We would like to know if from the standard EPC method, the following questions make sense.
- In EPC, is it allowed to use objects like Roles (like Employees for example) to trigger/start an EPC instead of an event or a process interface?
- Does it make sense to create event/Triggers objects as start of an EPC, with the same name than an Input/output of that process shown in the VACD?
- Is it allowed to use an IT tool as a trigger of an EPC?
- In EPC, is it allowed to use External Supplier objects as the one used in VACD?
Many thanks in advance for your support.
Best regards,
Lucía
Hello,
here are some considerations and recommendations.
In EPC, is it allowed to use objects like Roles (like Employees for example) to trigger/start an EPC instead of an event or a process interface?
Roles or actual persons are the agents in processes. They do not cause them. The cause for a process to happen is an event, that generally coincides with a certain "need" (e. g. an order received) and its goal is the satisfaction of that need (e. g. order fulfilled). Look at your process from that black box view first, before you go into the details of describing it.
Does it make sense to create event/Triggers objects as start of an EPC, with the same name than an Input/output of that process shown in the VACD?
In a certain sense: yes. The receipt of an order is an event, that happens. At the same time "order, received" is the initial state of the "order" object that the process generates value for and "order, fulfilled" is its final state. You may use the "Object state" symbol of the "product/service" object type for that. During process execution it is common not to model every single object state (since the state changes after every step), but to use a stateless object of type "Cluster/data model", which you would call "order" in my example.
Is it allowed to use an IT tool as a trigger of an EPC?
I would not recommend that. IT tools either are agents in the processes (they perform steps fully automated) just like the roles or they support the agents in performing. Otherwise an IT tool is a piece of software. But your process is not triggered by software, but by needs (that might be expressed as digital messages).
In EPC, is it allowed to use External Supplier objects as the one used in VACD?
An external supplier may play a "role" in your process. Don't invest in modelling the supplier's process. Anything the supplier does for you should be defined through the interfaces with the supplier. You might link the interfaces to the object states you deliver to the supplier's step as input and the object state you expect from the supplier as output. How the supplier does it (his process) is a black box for you.