scholarly journals Exploring location-dependency in process modeling

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 794-815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinwei Zhu ◽  
Jan Recker ◽  
Guobin Zhu ◽  
Flávia Maria Santoro
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Process Modeling ◽  
Context Awareness ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Flow Patterns ◽  
Control Flow ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Location Awareness ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – Context-awareness has emerged as an important principle in the design of flexible business processes. The goal of the research is to develop an approach to extend context-aware business process modeling toward location-awareness. The purpose of this paper is to identify and conceptualize location-dependencies in process modeling. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a pattern-based approach to identify location-dependency in process models. The authors design specifications for these patterns. The authors present illustrative examples and evaluate the identified patterns through a literature review of published process cases. Findings – This paper introduces location-awareness as a new perspective to extend context-awareness in BPM research, by introducing relevant location concepts such as location-awareness and location-dependencies. The authors identify five basic location-dependent control-flow patterns that can be captured in process models. And the authors identify location-dependencies in several existing case studies of business processes. Research limitations/implications – The authors focus exclusively on the control-flow perspective of process models. Further work needs to extend the research to address location-dependencies in process data or resources. Further empirical work is needed to explore determinants and consequences of the modeling of location-dependencies. Originality/value – As existing literature mostly focusses on the broad context of business process, location in process modeling still is treated as “second class citizen” in theory and in practice. This paper discusses the vital role of location-dependencies within business processes. The proposed five basic location-dependent control-flow patterns are novel and useful to explain location-dependency in business process models. They provide a conceptual basis for further exploration of location-awareness in the management of business processes.

Application of formal methods to modelling and analysis aspects of business process reengineering

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 548-569
Author(s):  
Junaid Haseeb ◽  
Naveed Ahmad ◽  
Saif U.R. Malik ◽  
Adeel Anjum
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Process Modeling ◽  
Business Process Reengineering ◽  
Formal Semantics ◽  
Control Flow ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Process Reengineering ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Meta Model ◽  
Smt Solver

Purpose Business process (BP) reengineering is defined as reinventing BPs either structurally or technically to achieve dramatic improvements in performance. In any business process reengineering (BPR) project, process modeling is used to reason about problems found in existing (as-is) process and helps to design target (to-be) process. BP model notation is a widely accepted standard for process modeling. “Expressiveness” and “missing formal semantics” are two problems reported to its modeling practices. In existing studies, solutions to these problems are also proposed but still have certain limitations. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach In proposed methodology, a meta-model is formally defined that is composed of commonly used modeling elements and their well-formedness rules to check for syntactic and structural correctness of process models. Proposed solution also check semantics of process models and allows to compare as-is and to-be process models for gap identification which is another important aspect of BPR. To achieve the first goal, Z specification is used to provide formal specifications of modeling constructs and their rules and Z3 (an SMT solver) is used for comparisons and verifying properties. Findings Proposed method addresses both “expressiveness” and “missing formal semantics” of BPR models. The results of its evaluation clearly indicate that using formally specified meta-model, BPR model is syntactically and structurally correct. Moreover, formal modeling of BPs in Z3 helped to compare processes and to check control flow properties. Research limitations/implications Although the proposed method is tested on an example that is widely used in BPR literature, the example is only covering modeling elements which are part of the proposed subset and are reported in literature as frequently used modeling elements. A separate detailed study is required to test it on more complex systems. Practical implications Specifying process models using Z specification and Z3 solver requires certain expertise. Originality/value The proposed method adds value to BPR body of knowledge as it proposes a method to ensure structural and syntactic correctness of models, highlighting the importance of verifying run time properties and providing a direction toward comparing process models for gap analysis.

scholarly journals Business processes exceptions in relation to operational performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 908-922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remco Dijkman ◽  
Oktay Turetken ◽  
Geoffrey Robert van IJzendoorn ◽  
Meint de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Operational Performance ◽  
Normal Flow ◽  
Throughput Time ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Process Models ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Business process models describe the way of working in an organization. Typically, business process models distinguish between the normal flow of work and exceptions to that normal flow. However, they often present an idealized view. This means that unexpected exceptions – exceptions that are not modeled in the business process model – can also occur in practice. This has an effect on the efficiency of the organization, because information systems are not developed to handle unexpected exceptions. The purpose of this paper is to study the relation between the occurrence of exceptions and operational performance. Design/methodology/approach The paper does this by analyzing the execution logs of business processes from five organizations, classifying execution paths as normal or exceptional. Subsequently, it analyzes the differences between normal and exceptional paths. Findings The results show that exceptions are related to worse operational performance in terms of a longer throughput time and that unexpected exceptions relate to a stronger increase in throughput time than expected exceptions. Practical implications These findings lead to practical implications on policies that can be followed with respect to exceptions. Most importantly, unexpected exceptions should be avoided by incorporating them into the process – and thus transforming them into expected exceptions – as much as possible. Also, as not all exceptions lead to longer throughput times, continuous improvement should be employed to continuously monitor the occurrence of exceptions and make decisions on their desirability in the process. Originality/value While work exists on analyzing the occurrence of exceptions in business processes, especially in the context of process conformance analysis, to the best of the authors’ knowledge this is the first work that analyzes the possible consequences of such exceptions.

