Business Process Modeling Method Research Articles

Exploring CMMN applicability to knowledge‐intensive process modeling: An empirical evaluation by modelers

AbstractKnowledge‐intensive processes (KiPs) have emerged characterizing tasks that are data‐driven, change dynamically and depend on the knowledge and experience of knowledge workers. Case Management Model and Notation (CMMN) language was introduced for modeling unstructured, agile human‐centric processes. As the available Business Process Modeling (BPM) methods and practices are not adequate for modeling KiPs, this paper presents an empirical study of the applicability of CMMN to modeling KiPs. After experienced modelers designed the models of three KiPs scenarios utilizing CMMN, their perceptions were collected assessing the support of CMMN to the KiPs characteristics. Specifically, the modelers assessed the support of the newly introduced CMMN notation elements to the KiPs characteristics. Three of them, that is, knowledge‐driven, unpredictable, and goal‐oriented, were highlighted as the ones that get the greater support by CMMN when it comes to modeling KiPs; the participating modelers suggested that the applicability of CMMN to modeling KiPs is mostly reinforced by the Sentries element. Considering that in a knowledge‐driven economy, organizations are called to transform their way of thinking and manage KiPs, we value the modelers' opinions since they shall apply such practices in the future. This research is a first step to assess whether CMMN may be a “fit” for modeling KiPs. When considering the potential of CMMN for KiPs modeling, the perceptions of such real CMMN users are also first indications of the CMMN future in terms of application.

Comparative analysis of the main business process modeling methods: a bibliometric study

Abstract The offer of business process modeling methodologies is quite extensive, making it difficult for scholars in the BPM area to choose properly. In this context, this paper has the objective to present the main modeling methodologies, with applications, examples and comparisons. A systematic bibliographic survey and the comparative analysis of these notations used in the implementation of BPM projects have been carried out. According to the bibliometric analysis, the modeling notations of the business process most portrayed in the works surveyed are: BPMN, UML, EPC and IDEF. From the construction of a consistent overview that allows the comparative analysis of the methodologies, in order to select the one that suits better its specificities it can be verified that, although they share the same objective, each notation has its specific characteristics. This study has the main purpose of providing a basis for the adequate indication of the application of studies in the field, especially those destined for papers, dissertations and theses.

Basılı Kitapların Sağlanması İş Sürecinin Modellenmesi: Ankara Üniversitesi Kütüphane ve Dokümantasyon Daire Başkanlığı Örneği (Business Process Modeling of the Acquisition of Printed Books: Ankara University Library and Documentation Center Example)

Bu çalışmada Ankara Üniversitesi Kütüphane ve Dokümantasyon Daire Başkanlığı’nın sağlama faaliyetleri kapsamında gerçekleştirdiği, basılı kitapların satın alınmasına ilişkin iş süreçleri ve iş akışı incelenmiştir. Süreçlerin modellenmesi, bir süreç modelleme yöntemi olan Birleşik Modelleme Dili (Unified Modeling Language-UML) ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Çalışmanın amacı, söz konusu yöntemi “basılı kitap sağlama iş süreci”ne uygulamak ve sürecin aksayan yönlerini saptayarak iyileştirilmesine yönelik çözüm önerileri sunmaktır. Bu doğrultuda betimleme yöntemi kullanılmış, veri toplamak amacıyla sağlama sürecini yöneten kütüphane çalışanlarıyla yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Çalışmanın sonuçları, iş süreçlerini modellemenin paydaşlar arasındaki iletişimi güçlendirebileceğini, kullanıcı odaklı sistem ve uygulamaların geliştirilebilmesine katkı sağlayacağını, kütüphane birimlerinde gerçekleştirilen diğer iş süreçlerinin de modellenmesinin mümkün olduğunu ve mevcut süreçlerin modellenmesinin katma değer sağlamayan süreçleri görmeyi kolaylaştırdığını göstermektedir.

