Knowledge-intensive Business Processes Research Articles

BPM challenges, limitations and future development directions – a systematic literature review

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to identify the main challenges and limitations of current business process management (BPM) development directions noticed by researchers, as well as to define the areas of the main BPM paradigm shifts necessary for the BPM of tomorrow to meet the challenges posed by Industry 4.0 and the emerging Industry 5.0. This is extremely important from the perspective of eliminating the existing broadening gap between the considerations of academic researchers and the needs of business itself.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was conducted on the basis of the resources of two digital databases: Web of Science (WoS) and SCOPUS. Based on the PRISMA protocol, the authors selected 29 papers published in the last decade that diagnosed the challenges and limitations of modern BPM and contained recommendations for its future development. The content of the articles was analyzed within four BPM core areas.FindingsThe authors of the selected articles most commonly point to the areas of organization (21 articles) and methods and information technology (IT) (22 articles) in the context of the challenges and limitations of current BPM and the directions of recommended future BPM development. This points to the prevalence among researchers of the perspective of Industry 4.0 – or focus on technological solutions and raising process efficiency, with the full exclusion or only the partial signalization of the influence of implementing new technologies on the stakeholders and in particular – employees, their roles and competencies – the key aspects of Industry 5.0.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposal of BPM future development directions requires the extension of the BPM paradigm, taking into account its holistic nature, especially unpredictable, knowledge-intensive business processes requiring dynamic management, the need to integrate BPM with knowledge management (KM) and the requirements of Industry 5.0 in terms of organizational culture. The limitation is that the study is based on only two databases: WoS and SCOPUS and that the search has been narrowed down to publications in English only.Practical implicationsThe proposal of BPM future development directions also requires the extension of the BPM paradigm, taking into account the specific challenges and limitations that managers encounter on a daily basis. The presented summaries of the challenges and limitations resulting from the literature review are accompanied by recommendations that are primarily dedicated to practitioners.Social implicationsThe article indicates the area people and culture as one of the four core areas of BPM. It emphasizes the necessity to account to a greater degree for the influence of people, their knowledge, experience and engagement, as well as formal and informal communication, without which it is impossible to use the creativity, innovativeness and dynamism of the individual and the communities to create value in the course of business process execution.Originality/valueTo the authors' knowledge, this is the first systematic review of the literature on the limitations of modern BPM and its future in the context of Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0.

Innovation development of small business in Indonesia

This study examines the factors influencing innovation development in small businesses in Indonesia across various sectors. Innovation is widely recognized as a critical factor in the competitiveness of businesses. This development potential is essential for the entrepreneurs who participated in the questionnaire survey. In fact, out of a total of 85.50% of them are already currently running a business, and they also consider innovation very important. A sample of 400 small business owners was analyzed using descriptive analysis to identify eight factors related to innovation development, including knowledge exploitation, interactive processes, knowledge-intensive business process improvement, new technology-based firms, go-to-market strategies, stricter regulation, and stimulation. The results revealed that three factors were particularly dominant in innovation development. Specifically, knowledge exploitation was strongly correlated with knowledge-intensive, while interactive processes were strongly correlated with knowledge exploitation. Finally, knowledge-intensive was strongly related to knowledge exploitation. These findings underscore the importance of knowledge and interaction in driving innovation among small businesses in Indonesia. By prioritizing these dominant factors, small businesses can develop strategies to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving business environment.

Evaluating user acceptance of knowledge-intensive business process modeling languages

Case Management has been evolving to support knowledge-intensive business process management, resulting in different modeling languages, e.g., Declare, Dynamic Condition Response (DCR), and Case Management Model and Notation (CMMN). A language will die if users do not accept and use it in practice—similar to extinct human languages. Thus, evaluating how users perceive languages is important to improve them. Although some studies have investigated how the process designers perceived Declare and DCR, there is a lack of research on how they perceive CMMN—especially in comparison with other languages. Therefore, this paper investigates and compares how process designers perceive these languages based on the Technology Acceptance Model. The paper includes two studies conducted in 2020 and 2022, both performed by educating participants through a course, with feedback on their assignments, to reduce biases. The perceptions are collected through questionnaires before and after feedback on the final practice. Results show that the perceptions change is insignificant after feedback due to the participants being well-trained. The reliability of responses was tested using Cronbach’s alpha. The results of the first study show that both DCR and CMMN were perceived as having acceptable usefulness and ease of use, but CMMN was perceived as significantly better than DCR in terms of ease of use. The results of the second study show that only DCR was perceived significantly better than Declare in terms of usefulness. The participants’ feedback shows potential areas for improvement in languages and tool support to enhance perceived usefulness and ease of use.

