JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION - naspaa

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Introduction of Government Process Modeling With Rockwell Arena Software When agencies and nonprofits become players in networks of strategic alliances, the same principle applies. What ultimately matters to citizens is throughput — not how the outputs were produced. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is the art and science of designing automated processes that cross organizational boundaries within strategic alliances. The purpose of this article is to report the experiences of an instructor and MPA students while using Rockwell Arena software to create models and simulations of “business” processes for individual organizations, and the larger potential networks of strategic partners. The key assertion of this article is that MPA students should be made aware of the importance of designing and automating the “business processes” of agencies and nonprofit organizations, and that using Rockwell Arena software to do this is both valuable and feasible. Arena is a major modeling and simulation software application with an intuitive visual interface, and is used in industries, businesses, and government agencies. The following sections of this article include a background, explanations of Arena software and of the assignments, a discussion, and conclusions. BACKGROUND As Public Affairs scholars and teachers we tend to emphasize organizational structure and departmental functions rather than business processes. Scholars in Business Administration programs tend to place more teaching emphasis on the importance of business processes, partly because of a strong interest in operations research, logistics, and supply chains. “Functions” are specialized activities that usually are performed within single departments. Processes are sequences of activities that usually span multiple departments and perhaps multiple organizations (Harmon, 2007). This distinction is important because the optimization of functions at the expense of the design of processes can constrain the throughputs of an organization (Dettmer, 2007). Spencer (1999) observed that reengineering rejects the paradigm of separating tasks by function, by using technology to join tasks into connected, coherent processes. Hence, process orientation is a major challenge to the paradigm grounded in Adam Smith (2003), Max Weber (Andreski, 2008), and others. Our students need to see beyond bureaucracy and its functional subdivisions of work, to the inherent possibilities of process orientation, and beyond that, to service orientation. J. F. Forrester and J. W. Forrester (1969) anticipated the preparation of a new kind of manager with skills in modeling and organizational design. They compared the design of organizations to the design of aircraft, noting that it is unlikely for an airplane designed without modeling to be flown successfully. Herbert Simon (1969) advocated the development of design sciences within the social sciences. Shangraw, Crow, and Overman (1989) made the tie between the New Public Administration and the design (and redesign) of organizations. More recently, Anderson et al. (1994) noted that public managers need to 384 Journal of Public Affairs Education
Introduction of Government Process Modeling With Rockwell Arena Software appreciate the strategic possibilities that technology presents for creating or improving government processes. Dawes (2004) emphasized that MPA graduates need information technology (IT) savvy to help assure future alignment of public IT projects with agency objectives. She listed five major competencies for effective strategy and management of government information, including analytical skills. Within analytical skills, she included business-process analysis, information and work-flow analysis, and modeling techniques. NASPAA has affirmed that information is an important organizational resource in its own right, and that information management should be included in the MPA curriculum (White, 2007). Brewer, Neubauer, and Geiselhart (2006) maintained that it is important for public managers to know enough about IT systems so they can assure that technical professionals do not make the decisions that managers should make regarding the design of e-government applications. Hammer and Champy (1993) championed business process reengineering (BPR) efforts as the key to efficiency, effectiveness, and successful automation of processes. Economist Ronald Coase (1937) recognized that new information technologies can reduce external transaction costs (Downes & Mui, 2000), and anticipated the implications of reduced external transaction costs from outsourcing, as well as the downsizing of organizations. These insights serve to anticipate the observations by O’Toole (1997) and others — that networks of strategic alliances among organizations are becoming increasingly important in the performance and delivery of public services. Traditionally, we have placed more emphasis on the implications of bureaucratic structures than we have on the dynamics of processes and networks of associations. We generally placed more emphasis on relationships involving authority than we did on the means by which work is completed through cooperation, coordination, and emergence. Modeling and computer simulations can be a way to approach the challenge of helping students understand processes and networks as complex dynamic systems. A model of a business process is a static representation of activities that reflects how work is performed. A computer simulation of a model provides a dynamic visual representation of an “alternative future” that can lead to virtual, vicarious learning experiences. The initial creation of a model is a learning activity. Multiple observations of simulations using the model can lead students into iterative learning experiences as they identify problems in the simulations that would not have been recognized in the static model. Koliba (2004) writes of the importance of MPA students being engaged in reflective writing assignments regarding their studies and their relevant employment experiences. Computer simulations can become a context for learning about which students have the ability to reflect and write. Simulations can produce unexpected outcomes, and they do not always produce the same outcomes when run repeatedly. Journal of Public Affairs Education 385
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EDITOR’S NOTE REFERENCES Henry, N
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the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
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Public Values As a Core Element of
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