Business Process Model And Notation Extension Research Articles

BPMN4MOOC: A BPMN extension for the design of connectivist MOOC

ABSTRACT Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is a standard formalism for business process modeling that is very popular in professional practices due to its expressiveness, the well-defined meta-model, and its easiness of use by non-technical users. For instance, BPMN2.0 is used for business processes in commercial areas such as banks, shops, production, and supply industry. Due to its flexible notation, BPMN is increasingly being used in non-traditional business process domains like education. The presented research work aims to develop a valid extension by applying the BPMN representation of pedagogical scenario in connectivist cMOOC context. BPMN provides a set of generic process modeling elements that make it necessary to extend the language and notation by domain-specific concepts from connectivist pedagogical approach. Therefore, BPMN2.0 extensibility mechanism was explored to include the representation of specific cMOOC pedagogical concepts. Moreover, this paper provides an analysis of the requirements of those concepts. Based on a cMOOC-oriented pedagogical scenario model, the need for an extension is identified and the valid BPMN extension meta-model is designed by the construction of a conceptual domain-specific model and the corresponding BPMN extension model.

An experimental investigation of BPMN-based corporate communications modeling

PurposeDespite corporate communications having an immense impact on corporate success, there is a lack of dedicated techniques for their management and visualization. A potential strategy is to apply business process management (BPM) approach with business process model and notation (BPMN) modeling techniques.Design/methodology/approachThe goal of this study was to gain empirical insights into the cognitive effectiveness of BPMN-based corporate communications modeling. To this end, experimental research was performed in which subjects tested two modeling notations – standardized BPMN conversation diagrams and a BPMN extension with corporate communications-specific concepts.FindingsStandard conversation diagrams were demonstrated to be more time-efficient for designing and interpreting diagrams. However, the subjects made significantly fewer mistakes when interpreting the diagrams modeled in the BPMN extension. Subjects also evolved positive perceptions toward the proposed extension.Practical implicationsBPMN-based corporate communications modeling may be applied to organizations to depict how formal communications are or should be performed consistently, effectively and transparently by following and integrating with BPM approaches and modeling techniques.Originality/valueThe paper provides empirical insights into the cognitive effectiveness of corporate communications modeling based on BPMN and positions the corresponding models into typical process architecture.

Extending BPMN Models with Sensitive Business Process Aspects

This research article aims to apply the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) for the representation of Sensitive Business Processes (SBPs). Therefore, we propose a new extension “BPMN4SBP” explicitly integrate all the relevant issues and aspects relevant at the coupling of the business process modeling (BPM) domain and the knowledge management (KM) domain for improving the management of crucial knowledge which are mobilized and created by these processes. This article provides the analysis of requirements and relevant concepts for modeling SBP. Based on a core domain ontology, need for extension is identified and the valid BPMN4SBP extension is designed (according to the BPMN extension mechanism) by the construction of a conceptional domain model and the corresponding BPMN extension model.

A Lightweight BPMN Extension for Business Process-Oriented Requirements Engineering

Process-oriented requirements engineering approaches are often required to deal with the effective adaptation of existing processes in order to easily introduce new or updated requirements. Such approaches are based on the adoption of widely used notations, such as the one introduced by the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard. However, BPMN models do not convey enough information on the involved entities and how they interact with process activities, thus leading to ambiguities, as well as to incomplete and inconsistent requirements definitions. This paper proposes an approach that allows stakeholders and software analysts to easily merge and integrate behavioral and data properties in a BPMN model, so as to fully exploit the potential of BPMN without incurring into the aforementioned limitation. The proposed approach introduces a lightweight BPMN extension that specifically addresses the annotation of data properties in terms of constraints, i.e., pre- and post-conditions that the different process activities must satisfy. The visual representation of the annotated model conveys all the information required both by stakeholders, to understand and validate requirements, and by software analysts and developers, to easily map these updates to the corresponding software implementation. The presented approach is illustrated by use of two running examples, which have also been used to carry out a preliminary validation activity.

A BPMN extension to support discrete-event simulation for healthcare applications: an explicit representation of queues, attributes and data-driven decision points

Stakeholder engagement in simulation projects is important, especially in healthcare where there is a plurality of stakeholder opinions, objectives and power. One promising approach for increasing engagement is facilitated modelling. Currently, the complexity of producing a simulation model means that the “model coding” stage is performed without the involvement of stakeholders, interrupting the possibility of a fully facilitated project. Early work demonstrated that with currently available software tools we can represent a simple healthcare process using Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and generate a simulation model automatically. However, for more complex processes, BPMN currently has a number of limitations, namely the ability to represent queues and data-driven decision points. To address these limitations, we propose a conceptual design for an extension to BPMN (BPMN4SIM) using model-driven architecture. Application to an elderly emergency care pathway in a UK hospital shows that BPMN4SIM is able to represent a more complex business process.

BPMN-E2: a BPMN extension for an enhanced workflow description

This paper discusses a business process model and notation (BPMN) extension that includes new elements designed to improve its expressiveness. In previous works, different shortcomings concerning the BPMN language were detected. As a result, a set of requirements to overcome these issues was collected and used to guide this work. The proposed extension supports the representation of information commonly used by experts in the hazard analysis and critical control points domain, usually expressed in natural language, in a machine-understandable fashion. To take full advantage of the features introduced in this BPMN extension, tools such as ProM can be easily upgraded with appropriate plugins to support the new elements. In this line, an advanced conformance checking plugin was developed for process mining on BPMN models. A real-world example of use showing the benefits of applying the new elements is also discussed. This proposal paves the way for novel advanced analysis mechanisms for traceability systems.

BPMN4KM: Design and Implementation of a BPMN Extension for Modeling the Knowledge Perspective of Sensitive Business Processes

The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is a standard for business process modeling that is very common in professional practice due to its expressiveness, the well defined meta model and the possibility of workflow integration. This research article aims to develop a valid extension for including and implementing the knowledge dimension in Sensitive Business Processes (SBPs). We aim at enriching the graphical representation of SBPs in order to identify and localize the crucial knowledge mobilized and created by these processes. The applicability of the proposed BPMN extension «BPMN4KM» is demonstrated by a medical process in the context of the association of protection of the motor disabled people of Sfax-Tunisia.

UBPMN: A BPMN extension for modeling ubiquitous business processes

Context: Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is the de facto standard for business process modeling. It was developed by the Object Management Group with support of the major organizations in the fields of software engineering and information systems. Despite its wide use, when it comes to representing ubiquitous business processes, this business process modeling language is lacking.Objective: To address BPMN’s deficiency in representing ubiquitous business processes, we extend it and present uBPMN (or ubiquitous BPMN).Method: First, we analyze the modeling requirements for representing ubiquitous business processes. Based on the requirements, we conservatively extend the Meta-Object Facility meta-model and the XML Schema Definition of BPMN as well as extend the notation. The extension, that we call uBPMN follows the same outline as set by the Object Management Group for BPMN.Results: The proposed uBPMN not only allows for modeling ubiquitous business processes but also lays the groundwork for potentially deploying a variety of ubiquitous computing technologies. We illustrate all of uBPMN’s capabilities and benefits with real-life examples.Conclusion: uBPMN extends BPMN v2.0 with new capabilities to deal with ubiquitous computing technologies.