Improvise: Interactive multimedia process visualization environment

Abstract

Improvise is a multimedia system for modeling, visualizing and documenting software and business processes. It runs under Microsoft Windows and on most flavors of the UNIX operating system. Improvise provides facilities for drawing multi-layered process flow diagrams and graphical information models, and annotating the nodes and edges of the diagrams with multimedia information and executable attachments. The set of node shapes used to create process flow diagrams and information models is customizable. Each node and edge in the diagram is treated as an object with a customizable set of attributes that can be assigned values interactively. The values of some of the attributes are used to compute expected cost and time of a process. Users can browse the diagrams, zoom in on specific parts of the process, display the attached multimedia information, and execute the systems used in performing the process. Improvise is an open system that can be easily connected to other tools, such as process simulation and performance analysis tools. It has already been integrated with the process support environment Marvel as part of the implementation of Provence.