Car Rental Process (Ned Kock)
“The business process starts with a customer filing a complaint online using a web-based system called RentalBot regarding problems with a car that the customer rented. The details of the complaint filed by the customer are stored in RentalBot. The floor manager of the rental company then downloads the information about the complaint using RentalBot, which for each complaint generates a (paper) form to be used for processing of the complaint. The floor manager then places the complaint forms in a box for later processing.
Once every week, the assistant manager of the rental company reviews each complaint form, using a manual containing several rules for reviewing complaints. Those rules have been devised so that certain complaints can be filtered out (e.g., complaints not related to car maintenance problems) before they progress any further in the business process. Once the assistant manager is finished reviewing the complaint forms, (s)he hand delivers the reviewed complaint forms to the rental company’s manager, briefly explaining why complaints should proceed in the process.
The rental car company’s manager then hand-delivers the reviewed complaint forms to the assistant maintenance manager, again briefly explaining why the complaints should be processed. The assistant maintenance manager is the main point of contact for the rental company’s manager in the company’s maintenance department, which is the organizational unit that processes reviewed customer complaints.
The assistant maintenance manager then, upon receipt of a reviewed complaint form, places the form in a box for processing by the quality control specialist. The quality control specialist is an employee who formerly worked for a software development company that owns and commercializes a computer system called SmartFleet. Smartfleet incorporates artificial intelligence algorithms that operate on predictive maintenance rules, which are both used and updated by SmartFleet based on each new complaint processed through the system and on details about previous maintenance activities. The algorithms allow the SmartFleet system to create a schedule of predictive maintenance activities (called ‘jobs’) that reduces maintenance costs to a minimum while also reducing the likelihood of future car problems occurring while the cars are with the customers of the car rental company.
The schedule of predictive maintenance jobs generated by SmartFleet is a printed set of pages (one page per job), organized according to the order of execution prescribed by SmartFleet. The quality control specialist then places those pages in a box with other predictive maintenance jobs. The box is located at the entrance of the workshop used by the maintenance department.
A team of mechanics then processes each predictive maintenance job. Upon completion of each job, the team enters the details about each completed job into a fleet maintenance details file, using a data entry screen of the SmartFleet computer system.”
Your Assignment
Make an activity/swimlane diagram (using Microsoft Visio) of the rental car maintenance process. Make sure that your diagram tracks all documents and document exchanges. Also ensure that the information systems RentalBot and SmartFleet have their own lanes as they are considered actors in the process.
(For help on making a Visio swimlane diagram, refer to Making Activity/Swimlane Diagram Guidelines – Detailed Version and/or Making Activity/Swimlane Diagram Guidelines – Quick Reference)
Why is the process as described inefficient and how can its efficiency be improved? Hint: do we need all actors? Can we eliminate some (or all?) of the paper? (Note: mechanics may like working from a piece of paper which they can take with them on the shop floor without having to be afraid of dropping, damaging or smudging it).
Make an activity/swimlane diagram (using Microsoft Visio) of the improved process.
Combine the results of 1, 2 and 3 in a Microsoft Word document and submit it as Assignment 2 into Canvas. (Note: to include a Visio diagram in a Word document, first save it as a *.png or *.jpeg image, then import the image into your Word document)
CLEARLY LABEL THE DIAGRAMS AS REPRESENTING THE ORIGINAL OR IMPROVED PROCESS!!
