Possibilistic WorkFlow nets to deal with non-conformance in Process Execution

In this paper, an approach based on WorkFlow nets and on possibilistic Petri nets is proposed to deal with non- conformance in Business Processes. Routing patterns existing in Business Process are modeled by WorkFlow nets. To express in a more realistic way the uncertainty attached to human activities, possibilistic Petri nets with uncertainty on the marking and on the transition firing are considered. Combining both formalisms, a kind of possibilistic WorkFlow net is obtained. An example of deviation at a process monitoring level due to human behavior in a “Handle Complaint Process” is presented

Inconsistency recovery in Business Processes using a possibilistic WorkFlow net

In this paper, an approach based on WorkFlow nets and on possibilistic Petri nets is proposed to deal with non- conformance in Business Processes. Routing patterns existing in Business Processes are modeled by WorkFlow nets. To express in a more realistic way the uncertainty attached to human activities, possibilistic Petri nets with uncertainty on the marking and on the transition firing are considered. Combining both formalisms, a kind of possibilistic WorkFlow net is obtained. An example of inconsistency recovery at a process monitoring level due to human behavior in a “Handle Complaint Process” is presented

Computerization of workflows, guidelines and care pathways: a review of implementation challenges for process-oriented health information systems

There is a need to integrate the various theoretical frameworks and formalisms for modeling clinical guidelines, workflows, and pathways, in order to move beyond providing support for individual clinical decisions and toward the provision of process-oriented, patient-centered, health information systems (HIS). In this review, we analyze the challenges in developing process-oriented HIS that formally model guidelines, workflows, and care pathways. A qualitative meta-synthesis was performed on studies published in English between 1995 and 2010 that addressed the modeling process and reported the exposition of a new methodology, model, system implementation, or system architecture. Thematic analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and data visualisation techniques were used to identify and cluster the underlying implementation ‘challenge’ themes. One hundred and eight relevant studies were selected for review. Twenty-five underlying ‘challenge’ themes were identified. These were clustered into 10 distinct groups, from which a conceptual model of the implementation process was developed. We found that the development of systems supporting individual clinical decisions is evolving toward the implementation of adaptable care pathways on the semantic web, incorporating formal, clinical, and organizational ontologies, and the use of workflow management systems. These architectures now need to be implemented and evaluated on a wider scale within clinical settings

PRACTICAL PROCESS NON-CONFORMANCE DETECTION

This paper represents the culmination of a thorough investigation into the existing technological methodologies to solve process non-conformance detection. We explore how to develop this knowledge into an approach that offers a useable, practical solution. Process non-conformance detection research has been explored fairly sparingly and sporadically from around 1995 until now. The work presented in the literature, while technically effective at detecting non-conformance seemed to be practically unviable for a variety of reasons. In this paper we address why the detection of process non-conformance is valuable for process improvement, we examine the practical shortcomings in the existing solutions, explain why these shortcomings exist and how these approaches have failed to provide practical value in various ways. We explore the issues currently related to this research area that withhold process non-conformance detection from being practically useful, and present our own approach that addresses these issues. Our approach involves a generic and practical method of specifying rules that describe how enactment data is to be checked for any non-conformance instances that may have occurred. The approach is designed to cater for practical considerations such as timely detection, minimal interference, and minimal required effort while remaining separate from the process specification. We support this claim via two case studies that test our assertions and demonstrate how process non-conformance detection is valuable for process improvement. Furthermore, we show how a process may be improved by the approach using the result data from several hundred process enactments done both before and after the approach was integrated. The result data from these two phases is provided and discussed

Caution or Trust in AI? How to design XAI in sensitive Use Cases?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly common, but adoption in sensitive use cases lacks due to the black-box character of AI hindering auditing and trust-building. Explainable AI (XAI) promises to make AI transparent, allowing for auditing and increasing user trust. However, in sensitive use cases maximizing trust is not the goal, rather to balance caution and trust to find the level of appropriate trust. Studies on user perception of XAI in professional contexts and especially for sensitive use cases are scarce. We present the results of a case study involving domain-experts as users of a prototype XAI-based IS for decision support in the quality assurance in pharmaceutical manufacturing. We find that for this sensitive use case, simply delivering an explanation falls short if it does not match the beliefs of experts on what information is critical for a certain decision to be reached. Unsuitable explanations override all other quality criteria. Suitable explanations can, together with other quality criteria, lead to a suitable balance of trust and caution in the system. Based on our case study we discuss design options in this regard

A Multi-Model View of Process Modelling

International audienceSituatedness of development processes is a key issue in both the software engineering and the method engineering communities, as there is a strong felt need for process prescriptions to be adapted to the situation at hand. The assumption of the process modelling approach presented in this paper is that process prescriptions shall be selected according to the actual situation at hand i.e. dynamically in the course of the process. The paper focuses on a multi-model view of process modelling which supports this dynamicity. The approach builds on the notion of a labelled graph of intentions and strategies called a map as well as its associated guidelines. The map is a navigational structure which supports the dynamic selection of the intention to be achieved next and the appropriate strategy to achieve it whereas guidelines help in the operationalization of the selected intention. The paper presents the map and guidelines and exemplifies the approach with the CREWS-L'Ecritoire method for requirements engineering

MaDe4IC: an abstract method for managing model dependencies in inter-organizational cooperations

Inter-organizational cooperations are complex in terms of coordination, agreements, and value creation for involved partners. When managing complex cooperations, it is vital to maintain models describing them. Changing one model to regain consistency with the running system might result in new inconsistencies. As a consequence, this maintenance phase grows in complexity with increasing number of models. In this context, challenges are to ensure consistency at design time and to monitor the system at runtime, i.e., at design time, consistency between different models describing the cooperation needs to be ensured. At runtime, behavior of the software system needs to be compared with its underlying models. In this paper, we propose a structured and model-independent method that supports ensuring and maintaining consistency between running system and underlying models for inter-organizational cooperations

Exceptions in Information Systems

The concept of exception has been defined in diverse ways. We relate exceptions to computational transactions and to control constructs. Our view of a transaction is very broad, and we consider transactional exceptions to be instances of undefined function values. By giving different interpretations to undefined we arrive at a classification of transactional exceptions. Our primary interest is in information systems, i.e., in database transactions, and in processes that consist of such transactions. In the database context we show that liberal treatment of exceptions is simpler than total quality management for consistency based on a set of constraints. We refer to control operations that link transactions into processes as actions. Actions tend to be time-related, and time Petri nets provide actions with semantics. The time Petri net representation indicates where exceptions can arise. We also consider high-level monitors for the detection of exceptions. Although our emphasis is on detection of exceptions, their handling is also discussed