Thesis subject

Business Process Management in an Agri-Food Domain of Your Choice

A business process is a specific sequence of activities or steps for a company to produce its products or services. A well-organized and efficient business process leads to efficient companies and improved products, e.g., in terms of quality, cost reduction and sustainability. Different companies manage their businesses differently that varies from ad-hoc approaches to well-defined approaches. A well-defined approach involves the analysis, modelling, implementation, and management of business process.

A survey of business process modelling and management practices in the agri-food domain can highlight the state-of-the-practice, open issues, rooms for improvement and opportunities for research and development. In this assignment, you will investigate (a) the literature for the state-of-the-art, and (b) the business processes in a case study involving one or more agri-food companies.

Background

The management of business processes involves the identification of business processes, who are involved in the business process, what activities belong to the business processes and the flow of the activities. Some of the business processes, such as purchasing and sales, are generally standardized across diverse sectors and are generally well managed. However, there are many sector-specific business processes in which the processes are not well-documented, modelled, and managed. This is particularly the case in many agri-food domains.

    Objectives

    In this thesis, you are expected to select an agri-food sector (such as dairy, poultry, arable farming, green house or any other agri-food sector) which you have affinity with and identify one or more companies to do research at and address the following research questions:

    • RQ1: What are the key business processes in the selected agri-food domain?
    • RQ2: What is the state-of-the-practice in business process modelling and management for companies in the selected agri-food domain?
    • RQ3: What are the main issues in business process modelling and management in the selected agri-food domain?
    • RQ4: What approaches and solutions can be adopted for modelling and managing business processes in the selected agri-food domain?

      Tasks

      • To survey the literature for business process modelling and management in the selected agri-food domain using a Systematic Literature Review / Systematic Mapping Study methodology
      • To sketch out the state-of-the-art in terms of problems, adopted approaches and open challenges
      • To survey the state-of-the-practice and possible improvements in business process modelling and management for one or more companies of the selected agri-food domain.

        Literature


        Requirements

          Key words: Business Process Management in an Agri-Food Domain, Business Process Management

          Contact person(s)