Designing business capability-aware configurable process models

Process Aware Information Systems manage processes within organisations on the basis of business process models. These models can be created either from scratch or by reusing exiting reference process models.Particular types of reference models are configurable process models that are created by merging multiple models into a single one that can be customized to the needs of the business experts. Using those models presents two main challenges: their creation and their configuration.In this paper, we focus on the first challenge and propose a novel algorithm for merging process models into a configurable process model. The difference in our work is the pre-annotated process models with their business capabilities that report on what actions each process element achieves. Our algorithm generates configurable models that are also annotated with their capabilities that can be used to face the second challenge of these models: the configuration phase.We tested our algorithm using real-world process models to evaluate the required creation time and resulting compression rate after merging the input models. The results show that the models can be created in few milliseconds and achieving a compression rate of 50%. We further carried out interviews with domain experts to assess the usefulness and the level of maturity of this work. The results show the importance of the automation of process merging using a tool support that we proposed. However, further adaptation efforts are required to integrate this work in the working environments of the interviewed experts.     

Protos2CPN: using colored Petri nets for configuring and testing business processes

Protos is a popular tool for business process modelling used in more than 1,500 organizations. It has a built-in Petri-net-based simulation engine which shows key performance indicators for the modelled processes. Reference process models offered for Protos reduce modelling efforts by providing generic solutions which only need to be adapted to individual requirements. However, the user can neither inspect or interact with simulations running in Protos, nor does Protos provide any explicit support for the adaptation of reference models. Hence, we aim at a more open and configurable simulation solution. To realize this we provide two transformations from Protos models to colored Petri nets (CPNs), which can be executed by CPN Tools. The first transformation enables the usage of the extensive simulation and measuring features of CPN Tools for the simulation of Protos models. The second transformation creates colored Petri nets with dedicated features for process configuration. Such configurable process models can be restricted directly within the process model without changing the model’s structure and provide therefore dedicated adaptation features for Protos’ reference process models.     

The Universal Configurable Block/Machine— An Approach for a Configurable SoC-Architecture

The universal configurable block/machine is a block-based approach for a configurable system-on-chip-(CSoC-) architecture. The programming model of the blocks is similar to microprocessor models, while the execution model supports configurable computing including reconfiguration. This is achieved by the microarchitecture of the blocks and an additional translation phase, resulting in three phases of overall program execution: fetching, translation and execution. These phases may act without strict coupling, simplifying the duplication of the executing part. The resulting hardware model is classified by four parameter: number of blocks, hyperblock sequencer, hyperblock scheduler and a set of block interconnections. The scheduler indicates that the model is capable of executing operating system work by scheduling hardware resources to threads or processes. This homogeneous CSoC may be used as compile-time defined inhomogeneous application-specific architecture. In this case the development process defines threads to run completely in one or more blocks solving partial problems and communicating to others. This enhances the flexibility and the optimization capabilities towards performance and/or real-time behavior.     

Ensuring correctness during process configuration via partner synthesis

Variants of the same process can be encountered within one organization or across different organizations. For example, different municipalities, courts, and rental agencies all need to support highly similar processes. In fact, procurement and sales processes can be found in almost any organization. However, despite these similarities, there is also the need to allow for local variations in a controlled manner. Therefore, many academics and practitioners have advocated the use of configurable process models (sometimes referred to as reference models). A configurable process model describes a family of similar process models in a given domain. Such a model can be configured to obtain a specific process model that is subsequently used to handle individual cases, for instance, to process customer orders. Process configuration is notoriously difficult as there may be all kinds of interdependencies between configuration decisions. In fact, an incorrect configuration may lead to behavioral issues such as deadlocks and livelocks. To address this problem, we present a novel verification approach inspired by the “operating guidelines” used for partner synthesis. We view the configuration process as an external service, and compute a characterization of all such services which meet particular requirements via the notion of configuration guideline. As a result, we can characterize all feasible configurations (i.e., configurations without behavioral problems) at design time, instead of repeatedly checking each individual configuration while configuring a process model.     

