Model-Driven Development of Interoperable, Inter-Organisational Business Processes
Public and private organisations have a high rate of interaction, i.e. all their external business processes are de-facto inter-organisational. Besides traditional non-functional aspects, inter-organisational processes demand a high rate of interoperability. The authors present a model-driven development process explicitly considering interoperability levels as development process phases. Applying this development process has shown that it substantially raises the interoperability awareness for all associated actors. To further improve “common sense” between the involved actors, we use an integrated modelling language approach. For this, the metamodels of the used modelling languages are integrated using metamodel integration based on metamodel mappings and integration rules. The approach is demonstrated by integrating BPMN-based business process modelling and CCTS-based data modelling into a consolidated modelling language. Considering the integrated metamodel, the authors apply model transformation to re-use model information along the described development phases, e.g. business process definitions are used to generate skeletons for executable workflows and business document definitions are used to generate data model definitions and associated data schemata. The application of the model-driven development process, the metamodel integration as well as the model transformation is illustrated by a case study of electronic VAT statement transaction.