Business Process Architecture, Management, Modelling.

Assessment task

In this assessment item, you are required to maintain an online reflective blog/journal and write blog posts/entries based on academic articles. For writing each blog post, you will select one of the listed articles from the Additional Readings section of every week in the Moodle site. You will write a reflective blog post after reading how the article has helped you to learn the week’s topic.

Ensure that you write the blog post based on the correct article i.e. if you are writing Blog post 1(Business Process Architecture), then refer to the Additional Readings section of week 4 to choose an article since Business Process Architecture is covered in week 4. To find an article for Blog post 2, refer to the Additional Readings section of week 6 and so forth.

Please label the blog posts correctly i.e. provide the correct title. For example – the first blog post should be labelled “Blog post 1: Business Process Architecture”, the second one should be “Blog post 2: Business Process Management” and so forth.

Blog format

In your reflective blog post, you should demonstrate an ability to reflect on and learn from established practices in the nominated article and the weekly unit topic. You will write your blog post in the format as described below.

• Synopsis – this is a summary of the content of the article (should be objective);
• Critique – how well you think the author or authors address the article topic (should be objective) and should be supplemented with other views;
• Your reflection – how you think the article has assisted you in understanding the weekly unit topic (can be subjective as you are discussing your own learning). In writing the reflection, link the article to the weekly topic i.e. has it been helpful (or not) in enhancing your learning. Provide reasons.

It is advisable to structure your blog post in three paragraphs: Synopsis, Critique and Reflection. Do not create headings and subheadings as distinct paragraphs will suffice.

Note: You need to use correct Harvard reference citations for each blog to support your critique as you will be referring to other sources too. Refer to this guide for help with Harvard referencing.

The blog post should be free from typographical, spelling and grammatical errors.

You can complete your blog posts before the due dates but feedback will not be released until 2 weeks after the due date of each blog. No comment on your work will be posted on your blog for viewing by the general public.

Instructions for creating and registering your blog

A blog (or weblog) is a website where entries are made in reverse chronological order. It is perhaps the simplest and one of the most popular ways of producing a website. For more information about blogs, see the Wikipedia page for ‘blog’ or follow this link to see a video about blogs.

You will be using Mahara to create your blog. After creating the blog/journal and blog posts/entries in Mahara, you will subsequently need to create a Mahara page, embed the journal in it and create a secret URL. Steps for all of these can be found in the unit website on Moodle.

After following all the steps and completing your blog post, submit the Secret URL by pasting it into Moodle for marking and feedback.

In order to be able to submit your blog post as specified in the correct week, please create a new secret URL for every blog post and submit that in Moodle so your marker knows you have submitted.

Late submission penalties may be applied to blog posts that are submitted late. Any blog posts submitted 2 weeks after the submission date may not be marked. Hence, it is advisable to submit on time and adhere to the specified deadlines.

It is IMPORTANT that you:

— Conduct yourself professionally. Blogs that contain inappropriate material will not be marked;

–Ensure that your response is within a single blog post;

–Ensure that the title of your blog post includes the title as advised before.

All assignments will be checked for plagiarism (material copied from other students and/or material copied from other sources). If you are found to have plagiarised material or if you have used someone else’s words without appropriate referencing, you will be penalised for plagiarism which could result in zero marks for the whole assignment. In some circumstances a more severe penalty may be imposed as per University policy.

Useful information about referencing and avoiding plagiarism can be found at:

https://www.cqu.edu.au/student-life/services-and-facilities/referencing

Marking Criteria for the Blog Posts

0 marks will be given if you do not write the blog post based on an article from the given week.

Synopsis: This article makes attempts to identify and measure gaps so that they can link with their appropriate channel entities. Different plans for supply chain are therefore discussed so as to identify a “To Be” process model that supports new supply chain management configuration (Wang et al., 2010).

Critique: The authors have made huge attempts in defining and discussing the various new supply chain management models.

Reflection: This article, however, helps in identifying the various supply chain management models that could support the development process of the globalized businesses.

Synopsis: The article states that the Enterprise Architecture acts as a means to organize different business capabilities such that the structural and functional alignment could be achieved with no mutual interdependence on alignment.  Different thoughts and analysis under ZACHMAN, TOFAF, GERAM and E2AF has been discussed which gives a clear view of the contextual alignment in the external and internal environment of the organization (Magoulas et al., 2012).

Critique: On one hand this article offers a clear approach to the different thoughts and analysis under ZACHMAN, TOFAF, GERAM, and E2AF, on the other hand, it displays unclear thoughts about the same. This way confusion is created in the whole article under which the reader could not identify what exactly does this article wants to stress on.

Reflection: This article, however, offers an in-depth view and thoughts using different analysis that states that Enterprise Architecture provides complete guidance for the functional as well as the structural alignment of the organization. Also, the area of contextual alignment is considered as relatively simple and stable with no mutual interdependence between each other.

Synopsis: This article takes into consideration the increasing completion that has led to a fast change in the business environment and utter need to improve the adaptability of the business for long term sustenance and growth.  Therefore a proper enterprise architecture framework has been described which takes into account environment trends and supply chain sub processes to achieve improvement based on SCOR based analysis (Medini & Bourey, 2012).

Critics: This article lacks detailed analysis of framework after different result analysis. Therefore it lacks a description of the outcomes so that the readers can understand and evaluate the actual learning from the article.

Reflection: This article takes into consideration various result analysis and displays the most appropriate form of Enterprise Architectural Framework that could actually meet the requirements of the present day competitive business.

Synopsis: The article states that supply chain management has become the most vital practice in the globalized business world. The supply chain operations reference model offers a major framework so as to support the planning process for the purpose of re-engineering business process (Hertdog, 2014).

Critics:  The article gives no exact method that should be followed to devise and apply the new supply chain management model. Also, the constraints affecting the businesses are not discussed.

Reflection: This article offers a range of future process models that could fit the corporate strategies and targets in the long run.

Bibliography

Hertdog, C.D., 2014. Better value chains: A matrix for competitive advantage. Journal of Business Strategy, 35(5), pp.43-48.

Magoulas, T., Hadzic, A., Saarikko, T. & Pessi, K., 2012. Alignment in Enterprise Architecture: A Comparative Analysis of Four Architectural Approaches. Electronic Journal Information Systems Evaluation, 15(1), pp.88-101.

Medini, K. & Bourey, J.P., 2012. SCOR-based enterprise architecture methodology. International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing., 25(7), pp.594-607.

Wang, W.Y.C., Chan, H.K. & Pauleen, D.J., 2010. Aligning business process reengineering in implementing global supply chain systems by the SCOR model. International Journal of Production Research, 48(19), pp.5647-69.