Before you start developing

The “Developing with Comm’ant X” section is specifically for users of the Comm’ant Business Process Management system who are responsible for setting up and maintaining the content of the information.

Requirements for developers using ‘Developing with Comm’ant X’

• We assume that you have completed the Comm’ant X Kick/Start training for Developers
• We assume that you have studied the Getting started with Comm’ant X section and that you are familiar with the various navigation options and associated terminology.
• We also assume that you are familiar with Comm’ant’s integral process model and the SIPOC model for information flows (Supplier > Input > Process > Output > Customer).

Developing with Comm’ant

Developers are responsible for setting up the Comm’ant system. They fill the system with the process information of the organization, create the various objects and link them together and organize all information into logical groups.

Only a web browser is required to develop with Comm’ant. The information is processed online in the system in real time and is immediately available to the other users of the system.

Developing process descriptions is in principle a team effort. Several persons are involved to collect the information and to further shape the design of the processes. These ingredients create a whole in which the processes connect to each other.

The size and complexity of organizations are often the reason to appoint several persons to prepare the process description for their part of the organization. There is then collaboration on one total model of the organizational processes and the links between the internal processes are made clear and then elaborated.

There are common parts or objects that the entire organization has to deal with or that can best be arranged in advance.

Examples of this are:

• the terminology in the glossary
• the list of function names
• the roles (e.g. Process manager, Process owner, Process expert: what does that mean)
• the elementary grouping of processes and associated group structure.

Consultation and coordination about definitions and conventions, which lead to a good basic design, ensure that all developers or owners will carry out their work with the same set of principles.

If you ensure a good basic design of these components right from the start, the continuation of describing the processes and the implementation will run smoothly.

In this preparation, the deployment of experienced Comm’ant consultants is a welcome addition to your organization. They bring knowledge and experience to your team and work as an intermediary and sounding board to ensure that discussions come to a good result. This promotes a good start as well as embedding the method within the organization.