Proposal of BPMN extension with a view to effective modeling of clinical pathways

PurposeThe aim of the article is to propose BPMN extensions that facilitate the modeling of Clinical Pathways in a way that enables for various groups of users, the transfer of a much wider range of information in the form of process models without compromising their readability and usefulness.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the design science research methodology (DSRM) and covers phases of a design-oriented research project extending BPMN notation for clinical pathway modeling.FindingsThe article proposes extensions of BPMN in 5 areas, enabling standardization of the description of business processes of different natures and complexity and in turn meeting the needs and requirements of modeling clinical pathways and, more broadly speaking, knowledge-intensive business processes (kiBPs) in general. As shown by the evaluation carried out among medical personnel, the proposed extensions allow for the readable transfer of a considerably larger body of information relevant to the planned, conducted and assessed therapy (kiBPs) than the current BPMN 2.0 standard.Originality/valueThe BPMN extensions proposed in the article fill the gaps in this notation and do not require users to know many notations, which in practice is unrealistic. Defined extensions to the BPMN specification makes it possible to standardise the description of processes of different natures and levels of complexity. In this way, both simplified models (and views of models) dedicated to users unfamiliar with BPMN and models (or views) using advanced possibilities provided by BPMN can be based on one standard, even if they use only a small part of its possibilities.

Drivers and Evolution Paths of BPMS: State-of-the-Art and Future Research Directions

The aim of the article is to identify drivers and limiters of the development of Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) from the point of view of the industry and the academia, and to formulate practical recommendations. Their identification is crucial in order to remove a considerable gap between the approach to knowledge-intensive business processes (kiBPs), which require dynamic management and are decisive with regard to the competitive position of the organization under the conditions of Industry 5.0, as well as the possibilities offered by ICT solution, and the current possibilities and needs of BPM practitioners. The authors applied a methodological approach based on a theoretical literature review and a review of practice through online structured expert interviews with key BPMS solution providers. According to the literature, the main drivers pertain to the enterprises’ efforts to reduce costs and improve their productivity and efficiency, develop technology, and enact changes in business models and business processes. According to vendors, the main drivers for the combination of BPMS and Case Management Systems (CMS) were the users’ expectations, technology identity, and further development perspectives. The main limiters of the decision to combine both classes of systems were technological problems predicted by vendors related to the unification of historically different technologies used in both classes of systems, as well as implementation-based problems related to the likely need to reconfigure the software environments of software users. The article formulated original recommendations for both vendors and users of iBPMS software, including the basic recommendation of the selection of the methodology of implementation of BPM and iBPMS in accordance with the context of the organization’s operations (the nature of its business processes).

How to improve the assessment of BPM maturity in the era of digital transformation

For almost 30 years, the way of building business process management maturity models (BPM MMs), the importance assigned to individual maturity levels, and the criteria and critical success factors chosen for BPM maturity assessment have not changed significantly, despite the fact that during those three decades, the business environment and organizations themselves have changed enormously. The impact of hyperautomation and the increasing pace of change require the integration of maturity assessment with the BPM implementation methodology, including the repetition of maturity assessment for selected groups of processes. This causes an urgent need to adapt both process maturity assessment methods and BPM MMs to changing working conditions and business requirements. This conceptual paper is based on a model approach. The framework presented in the article continues and at the same time clearly deviates from the tradition of building BPM MMs on the basis of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). It proposes a two-stage comprehensive process of organizational process maturity assessment, fully integrated into the process of BPM implementation and further business process management. The presented framework makes it possible to assess the process maturity of Industry 4.0 organizations in which dynamic knowledge-intensive business processes (kiBPs) play a key role in creating value.

Knowledge Management Infrastructure Framework for Enhancing Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes

In this age of digital transformation, knowledge-intensive organizations strive to improve business outcomes and sustainability by improving their knowledge-intensive business processes (KIBPs) to obtain a competitive advantage. Many researchers have claimed that KIBP enhancement is possible through knowledge management (KM) initiatives supported by an effective KM infrastructure. Current KM infrastructures deal with formal KM procedures, where knowledge is created, stored, assimilated, and disseminated. Such activities, however, are designed to be performed outside of the business process. KM infrastructures are expected to be more effective when they include specific real-time knowledge procedures integrated into the operational flow of KIBPs. This paper explores how modern KM infrastructures can support KIBPs, considering both formal and operational KM procedures. Our study’s essential contribution is the conceptual KM infrastructure framework (KMIF) developed based on grounded theory research. This infrastructure provides a systematic and robust approach, starting from the ground up, for structuring organizational knowledge assets across a range of KIBP environments. We define operational knowledge procedures directly involved in KIBPs, adding a layer to KM infrastructures beyond the formal knowledge procedures. A mixed-method case study was conducted to demonstrate and evaluate the proposed KMIF for enhancing business outcomes and sustainability of knowledge-intensive organizations.

