ERP Modeling - Theory

Theory

A Global Business Process Model is created which represents the whole ERP software product. This model is layered in 3 deeper levels.

  • The first level is the System Configuration Level, which scopes on high-level optionality on the entire system. Option definition is therefore static: once a high-level option of the ERP system is chosen to be used within the organization, the choice cannot be made undone.
  • One level deeper is the Object Level, which scopes on single data objects. The optionality on this level is more dynamic.
  • The deepest level is the Occurrence level, which analyses single process occurrences. Because this level elaborates on object parameters, the optionality is very dynamic, meaning that options can easily be altered.

The meta model below depicts the optionality levels of ERP modeling.


The optionality leveling is used to reverse engineer the ERP system and the organizational structure to its full extent. Once properly mapped, both aspects are fully alignable or at least compatible to be matched.

The correct way to align both ERP and organizational models is as follows:

  1. Convert the ERP system database to an object model
  2. Construct a global business process model
  3. Identify the system configuration-level business process alternatives
  4. Identify the object-level variants of the business processes
  5. Expose the occurrence-level business process options

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