Measuring Business Process Model Reuse in a Process Repository

Abstract

The value of process modeling increases with process model reuse. Previous research into process model reuse has focused on behavioral aspects of reuse such as the intention to reuse, the repeated reuse of a process model over time, and the identification of elements of process models which could be reused. However, process model reuse can also be considered from the perspective of the reuse of process models by other process models in the same repository. Such a measure would be a direct measure of whether process modelers are creating bespoke versions of existing process models or are indeed reusing existing process models and reaping some of the purported benefits of reuse. Furthermore, it would provide a measure of reuse which can be automated. Organizations which operate in a multi-channel, multi-product environment have business processes which frequently share functionality (consider authentication for example) and which may be used in different organizational units. While the reuse of complete process models in a process repository is one of the benefits of using a process repository, no research could be found relating to the measurement of the reuse of complete process models by other process models within such a repository. We believe that this paper is the first to propose and validate a measure of complete process model reuse by other process models in the same process repository. The measure is then applied to a real-world process repository of a large financial services organization, illustrating the applicability and potential usefulness of the measure.