Database Reference
In-Depth Information
An Order Fulfi llment Example
Figure 2 provides an order fulfi llment process as an example of an inter-organiza-
tional process. Participating organizations include an online store (outsourcing company)
and a transportation company (insourcing company), which respectively operate an order
handling process model and product delivery process model. PM
1
and PM
2
denote these
process models.
In what follows, the overall order fulfi llment process is described. When a customer
places an order to purchase a product from the online store using her credit card (A
1,1
), order
handling process PM
1
checks the credit card (A
1,2
). If the credit card is valid, PM
1
notifi es
the customer that the product will be shipped (A
1,3
) while it sends a delivery request to the
transportation company (A
1,4
). Note that A
1,4
in PM
1
is a process activity that stands for remote
process model PM
2
and thus A
1,4
is suspended until PM
2
returns a delivery result.
Meanwhile, upon receiving the delivery request (A
2,1
), product delivery process PM
2
picks up the ordered product at the online store's warehouse (A
2,2
), ships it to a branch near
the shipping address (A
2,3
), and fi nally delivers it to the customer (A
2,4
). As shown in Figure
2, A
2,3
can be omitted (as shown in the solid arrow from A
2,2
to A
2,4
) or iteratively executed
(the solid arrow from A
2,3
to A
2,3
), depending on the shipping address and the company's
transportation network. If the product cannot be delivered at A
2,4
because of the customer's
absence, PM
2
rearranges the delivery plan to execute A
2,4
again (A
2,5
). When the product
is damaged during transportation at A
2,3
or A
2,4
, the transportation company reimburses the
cost (A
2,6
) and exchanges the damaged product with a new one (A
2,2
). After successfully
delivering the product to the customer, a delivery result is sent to PM
1
(A
2,7
) and then PM
1
completes the order (A
1,5
).
If the transportation company provides the online store its detailed process status for
product delivery, the online store can improve the operational effi ciency and customer ser-
Figure 2: Order fulfi llment example