Time prediction based on process mining

Process mining allows for the automated discovery of process models from event logs. These models provide insights and enable various types of model-based analysis. This paper demonstrates that the discovered process models can be extended with information to predict the completion time of running instances. There are many scenarios where it is useful to have reliable time predictions. For example, when a customer phones her insurance company for information about her insurance claim, she can be given an estimate for the remaining processing time. In order to do this, we provide a configurable approach to construct a process model, augment this model with time information learned from earlier instances, and use this to predict e.g., the completion time. To provide meaningful time predictions we use a configurable set of abstractions that allow for a good balance between “overfitting” and “underfitting”. The approach has been implemented in ProM and through several experiments using real-life event logs we demonstrate its applicability.     

面向工作流系统的统一访问控制模型

本文在分析比较了工作流系统中常用的访问控制模型的基础上,针对工作流授权复杂控制不灵活的状况,给出了一种面向工作流系统的统一化的访问控制模型。该模型综合运用了多种授权方法,通过对多种访问控制方法进行统一化设计,使其可以在实际应用过程中做成可视化、可配置的独立模块,方便的适用于不同工作流系统的权限设计。最后,本文给出了此模型中权限的实现过程。     

Configurable multi-perspective business process models

A configurable process model provides a consolidated view of a family of business processes. It promotes the reuse of proven practices by providing analysts with a generic modeling artifact from which to derive individual process models. Unfortunately, the scope of existing notations for configurable process modeling is restricted, thus hindering their applicability. Specifically, these notations focus on capturing tasks and control-flow dependencies, neglecting equally important ingredients of business processes such as data and resources. This research fills this gap by proposing a configurable process modeling notation incorporating features for capturing resources, data and physical objects involved in the performance of tasks. The proposal has been implemented in a toolset that assists analysts during the configuration phase and guarantees the correctness of the resulting process models. The approach has been validated by means of a case study from the film industry.     

业务过程的自动配置与管理

一个可配置的业务过程模型可以通过配置来满足组织的特定要求。配置活动需要自动确定一个可配置过程模型的变体,同时保证该特定过程模型的正确性。然而,很少有方法能够解决此问题。提出一种新方法,即先将可配置的过程模型自动分离成原子子过程模型,再由这些模型组合成需要的过程模型,该方法能保证得到的过程模型的正确性(该过程模型无异常行为问题)。与现有的方法相比,新方法与特定的语言无关,而且避免了独立处理配置活动,降低了计算复杂度。     

A Cost Model for IaaS Clouds Based on Virtual Machine Energy Consumption

Cloud Computing has revolutionized the software, platform and infrastructure provisioning. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers offer on-demand and configurable Virtual Machine (VMs) to tenants of cloud computing services. A key consolidation force that widespread IaaS deployment is the use of pay-as-you-go and pay-as-you-use cost models. In these models, a service price can be composed of two dimensions: the individual consumption, and a proportional value charged for service maintenance. A common practice for public providers is to dilute both capital and operational costs on predefined pricing sheets. In this context, we propose PSVE (Proportional-Shared Virtual Energy), a cost model for IaaS providers based on CPU energy consumption. Aligned with traditional commodity prices, PSVE is composed of two key elements: an individualized cost accounted from CPU usage of VMs (e.g., processing and networking), and a shared cost from common hypervisor management operations, proportionally distributed among VMs.     

