Using Stocks and Flows Diagrams to Understand Business Process Behavior

Abstract

Business Process Modeling has traditionally focused on the activities and logic of how work is carried out. This is depicted through modeling notations like BPMN, which illustrate the sequence of activities, performers, and possible paths for each process instance. However, when measuring the performance of an organization and its processes, the aggregation of results from individual instances is often necessary. Unfortunately, these flows are not always smooth, as they may encounter variations, delays, accumulations, and other issues that can hinder expected performance levels. Therefore, understanding the behavior of business processes over time is crucial for improvement efforts. This paper demonstrates the use of stocks and flows diagrams for modeling business processes and simulating their behavior over time. Simulations aid in identifying critical points, removing bottlenecks, and enhancing overall process performance. We begin with a brief introduction to modeling business processes using stocks and flows diagrams, followed by a real-life case study in the healthcare sector, where stocks and flows models and simulations were employed to identify and resolve a problem.