Factors Affecting the Sustained Use of Process Models

Abstract

The documentation of business processes via modelling notations is a well-accepted and widespread practice. While a given process model is created in a specific project and sometimes for a specific purpose, it is generally preserved so that it can be used subsequently, beyond the context where it was created. In this setting, the aim of the paper at hand is to uncover factors that affect the sustained use of process models in an organization. First, the paper outlines an a priori model of sustained process model use derived from existing factor models of business process modelling success and knowledge reuse. This a priori model is packaged as an assessment instrument and applied to four organizations from different domains. Based on these case studies, we identify a subset of factors and relationships that explain differences in the observed sustained use of process models across the organizations in question.