Business process model repositories - Framework and survey

Context

Large organizations often run hundreds or even thousands of different business processes. Managing such large collections of business process models is a challenging task. Software can assist in performing that task, by supporting common management functions such as storage, search and version management of models. It can also provide advanced functions that are specific for managing collections of process models, such as managing the consistency of public and private processes. Software that supports the management of large collections of business process models is called: business process model repository software.

Objective

This paper contributes to the development of business process model repositories, by analyzing the state of the art.

Method

To perform the analysis a literature survey and a comparison of existing (business process model) repository technology is performed.

Result

The results of the state of the art analysis are twofold. First, a framework for business process model repositories is presented, which consists of a management model and a reference architecture. The management model lists the functionality that can be provided and the reference architecture presents the components that provide that functionality. Second, an analysis is presented of the extent to which existing business process model repositories implement the functionality from the framework.

Conclusion

The results presented in the paper are valuable as a comprehensive overview of business process model repository functionality. In addition they form a basis for a future research agenda. We conclude that existing repositories focus on traditional functionality rather than exploiting the full potential of information management tools, thus we show that there is a strong basis for further research.     

From enterprise architecture to business models and back

In this study, we argue that important IT change processes affecting an organization’s enterprise architecture are also mirrored by a change in the organization’s business model. An analysis of the business model may establish whether the architecture change has value for the business. Therefore, in order to facilitate such analyses, we propose an approach to relate enterprise models specified in ArchiMate to business models, modeled using Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas. Our approach is accompanied by a method that supports business model-driven migration from a baseline architecture to a target architecture and is demonstrated by means of a case study.     

Simplifying process model abstraction: Techniques for generating model names

The increased adoption of business process management approaches, tools, and practices has led organizations to accumulate large collections of business process models. These collections can easily include from a hundred to a thousand models, especially in the context of multinational corporations or as a result of organizational mergers and acquisitions. A concrete problem is thus how to maintain these large repositories in such a way that their complexity does not hamper their practical usefulness as a means to describe and communicate business operations. This paper proposes a technique to automatically infer suitable names for business process models and fragments thereof. This technique is useful for model abstraction scenarios, as for instance when user-specific views of a repository are required, or as part of a refactoring initiative aimed to simplify the repository's complexity. The technique is grounded in an adaptation of the theory of meaning to the realm of business process models. We implemented the technique in a prototype tool and conducted an extensive evaluation using three process model collections from practice and a case study involving process modelers with different experience.     

Integrating a Decision Tree Perspective at the Operational-Level of BPM+

Decision trees are among the best-known decision-making techniques and have been used extensively for both data analysis and predictive modeling. BPM+ is a novel process modeling approach that helps represent business process models in a consistent and structured way to meet different stakeholders’ process representation needs. This paper reports on the outcomes of an ontological analysis of the potential use of decision-tree representations as a new BPM+ perspective for the operational level of abstraction. This new perspective effectively demonstrates how a specialized/operational BPM stakeholder perspective can be used to improve the existing organizational business process model repository.     

From fine-grained to abstract process models: A semantic approach

Organizations actively managing their business processes face a rapid growth of the number of process models that they maintain. Business process model abstraction has proven to be an effective means to generate readable, high-level views on business process models by showing coarse-grained activities and leaving out irrelevant details. In this way, abstraction facilitates a more efficient management of process models, as a single model can provide for many relevant views. Yet, it is an open question how to perform abstraction in the same skillful way as experienced modelers combine activities into more abstract tasks. This paper presents an approach that uses semantic information of a process model to decide on which activities belong together, which extends beyond existing approaches that merely exploit model structural characteristics. The contribution of this paper is twofold: we propose a novel activity aggregation method and suggest how to discover the activity aggregation habits of human modelers. In an experimental validation, we use an industrial process model repository to compare the developed activity aggregation method with actual modeling decisions, and observe a strong correlation between the two. The presented work is expected to contribute to the development of modeling support for the effective process model abstraction.     

Change impact analysis in service-based business processes

In the service-oriented computing paradigm, business processes can be wrapped and exposed as business services. Business processes and services are subject to changes required by the organizational and regulatory policies changes. A required service change can affect its supporting business processes, and a change occurred in business process can affect the services it supports. In this study, we will provide some insights on the challenging issue in the service-based business process change management. Different from the existing work in the field of workflow change management, this work focuses on the analysis of dependencies between services and their supporting business processes. We present a taxonomy for the changes that can happen in services and business processes based on the proposed service-oriented business process model. A set of change impact patterns are defined based on the study of the dependencies between services and business processes and the identified change types. These change types and the impact patterns then can be used to analyze the necessary change propagation occurring in business processes and services. We provide algorithms for determining the impact scopes affected by the service and process change. A prototype that implements the proposed change management mechanisms is developed.     

