Process Integration
For this paper, the writer has to use the template use for my previous papers of past week in business.
The writer has to make sure she follows the template strictly including and abstract page, headers as in
the template and also [age numbers following APA 6th edition format. The paper has to be 5 full pages
minimum excluding title and reference pages. The references must also contain the doi for all articles
where require.
Process Integration Case Study
In today’s unpredictable global business environment, organizations must be laterally integrated so that
customer requirements are accurately translated into the designs, products and services. However,
changing a traditional organization to a process-centric model can prove to be a complex and challenging
task.
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McAdam and McCormack state, “Organisation structures change to suit their environment and to enable
strategic decisions.” (McAdam & McCormack, 2001)
� How well is McAdam and McCormack’s proposition borne out by the evidence from the various
companies they surveyed, and in particular from Nortel Networks?
� To what extent does the evidence assembled by Cagliano, Caniato, and Spina suggest that, to be
successful, external integration strategies need to be supported by internal integration within the firm?
What lessons does this have for the businesses discussed by McAdam and McCormack?
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Introduction
Nowadays, because of technology businesses are changing the way they conduct their
businesses. Technology, even though has brought many changes, it has also contributed to a
number of challenges in running business. Integration and orientation of new business models
has as well become more challenging and complex in this era. Business process integration and
management influences various business areas and one of them is supply chain management.
The business framework consists of various aspects such as means and ways of operations,
people, organization, data and system expected to balance and to work together for the
achievement of the common goal. The author deliberates on various aspects relating to process
integration by identifying areas that business process integration and management can influence
supply chain management. McAdam and McCormack propositions are as well integrated in the
discussion as we as evidence by Cagliano, Caniato, and Spina as well as lesson learned.
In any organization and especially in management of supply chain, all stakeholders
should work together to achieve common goal. For this to be achieved, they need to have a plan
and control mechanisms of business process integrated. The case study of Nortel Networks
Corporations that focused on supply chain integration and market repositioning indicated that
companies gained a competitive edge by integrating their supply chain processes (McAdam &
McCormack, 2001).
Any supply chain management that can be successful is that that does not manage
individual functions but rather integrates all activities into key supply chain processes. In the
modern world today, businesses must remain agile and flexible. This will ensure that the
company manages to deal with the current dynamic and ever changing environments of doing
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business. Nowadays, products and services keep on changing and it becomes important for any
company or organization to always meet the expectations and requirements of customers.
Customers have as well become flexible and they will buy the products or services that meet
their needs. Therefore, the concept of Business process management (BPM) comes into play as
entities seek to meet and address the needs of the ever-changing customer perspectives.
Having basic knowledge and understanding of the functioning of supply chain strategies
and their association with internal manufacturing is essential (Caglianoi, Caniato & Spina, 2006).
If proper integration of external strategies is lacking, it is definitely going to be hard to achieve
successful internal integration in a company. This, therefore, means that, the people responsible
must ensure that all the stakeholders and issues affecting supply chain management are put into
consideration. Businesses as well should not put their focus on process integration only by
looking at the internal point of view. This is as well highlighted in the McAdam and McCormack
study. Avoiding this will help the supply chain management processes consider external forces
that may affect negatively on the achievement of the goals and objectives of the organization.
Business management processes is a technique that have found its applicability in
business. The concept involves use of IT supported business operations to manage and execute
business strategies from a business expert and not technical perspective. Methods, techniques
help in designing, enacting control and in analyzing of the operational processes that involve,
organizations, humans, documents, applications and other value source of information.
Therefore, it gives a business an upper hand through the various insights in running and
operating a business better.
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In execution of business process, the business process management systems usually in
application covers two layers including business processes and resources. The business is
limited in terms of their capability or extend they can access to their own resources. It is
important, that even if resources are available, parties with vested interest understand the
different ways to retrieve information such as data warehousing and query processing. This
means that not all information retrieved is appropriate and it become prudent to search relevant
information that suits the context.
Organizational architecture varies from one another and is developed through processes
to help entities manage effectively their transition challenges. Some architecture are based on
four key aspects that make up their businesses. The major aspects include strategy, structure,
communications and culture. Structure need to adapt new process that takes place in an
organization. Strategy is the techniques that the entities have decided to adopt to enable them
achieve their objectives. The strategy therefore should provide guideline on how and where the
entity is going. Culture is the way the organization carries its daily activities and interacts with
the stakeholders. Culture need to enable the entity to achieve its goals and objectives and should
not be deterrence. Communication is yet another important aspect that any organization cannot
do without. Effective communication creates cohesion and allows the stakeholders to work well
to achieve the goals of the entity. Vision and missionand objectives of any entity are conveyed
through communication (Gershon, 2009). Therefore, through effective communication, it is easy
for an entity to achieve its goals and aims.