Modeling of Business Processes During the Restructuring of a Construction Company

Рассматриваются этапы моделирования бизнес-процессов при реорганизации строительного предприятия, благодаря которым повышается его конкурентоспособность на строительном рынке. Реструктуризация - это изменение структуры, масштабов и видов деятельности предприятия в целях обеспечения эффективного формирования, распределения и использования экономических ресурсов. Процесс реструктуризации включает в себя осуществление необходимого комплекса мероприятий организационного, производственного, управленческого и финансового характера. Множество фирм рано или поздно проходят процедуру реструктуризации. Причины могут быть различные: изменения в законодательстве, падение конкурентоспособности, увеличение масштабов деятельности фирмы и др. Даже успешному предприятию необходимо с определенной периодичностью проходить процедуру реструктуризации с целью оптимизации бизнес-процессов. Строительный рынок, как и любой другой, неизбежно переносит череду изменений и преобразований, а предприятие, в свою очередь, обязано соответствовать потребностям рынка. Во избежание лишних трудовых и финансовых ресурсов при реструктуризации строительного предприятия используют метод моделирования бизнес-процессов, который позволяет заблаговременно предупредить возможные ошибки, защитить от угроз, а также минимизировать риски. Моделирование позволяет руководящим органам сформировать программу реструктуризации, способствующую выходу предприятия из кризисной ситуации и направленную на повышение эффективности производства с минимальными потерями. Моделирование бизнес-процессов выступает как объективная оценка деятельности предприятия и в то же время как инструмент проектно-инвестиционных решений в соответствии с потребностями рынка. На практике модернизация строительного производства путем реструктуризации позволяет детально проанализировать структуру предприятия, выявить существующий потенциал и устранить недостатки, благодаря чему предприятие может вновь эффективно функционировать на рынке.

QABPEM: Quality-Aware Business Process Engineering Method

In this paper, a novel business process engineering method based on quality assessment is proposed. In the proposed method, a goal model is used to estimate the operational costs of business processes. Goals scenarios in the goal model of desired information systems are applied as a basis for estimating the design cost. Qualities of business requirements models and business process models are also estimated. Based on the quality metrics, the process of business process modeling is examined. Then, using XOR operator in the goal model, a simple and direct mapping of the goal model to the business process model is introduced. Common activities in the business process model are further factored and summarized using pre- and post-factoring operations. The proposed business process modeling method is language-independent. An ICT office in Mazandaran Power Distribution Company is used as a case study to exemplify QABPEM. Our evaluation results demonstrates the capability of the proposed method compared with the existing ones.

A business process modeling-enabled requirements engineering framework for ERP implementation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the benefits of the application of a requirements engineering framework to assist Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) development. This framework combines the technology-driven and the process-driven approaches for requirements analysis and implementation. Specific business process modeling methods enhance the framework and assist the formulation of the functional specifications of the ERP system and the management of requirements. Design/methodology/approach – A case study strategy was chosen as the most appropriate method to answer the research question and test the theoretical propositions. The case study’s unit of analysis is a Greek manufacturing company and its ERP implementation project. A requirements engineering framework enhanced with business process modeling methods was applied and the results were evaluated using metrics for ERP implementation success. Data were collected using multiple sources of evidences, including interviews with various stakeholders, structured questionnaires, direct observations, vendors’ functionality papers and company’s documentation. Findings – This study proves that the configuration of ERP’s reference models together with the adjustments of organization’s processes, provided through a structured requirements engineering framework can lead to reliable functional specifications, a smooth transition to an ERP system and, eventually, to successful ERP implementation, concerning its alignment with requirements. Research limitations/implications – A single case study is conducted in a typical manufacturing company, providing opportunities for further research in other industries, testing in parallel well-defined requirements and other success factors for ERP implementation. Originality/value – The paper fulfils the identified needs for applied methodologies and frameworks for requirements engineering which can assist successful ERP implementations.

Research on Collaborative Mechanism in Large and Complex Business Process Modeling

Large-scale and complicated business process modeling is not supported by traditional single-designer business process modeling tools. This paper investigates a collaborative business process modeling method based on top-down pattern, where the conflict issue in collaboration is explicitly accounted for. An access control mechanism is proposed and four rules of locking up are defined to restrict designers access to models. Then the locks impact on efficiency of collaborative modeling is deeply studied. At last an integrated multi-designer modeling system IPro is developed based on the above collaborative mechanism and applied to several business process modeling projects in aviation industry to validate the mechanism.

Model medication management process in Australian nursing homes using business process modeling.