Towards the assessment of business process knowledge intensity – a systematic literature review

PurposeThe aim of the article is to propose an integrated definition of knowledge-intensive business processes (kiBPs) and a model of business process (BP) knowledge intensity and develop holistic criteria and measures for the assessment of BP knowledge intensity.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out as a means of evaluating and interpreting all available research relevant to the research topic, in this case, BP knowledge intensity. The SLR is based on the resources of the ProQuest, Springer Nature and ScienceDirect full-text databases. Regarding inclusion criteria, the authors considered peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings published in English in the last 10 years. The results were summarized and synthesized narratively.FindingsBased on the review, the authors classified existing knowledge intensity definitions, starting with knowledge-intensive economy or country, sectors and services, through knowledge-intensive organizations, BPs, to tasks. Then, an integrated definition of kiBPs was proposed and the business process knowledge intensity model encompassing three domains developed. Finally, 12 knowledge intensity criteria with measures were proposed.Originality/valueThe major value of this research is that it presents a novel approach to understanding BP knowledge intensity and kiBPs. By creating the BP knowledge intensity model, supplemented by the assessment criteria and measures, the authors contribute to the more effective management of kiBP, help find similarities and differences between various knowledge-intensive processes, as well as provide important implications for their effective management and research.

A novel mechanism for business analytics value creation: improvement of knowledge-intensive business processes

PurposeThis paper focuses on the “how” of business analytics (BA) value creation, which remains an open research problem and a practical challenge. The main purpose of this paper is to propose a novel BA value creation mechanism that is BA-enabled improvement of Knowledge-intensive Business Processes (KIBPs), with experiential knowledge of decision makers as the key to a more sustainable BA-enabled competitive differentiation.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a qualitative research case study, conducted in a large retail distribution company. The research insights were observed through a combined lens of work systems theory and the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm, using an interpretive approach.FindingsThe proposed theoretical model identifies three stages of KIBP improvement through BA and explains how they lead to a sustainable BA-enabled competitive differentiation. Stage 1 focusses on BA support for individual knowledge-intensive tasks, Stage 2 focusses on individual decision makers and their ability to gain KIBP-related analytical insights and turn them into action; and Stage 3 on sharing of the acquired experiential knowledge amongst decision makers using BA.Originality/valueIn addition to proposing a novel mechanism for BA value creation, this research demonstrates the importance of leveraging experiential knowledge of decision makers as a pathway to a more sustainable competitive differentiation through BA. This, in turn, creates new opportunities for knowledge management researchers to engage in BA-related research. It also opens a new approach for BA researchers to investigate BA value creation mechanisms through the lens of KBV, rather than more common resource-based or capability-based views.

Business Process Management and Digital Innovations: A Systematic Literature Review

Emerging technologies have capabilities to reshape business process management (BPM) from its traditional version to a more explorative variant. However, to exploit the full benefits of new IT, it is essential to reveal BPM’s research potential and to detect recent trends in practice. Therefore, this work presents a systematic literature review (SLR) with 231 recent academic articles (from 2014 until May 2019) that integrate BPM with digital innovations (DI). We position those articles against seven future BPM-DI trends that were inductively derived from an expert panel. By complementing the expected trends in practice with a state-of-the-art literature review, we are able to derive covered and uncovered themes in order to help bridge a rigor-relevance gap. The major technological impacts within the BPM field seem to focus on value creation, customer engagement and managing human-centric and knowledge-intensive business processes. Finally, our findings are categorized into specific calls for research and for action to let scholars and organizations better prepare for future digital needs.

Data Science Techniques in Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes

The processes of an investment bank are considered to be particularly knowledge-intensive, because analysts need to extract or generate relevant knowledge from a variety of data. With increasing digitization, modern data science and business intelligence techniques are available to support or partially automate these activities. This study presents concrete use cases for front office processes of an investment bank as how knowledge management techniques can be used. For example, the article describes how expert systems can be used in the due diligence review or how fuzzy logic systems help in deciding whether to buy or sell securities. The article is based on 1079 texts (e.g. documented cases and articles) and serves researchers as well as practitioners as an application overview of data science techniques in the example area of knowledge-intensive banking processes.

