Requirements Catalog for Business Process Modeling Recommender Systems

The manual construction of business process models is a time-consuming and error-prone task. To improve the quality of business process models, several modeling support techniques have been suggested spanning from strict auto-completion of a business process model with pre-defined model elements to suggesting closely matching recommendations. While recommendation systems are widely used and auto-completion functions are a standard feature of programming tools, such techniques have not been exploited for business process modeling although implementation strategies have already been suggested. Therefore, this paper collects requirements from different perspectives (literature and empirical studies) of how to effectively and efficiently assist process modelers in their modeling task. The condensation of requirements represents a comprehensive catalog, which constitutes a solid foundation to implement effective and efficient Process Modeling Recommender Systems (PMRSs). We expect that our contribution will fertilize the field of modeling support techniques to make them a common feature of BPM tools

A definition-by-example approach and visual language for activity patterns in engineering disciplines

Modeling tools are well established in software development. A model is the result of a series of modeling activities. The ability to recognize when a user is working on a certain modeling activity opens up a range of possibilities for context-sensitive support. One possible way to support the user is offering the auto-completion of the current task. The recognition of modeling activities is typically carried out by matching event patterns against events emitted by a user's editing operations. A user that intends to add or customize auto-completions must be able to easily understand and create activity definitions. However, defining the currently required complex event patterns is a challenging and error-prone task even for a person with an intensive knowledge of event-processing languages. In this paper, we propose the visual definition language VisPaRec accompanied by a method that allows creating activity definitions in a semi-automated and graphical way. We evaluate our visual definition language in a comparative user study against the generic event-processing language Rapide. We found that the proposed visual representation increases comprehensibility while reducing time for constructing and modifying activity definitions significantly

Recommender systems in model-driven engineering: A systematic mapping review

Recommender systems are information filtering systems used in many online applications like music and video broadcasting and e-commerce platforms. They are also increasingly being applied to facilitate software engineering activities. Following this trend, we are witnessing a growing research interest on recommendation approaches that assist with modelling tasks and model-based development processes. In this paper, we report on a systematic mapping review (based on the analysis of 66 papers) that classifies the existing research work on recommender systems for model-driven engineering (MDE). This study aims to serve as a guide for tool builders and researchers in understanding the MDE tasks that might be subject to recommendations, the applicable recommendation techniques and evaluation methods, and the open challenges and opportunities in this field of researchThis work has been funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 813884 (Lowcomote [134]), by the Spanish Ministry of Science (projects MASSIVE, RTI2018-095255-B-I00, and FIT, PID2019-108965GB-I00) and by the R&D programme of Madrid (Project FORTE, P2018/TCS-431

Design and Implementation of a Conceptual Modeling Assistant (CMA)

This Master's Thesis de nes an architecture for a Conceptual Modeling Assistant (CMA) along with an implementation of a running prototype. Our CMA is a piece of software that runs on top of current modeling tools whose purpose is to collaborate with the conceptual modelers while developing a conceptual schema. The main functions of our CMA are to actively criticize the state of a conceptual schema, to suggest actions to do in order to improve the conceptual schema, and to o er new operations to automatize building a schema. On the one hand, the presented architecture assumes that the CMA has to be adapted to a modeling tool. Thus, the CMA permits the inclusion of new features, such as the detection of new defects to be criticized and new operations a modeler can execute, in a modeling tool. As a result, all modeling tools to which the CMA is adapted bene t of all these features without further work. On the other hand, the construction of our prototype involves three steps: the de nition of a simple, custom modeling tool; the implementation of the CMA; and the adaptation of the CMA to the custom modeling tool. Furthermore, we also present and implement some examples of new features that can be added to the CMA

Automating the synthesis of recommender systems for modelling languages

We are witnessing an increasing interest in building recommender systems (RSs) for all sorts of Software Engineering activities. Modelling is no exception to this trend, as modelling environments are being enriched with RSs that help building models by providing recommendations based on previous solutions to similar problems in the same domain. However, building a RS from scratch requires considerable effort and specialized knowledge. To alleviate this problem, we propose an automated approach to the generation of RSs for modelling languages. Our approach is model-based, and we provide a domain-specific language called Droid to configure every aspect of the RS (like the type and features of the recommended items, the recommendation method, and the evaluation metrics). The RS so configured can be deployed as a service, and we offer out-of-the-box integration of this service with the EMF tree editor. To assess the usefulness of our proposal, we present a case study on the integration of a generated RS with a modelling chatbot, and report on an offline experiment measuring the precision and completeness of the recommendationsThis project has received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 813884, the Spanish Ministry of Science (RTI2018-095255-B-I00) and the R&D programme of Madrid (P2018/TCS-4314

