ARIS Process Hierarchy

Question

We have been using ARIS for process modeling. When ARIS was first installed 3 years ago the IDS consultant suggestd that we go with a 4 level process hierarchy, as follows:
Level 1 Process Group (VACD)
Level 2 Scenario (EPC)
Level 3 Process (EPC column display)
Level 4 Process step (FAD)
Ann Rosenberg's modeling handbook (http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/ModHandbook/Process+Hierarchy) suggests a 6 level hierarchy as best practice. There are a few things I find confusing about this hierarchy. For example,
- Why are FAD diagrams not used in level 6 diagrams?
- How do business scenarios fit it and how are they similar to / different from process variants?
- How can chunks of processes be reused if each process variant drills down to its own EPC? The way we have it set up in the 4 level hierarchy above, each scenario is a sequence of processes, so processes can be reused. For example, scenario A is defined as process 1 > 2>3, whereas process B is defined as process 1 --> 3. In the handbook example, it looks like each process variant is a single VACD function, which to me implies the underlying EPC has to cover everything in that variant.
I am also concerned whether our 4 hierarchy would work as well when synchronizing to Solman. We haven't been doing the synchronization yet, but likely will in the near future. The IDS consultant told us it would work when it was installed.
If anyone has used the hierarchy in Ann's handbook could you point me to some examples and let me know how well iit's working? Also can you see any major deficiencies with the 4 level hierarchy that would compel us to switch to the handbook structure?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi
In our company we have a process oriented hierarchy and End to End processes.
Process oriented hierarchy
Level 0 - Global process map (VACD in ARIS, not in SOLMAN)   "Company map"
Level 1 - Main Scenarios (VACD in ARIS, Dummy scenario in SOLMAN) "Purchasing"
Level 2 - Scenario (VACD in ARIS, Scenario in SOLMAN) "Direct purchasing"
Level 3 - Process (EPC in ARIS, Process in SOLMAN)  "Create Purchase order"
Level 4 - Process step (Function with a FAD iin ARIS, process step in SOLMAN) "create P.O. output"
Level 5 - Guidelines/rules EPC or FAD in ARIS, not in SOLMAN)
Level 3 can have different variants and can be reused in different end to end scenarios.
Level 2,3 and 4 is synchr. with SOLMAN.
So far this is working well in supply chain and sales processes. We ancitipate some challenges (more levels/details) when we come to the finance processes.