A process and procedure documentation framework for financial services operations in MediaWiki : a critical evaluation

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A business process framework was constructed to assist companies in the FinancialService industry to rapidly gain control over their business procedure documentationproblem. The requirement owed from an existing engagement in which Plumb Line, atraining provider, had to provide generic training in the South African financial servicesindustry. In several instances the companies engaged in the generic training also had therequirement that their personnel were trained in specific business processes and procedures.This requirement was encapsulated in a MediaWiki platform that was developedand extended over four projects to support a rational and feasible approach to capturingand managing business procedures. The documentation approach was broadly based onISO 9001 principles and captured the various aspects of activities in organisation, process,system and risk centric views. This approach was encountered in previous projectsdone by the author in the aerospace and defense industry. In this industry the maintenanceoperator had to provide clear visibility to both internal and external stakeholdersabout roles, tasks and infrastructure that supported maintenance operations on Aircraft.This was typically done using a Maintenance Repair Organisation Exposition. Thisis a document structured around ISO 9001 principles. Despite its importance this documentwas quite compact and formed the basis for the idea of doing something similarfor the financial services operations department, i.e. the back office. The MediaWikiprovided stability and exibility and allowed for rapid prototyping of client training,documentation and risk management requirements.This thesis presents the approach followed and then evaluates whether the drawbacksof the MediaWiki approach and platform could be mitigated through extensions of theMediaWiki platform such as charting, risk mapping, document status tracking and othertools and whether there is value to be had by examining techniques from the SemanticWeb. Additionally the author investigates to what extent the final solution is appropriatefor the financial services industry. Finally an evaluation is done to evaluate whether theplatform is indeed ISO 9001 compliant. The conclusion is that the platform and solutionhas merit inasmuch as ISO 9001 does apply to the financial services industry and thatthe exibility and rapid prototyping allows for the accommodation of a wide range of requirements and a wide range of different clients. The collaborative nature of theMediaWiki platform also allows for rapid input and communication of process changes.It is however clear that the solution as presented in this thesis is not a replacement formore sophisticated systems but can find applicability in smaller departments and clientsrequiring rapid stabilisation of procedures and control documentation. With referenceto the evaluation of whether the system is ISO 9001 compliant it is concluded that thesystem is compliant enough so that further development is not only practical but alsorecommended in order to close the gaps and improve the market position of the solution.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University