shown as a open circle, also a stereotyped object. Both objects are resources placed in the assembly line aResource.
The aResource is a stereotyped package. The stereotype is an assembly line. The P1 and P2 processes can communicate with each other through the assembly line.
Consequences
The Process Interaction pattern can be used to model and organize very complex interactions between business resources. However, this pattern should not be used for every interaction–especially those that don’t add any value. For example, a company that models its business processes to implement a new computer-based math system would not necessarily benefit from modeling the interaction among employees, because the relationships among employees would have no bearing on how the system will eventually be used. On the other hand, modeling, or at least analyzing, the interaction among employees, their attitudes, and employee culture might be of interest if the goal is to encourage integration between companies newly merged.
Example
HandySam.com is a new online hardware store. It sells tools and materials and offers tips for how to fix or improve consumers’ houses, cars, boats, and so on. Sam doesn’t believe it’s enough just to start the portal on the Internet and wait for customers to find it, so it advertises in specialty magazines targeted at his customers. When a customer arrives at the Web site for the first time, Handy Sam has made sure it not only highlights interesting products but also offers nuts-and-bolts advice. This demonstrates that the company behind the Web site knows its stuff.
After a while, Handy Sam also realizes that it can show new and old customers what others with similar interests or needs have purchased. This is perceived as a value-add by Sam’s customers, and is a strong marketing tool for the site. Sam has also set up chat groups where customers can share ideas and experiences. This further emphasizes to the target audience that HandySam. com is the site for all their hardware needs. To increase the number of visitors to the site, Sam also recently started to send e-mail to the existing customer base, notifying them when popular tools are back in stock or when new tools hit the market.
Handy Sam realizes that to successfully interact with the customers, they must analyze this process. At first, Sam tried to model in detail what happens from the first time a customer comes to the site to later visits, including making several purchases or exchanging tips. Then Sam recognized that the number of all possible interactions was too high to analyze and document, and decides instead to concentrate on what is sent between the site and their customers. Sam discovers that the interaction really consists of: Tip, Customer Information, Notification, Product Information, Product, and Order.
Figure 9.4 shows how Handy Sam’s customer interaction process, with the goals of generating new customers, satisfying current customers, and producing more orders, interacts with the customers purchase process through assembly lines in an assembly line diagram. Note that a customer’s purchase process is not always completely controlled by the customer; sometimes the customer must get approval from his or her boss, or he or she buys things based only on recommendations from friends or other customers. Thus the customer purchase process must be modeled separately from the customer. After some time, Handy Sam is told that his ideas are called CRM, and that others have thought along the same lines, among them an online book seller called Amazon.com.
Figure 9.4: An example of the Process Interaction pattern.
Related Patterns
The Process Interaction pattern can be combined with all of the Process Modeling patterns to detail and explore the business process interaction.
Source/Credit
The Process Interaction pattern and the assembly line diagram are a part of the Astrakan Method, whose inventors are Hans Willars, Marianne Janning-Andéhn, and Clary
Sundblad.