Project B

The main deliverable of this assignment is an HTML or PDF file with the same structure as this one (add your name and student ID instead of this paragraph). Do not use a font smaller than 10 (for an HTML file, do not specify a font size). All the required files should be put into a zip file which is to be deposited into the digital dropbox by Saturday October 22nd, midnight. This assignment is worth 20% of the final mark.

1. About the Petri net of Project A

Project A asked for a representation of the process described page 6 of the book. Below is a representation in PNLF and then in PIPE of this process except that the condition in Task 10 has not been taken into account: the "if" part of "provision of emergency measures if approved as part of Task 8" has been ignored. Your first exercise is to represent this "if" part explicitely (using transitions and places) to force Task 10 to wait for the result of Task 8 if Task 8 is run. My own solution involves adding 1 transition, 1 place and 4 arcs; may be you will find another solution. In your answer, replace the following PNLF and image for the PIPE representation by your corresponding solutions (change the following PNLF/image and their layout as little as possible; this implies that you cannot re-use your own/previous PNLF for Project A, you have to start from the following PNLF and PIPE representation; when creating Petri nets in PIPE, save regularly and in different files since unexpected crashes may occur; the "export" menu of PIPE offers an easy way to create a BPM image of a Petri net). The XML version that PIPE uses for the following representation is accessible here. If you use an HTML file, keep this link. Your XML file in the zip file should be called "projectA_petriNet.xml".
Check your solution by using the "Simulation" and "State Space Analysis" features of PIPE.

/* Here, I tried to be close to the solution given page 62 of the book.
   References beginning by "*c" and "*t" get their names from those used
   page 62 of the book. References beginning by "*d" (e.g. "*d5_ORsplit1") 
   are used for implicit ORs replacing the explicit ORs (e.g. "t5")
   page 62 of the book. The other place references begin by "*p".
   The other task references begin by "*ntd" ("ntd" is for "nothing to do").   
*/

(claim *c1 @)->[recording_the_receipt_of_the_claim *t1]
  ->(claim_receipt_recorded *c2)->[establishing_the_type_of_claim *t2_ANDsplit1]
    { ->(the_policy_should_be_checked *c3)->[checking_the_policy *t3]
        ->(policy_checked *c5)->[collecting_results_of_checkings *t5_ANDjoin1],
      ->(the_premium_should_be_checked *c4)->[checking_the_premium *t4]
        ->(premium_checked *c6)->[*t5_ANDjoin1]
    };
  [*t5_ANDjoin1]->(payments_up_to_date_and_policy_covering_claim? *d5_ORsplit1)
    { no->[producing_a_rejection_letter *t6]->(end_of_the_process *c20_ORjoin1),
      yes->[open_files_needed_for_claim_reimbursement *t5b_ANDsplit2]
    };
  [*t5b_ANDsplit2]
    { ->(claim_details_collected *c8)->[estimating_the_amount_to_be_paid *t7],
      ->(damage_details_listed *c9)->[consideration_of_emergency_measures *t9]
    };
    [*t7]->(assessment_needed? *d7_ORsplit2)
      { no->[nothing_to_do *ntd8]->(damage_value_known *c12_ORjoin2),
        yes->[assessor's_appointment_and_work *t8]->(*c12_ORjoin2)
      };
    [*t9]->(emergency_measures_needed? *d9_ORsplit3)
      { no->[nothing_to_do *ntd10]
             ->(emergency_measures_dealt_with_if_needed *c19_ORjoin3),
        yes->[provision_of_emergency_measures *t10]->(*c19_ORjoin3)
      };
    (*c12_ORjoin2)->[establishment/revision_of_amount_to_pay_the_client *t11]
      ->(amount_to_pay_established *c13)
         ->[recording_of_the_client's_reaction *t12];
            ->(acceptance_by_client_of_the_amount_to_be_paid? *d12_ORsplit4?)
               { yes->[payment_of_the_claim *t15],
                 no->[assessment_of_the_client's_objection *t13]
                      ->(take_legal_proceedings? *d13_ORsplit5)
                         { no->[nothing_to_do *ntd13]->(*c12),
                           yes->[taking_legal_proceedings *t14]
                         }
               };
        [t14]->(payment_of_the_claim? *p14_ORsplit6)
          { yes->[payment_of_the_claim *t15b],
            no->[nothing_to_do *ntd15]
                 ->(end_of_claim_reimbursement_handling *c17_ORjoin6)
          };
    [close_files_of_claim_reimbursement *t16_ANDjoin2and3]
      { <-(*c19_ORjoin3),
        <-(*c17_ORjoin6)<-[*t15],
        ->(*c20_ORjoin1)
      }.

2. Soundness, Liveness, Boundedness, Safety

Run PIPE, go through the menus "File" - "Example nets" - "Readers & Writers.xml", and use the "State Space Analysis" feature of PIPE on this Petri net. Insert a reachability graph of this Petri net in this section (you can use a GIF/BPM/... image or do it in a textual form using strings such as "---->" for the arcs). Demonstrate the properties of this Petri net regarding "soundness", "liveness", "boundedness" and "safety" (in the order you wish). If the book does not give you enough guidance to solve this exercise, you can find the needed complementary information on the Web and also in your nearest university library.

3. Process re-engineering

Consider the process described pages 263-266 of the book and described in a Petri net page 341 of the book. Select a portion of the Petri net (with no less than 8 tasks) that will permit you to show that you can apply and combine a maximum number of process redesign/reengineering techniques described throughout the material for this course and especially those described in the sections 4.4 and 4.5 of the book. The page 125 of the book summarizes some guidelines for your selection.

You should describe your selected subprocess before and after its redesign in order to explain which changes are made and why. Thus, for the subprocess before your redesign and for the subprocess after your redesign, you should:
1) quickly use the elements you have already used in Project A if they are relevant for your explanation: WSF elements, resource classifications (you do not have to use a textual notation), user/client/management concerns, CSFs (performance variables, ...);
2) give a PNLF representation and an image of a PIPE representation (you should also give the associated XML representations in the zip file; use the names "before.xml" and "after.xml"; if you use an HTML file, point to them from it; use long explicit names for the places and the transitions, both in the PNLF and in the PIPE representation; in the PNLF, use the same naming-conventions-for-variables that I used above (for my representation "to be close to to the solution given page 62 of the book"); in the PIPE representation, concatenate the type name and the variable name used in the PNLF, as in "claim_receipt_recorded__*c2" and "collecting_results_of_checkings__*t5_ANDjoin1"; despite these long names and despite the fact that you have to use implicit OR splits whereas the book use explicit OR splits, try as much as possible to keep the same relative layout for your transitions and places as the one used page 341 of the book (that is an important requirement); check your solutions by using the "Simulation" and "State Space Analysis" features of PIPE);
3) give "Business Process Characteristics" and "Capacity Requirements" (see the figures 4.30, 4.32, 4.33 and 4.34 of the book);
4) use all other techniques you think are relevant.

Be technical, not long/verbose. However, after all this, write a very small "report to the direction of Somewhere university" that summarizes the changes that you suggest (two or three paragraphs are sufficient).

Since the book does not provide any information about the volume of work that the travel agency has to process nor the times involved in this processing, see below for some data that can be used to provide a standard framework of measures. The indicated times are based on working days of 8 hours and a 5-day working week. These data are not exhaustive nor mandatory: you may add to them or alter them if you wish to.