11.07.2015 Views

journal of public affairs education - NASPAA *The Global Standard ...

journal of public affairs education - NASPAA *The Global Standard ...

journal of public affairs education - NASPAA *The Global Standard ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Introduction <strong>of</strong> Government ProcessModeling With Rockwell Arena S<strong>of</strong>twareBruce J. NeubauerAlbany State UniversityShelley K. StewartSaint Leo UniversityABSTRACTStudents in a core Master’s <strong>of</strong> Public Administration (MPA) course were taught tomodel and simulate selected business processes <strong>of</strong> government agencies andnonpr<strong>of</strong>its with Rockwell Arena s<strong>of</strong>tware. Each student or pair was asked todocument an existing government process, in order to model and simulate avariation <strong>of</strong> the process, with a goal <strong>of</strong> improving service quality and/or loweringcosts. Students found it challenging to make the transition from a simple model,taught as an example, to modeling and simulating real processes on the computer.Experiences are reported and suggestions are provided to others who may want touse Arena s<strong>of</strong>tware to introduce process modeling into the Public Affairs andAdministration curriculum.GOVERNMENT PROCESS MODELING WITH ARENA SOFTWAREStudents in Master’s <strong>of</strong> Public Administration (MPA) programs are preparingto enter complex and dynamic working environments. It is becomingincreasingly important for those working in <strong>public</strong> <strong>affairs</strong> to understand bothorganizational structures and the “business” processes <strong>of</strong> agencies and nonpr<strong>of</strong>itorganizations. The automation <strong>of</strong> processes is common. Information systemsserve as a foundation for automated processes that span the functional(departmental) structures <strong>of</strong> large organizations. When information systems aredesigned to support the needs <strong>of</strong> specific departments, rather than entireprocesses, large organizations are likely to perform efficiently at thedepartmental level, but then perform poorly in terms <strong>of</strong> enterprise processes.Our students need to learn how to identify “business processes” and understandthe basic trade<strong>of</strong>fs involved in designing them. The general insights needed todesign processes are the same, regardless <strong>of</strong> sector.JPAE 15(3): 383–395 Journal <strong>of</strong> Public Affairs Education 383

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!