Managing context in business process management systems

Businesses need to continuously focus on change and innovation in order to survive in dynamic environments. The ability of an organization to deploy appropriate business processes requires that the fit between business processes and systems that support the management of these processes is continuously maintained and evolved. Acquisition and use of the knowledge about the context in which business processes are defined, modified, and implemented can help maintain this fit. We identify requirements for a business process management system (BPMS) capable of managing contextual knowledge. Based on these requirements, we have enhanced KOPeR, a knowledge-based system for business process improvement, with an explanation facility that can acquire and maintain knowledge about the context behind process definitions and design choices. A case study that illustrates the functionalities of this system which is designed to improve the fit between business processes and BPMS is presented.

Measures and mechanisms for process monitoring in evolving business networks

The literature on monitoring of cross-organizational processes, executed within business networks, considers monitoring only in the network formation phase, since network establishment determines what can be monitored during process execution. In particular, the impact of evolution in such networks on monitoring is not considered. When a business network evolves, e.g. contracts are introduced, updated, or dropped, or actors join or leave the network, the monitoring requirements of the network actors change as well. As a result, the monitorability of processes in the network may be disrupted. This paper proposes a framework to solve the problem of preserving the monitorability of processes in an evolving business network. We first propose a formal model of business networks, contracts, and monitoring requirements. Then, we model network evolution and the mechanisms to preserve the monitorability of the processes in the network for different types of evolution. In particular, the preservation of monitorability requires the actors in the network to take appropriate actions in case of dependencies between already established contracts, and update their monitoring infrastructure to satisfy the new monitoring requirements introduced by evolution. We also define a set of metrics that can be used for supporting decisions regarding the potential evolution of a business network. A case study in healthcare and the discussion of a prototype implementation show the applicability of our framework in real-world scenarios.     

A conceptual framework for understanding business processes and business process modelling

It is increasingly common to describe organizations as sets of business processes that can be analysed and improved by approaches such as business process modelling. Successful business process modelling relies on an adequate view of the nature of business processes, but there is a surprising divergence of opinion about the nature of these processes. This paper proposes a conceptual framework to organize different views of business processes under four headings. It also aims at providing an integrated discussion of the different streams of thought, their strengths and limitations, within business process modelling. It argues that the multifaceted nature of business processes calls for pluralistic and multidisciplinary modelling approaches.     

Using a business process management system to model dynamic teaching methods

Enterprise Information Systems are enjoying an extensive trajectory in the optimization of organizations worldwide, of which predominantly the Business Process Management (BPM) systems stand out for their great flexibility. BPM models describe business workflows and are highly useful in detecting errors and bottlenecks and in identifying possible improvements. On the other hand, educational management software tools offer a large number of functionalities, but have yet to take advantage of these techniques. Our main objective is to perform an empirical analysis in this unexplored area to evaluate the advantages of applying BPM in the implementation of innovative and dynamic teaching activities.Using this methodology, we have designed RubricaSoft, a BPM system focused on providing dynamic educational processes. It automates multiple tasks, including peer evaluation, information integration and the management of deadlines. The results have been very promising from the point of view of the three axes upon which the evaluation has been carried out: satisfaction of students, improvement in academic results and increase in the productivity of teachers. In one of the processes, the time spent by the teacher has been reduced by 80% and student participation increased by 41%.     

Modelling families of business process variants: A decomposition driven method

Business processes usually do not exist as singular entities that can be managed in isolation, but rather as families of business process variants. When modelling such families of variants, analysts are confronted with the choice between modelling each variant separately, or modelling multiple or all variants in a single model. Modelling each variant separately leads to a proliferation of models that share common parts, resulting in redundancies and inconsistencies. Meanwhile, modelling all variants together leads to less but more complex models, thus hindering on comprehensibility. This paper introduces a method for modelling families of process variants that addresses this trade-off. The key tenet of the method is to alternate between steps of decomposition (breaking down processes into sub-processes) and deciding which parts should be modelled together and which ones should be modelled separately. We have applied the method to two case studies: one concerning the consolidation of existing process models, and another dealing with green-field process discovery. In both cases, the method produced fewer models with respect to the baseline and reduced duplicity by up to 50% without significant impact on complexity.     

A visual language and environment for enterprise system modelling and automation

ObjectiveWe want to support enterprise service modelling and generation using a more end user-friendly metaphor than current approaches, which fail to scale to large organisations with key issues of “cobweb” and “labyrinth” problems and large numbers of hidden dependencies.MethodWe present and evaluate an integrated visual approach for business process modelling using a novel tree-based overlay structure that effectively mitigate complexity problems. A tree-overlay based visual notation (EML) and its integrated support environment (MaramaEML) supplement and integrate with existing solutions. Complex business architectures are represented as service trees and business processes are modelled as process overlay sequences on the service trees.ResultsMaramaEML integrates EML and BPMN to provide complementary, high-level business service modelling and supports automatic BPEL code generation from the graphical representations to realise web services implementing the specified processes. It facilitates generated service validation using an integrated LTSA checker and provides a distortion-based fisheye and zooming function to enhance complex diagram navigation. Evaluations of EML show its effectiveness.ConclusionsWe have successfully developed and evaluated a novel tree-based metaphor for business process modelling and enterprise service generation. Practice implications: a more user-friendly modelling approach and support tool for business end users.     