Modeling functional requirements for configurable content- and context-aware dynamic service selection in business process models

In this article, we propose a meta-model for formal specification of functional requirements for configurable content- and context-aware dynamic service selection in business process models with the objective to enable greater flexibility of the modeled processes. The dynamic service selection can cope with highly dynamic business environments that today's business processes must handle. Modeling functional requirements for dynamic service selection in business process models is not well covered in literature. Some partial solutions exist but none of them allows modeling a complete set of functional requirements for the selection similar to the one we are addressing in this article. Our meta-model enables formal specification of service selection relevant data extracted from service request message, custom configuration data (e.g., thresholds), process and task definition/instance metadata, and service selection rules. The meta-model is configurable and content- and context-aware. Processes leveraging our meta-model can adapt to changing requirements without redesign of the process flow. Proposed meta-model allows users to additionally configure the models at run time (e.g., raising a threshold). Modeling can be divided into roles with different required competences. We implement our meta-model in BPMN 2.0 (Business Process Model and Notation) through specific extensions to the BPMN semantic and diagram elements. By measuring complexity of real-world sample process models we show that using our solution modelers can efficiently model business processes that need to address frequent changing demands. Compared to available alternatives, models using our solution have on average ～13% fewer activities, ～16% fewer control-flow elements and ～22% fewer control paths. By reading ～10% smaller models (by volume) model readers get more flexible process models that capture all functional requirements for the dynamic selection.     

基于层级集成的个性化空间音频技术

个性化的头相关传输函数(head-related transfer function, HRTF)可以有效改善空间音频质量。针对个性化HRTF难以精确获得的问题,提出了一种基于层级集成的个性化空间音频生成方法。该方法通过三个模型逐层建立个性化HRTF中的定位信息。首先,采用高斯混合模型建立用户无关的共用模型。然后,采用自编码器获得与用户有关的HRTF的隐表示,利用深度神经网络在人体生理参数与HRTF的隐表示之间建立非线性映射,得到用户有关的个性化模型。为了尽可能恢复个性化HRTF细节信息,对上述模型降维过程中的残差进行线性建模,得到残差模型。对于目标用户,任意空间位置处的个性化的HRTF可以通过集成三个层次下的模型获得,用于生成三维空间音频。最终,实验结果表明,提出的算法可以有效降低HRTF频谱损失,提升对个性化HRTF的预测性能。     

Referenzmodellierung im Data-Warehousing — State-of-the-Art und konfigurative Ansätze für die Fachkonzeption

Reference models increase the efficiency of data warehouse projects by providing construction patterns. This paper presents an overview of existing applications of reference models for data warehousing which shows that there is only insufficient support of model alternatives during requirements definition. Especially configurable reference models provide an adequate solution for creating project-specific models. Therefore, we suggest an extension of data warehouse modeling techniques by configuration rules. The configuration of reference models is embedded in the data warehouse development process. Furthermore, supplementary operational instructions for reference model designers are outlined.     

Statistical prioritization for software product line testing: an experience report

Software product lines (SPLs) are families of software systems sharing common assets and exhibiting variabilities specific to each product member of the family. Commonalities and variabilities are often represented as features organized in a feature model. Due to combinatorial explosion of the number of products induced by possible features combinations, exhaustive testing of SPLs is intractable. Therefore, sampling and prioritization techniques have been proposed to generate sorted lists of products based on coverage criteria or weights assigned to features. Solely based on the feature model, these techniques do not take into account behavioural usage of such products as a source of prioritization. In this paper, we assess the feasibility of integrating usage models into the testing process to derive statistical testing approaches for SPLs. Usage models are given as Markov chains, enabling prioritization of probable/rare behaviours. We used featured transition systems, compactly modelling variability and behaviour for SPLs, to determine which products are realizing prioritized behaviours. Statistical prioritization can achieve a significant reduction in the state space, and modelling efforts can be rewarded by better automation. In particular, we used MaTeLo, a statistical test cases generation suite developed at ALL4TEC. We assess feasibility criteria on two systems: Claroline, a configurable course management system, and Sferion?, an embedded system providing helicopter landing assistance.     

