This Guest paper was submitted for publication and is copyright to Angelo Baratta, © 2013
published here February 2015.
Much of the material in this paper was first published on line at: www.projecttimes.com/ articles/understanding- the-chemistry-and- physics-of-change-part- 1-the-physics.html

Introduction | Business Process 1.0: All About the Parts 
Business Process 2.0: All About Your Functional Neighbours
Business Process 3.0: Is Your Problem Solvable? | Understanding Unsolvable Problems

Business Process 3.0: Is Your Problem Solvable?

So, what is a Business Process 3.0 problem? BP 3.0 problems can't be solved within the current paradigm. Trying to solve them from inside only makes the problem worse. So first, we have to know that we have a BP 3.0 problem.

Here is an example of one. Imagine the following situation: There exists a city. In this city everyone works downtown but lives away from downtown. This city is unique in that it is built along a linear corridor. Its citizens live closely around that corridor, but they all work in a central location at the end of the corridor as shown in Figure 1 below. This arrangement, by the way, is quite a common one.

Figure 1: Corridor living connected to working downtown
Figure 1: Corridor living connected to working downtown

In order to help the citizens get to work quickly, the city builds a subway along a five-kilometer stretch where people live. Initially a single train running back and forth is enough to handle the volume. Here are some facts about that subway.

  1. 5 km of track: It is five kilometers long from point A to point B.
  2. 10 min round trip: It takes the subway 5 minutes to go from point A to point B, and five minutes to go the other way. So a round trip takes 10 minutes.
  3. 1,000 people/trip: The subway can carry 1,000 people per one‑way trip. People travel from A to B in the morning and B to A in the evening rush. At 10 minutes per trip, the subway carries 6,000 people per hour, since it can make six, ten-minute trips per hour.
  4. $1.00 per person per trip: The city has determined that it needs to charge people $1.00 per trip to cover all expenses – to break even. So subway revenue is $6,000 per hour during the work hours – no other traffic.

The city enjoyed this situation for a number of years, but over those years it grew. So now its citizens live along a ten (10) kilometer corridor. The city has decided to expand the subway another 5 kilometers to serve the new citizens. So now it stretches over 10 kilometers. Here are the new facts:

  1. Subway stretches 10 kilometers instead of 5 (twice as much).
  2. It now takes 10 minutes to make a one-way trip from A to B (twice as much).
  3. There are now 12,000 people per hour that need to get to work, twice as much as before.
  4. The subway can still only take on 1,000 passengers per trip. We need to add more trips.

The city needs to increase its subway capacity (# of trains and personnel) for this new situation. Here are some questions:

  1. By how much should it increase capacity (e.g. 20%, 100%, 200%, etc.)?
  2. What does the city need to charge passengers along the new 5‑kilometer stretch to break even given that new costs are directly proportional to the increase in capacity, and the city does not want to change the fare for those within the original 5‑kilometer corridor?

Once you work out the answers you will discover the essential characteristic of a BP 3.0 problem, which we'll discuss later after you've worked on this problem! You should only need about 5 – 10 minutes to work out the math.

Business Process 2.0: All About Your Functional Neighbours  Business Process 2.0: All About Your       Functional Neighbours

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