Customers purchasing appliances from Sears may purchase a three-year service contract that provides free repair service and parts. When a customer needs appliance repair service, they contact Sears Service to make an appointment for a repair technician come to their residence. Sears Service may schedule an appointment for as late as two weeks after a customer calls. On the day of the appointment, the repair technician arrives at the customer’s residence to diagnose the problem. If the repair to be made requires replacing one or more broken parts, the technician will make the replacement if a part is stocked regularly in the repair truck and the quantity needed for the repair is available. If the technician doesn’t have the necessary part(s) on hand, then an order to obtain the replacement part(s) must be placed. If a part is not in stock at the local Sears store, it is ordered from the Sears Parts Warehouse and sent directly to the customer. After the customer receives the part(s), the customer must contact Sears Service again to make a new appointment to have the repair technician replace the part(s) and complete the repair request. Completing a customer’s repair request may take as long as two weeks to schedule the first repair visit, an additional two weeks to order and deliver the replacement part(s) to the customer, and up to one more week to schedule the second repair visit after the customer has received the replacement part(s).
Question: What changes could be made to make this process more efficient? How could information systems support these changes? Diagram the new improved process using BPMN.