Version management for business process schema evolution

The current business environment changes rapidly, dictated by user requirements and market opportunities. Organisations are therefore driven to continuously adapt their business processes to new conditions. Thus, management of business process schema evolution, particularly process version control, is in great demand to capture the dynamics of business process schema changes. This paper aims to facilitate version control for business process schema evolution, with an emphasis on version compatibility, co-existence of multiple versions and dynamic version shifts. A multi-level versioning approach is established to specify dependency between business process schema evolutions, and a novel version preserving graph model is proposed to record business process schema evolutions. A set of business process schema updating operations is devised to support the entire set of process change patterns. By maintaining sufficient and necessary schema and version information, our approach provides comprehensive support for navigating process instance executions of different and changing versions, and deriving the process schema of a certain version. A prototype is also implemented for the proof-of-concept purpose.     

Business process management—the third wave: business process modelling language (bpml) and its pi-calculus foundations

This paper introduces the ideas behind BPML, the business process modelling language published by BPMI. BPML provides a process-centric (as opposed to a datacentric) metalanguage and execution model for business systems. It is underpinned by a strong mathematical foundation, the pi-calculus. The current paper is derived from supplementary appendices to a book which describes a ‘third wave’ approach to business process management [Business Process Management: The Third Wave, 2003]. The aim is to model business processes directly in an executable form, so that the mobility and mutability inherent in business behaviour is reflected and supported in the corresponding IT systems, erasing the present IT-business divide.     

Communicative action-based business process and information systems modelling with DEMO

Abstract. Abstract. The field of communicative action-based modelling of business processes and information systems has attracted more and more attention in recent years. Inspired by the seminal work of Winograd and Flores, researchers have proposed several modelling approaches. In this article we discuss communicative action-based modelling approaches in general and the DEMO (dynamic essential modelling of organizations) approach in particular. Besides establishing the theoretical foundations of this modelling approach, we also apply DEMO to a case study, and we discuss how the resulting models can be used for information systems design and business process optimization.     

Supporting aspect orientation in business process management

Coping with complexity is an important issue in both research and industry. One strategy to deal with complexity is separation of concerns, which can be addressed using aspect-oriented paradigm. Despite being well researched in programming, this paradigm is still in a preliminary stage in the area of business process management (BPM). While some efforts have been made to introduce aspect orientation in business process modelling, there is no holistic approach with a formal underlying foundation to support aspect-oriented business process design and enactment, and this gap restricts aspect-oriented paradigm from being practically deployed in the area of BPM. Therefore, this paper proposes a sound systematic approach which builds on a formal syntax for modelling aspect-oriented business processes and a Petri Net-based operational semantics for enacting these processes. The approach enables the implementation of software system artefacts as a proof of concept to support design and enactment of aspect-oriented business processes in practice. The approach is demonstrated using a banking case study, where processes are modelled using a concrete notation that conforms to the proposed formal syntax and then executed in a state-of-the-art BPM system where the implemented artefacts are deployed.     

Workflow simulation for operational decision support using event graph through process mining

It is increasingly common to see computer-based simulation being used as a vehicle to model and analyze business processes in relation to process management and improvement. While there are a number of business process management (BPM) and business process simulation (BPS) methodologies, approaches and tools available, it is more desirable to have a systemic BPS approach for operational decision support, from constructing process models based on historical data to simulating processes for typical and common problems. In this paper, we have proposed a generic approach of BPS for operational decision support which includes business processes modeling and workflow simulation with the models generated. Processes are modeled with event graphs through process mining from workflow logs that have integrated comprehensive information about the control-flow, data and resource aspects of a business process. A case study of a credit card application is presented to illustrate the steps involved in constructing an event graph. The evaluation detail is also given in terms of precision, generalization and robustness. Based on the event graph model constructed, we simulate the process under different scenarios and analyze the simulation logs for three generic problems in the case study: 1) suitable resource allocation plan for different case arrival rates; 2) teamwork performance under different case arrival rates; and 3) evaluation and prediction for personal performances. Our experimental results show that the proposed approach is able to model business processes using event graphs and simulate the processes for common operational decision support which collectively play an important role in process management and improvement.     

An integration framework for product lifecycle management

The need for integrating business and technical information systems, allowing partners to collaborate effectively in creating innovative products, has motivated the design and deployment of a novel integration framework for product lifecycle management. The time is ripe for such an integration framework because of the convergence of three important developments, almost in a perfect storm: (1) maturity of standardized product data and meta-data models, and standardized engineering and business processes; (2) emergence of service-oriented architecture for information sharing; and (3) availability of robust middleware to implement them. These developments allow engineering and business objects and processes to be built or composed as modular pieces of software in the form of services that can communicate with each other and be used across different parts of a business. These modular software pieces can be reused and reconfigured in new ways as business conditions change, thereby saving time and money for companies. This paper describes the business and technical aspects of an integration framework for product lifecycle management using open standards and service-oriented architecture.     