A Method for Eliciting Goals for Business Process Models based on Non-Functional Requirements Catalogues

2013 ◽  
pp. 226-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evellin Cardoso ◽  
João Paulo A. Almeida ◽  
Renata S. S. Guizzardi ◽  
Giancarlo Guizzardi
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Process Modeling ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Business Process Modeling ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Business Process Models ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
Goal Models

While traditional approaches in business process modeling tend to focus on “how” the business processes are performed (adopting a behavioral description in which business processes are described in terms of procedural aspects), in goal-oriented business process modeling, the proposals strive to extend traditional business process methodologies by providing a dimension of intentionality to business processes. One of the key difficulties in enabling one to model goal-oriented processes concerns the identification or elicitation of goals. This paper reports on a case study conducted in a Brazilian hospital, which obtained several goal models represented in i*/Tropos, each of which correspond to a business process also modeled in the scope of the study. NFR catalogues were helpful in goal elicitation, uncovering goals that did not come up during previous interviews prior to these catalogues’ use.

Ontology-Based Framework for Quality in Configurable Process Models

2020 ◽  
pp. 464-478
Author(s):  
Loubna El Faquih ◽  
Mounia Fredj
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Process Modeling ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Novel Method ◽  
Ontology Languages ◽  
Variability Management

In recent years, business process modeling has increasingly drawn the attention of enterprises. As a result of the wide use of business processes, redundancy problems have arisen and researchers introduced the variability management, in order to enhance the business process reuse. The most approach used in this context is the Configurable Process Model solution, which consists in representing the variable and the fixed parts together in a unique model. Due to the increasing number of variants, the configurable models become complex and incomprehensible, and their quality is therefore impacted. Most of research work is limited to the syntactic quality of process variants. The approach presented in this paper aims at providing a novel method towards syntactic verification and semantic validation of configurable process models based on ontology languages. We define validation rules for assessing the quality of configurable process models. An example in the e-healthcare domain illustrates the main steps of our approach.

Business process centric energy modelling

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 1867-1890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megashnee Munsamy ◽  
Arnesh Telukdarie ◽  
Johannes Fresner
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Industry 4.0 ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Operational Parameters ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Energy Assessment

Purpose Sustainability is an accepted measure of business performance, with reductions in energy demand a commonly practised sustainability initiative by multinational corporations (MNCs). Traditional energy models have limited scope when applied to the entire MNC as the models exhibit high data and time intensity, high technical proficiency, specificity of application and omission of non-manufacturing activities. The purpose of this paper is to propose a process centric energy model (PCEM), which adopts a novel approach of applying business processes for business energy assessment and optimisation. Business processes are a fundamental requirement of MNCs across all sectors. The defining features of the proposed model are genericity, reproducibility, minimum user input data, reduced modelling time and energy evaluation of non-manufacturing activities. The approach forwards the adoption of Industry 4.0, a subset of which focuses on business process automation or part thereof. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative approach is applied in development of the PCEM. The methodology is demonstrated by application to the procure to pay and electroplating business processes. Findings The PCEM quantifies and optimises the business energy demand and associated carbon dioxide emissions of the procure to pay and electroplating business processes, validating the application of business processes. The application demonstrates minimum user inputs as only equipment operational parameters are required and minimum modelling time as business process models and optimisation options are pre-defined requiring only user modification. As MNCs have common business processes across multiple sites, once a business process energy demand is quantified, its inputs are applied as the default in the proceeding sites, only requiring updating. The model has no specialist skills requirement enabling business wide use and eliminating costs associated with training and expert’s services. The business processes applied in the evaluation are developed by the researchers and are not as comprehensive as those in actual MNCs, but is sufficiently detailed to accurately calculate an MNC energy demand. The model databases are not exhaustive of all resources found in MNCs. Originality/value This paper provides a new approach to MNC business energy assessment and optimisation. The model can be applied to MNEs across all sectors. The model allows the integration of manufacturing and non-manufacturing activities, as it occurs in practice, providing holistic business energy assessment and optimisation. The model analyses the impacts of the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies on business energy demand, CO2 emission and personnel hours.

