Business Process Management, NWC Inc. Style

We're in the early stages of preparing for a "BPM Blowout". Our plan is to model a set of processes for NWC Inc. in order to evaluate BPM suites. We've had many discussions on the subject already and will begin testing next month in our Business Application Lab in good old Green Bay, WI. Our testing scenario is:

NWC Inc. is a mid-size manufacturer of consumer grade ???widgets??? which are sold through its channel of distributors. VARs utilize NWC Inc.???s web site to place orders for widgets and are invoiced after shipment.

NWC Inc. requires an automated solution for handling the order entry and fulfillment processes, as many decisions currently made manually would benefit from automation. It is also concerned with implementing a solution that will assist in achieving regulatory compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and CA SB 1386. Processes to be modeled include manual decision making with both internal employees (CSRs) and customers. NWC Inc.???s order entry/fulfillment process is detailed below.

View image

NWC Inc.???s current infrastructure includes:

1.Exchange 2000 server (e-mail) 2.Oracle 9i (v9.2.1) database on Windows 2000 a.Customers and their orders are stored in this database3.SQL Server 2000 database on Windows 2000a.Order shipment status is stored in this database4.Order entry/fulfillment is accomplished via a web interface, implemented in JSP and deployed on Apache/Tomcat, as well as a .NET 1.1 SOAP interface. We've got a lengthy list of invitees and can't wait to start modeling our processes to see how these products really work. We're still open for input from you, so if you think there's a process we should specifically model or some feature you really believe ought to be examined in depth, all you need to do is shout and we'll take it under consideration.