ODSS中可重构知识管理研究

为了实现ODSS中不同知识的可配置化处理，根据决茕知识的共享性与专业化等特征，提出了一种新的基于本体技术的可重构知识管理模型。在该模型中，知识被看做特定概念的对象，以构建ODSS的多本体系统。通过对本体定义、配置以及进化来实现不同专业知识的可重构化；通过共享模型、专用模型以及相对应的知识处理模板对组织决策过程中的多种类型知识进行管理。     

Generating optimized configurable business process models in scenarios subject to uncertainty

ContextThe quality of business process models (i.e., software artifacts that capture the relations between the organizational units of a business) is essential for enhancing the management of business processes. However, such modeling is typically carried out manually. This is already challenging and time consuming when (1) input uncertainty exists, (2) activities are related, and (3) resource allocation has to be considered. When including optimization requirements regarding flexibility and robustness it becomes even more complicated potentially resulting into non-optimized models, errors, and lack of flexibility.ObjectiveTo facilitate the human work and to improve the resulting models in scenarios subject to uncertainty, we propose a software-supported approach for automatically creating configurable business process models from declarative specifications considering all the aforementioned requirements.MethodFirst, the scenario is modeled through a declarative language which allows the analysts to specify its variability and uncertainty. Thereafter, a set of optimized enactment plans (each one representing a potential execution alternative) are generated from such a model considering the input uncertainty. Finally, to deal with this uncertainty during run-time, a flexible configurable business process model is created from these plans.ResultsTo validate the proposed approach, we conduct a case study based on a real business which is subject to uncertainty. Results indicate that our approach improves the actual performance of the business and that the generated models support most of the uncertainty inherent to the business.ConclusionsThe proposed approach automatically selects the best part of the variability of a declarative specification. Unlike existing approaches, our approach considers input uncertainty, the optimization of multiple objective functions, as well as the resource and the control-flow perspectives. However, our approach also presents a few limitations: (1) it is focused on the control-flow and the data perspective is only partially addressed and (2) model attributes need to be estimated.     

Design and analysis of kinematically redundant parallel manipulators with configurable platforms

Redundancy can, in general, improve the ability and performance of parallel manipulators by implementing the redundant degrees of freedom to optimize a secondary objective function. Almost all published researches in the area of parallel manipulators redundancy were focused on the design and analysis of redundant parallel manipulators with rigid (nonconfigurable) platforms and on grasping hands to be attached to the platforms. Conventional grippers usually are not appropriate to grasp irregular or large objects. Very few studies focused on the idea of using a configurable platform as a grasping device. This paper highlights the idea of using configurable platforms in both planar and spatial redundant parallel manipulators, and generalizes their analysis. The configurable platform is actually a closed kinematic chain of mobility equal to the degree of redundancy of the manipulator. The additional redundant degrees of freedom are used in reconfiguring the shape of the platform itself. Several designs of kinematically redundant planar and spatial parallel manipulators with configurable platform are presented. Such designs can be used as a grasping device especially for irregular or large objects or even as a micro-positioning device after grasping the object. Screw algebra is used to develop a general framework that can be adapted to analyze the kinematics of any general-geometry planar or spatial kinematically redundant parallel manipulator with configurable platform.     

中间件的体系结构研究

介绍了一种可配置且具有开放性的中间件体系结构模型、该体系结构模型是一种独立于语言且具有反身映射性的结构模型，它包含有：元空间(每一对象具有一个元空间)、元模型(用元模型去构建元空间)、对象图(用对象图表示组合组件)．通过使用构造元空间的组件框架来实现该结构模型．Open COM结构模型是对Microsoft的分布式组件技术进行了扩展，具有可配置性、开放性、反身映射性，语言独立性、系统独立性等特点．     

自由选择工作流网的可靠完备化简规则集

流程化简技术是一种重要的商业流程模型分析方法.已有的非形式化化简方法因缺乏理论基础而无法保证完备性.基于Petri 网的化简方法应用范围不针对流程模型因而不能保证可靠性.提出了针对自由选择工作流网的一个可靠完备化简规则集,可靠性保证化简过程中这类模型的行为正确性被保持,完备性保证任意一个正确的此类工作流网最终都能被化简为最简形式.基于化简规则集给出可靠完备的合成规则集,用于流程模型的设计与精化.