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To construct, test and illustrate a sophisticated and theory‐based architecture for analyzing business process management systems (BPMS) used for business process change.

Exploration of business process modeling‐based BPMS via a meta‐survey of academic and business literatures. Two main dimensions are used based upon semiotics and a block‐based BPMS pyramid architecture. Each block is a core technology required for the functioning of the BPMS and include: the subject being modeled; the software formalism; the IT infrastructure; the modeling language and notation; and the underlying technical infrastructure.

Theoretically explains and empirically illustrates each core technology in the proposed architecture then does the same for the architecture, its arrangement as a whole and its interrelationships. Recognizes the lack of a theoretical basis for business process modeling constructs and the dangers that this generates. Explains why automatic BPMS require formal construct transmission from subject modeled to modeling hardware and software.

The architecture's core technologies span numerous disciplines so each set of literatures introduces the component concepts and their bases but is not exhaustive.

This paper proposes a considerably more sophisticated framework for BPMS analysis than is currently available; it is theoretically and not just empirically based; it uses a novel method of theoretical justification concerned with the transmission of modeled properties and characteristics between several technological media; and it illustrates the innovative analytical use of this architecture and the practical use of BPMS with three different case vignettes.

Introduces the work of the UK's Manchester University Informatics Process Group on the full understanding of the control of systems. Suggests that a dialogue with workers with cybernetic interest could be promising.

Gives reports and surveys of selected current research and developments in systems and cybernetics. They include artificial intelligence, management cybernetics, social inclusion in the information society, biocybernetics, process management systems and innovations in systems and cybernetics.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework along with underlying propositions for the design and deployment of telemedicine projects which provide healthcare organizations with strategic benefits.

Field research conducted at four healthcare organizations along with academic literature in the areas of telemedicine and process management form the basis for the conceptual framework and propositions provided in this paper.

Telemedicine can be used as a process enabler for enhanced healthcare‐delivery systems. However, there are several challenges which must be considered prior to its implementation. The framework and propositions provided in the paper can be used to facilitate successful telemedicine project deployments.

The framework and propositions are derived from a small sample and must be validated through more rigorous empirical research studies.

The concepts presented in the paper can be used by healthcare planners to increase the likelihood of telemedicine deployment success within their organizations.

This paper begins to fill a void in the literature concerning how telemedicine can be used as a process enabler for improving healthcare‐delivery systems.