Ownership relevance in aspect-oriented business process models

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 566-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julio Cesar Sampaio do Prado Leite ◽  
Flavia Maria Santoro ◽  
Claudia Cappelli ◽  
Thais Vasconcelos Batista ◽  
Fabiana Jack Nogueira Santos
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Process Modeling ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Business Process Modeling ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Actor Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Process Modeling Notation ◽  
Representation Scheme

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a representation scheme based on the i* strategic actor model to represent the process owner information and show how to incorporate this approach into the event driven process chain and Business Process Modeling Notation-BPMN meta-models and also into the aspect-oriented business process modeling (BPM) context. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a case study in a real setting to evaluate the proposal and a controlled experiment to get more evidence about its relevance. Findings – The authors presented evidence both from a case study in a real-world library showing the importance of representing – previously unavailable – process owner information, and from an experiment which involved participants analyzing the same models of the case study, confirming the preliminary evidences. It is important to stress the recognition that the proposed representation provided more transparency, in terms of ownership, than the usual BPM models. These benefits are due to the combination of the aspect-oriented approach and the strategic actor model, providing ownership information in a more transparent way. Originality/value – The authors not only argue the importance of clearly established process ownership, both of the core process and the aspectual process, but also the authors presented an approach to represent the actor involved in process and aspect ownership as an instantiation of the i* strategic actor. Using this approach, the process owner can be defined in terms of actors instead of the activities performed. It is also possible to define the aspect owner and to include the aspectual process concept in the business process model.

scholarly journals The quest for organizational flexibility

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 763-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Anastassiu ◽  
Flavia Maria Santoro ◽  
Jan Recker ◽  
Michael Rosemann
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Process Modeling ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Informational Support ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for identifying business process-relevant contextual information that is likely to impact on the process goal. The ORGANON method describes a semi-structured procedural guide alongside with a set of criteria and a matrix for analyzing ontological transactions, which can be used to identify which context information can be considered relevant to a business process. Design/methodology/approach – The authors report on an evaluation of the ORGANON method through a case study conducted in an organization that works in the social security domain. Findings – The results provide evidences of the feasibility of the method application in this scenario. Originality/value – Our research contributes to the literature on business processes flexibility, specifically through a proposal for context identification that can be extended to current techniques for business process modeling and in turn forms the basis for existing approaches for making business processes more flexible. The work has implications for the strategic management of organizations, by suggesting a method that provides informational support to decision makers about when, where and why business processes need to be adapted.

A business process modeling‐based approach to investigate complex processes

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faisal A. Abu Rub ◽  
Ayman A. Issa
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Process Modeling ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Business Process Modeling ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Model Complex

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a new approach to investigate complex processes, such as software development processes, using business process modeling.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents an investigation into the use of role activity diagramming (RAD) to model complex processes in the software industry sector, with reference to the process of TestWarehouse as a case study.FindingsSystematic extension and quantitative analysis to RAD models led to the discovery of process bottlenecks, identification of cross functional boundary problems, and focused discussion about automation of processes.Research limitations/implicationsFurther work is required to validate and evaluate the proposed approach using several cases with different application domains and thus generalize the adopted approach.Practical implicationsA new approach has been used successfully to understand and analyze business processes. The tools and techniques that are used to perform the approach are not complicated and do not need much specialist expertise, so the approach is not only oriented toward specialists but also toward organizations' managers and staff.Originality/valueNew techniques have been developed by using process modelling to deepen the understanding and analyzing of complex organizational processes. This research implements a practical investigation which uses a case study to validate the new techniques.

scholarly journals The Influence of Business Process Representation on Performance of Different Task Types

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamzah Ritchi ◽  
Mieke Jans ◽  
Jan Mendling ◽  
Hajo A. Reijers
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Process Modeling ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Process Representation ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Information Systems Research ◽  
Task Types

ABSTRACT The analysis of business processes is an integral part of audit methodology. In both auditing research and process modeling research, there is an ongoing debate on which representation format might be best suited to support analysis tasks. Most important in this context is the question of whether process models as visual representation might be superior to textual narratives. This paper investigates the affinity of different tasks with two process representational formats: textual narratives and visual diagrams (BPMN models). Our findings demonstrate that the representation format has an impact on task performance and that the direction of this impact depends upon the affinity of the tasks type with the representation format. This implies that auditors are best provided with different process representations, depending on the task they are performing. These findings have important implications for research on auditing tasks, and more broadly also for software engineering and information systems research.

Toward a Formal Semantics for Control-Flow Process Models

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry H. Bi ◽  
John Nolt
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Process Modeling ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Formal Semantics ◽  
Control Flow ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Modeling Languages ◽  
Flow Process

A number of information systems have been developed to automate business processes. For process modeling, verification, and automation in information systems, a formal semantics of control-flow process models is needed. Usually process modeling languages (e.g., BPMN, EPC, IDEF3, UML, and WfMC standards) are used to represent control-flow process models. When these process modeling languages are developed, their informal semantics are typically described using examples, but their formal semantics are not defined. Although many different semantics for control-flow process models have been proposed, the existing semantics specifications have limitations because they do not support certain desirable features. In this paper, we propose a new formal semantics for control-flow process models. We show that it is more accurate, complete, and applicable than the existing semantics specifications.

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