Abstract

Designing Processes to Minimize Human Behavior Variability
During Process Execution

David F. Zarnow
Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems

Dr. Azad Madni, SDPS Fellow
Intelligent Systems Technology, Inc.

Abstract

The thesis of this paper is that if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a properly designed model is worth a thousand pictures. With this in mind, we discuss how process models with the appropriate semantics can eliminate ambiguity in process representation, and thereby minimize human behavior variability during process execution. We begin by illuminating the inherent shortcomings of using prose (i.e., textual narratives) to describe processes and demonstrate the advantages of designing and modeling processes at the right level of abstraction to achieve predictable outcomes with high confidence. We define the right level of abstraction as that level at which we can unambiguously convey the essence of the process from an execution perspective such that human variability during process execution is minimized. We then demonstrate the use of realworld process models to generate high-fidelity, risk-mitigated plans for consistent process execution - the fundamental purpose of process documentation. To illustrate how unambiguous plans can be created from process models, we employ the ProcessEdge Enterprise Suite, a process design, analysis and optimization toolset from Intelligent Systems Technology, Inc.

From:

Zarnow, D.F. and Madni, A.M., Proceedings of the Ninth World Conference on Integrated Design and Process Technology (IDPT 2006), San Diego, CA, June 25-30, 2006.