An end-user approach to business process modeling

This paper discusses the main differences between humanistic and mechanistic business process modeling. While the mechanistic approach requires strict process formalization, emphasizes technical details, and constrains the modeling task to technology experts, the humanistic approach is more centered on the end-user. We developed a modeling approach and a collaborative tool supporting end-user business process modeling. Design storyboards were adopted as a paradigm for knowledge representation and visual composition. The main contributions from this research include the knowledge representation structure and a collaborative tool supporting visual composition of business process models.     

Integrating a Decision Tree Perspective at the Operational-Level of BPM+

Decision trees are among the best-known decision-making techniques and have been used extensively for both data analysis and predictive modeling. BPM+ is a novel process modeling approach that helps represent business process models in a consistent and structured way to meet different stakeholders’ process representation needs. This paper reports on the outcomes of an ontological analysis of the potential use of decision-tree representations as a new BPM+ perspective for the operational level of abstraction. This new perspective effectively demonstrates how a specialized/operational BPM stakeholder perspective can be used to improve the existing organizational business process model repository.     

MAMBA: Automatic customization of computerized business processes

Due to recent market challenges organizational researchers have developed a variety of strategies how organizations can continuously survive in highly dynamic, sometimes even hostile environments. One of the most important strategies aims to enhance the flexibility of enterprises through widespread decentralization, while another well-known approach advocates customer orientation through systematic business process (re-) engineering. This paper addresses organizational flexibility and business process orientation from the perspective of information systems. It starts from a requirements analysis which investigates the challenges of contemporary organizational strategies and then proceeds towards an approach that supports the flexible modeling of business processes by linking decentralized organizational procedures. For this purpose a set of process modeling and process interaction operators is defined. These operators also allow to automatically create and customize configurations of computerized business processes. This progress in cooperative information processing technology contributes significantly to the recently emerged concept of the computerized enterprise. The concepts are presented in the context of a banking application, namely the Credit Advisory Subsystem of our banking application MAMBA.     

From event logs to goals: a systematic literature review of goal-oriented process mining

Process mining helps infer valuable insights about business processes using event logs, whereas goal modeling focuses on the representation and analysis of competing goals of stakeholders and systems. Although there are clear benefits in mining the goals of existing processes, goal-oriented approaches that consider logs during model construction are still rare. Process mining techniques, when generalizing large instance-level data into process models, can be considered as a data-driven complement to use case/scenario elicitation. Requirements engineers can exploit process mining techniques to find new system or process requirements in order to align current practices and desired ones. This paper provides a systemic literature review, based on 24 papers rigorously selected from four popular search engines in 2018, to assess the state of goal-oriented process mining. Through two research questions, the review highlights that the use of process mining in association with goals does not yet have a coherent line of research, whereas intention mining (where goal models are mined) shows a meaningful trace of research. Research about performance indicators measuring goals associated with process mining is also sparse. Although the number of publications in process mining and goal modeling is trending up, goal mining and goal-oriented process mining remain modest research areas. Yet, synergetic effects achievable by combining goals and process mining can potentially augment the precision, rationality and interpretability of mined models and eventually improve opportunities to satisfy system stakeholders.

     

多视点间不一致性的认知推理

需求工程可以认为是一个知识表示,知识获取和知识分析的过程.多视点需求工程就是希望复杂系统中的不同参与者分别从自己的角度出发对预期系统进行描述,从而形成更完备的需求规约.由于多视点方法的这种特性,导致多个涉众有可能对同一问题进行描述,从而形成重叠的需求.这些重叠的需求就是涉众之间的公共知识,对公共知识的不同解释是导致需求规约中不一致问题的根源.本文对基于问题域的多视点需求建模框架进行基于时序认知逻辑的解释和推理,期望达到以下目的:1)使用户陈述的需求更加结构化;2)使用形式化的方法帮助涉众发现那些重叠的需求.     

A methodology and tool environment for process analysis and reengineering

Most private and public organizations have recently turned their attention to the process by which they operate, to improve service and product quality and customer satisfaction. To support business process reengineering, methods and tools for process modeling and analysis are required. The paper presents the ARTEMIS methodology and associated tool environment for business process analysis for reengineering. In the ARTEMIS methodological framework, business processes are modeled as workflows and are analyzed according to an organizational structure perspective and an operational structure perspective. With these two perspectives, the analyst can plan reengineering interventions based on the degree of autonomy/dependency of organization units in terms of coupling, and the inter-process semantic correspondences, in terms of data and operation similarity, respectively. The ARTEMIS methodology and associated tool environment have been conceived and applied in the framework of the PROGRESS research project. In the paper, we report on a reengineering case study of this project involving the Italian Ministry of Justice.     

