To deliver business process projects, Corporate Information Systems Limited has selected Protos. Developed by Wave Front International in The Netherlands, the software is flexible in its applications, intuitive to learn and very functionally rich.

Protos is a graphical process mapping tool providing fast workflow design. The intuitive graphical interface makes mapping and reading the processes straight-forward and logical. The drag and drop GUI allows activities to be created with resource information linked very simply.  Reports are instantly generated. The interface means that personnel can be trained very quickly to make full use of the power of Protos.

There is much debate about whether the right approach to process mapping projects should be by Business Process Improvement (BPI) or Business Process Re-engineering (BPR). In other words do you want to change and improve your processes incrementally, or do you want to do away with your current working processes and start again.

Which ever way you go, being able to analyse the changes and evaluate them before implementing the change is vital. Protos provides the basis for this work. With the graphical view of the process, duplication and waste in the process can be identified quickly. Traditional working methods can be viewed and challenged. Where sequential working has been the norm, the impact of new technologies to allow for activities taking place in parallel can be assessed.  Impact on the organisation (your key personnel resource) can be analysed to ensure that the change management that is required is appropriate and will deliver improved processes and therefore organisational efficiency. 

It is important to note further that Protos does not just handle simple processes well, but because it can handle complex "Petri-net" workflow constructions, detailed analysis of complex organisations can be supported.

To gain corporate acceptance of process change, and to show all personnel the importance of their role in the business, communication is very important.  Protos is used extensively by organisations where communication is important and procedural information is key.  Where processes cross organisational boundaries, the ability to communicate responsibilities, show issues with data and control become even more important.   Protos provides extensive reports which can be customised for the target audience.  Standard reports from Protos include HTML for on-line process access and .rtf for printed process reports.

Select the link below to view a typical process in HTML format. Each element can be selected to view the process details behind it.

There are standard report features in Protos as well as extensive customisation options.

• Within Protos swim lane analysis of roles, responsibilities and teams show where the hand-offs are in the process. Where these are too extensive the flow of business can be improved. There is also a view of the use of data and applications within the process which show the utilisation of the corporate resources. Detailed analysis of this information can be made by exporting to CRUD reports.

• Additional meta data can be added to Protos. This is fully customisable to measure the elements which are pertinent to your organisation. This extra data information can be simply exported to spreadsheets for detailed analysis. Fields often used include process times, costs and so on

• Role (RACI)analysis (as seen below)allows for a full understanding of which role performs, is responsible for, is consulted or is informed for each task. This means that an analysis of the interface between the organisation and its customers is possible. Further, the impact of changing the processes to the customer can be seen. Again this is a standard report from Protos.

• Protos integrates with process simulation software (ExSpect) for the ultimate in process analysis. The effect of delays in the process where volumes of work are high can be fully assessed. Where detailed meta data is available and fine tuning the process is important, detailed analysis is possible.

• With all these analysis options, organisations have the information abailable to "re-design" or "re-engineer" the business processes. The changes required for e-business and/or e-government and their impacts on an organisation can be made to deliver the Agile business

Protos Indicator creates reports to prove compliance. Standards can be documented in Protos indicator for quality, safety, legal and/or performance as a few examples. The standard, once created, can be linked to objects within the process editor. Reports can then be created in either HTML or .rtf formats to show where the business delivers the standard. With hypertext possible within Protos to link to specific reports it is possible to move from the standard, to the process to the evidence in an integrated whole.

The ISO 9001:2000 web site highlights the importance of process when a business is complying to quality improvements. It says:

What is meant by "continual improvement"?

"Continual improvement" requires an organization to focus on continually increasing the effectiveness and/or efficiency of its processes, to fulfill its policies and objectives. Continual improvement (where "continual" highlights that an improvement process requires progressive consolidation steps) responds to the growing needs and expectations of customers and ensures a dynamic evolution of the quality management system.

Using traditional methods of process mapping the walls are covered in paper for the initial analysis. Whilst this works well the process then needs writing up, probably into a word processor where the drawing tools are cumbersome. In consequence when the processes changes this is too difficult and the manuals soon become out of date. Protos allows processes to be maintained easily. Simple drag and drop in the graphical interface and a new report can be generated with the changes represented automatically throughout the report. Full integrity of the information is maintained.