Context-Aware Business Processes Modelling: Concepts, Issues and Framework

Abstract

Recent research activities on the design of business processes were driven by flexibility. Process flexibility can be achieved through the ability to trigger dynamic changes in the core of business process components in a timely manner and in response to business environment evolution. The drivers for business process flexibility can be found in the “Context” of a process which may include among others time, location, weather, legislation, and culture. Context-Aware Business Process Modelling extends traditional business process models with contextual variables that trigger a dynamic behavior under continuous change. However, as yet, most of the research work in this area has focused on some specific contextual information to model some varying parts such as business rules and goals. Little attention has given to the design and development of a general framework for context-aware business process modelling. In this paper, major business process components were extracted from the main existent business process design formalisms, amplified by contextual information, and integrated into a more a general framework. A case study of a well known European Logistics Enterprise is used to illustrate how contextual information should be integrated within existent business process modeling approaches.