Conception and Realization of a Process Management Cockpit to enhance Operational Excellence

Universität Ulm

MA Abschlussvortrag, Franz Sailer, Ort: Online, Datum: 01.09.2021, Zeit: 12:45 Uhr

In the light of growing competition and globalized markets, it is of utmost importance for companies to continuously improve their business processes. In particular, enhanced effectiveness and efficiency of operational processes along the corporate value chain contribute to the long-term success of a company while also increasing customer satisfaction. Said aspiration is referred to as Operational Excellence. A number of software tools have emerged for this purpose, either supporting single aspects of managing business processes or constituting generic end-to-end products. However, there are rarely solutions that address the specific needs of companies in realizing a continuous improvement cycle and are tightly integrated into the existing system landscape at the same time. This thesis presents a process management cockpit tailored to the individual requirements of industrial companies in the continuous improvement of their manufacturing processes. For close integration into the systems environment, the application is implemented based on a proprietary Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and commercial Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Techniques for monitoring and analyzing processes that originate from the Business Process Management (BPM) discipline are adapted to work with the data traces available in these systems. Thereby, two perspectives on the optimization of business processes are taken, one focusing on actual process execution and one assisting in process redesign. Features for organizing collaboration and project management on derived improvement actions as well as for gathering knowledge about business processes complement the core functionality. This way, the entire lifecycle of continuous improvement is digitally supported.