Alaska Airlines

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Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines Exercise
Introduction
Coordination
Dependencies
Representation
Specialization
Innovation
Summary

• Process analysis tools
• January 1999

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Alaska Airlines introduction
Alaska Airlines Exercise
Introduction
Coordination
Dependencies

• A simple process example
• In this exercise we are working backwards from a
  solution.
• The article describes technology-enabled
  solutions with which Alaska Air is experimenting.
• We will investigate the process implications of
  these solutions.

Representation
Specialization
Innovation
Summary
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Process analysis for Alaska Air
Alaska Airlines Exercise
Introduction
Coordination
Dependencies

• A simple approach
• Describe (or represent) the process
• Analyze (or diagnose) its variety
• Consider process dependencies to understand
  potential business innovations

Representation
Specialization
Innovation
Summary
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Review a perspective on coordination
Alaska Airlines Exercise
Introduction
Coordination
Dependencies

• What is coordination?
• A business can be described as a series of steps
  that repeat over and over i.e., a process
• Some steps produce a product or service
• The remainder coordinate production
• Simplified, coordination
• delivers the right thing
• at the right time
• to the right place
• and is another way of talking about management

Representation
Specialization
Innovation
Summary
5
Review Coordination
Alaska Airlines Exercise
Coordination managing dependencies among
activities
Introduction
Coordination
Coordination
Term
Explanation
Dependencies
Representation
Specialization
Innovation
Summary
These characteristics describe how one activity
in a business process depends on others that
occur around it. You will hear us refer to
these as dependencies between process activities.
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Alaska Airlines activity decomposition
Alaska Airlines Exercise
Introduction
Alaska Airlines
Coordination
Dependencies
Strategic goal
Name this step to define the strategic goal of
the business
Representation
Specialization
Innovation
Summary
Perform mid-level analysis to define the
components of the business
Define the steps in the process by naming the
activities below
Step1
Step2
Step3
Step4
Step5
Step6

• In groups, take 10 minutes to develop an activity
  decomposition hierarchy.
• Save your work in the directory k\temp\!!!!DOIT
• Be prepared to present your results.

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Alaska Airlines specialization analysis
Alaska Airlines Exercise
Introduction
Coordination
Alaska Airlines
Dependencies
how?
Representation
Specialization
Innovation
Summary
who?
Consider the different ways in which this process
varies.
See FedEx example
For each variation, consider how subactivities
compare and contrast.
Finally, consider key dimensions of
specialization.

• In groups, take 10 minutes to develop a
  specialization analysis.
• Save your work in the directory k\temp\!!!!DOIT
• Be prepared to present your results.

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Analyzing a Process - Specializations
Alaska Airlines Exercise
Introduction
The idea of process specializations assists in
understanding major variations that exist within
a business For example, consider the different
ways in which people may want to submit FedEx
packages some customers may wish to go to a
FedEx office others may wish they didnt have to
Coordination
Dependencies
Representation
Specialization
Innovation
Summary
Federal Express
Transport package
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Process innovation - Dependency analysis
Alaska Airlines Exercise
Introduction
You can use the idea of dependencies to focus on
potential business innovations. For example,
consider different ways to manage usability
manage prerequisites or sequencing manage
(information) accessibility
Coordination
Dependencies
Representation
Specialization
Innovation
Summary
Alaska Airlines
Usability
Prerequisites
Accessibility
Trade-off matrix
Specialization 1
Specialization 2
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Summary
Alaska Airlines Exercise
Introduction
Coordination

• This exercise had three parts
• Representing and describing the process
• Diagnosing process specializations
• Analyzing process dependencies to understand
  potential business innovations
• I hope it has provided a useful hands-on
  introduction to the process perspective used by
  this course.

Dependencies
Representation
Specialization
Innovation
Summary