Organizations have different structures. Some have centralized departments while others
have decentralized departments and this affects the decision making process. Centralized and
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decentralized departments provide a vital point for strategic managers to make decisions
pertaining to their operations. Depending on the way the decisions are made, it is essential to
ensure that parties in decision making agree to minimize any risks and complexities in their
business operations.
Ontology based Business process management systems has one more layer that describes
business processes and resources systematically. The major reason of the three-layered
architecture in integrates business processes with different Business process management
systems. They therefore, provide relevant services and functionalities of processes.
Different entities use different types of information systems such as CRM, ERP and
Workflow Management in support of their execution of business processes (Cabral, Norton &
Domingue, 2009). These information systems have the capability to store information or data on
the previous transactions. Information stored is used as starting point for process mining (PM)
and reverse business engineering (RBE). These two techniques help in analysis of process
models and processes hence complement each other. Process mining helps to come up with
similar types of analysis that includes execution of the processes, the organization model for a
specific process and the areas that have bottlenecks (Cabral, Norton, and Domingue, 2009). On
the other hand, reverse business-engineering focuses on scenario-based analysis using predefined
business questions such as Continuous Improvement and As-Is-Analysis.
Semantic Web Services (SWS) technologies allow integration of various applications at
semantic level (Hepp, Leymann, Wahler, and Fensel (2005). Furthermore, the technologies
based ontologies provide scalable materials and ways for the machine-readable representation of
knowledge. SWS furthermore, use SW technologies to support the automated discovery,
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composition, substitution and execution of software components such as Web services business
process management is as well considered as natural application for SWS and SW technologies
hence its implementation and adaptation is critical factor in many entities across the globe.
Benefits of Process Integration
Process integration is very important in these modern days. The environment of doing
business keep on changing and it is important for the organizations structure to remain flexible.
Integrating supply chain may be as well complex as it requires greater focus, hard work and
commitment to ensure that internal and external process are integrated. When supply chain is
integrated effectively, the company has an opportunity to accrue various benefits.
Some of the benefits of integrating supply chain include; the organization is able to
reduce its inventory from 25 to 60. This is beneficial as it helps the organization to reduce its
costs of operation hence increasing its profitability. The organization has as well the capability
to make improvements in its fulfillment cycle from 30 to 50 percent (Varma, Pawan & Angelo,
2008). The company as well is able to improve in its forecast accuracy from 25 to 80 percent,
reduces supply chain costs from 24 to 50 percent and improves in its overall productivity form
10 to 16 percent. Therefore, McAdam and McCormack surveys allow one to learn various
lessons. It is important for entities to be flexible in their operations, as this will enable them to
achieve their objectives. Situations of doing business keep on changing and this requires
adjustments and flexibility.
Conclusion
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Process integration is a concept that many organizations have embraced. The concept
allows entities to improve in their operations as they liaise with the various stakeholders. The
concept specifically has helps to improve supply chain managements of various organizations.
The decision making process is as well improved with process integration hence adding value to
the organization. McAdam and McCormack arguments and evidence from their surveys from
Nortel Networks supports the need for structures to change to suit their environment and to help
reach strategic decisions. It is also very important that internal and external integration strategies
support each other to ensure achievement of objectives and goals. Therefore, this discussion
enhances our understanding of the operations and the functioning of business more so when it
comes to integration of processes.
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References
Cabral, L., Norton, B. and Domingue, J. (2009). The business process modelling ontology. In:
4th International Workshop on Semantic Business Process Management (SBPM 2009),
Workshop at ESWC 2009, 1 June 2009, Crete, Greece.
Cagliano, R., Caniato, F., and Spina, G. (2006). The linkage between supply chain integration
and manufacturing improvement programs, International Journal of Operations &
Production Management, Vol 26(3), pp282-299.
Gershon, Richard A (2009). Telecommunications and business strategy. New York:
Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group.
McAdam, R., and McCormack (2001). Integrating business process for global alignment and
supply chain management, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 7(2) pp.113-130.
Varma, Arup, Pawan S. Budhwar, and Angelo DeNisi (2008). Performance Management
Systems a Global Perspective.. Hoboken: Taylor & Francis.