Static analysis and process model transformation for an advanced business process to Petri net mapping

Verification of business processes typically relies on Petri net–based process models. While they allow for natural modeling and analysis of aspects such as parallelism and message exchange, such a process model is seldom complete and precise. This is mainly because the available techniques for deriving a Petri net model from the original model neglect process data in favor of feasible verification. In this paper, we present an approach for deriving more precise process models by leveraging a process‐to‐Petri‐net compiler, which takes as input a business process and generates as output a Petri net model for the process. This can be subsequently used for verification. However, in contrast to a conventional compiler, our compiler's objective is not to create the most efficient code but rather to produce a most precise but still effectively verifiable Petri net–based process model.     

Similarity of business process models: Metrics and evaluation

It is common for large organizations to maintain repositories of business process models in order to document and to continuously improve their operations. Given such a repository, this paper deals with the problem of retrieving those models in the repository that most closely resemble a given process model or fragment thereof. Up to now, there is a notable research gap on comparing different approaches to this problem and on evaluating them in the same setting. Therefore, this paper presents three similarity metrics that can be used to answer queries on process repositories: (i) node matching similarity that compares the labels and attributes attached to process model elements; (ii) structural similarity that compares element labels as well as the topology of process models; and (iii) behavioral similarity that compares element labels as well as causal relations captured in the process model. These metrics are experimentally evaluated in terms of precision and recall. The results show that all three metrics yield comparable results, with structural similarity slightly outperforming the other two metrics. Also, all three metrics outperform text-based search engines when it comes to searching through a repository for similar business process models.     

Selection priority of process areas based on CMMI continuous representation

An essential decision that must be made by software organizations that adopt the continuous representation of the capability maturity model integration (CMMI) for software process improvement concerns a suitable path that best meets their business objectives and mitigates the organization's risk. However, the CMMI models released by the Software Engineering Institute do not give their adopters any guidance on how to make such a decision. Thus, managers often make subjective selections of the areas in which to implement process improvement. Our study presents a decision support model that assists managers in determining the priorities of the CMMI process areas based on the characteristics of the is being developed. The proposed model was validated by using the ISBSG repository, and an example is presented to demonstrate the application of the model. Given the fact that hardly any research has yet been done on how to select the CMMI process areas to initialize process improvement, this study provides a starting point for the community in considering this important issue.     

Change impact analysis for requirements: A metamodeling approach

ContextFollowing the evolution of the business needs, the requirements of software systems change continuously and new requirements emerge frequently. Requirements documents are often textual artifacts with structure not explicitly given. When a change in a requirements document is introduced, the requirements engineer may have to manually analyze all the requirements for a single change. This may result in neglecting the actual impact of a change. Consequently, the cost of implementing a change may become several times higher than expected.ObjectiveIn this paper, we aim at improving change impact analysis in requirements by using formal semantics of requirements relations and requirements change types.MethodIn our previous work we present a requirements metamodel with commonly used requirements relation types and their semantics formalized in first-order logic. In this paper the classification of requirements changes based on structure of a textual requirement is provided with formal semantics. The formalization of requirements relations and changes is used for propagating proposed changes and consistency checking of proposed changes in requirements models. The tool support for change impact analysis in requirements models is an extension of our Tool for Requirements Inferencing and Consistency Checking (TRIC).ResultsThe described approach for change impact analysis helps in the elimination of some false positive impacts in change propagation, and enables consistency checking of changes.ConclusionWe illustrate our approach in an example which shows that the formal semantics of requirements relations and change classification enables change alternatives to be proposed semi-automatically, the reduction of some false positive impacts and contradicting changes in requirements to be determined.     

经营过程绩效模型库软件的检索与重用机制

探讨了企业战略和外部环境对经营过程绩效体系的影响，在此基础上提出了经营过程绩效模型检索及参考模型生成方法，并以该检索与生成机制为核心构建了经营过程绩效模型库管理软件，以支持绩效模型的重用。最后，结合实际案例介绍了该模型库管理软件的应用。     

A model-driven approach for developing a model repository: Methodology and tool support

Several development approaches have been proposed to cope with the increasing complexity of embedded system design. The most widely used approaches are those using models as the main artifacts to be constructed and maintained. The desired role of models is to ease, systematize and standardize the approach to the construction of software-based systems. To enforce reuse and interconnect the process of model specification and system development with models, we promote a model-based approach coupled with a model repository. In this paper, we propose a model-driven engineering methodological approach for the development of a model repository and an operational architecture for development tools. In addition, we provide evidence of the benefits and feasibility of our approach by reporting on a preliminary prototype that provides a model-based repository of security and dependability (S&D) pattern models. Finally, we apply the proposed approach in practice to a use case from the railway domain with strong S&D requirements.     

Presentation and exchange of business models with CIMOSA-XML

In the modern competitive business world there is a frequent need for enterprises to modify their structure of business processes to become more effective in the market place. The solution to this management demand is an improved business integration which is only successful when it is supported by effective IT systems. The Esprit project PRIMA aims to create a competitive advantage for European companies in the process sector by providing a route to ‘smarter' IT investments that are effective across the whole enterprise. A process repository which will store business process models in suitable formats would provide users with appropriate views of the models, focusing only on their information needs. However, the existence of many incompatible modelling methodologies and tools makes it impossible to unify the modelling approach. Therefore it would be desirable to have a high level common modelling language. The PRIMA project has identified CIMOSA as the basis for common semantics of the business model language and the XML format, as a suitable format for the transfer of the model structure and content. The PRIMA working group, in an effort to elaborate these concepts, has developed the Document Type Definition concept (DTD) of the CIMOSA-XML meta-model, which can be used to build the partial enterprise models related to the Business Functional Requirements (BFR) of the PRIMA Process Methodology.     

