119 research outputs found

    Feasibility of EPC to BPEL Model Transformations Based on Ontology and Patterns

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    Model-Driven Engineering holds the promise of transforming\ud business models into code automatically. This requires the concept of\ud model transformation. In this paper, we assess the feasibility of model\ud transformations from Event-driven Process Chain models to Business\ud Process Execution Language specifications. To this purpose, we use a\ud framework based on ontological analysis and workflow patterns in order\ud to predict the possibilities/limitations of such a model transformation.\ud The framework is validated by evaluating the transformation of several\ud models, including a real-life case.\ud The framework indicates several limitations for transformation. Eleven\ud guidelines and an approach to apply them provide methodological support\ud to improve the feasibility of model transformation from EPC to\ud BPEL

    Conceptual-to-workflow model transformation guidelines

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    Erweiterung einer Modellierungsmethodik für serviceorientiertes Geschäftsprozessmanagement

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    The introduction of service-oriented architectures (SOA) in the enterprise context promises many advantages. For example, by composing existing services new capabilities can be provided quickly allowing a fast and agile reaction to changing market conditions. In order to support companies in a successful adoption of SOA, service-orientation must be integrated in their enterprise architecture. Many companies made high investments in the past modelling their enterprise architecture based on different modelling methods. The introduction of SOA is fostered if existing models can be reused and investments are preserved. Therefore, existing modelling methods must be extended by service-oriented concepts. This thesis extends the modelling method ARIS with concepts for service-oriented business process management. It contributes a graphical modelling language, which is tightly integrated with the existing ARIS modelling method. Besides a modelling language, a modelling method also consists of algorithms and applications using the content captured in the models. Therefore, this thesis develops three distinct applications based on the contributed modelling language. First, service discovery enables identifying services needed for business process automation. Second, the automated EPC to BPEL model transformation allows transforming a business process into an executable service orchestration. Third, semantic business process management formalises enterprise models so that they are machine processable. To evaluate the usefulness of the designed modelling language and the developed applications, two empirical case studies are conducted. The first case study evaluates the modelling language together with the applications service discovery and process transformation. The second case study evaluates the application semantic business process management. Both case studies demonstrate the usefulness and relevance of the modelling language as well as its applications. Hence, companies introducing service-oriented concepts can use the extended ARIS modelling method to document and analyse their service-oriented enterprise architecture.Serviceorientierte Architekturen (SOA) versprechen diverse Vorteile bei der Anwendung im Unternehmenskontext. So können z.B. durch Kombination unabhängiger Services neue Dienste kurzfristig bereitgestellt werden, was zu einer höheren Flexibilität und Agilität des Unternehmens führt. Damit Unternehmen das SOA-Konzept erfolgreich umsetzen können, muss die Serviceorientierung in die Unternehmensarchitektur integriert sein. Viele Unternehmen haben in der Vergangenheit bereits in die Modellierung ihrer Unternehmensarchitektur auf Basis verschiedener Modellierungsmethodiken investiert. Damit das SOA-Konzept auf breite Akzeptanz stößt, müssen die vorhandenen Modelle wiederverwendet werden. Dies wird erleichtert, wenn existierende Modellierungsmethodiken um serviceorientierte Modellierungskonzepte erweitert werden. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die Modellierungsmethodik ARIS um Modellierungskonzepte für serviceorientierte Unternehmensarchitekturen erweitert. Dazu wurde eine konkrete grafische Modellierungssprache entwickelt und in ARIS integriert. Da eine Modellierungsmethodik neben einer Modellierungssprache auch Algorithmen und Verfahren zur Auswertung der erstellten Modelle umfasst, wurden in der vorliegenden Arbeit drei Anwendungen entwickelt. Mit der Servicesuche können zur Geschäftsprozessautomatisierung benötigte Services automatisch identifiziert werden. Mit der Geschäftsprozesstransformation können als EPK-Modell vorliegende Geschäftsprozesse automatisch in eine Serviceorchestrierung auf Basis von BPEL überführt werden. Mit dem semantischen Geschäftsprozessmanagement werden Geschäftsprozesse soweit formalisiert, dass sie durch maschinelle Verfahren auswertbar sind. Um die Nützlichkeit und Relevanz der Modellierungsmethodik samt der entwickelten Anwendungen zu evaluieren, wurden zwei empirische Fallstudien durchgeführt. In der ersten Fallstudie wurde die entwickelte Modellierungssprache sowie die Anwendungen Servicesuche und Geschäftsprozesstransformation untersucht. In Fallstudie zwei wurde die Anwendung semantisches Geschäftsprozessmanagement evaluiert. Beide Fallstudien haben die Nützlichkeit und Relevanz der Modellierungsmethodik und der Anwendungen bestätigt. Damit können Unternehmen auf Basis der in dieser Arbeit entwickelten Erweiterung von ARIS ihre serviceorientierte Unternehmensarchitektur dokumentieren und auswerten

    MINERVA : Model drIveN and sErvice oRiented framework for the continuous improVement of business process & relAted tools

