Overcoming Heterogeneity in Business Process Modeling with Rule-Based Semantic Mappings

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (08) ◽  
pp. 1131-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Prackwieser ◽  
Robert Buchmann ◽  
Wilfried Grossmann ◽  
Dimitris Karagiannis
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Process Modeling ◽  
Process Simulation ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
Business Process Modeling ◽  
Control Flow ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Modeling Languages ◽  
Generic Level ◽  
Hybrid Character

The paper tackles the problem of notational heterogeneity in business process modeling. Heterogeneity is overcome with an approach that induces semantic homogeneity independent of notation, driven by commonalities and recurring semantics in various control flow-oriented modeling languages, with the goal of enabling process simulation on a generic level. Thus, hybrid process models (for end-to-end or decomposed processes) having different parts or subprocesses modeled with different languages become simulate-able, making it possible to derive quantitative measures (lead time, costs, or resource capacity) across notational heterogeneity. The result also contributes to a better understanding of the process structure, as it helps with identifying interface problems and process execution requirements, and can support a multitude of areas that benefit from step by step process simulation (e.g. process-oriented requirement analysis, user interface design, generation of business-related test cases, compilation of handbooks and training material derived from processes). A use case is presented in the context of the ComVantage EU research project, where notational heterogeneity is induced by: (a) the specificity and hybrid character of a process-centric modeling method designed for the project application domain, and (b) the collaborative nature of the modeling effort, with different modelers working with different notations for different layers of abstraction in a shared on-line tool and model repository.

scholarly journals Influence of diagram layout and scrolling on understandability of BPMN processes: an eye tracking experiment with BPMN diagrams

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Lübke ◽  
Maike Ahrens ◽  
Kurt Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Process Modeling ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Business Process Modeling ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Process Diagrams ◽  
Style Guides ◽  
Important Activity

AbstractBusiness process modeling is an important activity for developing software systems—especially within digitization projects and when realizing digital business models. Specifying requirements and building executable workflows is often done by using BPMN 2.0 process models. Although there are several style guides available for BPMN, e.g., by Silver and Richard (BPMN method and style, vol 2, Cody-Cassidy Press, Aptos, 2009), there has not been much empirical research done into the consequences of the diagram layout. In particular, layouts that require scrolling have not been investigated yet. The aim of this research is to establish layout guidelines for business process modeling that help business process modelers to create more understandable business process diagrams. For establishing benefits and penalties of different layouts, a controlled eye tracking experiment was conducted, in which data of 21 professional software developers was used. Our results show that horizontal layouts are less demanding and that as many diagram elements as possible should be put on the initially visible screen area because such diagram elements are viewed more often and longer. Additionally, diagram elements related to the reader’s task are read more often than those not relevant to the task. BPMN modelers should favor a horizontal layout and use a more complex snake or multi-line layout whenever the diagrams are too large to fit on one page in order to support BPMN model comprehension.

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.

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.

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.

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