Modeling stakeholders for information systems design processes

In the software engineering area, stakeholders play a significant role in requirements elicitation and validation. Moreover, all the project management is integrally affected by stakeholders’ perspectives and their participation. This effect is strengthened when projects involve several organizations. Thus, a clear and explicit representation of the stakeholders and their attributes is required in order to achieve their effective management. The integration of this representation with other models capturing the knowledge of engineering design processes can be of great utility in software development projects. In this sense, this article describes the construction of an integrated model for representing stakeholders in information systems design processes. This proposal considers diverse attributes related to stakeholders and gives information for performing quantitative calculations about their interest and influence over the project. Thus, more inclusive experiences of the information systems development can be supported, even more if contexts with the participation of several organizations are considered.     

Agile business process development: why,how and when—applying Nonaka’s theory of knowledge transformation to business process development

The traditional way of business process development is via creating a detailed model of a business process in question, acquiring an IT-system to support it, and then implementing it in the organizational practice. Acquiring a system can be done via designing and manufacturing it by the business itself, or via commissioning it to somebody else. Alternatively, a generic system can be bought and configured according to the business process model created. The traditional approach has a number of risks that become visible only during the latest phase of introducing the system in the organizational practice, e.g., when it becomes clear that the system does not fit the business and/or people who work in it. These risks could be mitigated by using an agile approach to the development of business processes. In agile approach: (a) the phases of process modeling, IT-system design, and manufacturing are merged into one, and (b) instead of using one big cycle, a series of smaller development cycles is used. The paper discusses what is needed to implement the agile approach, and in which business situations the agile approach is the most appropriate. Examples of tools to support agile development are presented and analyzed. The results presented in the paper have been achieved based on the knowledge transformation perspective along the lines suggested by Nonaka in SECI model. The modification of this model has been used to understand the risks and requirements connected to a particular process development strategy.     

Decision-enabled dynamic process management for networked enterprises

Enterprises in today’s networked economy face numerous information management challenges, both from a process management perspective as well as a decision support perspective. While there have been significant relevant advances in the areas of business process management as well as decision sciences, several open research issues exist. In this paper, we highlight the following key challenges. First, current process modeling and management techniques lack in providing a seamless integration of decision models and tools in existing business processes, which is critical to achieve organizational objectives. Second, given the dynamic nature of business processes in networked enterprises, process management approaches that enable organizations to react to business process changes in an agile manner are required. Third, current state-of-the-art decision model management techniques are not particularly amenable to distributed settings in networked enterprises, which limits the sharing and reuse of models in different contexts, including their utility within managing business processes. In this paper, we present a framework for decision-enabled dynamic process management that addresses these challenges. The framework builds on computational formalisms, including the structured modeling paradigm for representing decision models, and hierarchical task networks from the artificial intelligence (AI) planning area for process modeling. Within the framework, interleaved process planning (modeling), execution and monitoring for dynamic process management throughout the process lifecycle is proposed. A service-oriented architecture combined with advances from the semantic Web field for model management support within business processes is proposed.     

Service feature modeling: modeling and participatory ranking of service design alternatives

The design of software-intensive service systems involves and affects numerous stakeholders including software engineers, legal and business experts as well as a potentially large number of consumers. In consequence, the challenge arises to adequately represent the interests of these groups with respect to service design decisions. Specifically, shared service design artifacts and participatory methods for influencing their development in consensus are required, which are not yet state of the art in software service engineering. To this end, we present service feature modeling. Using a modeling notation based on feature-oriented analysis, our approach can represent and interrelate diverse service design concerns and capture their potential combinations as service design alternatives. We further present a method that allows stakeholders to rank service design alternatives based on their preferences. The ranking can support service engineers in selecting viable alternatives for implementation. To exploit this potential, we have implemented a toolkit to enable both modeling and participative ranking of service design alternatives. It has been used to apply service feature modeling in the context of public service design and evaluate the approach in this context.     

多视点中不一致性的处理：一种基于认知逻辑的方法

衡量一个软件系统是否成功,一个基本的要素就是看该软件系统是否满足了用户的要求。软件系统需求工程(RE)就是一个通过标识涉众及其需求并将其文档化以便于进行分析的过程。RE是一个跨学科,以人为中心的过程。多视点需求工程是需求工程的一个分支。多视点需求工程就是希望复杂系统中的不同参与者分别从自己的角度出发对预期系统进行描述,从而形成更完备的需求规约。由于多视点方法的这种特性,导致多个涉众有可能对同一问题进行描述,从而形成重叠的需求。这些重叠的需求就是涉众之间的公共知识,对公共知识的不同解释是导致需求规约中不一致问题的根源。不一致性是多视点需求工程中一个必须解决的问题。本文提出了基于问题域的多视点需求建模框架,并利用认知逻辑对该框架进行解释和推理,希望可以用形式化的方法来发现和解决存在于不同视点间的不一致性。     

An empirical approach toward the resolution of conflicts in goal-oriented models

One significant problem requirements engineers have to cope with is the management of unclear requirements, ambiguities, and conflicts that may arise between stakeholders. Such issues may be desirable since they may allow for further elicitation of requirements that would have been missed otherwise. Goal models capture the objectives and other intentions of different stakeholders, together with their relationships. They can be used to refine unclear requirements and to detect conflicts and ambiguities early during model validation. However, resolving such ambiguities and conflicts is key for the successful implementation of the goal models. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to validate models in the Goal-oriented Requirement Language and resolve conflicts between the perspectives of intervening stakeholders (and especially between stakeholders of a given group). Our approach is based on a statistical analysis of empirical data that we collect from surveys designed for each group of stakeholders. We apply concept analysis in order to fix goal-model artifacts that are subject to conflict. We illustrate our approach using a case study of a goal model describing the involvement of undergraduate students in university research activities.     

