Process Model

The purchase process detailed in our business process model contains five swim-lanes which detail the main stakeholder roles. The individual swim-lanes are: the customer,  the sales engineer, production, quality control and logistics. Swim-lanes are a method of organizing the business process diagram so that all the activities and decisions made by anyone within a certain role are arranged in one vertical zone (Kroenke, 2014). The Bira Brothers company produces battery chargers for clients, such as the image to the right,and so the first swimlane and beginning of the business process is the customer.  

Customers begin the process by sending an inquiry form to the company. They state their requirements and receive a product design from the sales engineer. Upon receipt of the product design, the customer must decide if the design is acceptable. If it is acceptable, the customer will confirm the design with the sales engineer. If the design is not acceptable the customer will request changes to the design continue to change the design until it is to the customer's liking.  

The second swim-lane belongs to the role of the sales engineer. The sales engineer is the individual within the company who is in direct contact with the product and the individual who designs the product. When the sales engineer receives an inquiry form from the customer, the sales engineer creates a design to match the customer's specification and sends the design to the customer for approval and confirmation. The sales engineer creates a design schematic which is utilized throughout the production process. If the design is acceptable to the customer the design is confirmed and finalized by the sales engineer. At this point in the business process there are two activities that must be completed by the sales engineer. First the sales engineer must send the design schematic and supporting details to production so that the battery charger can be built. The sales engineer also must send the confirmed delivery date and address to logistics so that they are prepared to ship the product when it is completed. 

The third swim-lane pertains to the production role. These are the individuals who create the actual product. They are given the schematics by the sales engineer and send the finished product to quality control or QC. Quality control is in the fourth swim-lane. Quality control is the step between production and logistics. After the product has been completed by the production department, quality control tests the device to ensure that it is functioning properly and is ready to be sent to the customer.   

The final swim-lane before the completion of the business process is logistics. Earlier in the process, the sales engineer sent information and logistical details to the logistics department. This typically includes the timeline for the project and details about shipping. This is sent early one so that the logistics department is prepared to handle any work that they must complete to ensure that the product is delivered to the customer in a timely fashion. The sales engineer uses email to send notifications to the logistics department, so, the logistics department must access the email system in order to be up to date on their information and work. After the logistics department has been notified about an upcoming product, they prepare to process the product. Then, the product is delivered to logistics by quality control and the logistics department packs the product and delivers it to the customer which is the end of the sales process.    

Citation 

Kroenke, D. (2014). MIS Essentials (4th edition). Boston: Prentice Hall.