Fast detection of exact clones in business process model repositories

As organizations reach higher levels of business process management maturity, they often find themselves maintaining very large process model repositories, representing valuable knowledge about their operations. A common practice within these repositories is to create new process models, or extend existing ones, by copying and merging fragments from other models. We contend that if these duplicate fragments, a.k.a. exact clones, can be identified and factored out as shared subprocesses, the repository's maintainability can be greatly improved. With this purpose in mind, we propose an indexing structure to support fast detection of clones in process model repositories. Moreover, we show how this index can be used to efficiently query a process model repository for fragments. This index, called RPSDAG, is based on a novel combination of a method for process model decomposition (namely the Refined Process Structure Tree), with established graph canonization and string matching techniques. We evaluated the RPSDAG with large process model repositories from industrial practice. The experiments show that a significant number of non-trivial clones can be efficiently found in such repositories, and that fragment queries can be handled efficiently.     

Business model metrics: an open repository

Development of successful business models has become a necessity in turbulent business environments, but compared to research on business modeling tools, attention to the role of metrics in designing business models in literature is limited. Building on existing approaches to business models and performance measurement literature, we develop a generic open repository of metrics related to core business model concepts. We validate and assess the practical value of the repository based on four e-Business model cases. The repository can be utilized in designing business models, specifically for networked enterprises. It is neither complete nor universally applicable, but needs adjustment with each design. Ultimately, with this paper, we hope measurement will become an integral part of the business model innovation discussion.     

Relating evolving business rules to software design

In order to remain useful, it is important for software to evolve according to the changes in its business environment. Business rules, which can be used to represent both user requirements and conditions to which the system should conform, are considered as the most volatile part in today's software applications. Their changes bring high impact on both the business processes and the software itself. In this paper, we present an approach that considers business rules as an integral part of a software system and its evolution. The approach transcends the areas of requirements specification and software design. We develop the Business Rule Model to capture and specify business rules, and the Link Model to relate business rules to the metamodel level of software design elements. The aim is to improve requirements traceability in software design, as well as minimizing the efforts of software changes due to the changes of business rules. The approach is demonstrated using examples from an industrial application.     

协同业务过程与需求的建模及一致性验证

自底向上建模方法中的业务过程由不同组织开发,无法在设计阶段就预见其潜在的所有交互可能.因此,在实际协作中,建立协同业务过程可能与参与组织期望的系统功能和特性不一致.为此,提出一种协同业务过程与需求的建模及一致性验证方法.首先,引入并发操作符,提供一种通过组合参与组织的业务过程构建协同业务过程方法;然后,扩展目标模型,提出需求依赖图来建模参与组织的需求;最后,基于模型检测技术提出协同业务过程与需求一致性检测方法.重点解决了将协同业务过程转换为表达能力相同FSP进程规约和参与组织需求转换为LTL公式这两个问题.通过对典型的协同业务过程集阐述提出方法的有效性,并对方法分析效率进行评价,结果表明：相对已有工作,提出方法能够更加有效地用于协同业务过程与需求的一致性分析.     

From process logic to business logic—A cognitive approach to business process management

The unpredictability of business activities means that business process management should provide a way to adapt to change. The traditional workflow approach, based on predefined process logic, offers little support for today's complex and dynamic business environment. Therefore, a cognitive approach is proposed to help manage complex business activities, based on continuous awareness of situations and real-time decisions on activities. In this approach, the business environment is seen as capturing events that occurred and the state of tasks and resources; business logic involving process routing, operational constraints, exception handling and business strategy is used to determine which actions are appropriate for the current situation. By extending process management from process logic to business logic, the methodology offers flexibility, agility and adaptability in complex business process management.     

Deriving requirements from process models via the problem frames approach

Jackson's problem frames is an approach to describing a recurring software problem. It is presumed that some knowledge of the application domain and context has been gathered so that an appropriate problem frame can be determined. However, the identification of aspects of the problem, and its appropriate ‘framing’ is recognised as a difficult task. One way to describe a software problem context is through process modelling. Once contextual information has been elicited, and explicitly described, an understanding of what problems need to be solved should emerge. However, this use of process models to inform requirements is often rather ad hoc; the traceability from business process to software requirement is not always as straightforward as it ought to be. Hence, this paper proposes an approach for deriving and contextualising software requirements through use of the problem frames approach from business process models. We apply the approach on a live industrial e-business project in which we assess the relevance and usefulness of problem frames as a means of describing the requirements context. We found that the software problem did not always match easily with Jackson's five existing frames. Where no frame was identified, however, we found that Jackson's problem diagrams did couch the requirements in their right context, and thus application of the problem frames approach was useful. This implies a need for further work in adapting a problem frames approach to the context of e-business systems.