A knowledge-based approach to manage configurable business processes

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This paper stresses out the struggle of organizations when managing multiple variants of the same business process. Each variant constitutes a response to structural and/or functional needs that overtime become unsustainable due to the multiplicity and complexity of these needs. To mitigate this struggle, a knowledge-based approach for capturing these versions into a single configurable business process and splitting this process into fragments is discussed in the paper. The approach builds a configuration knowledge base to track the business process variability (ie, particularities of each business process variant). Variants are represented as a new configurable process structure tree resulting from fragmenting a business process. Implementation of the approach is, also, reported in this paper

Model-driven Enterprise Systems Configuration

Enterprise Systems potentially lead to significant efficiency gains but require a well-conducted configuration process. A promising idea to manage and simplify the configuration process is based on the premise of using reference models for this task. Our paper continues along this idea and delivers a two-fold contribution: first, we present a generic process for the task of model-driven Enterprise Systems configuration including the steps of (a) Specification of configurable reference models, (b) Configuration of configurable reference models, (c) Transformation of configured reference models to regular build time models, (d) Deployment of the generated build time models, (e) Controlling of implementation models to provide input to the configuration, and (f) Consolidation of implementation models to provide input to reference model specification. We discuss inputs and outputs as well as the involvement of different roles and validation mechanisms. Second, we present an instantiation case of this generic process for Enterprise Systems configuration based on Configurable EPCs

An extensible product structure model for product lifecycle management in the make-to-order environment

This paper presents a product structure model with a semantic representation technique that make the product structure extensible for developing product lifecycle management (PLM) systems that is flexible for make-to-order environment. In the make-to-order business context, each product could have a number of variants with slightly different constitutions to fulfill different customer requirements. All the variants of a family have common characteristics and each variant has its specific features. A master-variant pattern is proposed for building the product structure model to explicitly represent common characteristics and specific features of individual variants. The model is capable of enforcing the consistency of a family structure and its variant structure, supporting multiple product views, and facilitating the business processes. A semantic representation technique is developed that enables entity attributes to be defined and entities to be categorized in a neutral and semantic format. As a result, entity attributes and entity categorization can be redefined easily with its configurable capability for different requirements of the PLM systems. An XML-based language is developed for semantically representing entities and entity categories. A prototype as a proof-of-concept system is presented to illustrate the capability of the proposed extensible product structure model

An extensible manufacturing resource model for process integration

Driven by industrial needs and enabled by process technology and information technology, enterprise integration is rapidly shifting from information integration to process integration to improve overall performance of enterprises. Traditional resource models are established based on the needs of individual applications. They cannot effectively serve process integration which needs resources to be represented in a unified, comprehensive and flexible way to meet the needs of various applications for different business processes. This paper looks into this issue and presents a configurable and extensible resource model which can be rapidly reconfigured and extended to serve for different applications. To achieve generality, the presented resource model is established from macro level and micro level. A semantic representation method is developed to improve the flexibility and extensibility of the model

Towards solutions for assistive technology

Introduction What is assistive technology? The agreed World Health Organisation definition is "Assistive technology can be defined as “any piece of equipment, or product, whether it is acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities” (WHO, 2011) The array of possible assistive technology products and solutions reflects the diversity of the needs of people with disabilities – ranging from digital technologies that can support social engagement, communication, employment, learning, memory, planning and safe guarding services through to products and devices that support mobility and personal care requirements. Typically as the complexities of assistive technology solutions increase, so do the costs and potential risks (if not appropriately set up or maintained). This document is primarily focused on the Assistive Technology solutions derived from aids and equipment. Home and vehicle modifications and prosthetics have not yet been explored in the same level of detail and will be subject of further work. Proposed approach The proposed assistive technology service approach has been developed in line with the strategic goals of the NDIA. It is one aspect of a broader strategic approach the NDIA has to using technologies to enhance its engagement and management of relationships, services and supports with suppliers, providers, participants and the Australian community. The NDIA’s goal is to use technology in its various forms to ensure that services, supports, and communications between all stakeholders are as streamlined as possible and services are timely and effective. This document outlines the elements of a proposed service delivery approach for individuals to access assistive technology solutions and is based on the three key objectives outlined above

Knowledge-Intensive Processes: Characteristics, Requirements and Analysis of Contemporary Approaches

Engineering of knowledge-intensive processes (KiPs) is far from being mastered, since they are genuinely knowledge- and data-centric, and require substantial flexibility, at both design- and run-time. In this work, starting from a scientific literature analysis in the area of KiPs and from three real-world domains and application scenarios, we provide a precise characterization of KiPs. Furthermore, we devise some general requirements related to KiPs management and execution. Such requirements contribute to the definition of an evaluation framework to assess current system support for KiPs. To this end, we present a critical analysis on a number of existing process-oriented approaches by discussing their efficacy against the requirements