Enabling flexible task compositions, orders and granularities for knowledge-intensive business processes

ABSTRACTDuring the last decades, many approaches and tools were developed that enable a flexible enactment of repetitive business processes. By contrast, knowledge-intensive processes (KIPs) have not been effectively supported yet. This paper proposes a data-centric and goal-driven approach that enables flexible KIP enactment with dynamically evolving task structure and varying task granularity. The approach utilises artificial intelligence planning techniques in order to enable recommendations regarding the next tasks to be enacted. Furthermore, recommendations may be dynamically adapted when mismatches between the digital process and the real-world KIP emerge. Overall, the approach provides flexibility and guidance during KIP enactment.

Development of knowledge representation based on markov logical networks in the business process mangement system

The problem of constructing knowledge representation in the process control system based on the analysis of the behavior of business processes, represented in the form of logs of events, is studied. Each event characterizes the action of the business process. The urgency of the problem is determined by the fact that when managing complex knowledge-capacious business processes, performers can change the sequence of actions taking into account additional knowledge about the subject area. As a result, there is a discrepancy between the process and its model, which creates difficulties for the further management of this business process. To eliminate this discrepancy, it is necessary to formalize the additional knowledge used and apply them in process management, which requires the creation of an appropriate knowledge representation. The proposed knowledge representation model takes into account the static and dynamic characteristics of the business process. The static characteristics of a business process are specified by facts and rules with arguments represented by the attributes of the log events. Facts and rules are formed on the basis of appropriate templates. Attributes specify the values of the properties of objects with which the business process operates. Dynamic features of the business process are determined through the current distribution of the probability that the rules will be executed, taking into account the attributes of the current business process log event. The proposed model is characterized by the fact that it takes into account the limitations on the permissible sequences of execution of the actions of the business process, as well as restrictions based on a priori knowledge of the subject area. Such restrictions will reduce the complexity of the problem of finding the probabilities of a successful completion of a business process by reducing the number of allowed trails in the event that the performers have changed the sequence of actions. In practical terms, the model provides the ability to support decision-making on the management of knowledge-intensive business processes based on predicting the probabilities of achieving the final state of the process, taking into account the attributes of log events.

LOGICAL - PROBABILISTIC REPRESENTATION OF CAUSAL DEPENDENCIES BETWEEN EVENTS IN BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT

The subject matter of the article are the processes of identifying knowledge in the form of causal relationships based on the analysis of the log of the business process. The goal is to develop a logical-probabilistic model of cause-effect relationships between pairs of log events that describes the implementation of the business process's action to support the solution of the task of automating the construction of the knowledge base of the process management system. Tasks : Select context constraints and limitations on the execution of business process actions that can be obtained as a result of log analysis; develop an approach to extract the probabilistic and logical components of cause-effect dependencies; to develop a logical-probabilistic model of causal relationships. The methods used are: methods for constructing predicate models; Bayesian methods of constructing probabilistic models. The following results are obtained. Formalized class of causal dependencies for knowledge-intensive business processes. Such dependencies can take into account informal knowledge of the business process. Within this class there are: a predicate description of the state of the context based on information about values of attributes of log events; contextual constraints on doing business process actions; probabilistic conditions for implementing the business process. Conclusions. The scientific novelty of the results obtained is as follows: a logical-probabilistic model of cause-effect relationships between pairs of log events describing the performance of the business process is proposed. The model binds a logical description of the state of the context before and after the completion of each activity of the business process, as well as a logical description of the constraints on the actions of the process and a probabilistic description of the conditions for the execution of these actions. In practical terms, the model provides an opportunity to solve problems of extracting, expanding and integrating knowledge based on the analysis of logs of business processes.

METHOD OF AUTOMATED CONSTRUCTION AND EXPANSION OF THE KNOWLEDGE BASE OF THE BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The problem of constructing and using the knowledge representation in the process control system is studied. It is shown that when implementing knowledge-intensive business process management, it is necessary to use automated construction and expansion knowledge base to support decision-making in accordance with the current state of the context for the implementation of business process actions. The state of the context is specified as a set of weighted logical facts, the arguments of which are the values of the attributes of the events of the business process log. The sequence of the process implementation at each moment of time is displayed in the form of a probabilistic distribution of the possible rules of executing the actions of the business process in this context. The method of automated construction and updating of the knowledge base of the information system of process control is proposed. The method includes the stages of forming knowledge representation templates, constructing context descriptions, logical facts, constructing rules, and calculating the probability distribution for rules. The method creates opportunities to support decision-making on the management of the business process in the event of a discrepancy between the current implementation of the business process and its model.