When a community of fifty thousand people have all their eggs in two baskets and one is dropped it is a serious matter, not only for the industry concerned but for all who live upon it indirectly. Especially is this so when geographical isolation makes it impossible for the worker to transfer to other employment when his job fails. Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, has experienced the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune on several occasions since liberation from German thraldom revived both hope and opportunity to make up the loss and deprivations of those five weary years. It has not been all plain sailing. In addition to starved soil, depreciated and often ruined buildings, and other drawbacks experienced in common with agriculturalists in other countries, Jersey has had her own problems, chief of which has been the Colorado Beetle. A legacy of German neglect, this pest had established itself so widely on the island that the first crop of potatoes raised after Liberation was not safe to be imported to England, and was therefore sold to France. This was unsatisfactory from a financial point of view, and so the following year the crop was taken up by the Army of Occupation on the Rhine. By the season of 1947 sufficient progress had been made in the elimination of the beetle to allow crops from unaffected areas to enter England, and once again normal trading, in so far as controls of all kinds would permit, was resumed. Jersey is a two‐crop island and potatoes must be succeeded by tomatoes if the highly‐priced land is to be made to pay for itself. So while the first of these crops was just paying its way, the second was expected to clear costs and to make the farmer or grower his profit. When it looked as though this might be possible this season the islanders came up against another, and quite unexpected, snag—too much fine weather. It may sound ungrateful to say this, in view of the many thousands of visitors which the continued sunshine brought to the island, and actually the farmer was glad enough to have the fine dry days in which to get his work done. But it reacted against him by bringing on his fruit too early and all at once, which meant that it arrived upon the market when there were still quantities of Guernsey and English glasshouse tomatoes as well as Dutch and other foreign‐grown available, and Jersey shipments were so heavy that they caused a glut. Where a grower is situated near an industrial or residential area he has the opportunity in such circumstances of disposing of at least part of his fruit as it ripens, by retail or direct sale, even if only to passers‐by. But on an island where three‐quarters of the population is engaged in growing tomatoes or in handling them in some way, everyone is soon sick of the sight of them and it is impossible to give them away if a glut occurs. That happened this summer when on two occasions of several days each it was necessary for the authorities to prohibit picking the fruit. The island crop must be gathered when it is first turning from green to yellow in order to allow it to ripen during the process of grading, packing and transit by sea and rail to the wholesale distributors, and thence via the retailer to the ultimate consumer. Therefore, when the position arose that the distributors could handle no more of the 12 lb. trays and the order went out that no more fruit should be picked there were many thousands of these containers en route between the farmsteads and the ships which awaited them at the quayside. All this fruit became useless within a matter of hours, and the only thing to do with it would have been to drive to a disused quarry or to the seashore and dump the lot, had it not been for the local canning factory. Jersey Canners Ltd. has been in existence from the early days of this century, but were not in a position to handle a great deal of produce until this year, when they were taken under the wing of the National Canning Co. Ltd., with Mr. S. W. Smedley in control. A great deal of this surplus was therefore taken over by this factory and converted into puree and sauce, as well as being canned whole. The development and processing of the fruit in this way is a story of its own, but perhaps the most interesting feature of this factory's work is that of the preparation of tomato juice on a commercial scale. This latter process, as apart from the more usual methods of dealing with the tomatoes, was due to the foresight of Mr. Smedley, who early this year visualised the possibilities of utilising any surplus crop and thus, when the position arose, was able to put upon the market the first tins of pure tomato juice ever to have been produced commercially outside of the U.S.A. To do this it was necessary to install an American pre‐heating vacuum pasteurising machine, but all other necessary mechanical appliances are British. These consist of endless belting, elevator, seamer, rotary cooker and cooler, and labelling machines. On arrival at the factory the fruit is conveyed from the lorries by roller belt to the elevator leading to the rotary washing machines. After thorough cleansing it passes on to a sorting belt, where diseased and immature samples are discarded and the remainder are stemmed by a small staff of women. The fruit is then fed automatically to the chopping machine and after treatment it experiences its first heating in the pasteuriser. This prepares it for the actual juice extraction, which is carried out in a machine which discards the cores, skins and seeds, and pumps the pure juice back into the pre‐heater, where it is pasteurised at a temperature of 180 degrees. After passing through this process the juice flows to the automatic filling machine, which handles 60 cans per minute, and so to the seamer, where the lids are sealed down before the cans pass into the cooker. This is an automatic rotary machine which ejects the cans after 15 minutes at a temperature, of 212 degrees. They are then cooled off for ten minutes in a cold water tank and set aside for labelling. The purely mechanical processes here described appear to make the preparation of tomato juice a simple matter. Actually, however, it is one requiring much investigation into the problems of fermentation, colouring, etc., beforehand, and careful attention to temperatures and timing of the various processes while in operation. Cooking of the juice is effected by steam with the cans in a vacuum, this process conserving the vitamin contents and the natural colouring of the juice, two most important features which would be sacrificed if the liquid was exposed to the light at a high temperature. The plant at present installed at Messrs. Jersey Canners Ltd. is capable of handling up to four tons of fruit per hour and has been turning out about 30,000 cases of assorted 16 oz. and 32 oz. cans per month during the height of the rush period. At that time the factory was working right round the clock with the aid of volunteer workers, many of whom put in time at night after their own day's work, in order to save as much as possible of the crop that would otherwise have been thrown away.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the business processes of a bank by considering a graphical and a descriptive view in order to find critical processes and to improve them.

A methodology with which the business processes are modeled based on the flow diagram (FD) and integrated definitions (IDEF0) techniques.

Detects the descriptive and graphical view of the main critical business processes of a bank. Allows to propose correct and effective improvements to them and considers different views and degrees of detail.

This study considers a static view of the processes. A future line of research includes the simulation of the critical business processes of the bank detected with the modeling techniques herein proposed.

The business process modeling techniques apply to one subsidiary of a bank company, and can thus be extended to all subsidiaries to compare their performance and to apply the improvements by considering global objectives.

This paper proposes a structured modeling to capture the critical business processes of a bank through well‐known techniques, such as the FDs and IDEF0, and helps compare and detect these relevant aspects for the bank.

Significant numbers of business process management (BPM) projects fail. Their failure is attributed toward many factors. Among them, low quality of BPM is one reason. Some of the tasks in BPM have their roots in business process reengineering (BPR). The literature has cited many different critical success and failure factors for quality BPM and BPR. Lack of software tools is one of the technology-oriented factors that results in poor BPM and BPR. This paper aims to build a generic feature set offered by software tools for process modeling their analysis implementation and management. It presents an objective analysis in identifying weaknesses and strengths of these tools, primarily for BPM.

A method is proposed to evaluate the quality of process reengineering and management delivered by software tools. It consists of four phases: feature extraction, tool selection, data extraction and tool evaluation.

The data gathered is quantified to test research hypotheses, the results are statistically significant and highlight multiple areas for future improvements. Moreover, the cluster visualizations created also help to understand the strengths and weaknesses of BPM/BPR tools.

Despite the research approach used, there is a chance of subjectivity when it comes to evaluating different tools.

The paper includes implications for practitioners and researchers for choosing appropriate software tool for process modeling, analysis, implementation and management, matching their requirements with BPM and BPR. It also identifies features that are missing in these tools.

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of BPM and supporting tools, relates them to key stages of BPM life cycle and BPR methodologies. It also identifies various areas for further development in these tools.