Patterns-based Evaluation of Open Source BPM Systems: The Cases of jBPM, OpenWFE, and Enhydra Shark

In keeping with the proliferation of free software development initiatives and the increased interest in the business process management domain, many open source workflow and business process management systems have appeared during the last few years and are now under active development. This upsurge gives rise to two important questions: what are the capabilities of these systems? and how do they compare to each other and to their closed source counterparts? i.e. in other words what is the state-of-the-art in the area?. To gain an insight into the area, we have conducted an in-depth analysis of three of the major open source workflow management systems - jBPM, OpenWFE and Enhydra Shark, the results of which are reported here. This analysis is based on the workflow patterns framework and provides a continuation of the series of evaluations performed using the same framework on closed source systems, business process modeling languages and web-service composition standards. The results from evaluations of the three open source systems are compared with each other and also with the results from evaluations of three representative closed source systems - Staffware, WebSphere MQ and Oracle BPEL PM, documented in earlier works. The overall conclusion is that open source systems are targeted more toward developers rather than business analysts. They generally provide less support for the patterns than closed source systems, particularly with respect to the resource perspective which describes the various ways in which work is distributed amongst business users and managed through to completion

Re-engineering Eclipse MDT/OCL for Xtext

The current tooling used for the Eclipse OCL project uses an LALR parser generator. Enhancing the tooling to support editing motivated a migration to exploit the inherently model-driven characteristics of Xtext. This paper summarizes the experiences of that migration, identifies the many benefits and discusses a few changes in implementation approach that were required. Objective performance and size comparisons between the old LALR and new Xtext approach are provided

A framework for integrating syntax, semantics and pragmatics for computer-aided professional practice: With application of costing in construction industry

Producing a bill of quantity is a knowledge-based, dynamic and collaborative process, and evolves with variances and current evidence. However, within the context of information system practice in BIM, knowledge of cost estimation has not been represented, nor has it been integrated into the processes based on BIM. This paper intends to establish an innovative means of taking data from the BIM linked to a project, and using it to create the necessary items for a bill of quantity that will enable cost estimation to be undertaken for the project. Our framework is founded upon the belief that three components are necessary to gain a full awareness of the domain which is being computerised; the information type which is to be assessed for compatibility (syntax), the definition for the pricing domain (semantics), and the precise implementation environment for the standards being taken into account (pragmatics). In order to achieve this, a prototype is created that allows a cost item for the bill of quantity to be spontaneously generated, by means of the semantic web ontology and a forward chain algorithm. Within this paper, ‘cost items’ signify the elements included in a bill of quantity, including details of their description, quantity and price. As a means of authenticating the process being developed, the authors of this work effectively implemented it in the production of cost items. In addition, the items created were contrasted with those produced by specialists. For this reason, this innovative framework introduces the possibility of a new means of applying semantic web ontology and forward chain algorithm to construction professional practice resulting in automatic cost estimation. These key outcomes demonstrate that, decoupling the professional practice into three key components of syntax, semantics and pragmatics can provide tangible benefits to domain use

Model Variations and Automated Refinement of Domain-Specific Modeling Languages for Robot-Motion Control

This paper presents an approach to handling frequent variations of modeling languages and models. The approach is based on Domain-Specific Modeling and linking of modeling tools with adaptive Run-Time Systems. The applicability of our solution is illustrated on an example of domain-specific languages for robot control. Special attention was given to the following problems: 1) model-level debugging; 2) performing fast transformation of models to native code for various hardware platforms and operating systems; and 3) specification of views and view-based generation of applications for validation of meta-models, models, and generated code. The feedback for automated refinement of models and meta-models is provided by a custom adaptive Run-Time System. For the purpose of synchronizing models, meta-models, and the target Run-Time System, we introduce action reports, which allow model-level debugging. In order to simplify handling of frequent model variations, we have introduced the linguistic concept of a modifier