基于Artifact的流程设计平台

基于jBPM的业务流程是面向过程的,不方便业务人员对信息的提取、分析。所以,以数据为中心的流程管理技术就应运而生。Artifact是记录业务流程的数据实体,围绕Artifact的业务流程管理正在成为业务流程管理研究的一个热点。jBPM流程能够很好的描述业务流程,为其提供分析、实施的基础。把Artifact的业务流程管理技术和jBPM的业务流程管理技术结合在一起,可以为系统模型的设计和实现提供方便同时为代码自动生成提供参考基础,体现了敏捷开发的思想。     

Modelling non-functional requirements of business processes

This paper presents an approach to the identification and inclusion of ‘non-functional’ aspects of a business process in modelling for business improvement. The notion of non-functional requirements (NFRs) is borrowed from software engineering, and a method developed in that field for linking NFRs to conceptual models is adapted and applied to business process modelling. Translated into this domain, NFRs are equated with the general or overall quality attributes of a business process, which, though essential aspects of any effective process, are not well captured in a functionally oriented process model. Using an example of a healthcare process (cancer registration in Jordan). We show how an analysis and evaluation of NFRs can be applied to a process model developed with role activity diagramming (RAD) to operationalise desirable quality features more explicitly in the model. This gives a useful extension to RAD and similar modelling methods, as well as providing a basis for business improvement.     

Operational building blocks for business process modelling

The modelling of business processes is a rather complex, difficult and therefore time-consuming process. The efficiency of this process can be significantly enhanced by employing reusable building blocks, rather than to describe business processes from scratch every time a model is being created or modified. The paper describes a reference model which identifies a set of generic building blocks needed for enterprise modelling and identifies their relationships. Further specialisation of these generic building blocks into a profession and/or industry branch oriented set enables business people to model their processes with a minimum requirement on IT know-how. The CIMOSA concepts and language have been selected as the basis for the reference model. Since CIMOSA is one of the basic concepts recognised in the relevant standardisation work, the presented approach also obeys very closely the relevant European and international standards.     

Assessing flexibility in event-driven process adaptation

Business process management (BPM) has emerged as a prominent information management approach focusing on the design, execution and governance of organizational business processes. The ability to deal with both foreseen and unforeseen changes in business processes is considered critical for contemporary business process management systems. This paper proposes an approach that couples an event-driven framework for detecting and reasoning in situations that pose the need for process adaptations with MCDM methods for selecting adaptations. The proposed approach has been implemented in an aspect-oriented extension of a BPMN2.0 engine in order to enact adaptations of business processes in real-time.     

Business processes oriented heterogeneous systems integration platform for networked enterprises

Supply chains, dynamic alliances, e-business, extended enterprises, and virtual organizations are typical networked enterprises which are formed based on partner companies’ core competencies. Different partners have different infrastructures; the interoperability among heterogeneous systems is the solid foundation for the networked enterprise to work seamlessly and effectively. Due to the distributed and heterogeneous characteristics of different partner companies, it is a big challenge to implement a satisfying and cost effective solution in the networked enterprise.Aiming at the problems of system integration and cross-system interoperability, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) provides a new integration pattern and relative system infrastructure. The key for the development and implementation of SOA is services encapsulation and orchestration of applications through certain mechanism to operate a complex business. However, cross infrastructures services access protection and relative services orchestration are still the bottleneck for the SOA implementation.This paper develops a business processes oriented heterogeneous systems integration platform with relative methodology for networked enterprises integration. The platform is a space distributed and management centralized platform for networked enterprises. The service access agent (SAA) mechanism is developed to realize cross-domains identity authentication, service authorization, and information transmission security. Every Web service or SAA in the platform has a unique ID. The interoperating process only relies on IDs, which endows the platform with a loose coupling feature. Aiming at service orchestration, a graphic service process modelling method is developed, with which the developed process model can link atom Web services and form a complex service. The Java based service orchestration tool provides an ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) independent service orchestration and deployment. Those services that are results of orchestration can be orchestrated as an atom service in another orchestrating process. Thus, the platform can support orchestration decomposition. The structure approach of the business process modelling based platform implementation is developed, which provides a guideline for platform installation, services modelling, service encapsulation, service orchestration, and service deployment. Two cases are provided to illustrate the usage of the platform in industries. The development of this platform is an open source project.     

Business processes—attempts to find a definition

Definitions of business process given in much of the literature on Business Process Management are limited in depth and their related models of business processes are correspondingly constrained. After giving a brief history of the progress of business process modeling techniques from production systems to the office environment, this paper proposes that most definitions are based on machine metaphor type explorations of a process. While these techniques are often rich and illuminating it is suggested that they are too limited to express the true nature of business processes that need to develop and adapt to today's challenging environment.