Knowledge management through multi-perspective modelling: representing and distributing organizational memory

Full and accurate representation of an organization's knowledge assets, which together constitute “organizational memory”, requires multi-perspective modelling at a number of levels of detail. We propose that the perspectives which need to be represented can be characterized as who, what, how, when, where and why knowledge; these perspectives, and necessary levels of abstraction, are captured by the Zachman framework for Information Systems Architecture. We suggest modelling techniques that might be appropriate for different perspectives and levels of abstraction, and illustrate using examples from a medical domain. We also describe how an individual perspective can become the user interface of a knowledge distribution system, and illustrate this by describing the protocol assistant, a Web-based knowledge-based system capable of representing and reasoning with best practice guidelines (“protocols”) in the medical domain.     

How novices design business processes

Process modeling is an important design practice in organizational improvement projects. In this paper, we examine the design of business process diagrams in contexts where novice analysts only have basic design tools such as paper and pencils available, and little to no understanding of formalized modeling approaches. Based on a quasi-experimental study with 89 BPM students, we identify five distinct process design archetypes ranging from textual to hybrid and graphical representation forms. We examine the quality of the designs and identify which representation formats enable an analyst to articulate business rules, states, events, activities, temporal and geospatial information in a process model. We found that the quality of the process designs decreases with the increased use of graphics and that hybrid designs featuring appropriate text labels and abstract graphical forms appear well-suited to describe business processes. We further examine how process design preferences predict formalized process modeling ability. Our research has implications for practical process design work in industry as well as for academic curricula on process design.     

Interactive design of 3D models with geometric constraints

In this paper, an interactive graphical approach for the design of parameterized part-hierarchies is presented. Primitive solids can be grouped into compound objects, and multiple instances of a compound object can be used in further designs. Geometric relations between primitives and instances are specified by geometric constraints between their local coordinate systems. The user can specify and edit a model by direct manipulation on a perspective or parallel projection with a mouse, whereas a procedural model representations is automatically generated via visual programming. The obtained twoview approach offers two concurrent interface styles to the end-user and enables the combination of an intuitive direct manipulation interface with the expressiveness of a procedural modeling language.     

Components of a multi-perspective modeling method for designing and managing IT security systems

Information technology (IT) security design and management are a major concern and substantial challenge for IT management. Today’s highly complex business and technological environments and the need to effectively communicate and justify IT security requirements and controls demand methodical support. The modeling method presented in this paper addresses this demand. The method is based on the assumption that enriched enterprise models integrating technological, business, organizational and strategic aspects provide an effective foundation for developing and managing IT security systems and facilitating communication and understanding between stakeholders. The proposed modeling method for designing and managing IT security in organizations accounts for different perspectives and is based on multi-perspective enterprise modeling. The core components of the method, based on analysis of requirements at different levels of abstraction, are: modeling language concepts specifically designed to address security issues, process models that guide the use of the resulting language, and a modeling environment. The method facilitates elaborate representations of the various aspects of IT security at different levels of abstraction and covers the entire lifecycle of IT security systems. It not only supports multi-perspective requirement analysis and design but also enables monitoring and analysis of IT security at runtime. The presented artifact is evaluated with recourse to a research method that enables the configuration of multi-criteria justification procedures.     

The Alignment Conference: A Stakeholder’s Way to Create a Competitive Advantage

The Alignment Conference is a process anchored in three components that are each significant and effective in their individual application. Implementation of this integrated approach addresses the strategic concerns of key organizational stakeholders, allowing them to reach new agreements about what they will do and how they will do it, relative to the organization’s core organizational competencies. It can be a particularly useful process in helping staff change–agents help senior leaders and line managers understand that the human side of the equation is equally important as the technical side, and provides a technology that allows the social side to address business results and processes, for current and future conditions.     

A layered architecture for flexible Web service invocation

Web service composition is emerging as an interesting approach to integrate business applications and create intra‐organizational business processes. Single Web services are combined to create a complex Web service that will realize the process business logic. Once the process is created, it is executed by an orchestration engine that invokes individual Web services in the correct order. However, Web services composing the workflow sometimes become unavailable during the run‐time phase, blocking process execution. This paper describes an architecture that allows the flexible orchestration of business processes. With this approach, Web services composing the process can be automatically substituted with other compatible Web services during process execution. A methodology is defined to evaluate Web service compatibility based on interface matching, in order to select substitutable Web services. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.