One of the reasons for end user avoidance or rejection to use health information systems is poor alignment of the system with healthcare workflow, likely causing by system designers' lack of thorough understanding about healthcare process. Therefore, understanding the healthcare workflow is the essential first step for the design of optimal technologies that will enable care staff to complete the intended tasks faster and better. The often use of multiple or "high risk" medicines by older people in nursing homes has the potential to increase medication error rate. To facilitate the design of information systems with most potential to improve patient safety, this study aims to understand medication management process in nursing homes using business process modeling method. The paper presents study design and preliminary findings from interviewing two registered nurses, who were team leaders in two nursing homes. Although there were subtle differences in medication management between the two homes, major medication management activities were similar. Further field observation will be conducted. Based on the data collected from observations, an as-is process model for medication management will be developed.

Risk and Safety Program Performance Evaluation and Business Process Modeling

There is increasing need for agencies to coordinate their interdependent risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication activities in compliance with risk program guidelines. In particular, there is a challenge to measure risk program compliance and maturity to guidelines such as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum “Updated Principles for Risk Analysis” among others. This paper demonstrates a systemic approach to evaluate large-scale risk program maturity with utilization of business process modeling and self-assessment methods. This approach will be helpful to agencies implementing risk guidelines such as those of the OMB, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Defense, and others. This paper will be of interest to risk managers, agencies, and risk and safety analysts engaged in the conception, implementation, and evaluation of risk and safety programs.

Plural: A decentralized business process modeling method

Top-down and centralized approaches prevail in the design and improvement of business processes. However, centralized structures pose difficulties for organizations in adapting to a rapidly changing business environment. Here we present the Plural method which can be used to guide organizations in performing process modeling in a decentralized way. Instead of a centralized group of people understanding, modeling and improving processes, our method allows individuals to model and improve their own processes to help in fulfilling their roles in the organization. An individual model depicts a set of activities performed by a role, which together result in a cohesive service within the organization. These individual models are then integrated as necessary to show the way the organization works. We applied the Plural method in a case study of a small-size software organization. We describe the method and its underlying principles and then discuss the findings of our case study, lessons learned, and limitations. The study thus provided evidence of Plural's utility and showed how an organization might exploit its strengths.

Business Process Modeling Based on Norm

As to the question that the current enterprise information system can not adapt quickly to shifting business, this paper mainly studied business process adaptability according to Norm and SOA and proposed a business process modeling method based on Norm. The purpose is to enable business change in the information systems more flexible and better meet the current market and customer demands.

The importance of business process modeling in software systems design

Despite diligent efforts made by the software engineering community, the failure of software projects keeps increasing at an alarming rate. After two decades of this problem reoccurring, one of the leading causes for the high failure rate is still poor process modeling (requirements’ specification). Therefore both researchers and practitioners recognize the importance of business process modeling in understanding and designing accurate software systems. However, lack of direct model checking (verification) feature is one of the main shortcomings in conventional process modeling methods. It is important that models provide verifiable insight into underlying business processes in order to design complex software systems such as Enterprise Information Systems (EIS). The software engineering community has been deploying the same methods that have haunted the industry with failure. In this paper, we try to remedy this issue by looking at a non-conventional framework. We introduce a business process modeling method that is amenable to automatic analysis (simulation), yet powerful enough to capture the rich reality of business systems as enacted in the behavior and interactions of users. The proposed method is based on the innovative language-action perspective.

A framework for selecting business process modeling methods

The techniques for representing and analyzing business processes are referred to as business process modeling. Many business process modeling methods and their associated tools have been used to capture the characteristics of business processes. However, most methods view business processes from different perspectives and have different features and capabilities. Thus, an important research question is how process designers should select appropriate modeling methods for their BPR initiatives. In this paper, we propose a framework for selecting business process modeling methods based on modeling objectives. This framework can serve as the basis for evaluating modeling methods and generating selection procedures. A general selection procedure is also described. We use an expense claim process as an example to illustrate the application of the selection procedure.

A Pattern-Oriented Approach to a Methodical Evaluation of Modeling Methods

The paper describes a pattern-oriented approach to evaluate modeling methods and to compare various methods with each other from a methodical viewpoint. A specific set of principles (the patterns) is defined by investigating the notations and the documentation of comparable modeling methods. Each principle helps to examine some parts of the methods from a specific point of view. All principles together lead to an overall picture of the method under examination. First the core (method neutral) meaning of each principle is described. Then the methods are examined regarding the principle. Afterwards the method specific interpretations are compared with each other and with the core meaning of the principle. By this procedure, the strengths and weaknesses of modeling methods regarding methodical aspects are identified. The principles are described uniformly using a principle description template according to descriptions of object oriented design patterns. The approach is demonstrated by evaluating a business process modeling method.