Exercise 12
The job announcement
Background
Imagine you are a consultant and you are asked to redesign the job announcement process of a large organization. At the moment, there is no defined process for announcing job positions. Announcements are currently made available in an ad-hoc manner, meaning that the business department directly asks the HR department to publish the job ad. However, the HR department suffers from high workload and unclear input given by other departments. Ongoing questions are being sent back and forth resulting in unnecessarily long waiting times, or essential issues remaining unresolved at all. You as an experienced consultant for business processes are hired to design a process that will be implemented by IT to enhance the experience for managers having to announce jobs significantly.
As an experienced consultant, you choose a top-down approach.
Strategic model
Design a strategic model according to the Camunda House BPMN-framework. All necessary tasks should be presented in a logically abstract manner. Please note that not all details need to be shown in this diagram.
Description
The process starts in the business departments as they know first whenever they need to announce a new position. This is not dependent on whether an employee retires or an entirely new job is created. An employee notifies the HR department that an announcement must be made. Therefore, a form is to be filed and sent via email to HR. HR works on the announcement. As soon as the job is announced on the company’s website, applicants can apply for it. Applications can be made via post or email. The HR department checks each incoming application. A selection process is part of the recruiting process. As soon as an applicant is selected, the interview is set up. The recruiting process is finished if the position is closed and the applicant signed the contract.
Hints
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Use a single pool with multiple lanes on the strategic level. Please further note that not more than ten flow objects are allowed.
Operational model (human process flow)
Now you have an overview of the recruiting process, and you are ready for the remaining details. First model the job announcement process. Please start by modeling the process as the process participants see it. Use two separate pools: one for the HR employee and one for the head of the business department. Model the communication between both stakeholders with message flows. Do not model IT systems.
Description
The job announcement process starts when new positions are required. The head of a business department informs the HR employee and provides the necessary information. The employee checks the information regarding the job description and its requirements. If necessary, he or she asks the department head to provide more information. If all information is available, the announcement is prepared. The department head is informed to double-check the prepared announcement. He or she then checks the prepared statement and requests correction if necessary. If no correction is required, the head approves the announcement and that part of the process finishes. The HR employee waits until the approval is made or corrections are requested. If corrections are needed, the announcement must be approved again. Otherwise, the job is announced.
Operational model (human and technical process flows)
Now that the processes for all roles is set up, your task is to investigate how it can be supported by IT. This model aims at providing a technical view on the workflow. It shows how the process can be executed automatically. Therefore, you have to model an additional pool for the process engine and investigate how all parties communicate. As starting point, reuse the human flows of the operational model from part two and only adapt it where necessary.
Hint
Add the mentioned pool for the engine. This pool controls all processes by integrating the processes with human workflow. The humans perform work which is orchestrated by the engine. Within the engine pool, please use lanes to indicate the role that is performing the human task. You might also have to change the existing pools for the human flows.
For the moment, please only consider the workflow for the job announcement. All other parts are out of scope.
Description
The business department requests announcements via the HR-portal. The submission of the form starts the process in the engine. The engine assigns the department head a task to provide information on the announcement. Once finished, the HR employee checks the job ad. If necessary, information requests are still handled face to face or by telephone. No human task management should be used. In case of corrections, a task is assigned to the business department head, and rework is requested. Then, a new check is performed. In case of approval, the announcement is being progressed. The process engine now publishes the job announcement on internal and external channels (e.g., social media platforms). For the moment, please only consider the workflow for the job announcement. All other parts are out of scope.