Finally, vendors hope to one day solve the enormously complex issue of modeling all the processes within supply chains. These steps will be made easier once the dust settles around multiple emerging formats that aim to support the sharing of process-related data, including the Process Specification Language, Unified Modeling Language, Core Plan Representation, CAD Data Interchange Format, and Process Interchange Format. Casewise CEO Andy Donoghue adds that the simulation capabilities found in business-modeling tools will eventually have to include the definition of skills requirements for each project and how those skills will be deployed. As a result, their use and benefits have spread from a small coterie of process engineers to a wider spectrum of business analysts and reengineering managers. Mathias Kirchmer, president and CEO of IDS Scheer, even has a vision of business-modeling tools joining the desktop arsenal of PC spreadsheets and word processors.
Work continues on enhancing simulation to include actual operational data.
Current business-modeling tools provide an excellent representation of processes, with some additional perspective added by links to costs and activities. The missing link for visualizing how processes work, and how to make them work better, is determining the most effective role for people within those processes. You've got to look at personnel competencies and performance, or you risk losing the most important resource essential to an effective organization. Roy Schuster, a partner in the Chicago office of Cambridge Management Consulting, says that process models shouldn't just be used to cut costs or streamline operations. American Express' Trosvig also emphasizes the importance of top management support for process modeling, as well as agreement between technology and business executives on the right tool.