Key factors that improve knowledge-intensive business processes which lead to competitive advantage

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the knowledge-intensive process of creative problem-solving and its outcomes. Design/methodology/approach This study uses survey data from 113 leading Italian companies. To test the structural relations of the research model the authors used the partial least square (PLS) method. Findings Results show that work design and training have a positive direct impact on creative problem-solving process while organizational culture has a positive impact on both creative problem-solving process and its outcomes. Finally creative problem-solving process has a strong direct impact on its outcomes and this, in turn, on firms’ competitiveness. Practical implications This study suggests that managers must highlight the problem-solving process as it affects a firm’s capability to find creative solutions and therefore its competitiveness. Moreover, the present paper suggests managers should invest in specific knowledge management (KM) practices for enhancing knowledge-intensive business processes. Originality/value The present paper fills an important gap in the BPM literature by empirically testing the relationship among KM practices, multistage processes of creative problem-solving and their outcomes, and firms’ competitiveness.

A requirements engineering methodology for knowledge management solutions: integrating technical and social aspects

This paper proposes a unified knowledge management requirements engineering methodology (KM-REM) for tackling the complex nature of knowledge-intensive organizations. Despite the importance of KM for the success of knowledge-intensive organizations, the concept of RE for KM solutions is still vague lacking. Its definitions and guidelines for addressing the different facets of KM during the RE process are yet to be well-defined, encompassing social and technical aspects thereof. Applying the design science research paradigm by using a method engineering methodology, the KM-REM method was developed and implemented in a case study involving a global IT provider firm. This allowed for a comprehensive analysis and requirements specification for a KM solution, which was validated based on expert (managers) evaluation. KM-REM provides comprehensive, practical guidance and tools for KM analysts and RE professionals, for conducting KM-oriented RE, toward enhancing knowledge-intensive business processes with embedded KM solutions. Moreover, KM-REM facilitates tractability in the RE process, by focusing on manageable KM requirements. Thus, the contribution of KM-REM is threefold. First, it extends the research on RE for KM solutions as a specialized area within the RE discipline. Second, it cohesively organizes the RE dimensions and modeling principles for KM, providing customized guidelines and tools. Third, it demonstrates how the perspectives of traditional RE methods can be extended to include social and cultural aspects.

Towards a decision-aware declarative process modeling language for knowledge-intensive processes

Abstract Modeling loosely framed and knowledge-intensive business processes with the currently available process modeling languages is very challenging. Some lack the flexibility to model this type of processes, while others are missing one or more perspectives needed to add the necessary level of detail to the models. In this paper we have composed a list of requirements that a modeling language should fulfil in order to adequately support the modeling of this type of processes. Based on these requirements, a metamodel for a new modeling language was developed that satisfies them all. The new language, called DeciClare, incorporates parts of several existing modeling languages, integrating them with new solutions to requirements that had not yet been met. Deciclare is a declarative modeling language at its core, and therefore, can inherently deal with the flexibility required to model loosely framed processes. The complementary resource and data perspectives add the capability to reason about, respectively, resources and data values. The latter makes it possible to encapsulate the knowledge that governs the process flow by offering support for decision modeling. The abstract syntax of DeciClare has been implemented in the form of an Ecore model. Based on this implementation, the language-domain appropriateness of the language was validated by domain experts using the arm fracture case as application scenario.

Evolutionary approach to lifecycle management of knowledge-intensive business processes

В статье предложен подход к управлению жизненным циклом знание-емких бизнес-процессов, сочетающий каскадную и эволюционную стратегии с учетом уровня зрелости таких процессов. Данный подход базируется на разработанном принципе эволюционного управления жизненным циклом знания-емких бизнес-процессов. Принцип эволюционного управления жизненным циклом знания-емких бизнес-процессов заключается в сочетании целенаправленного совершенствования такого процесса путем дополнения его уровня знаний при выполнении контекстно-ориентированными правилами и ограничениями запуска последовательностей действий, которые были получены в результате экстернализации персональных знаний и опыта, использованных исполнителями при управлении процессом, а также реинжиниринга в случае не достижения заданных показателей эффективности. Это дает возможность сформировать методологические основы для автоматизации непрерывного улучшения знания-емких бизнес-процессов путем включения в модели екстернализованих знаний исполнителей, а также перепроектирования этих процессов в условиях кардинального изменения априорно определенных требований.

Модель жизненного цикла знание-емкого бизнес-процесса

Модель жизненного цикла знание-емкого бизнес-процесса