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    Organizations are facing several challenges nowadays, one of the most important ones being their ability to react quickly to changes either to their business process (BP) models or to the software implementing them. These changes can come from different sources: external requirements from partners or the market, or new internal requirements for the way that things are carried out by the defined BPs; they may also arise from improvement opportunities detected for the BPs defined, based on BPs execution monitoring and execution evaluation that is done by the organization, and/or its partners and customers. The increasing complexity of both BPs models and the software implementing them, requires the changes needed or the improvements to be carefully weighed against the impact their introduction will have; they ought also to be carried out in a systematic way to assure a successful development. Two key elements are to provide these requirements: the separation of BPs definition from their implementation to minimize the impact of changes in one to the other, and a process to introduce the changes or improvements in the existing BPs and/or software implementing them. Business Process Management (BPM) provides the means for guiding and supporting the modeling, implementation, deployment, execution and evaluation of BPs in an organization, based on the BP lifecycle. The realization of BPs by means of services provides the basis for separating their definition from the technologies implementing them and helps provide a better response to changes in either of the layers defined -definition and implementation of business processes- with minimum impact on the other. Modeling of both BP and services is a key aspect to support this vision, helping provide traceability between elements from one area to the other, so easing the analysis of the impact of changes, among other things. Models have proven to play an important role in the software development process, one of its key uses in the context of BP realization by means of services is that of designing services at a more abstract level than with specific technologies, also promoting reuse by separating services logic from its implementation. MINERVA: Model drIveN & sErvice oRiented framework for the continuous business process improVement & relAted tools is the framework that has been defined in this thesis work; it takes into account all the aspects mentioned, in which the SOC and MDD paradigms are applied to BPs focusing on their continuous improvement, extending an existing BP lifecycle with explicit execution measurement and improvement activities and elements. It is made up of three dimensions: i) conceptual, which defines the concepts that are managed throughout the framework. ii) methodological, which defines a methodology for service oriented development from BPs with automatic generation of SoaML service models from BPMN2 models, along with a continuous improvement process based on execution measurement of the occurrences of BPs in the organization to carry out the improvement effort. iii) tools support for the whole proposal based on several existing tools we have integrated, along with new ones we have developed. The proposals in MINERVA have been validated by means of an experiment and two case studies carried out in the context of real projects in two organizations, from which, as the main result of the applications performed, it can be concluded that MINERVA can be a useful and key guide for the continuous improvement of BPs realized by services and for the development of service oriented systems from BPs, with automatic generation of service models from BP models.Las organizaciones se enfrentan en la actualidad a varios retos, siendo uno de los más importantes su capacidad para reaccionar rápidamente a los cambios ya sea en sus modelos de procesos de negocio (PN) o en el software que los implementa. Estos cambios pueden provenir de distintas fuentes: requisitos externos de socios o del mercado, o nuevos requisitos internos para la forma en que las cosas se llevan a cabo por los PNs definidos; también pueden surgir de las oportunidades de mejora detectadas para los PNs definidos, en base al monitoreo y evaluación de la ejecución de los PNs llevada a cabo por la organización, y/o sus socios y clientes. La creciente complejidad de los modelos de PNs y del software que los implementa, requiere que los cambios o las mejoras sean sopesados cuidadosamente contra el impacto que su introducción tendrá; también deben llevarse a cabo de manera sistemática para asegurar un desarrollo exitoso. Dos elementos son clave para proveer estos requisitos: la separación de la definición de los PNs de su implementación, para minimizar el impacto de los cambios de uno en otro, y un proceso para introducir los cambios o mejoras en los PNs y/o en el software que los implementa. La Gestión de Procesos de Negocio (Business Process Management, BPM) proporciona los medios para guiar y apoyar el modelado, implementación, despliegue, ejecución y evaluación de PNs en una organización, basado en el ciclo de vida de PNs. La realización de PNs con servicios proporciona la base para la separación de su definición de las tecnologías para implementarlos, y ayuda a proporcionar una mejor respuesta a los cambios en cualquiera de las capas definidas -definición e implementación de procesos de negocio- con un impacto mínimo sobre la otra. El modelado de PNs y servicios es un aspecto clave para apoyar esta visión, ayudando a proveer trazabilidad entre los elementos de un área a la otra, por lo tanto facilitando el análisis del impacto de los cambios, entre otras cosas. Los modelos han demostrado jugar un papel importante en el proceso de desarrollo de software, uno de sus usos principales en el contexto de la realización de PNs con servicios es el de diseñar servicios a un nivel más abstracto que con tecnologías específicas, promoviendo la reutilización separando la lógica de los servicios de su implementacion. MINERVA: Model drIveN & sErvice oRiented framework for the continuous business process improVement & relAted tools es el marco que se ha definido en este trabajo de tesis, que toma en cuenta todos los aspectos mencionados, en el cual los paradigmas de Computación Orientada a Servicios (Service Oriented Computing, SOC) y Desarrollo Dirigido por Modelos (Model Driven Development, MDD) se aplican a los PNs con foco en su mejora continua, extendiendo un ciclo de vida PN existente con actividades y elementos explícitos para la medición de la ejecución y mejora de PNs. El marco se compone de tres dimensiones: i) conceptual, que define los conceptos que se manejan en todo el marco. ii) metodológica, que define una metodología para el desarrollo orientado a servicios desde PNs, con generación automática de modelos de servicio en SoaML desde modelos en BPMN2, junto con un proceso de mejora continua basado en la medición de la ejecución de las ocurrencias de los PNs en la organización para llevar a cabo el esfuerzo de mejora. iii) soporte de herramientas para la propuesta completa basado en la integracion de varias herramientas existentes, junto con otras nuevas que hemos desarrollado. Las propuestas de MINERVA han sido validadas por medio de un experimento y dos casos de estudio realizados en el marco de proyectos reales en dos organizaciones, de los cuales, como resultado principal de las aplicaciones realizadas, se puede concluir que MINERVA puede ser una guía útil y clave para la mejora continua de PNs realizados por servicios y para el desarrollo de sistemas orientados a servicios desde PNs, con generación automática de modelos de servicio a partir de modelos de PN

    Quality of process modeling using BPMN: a model-driven approach

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    Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia InformáticaContext: The BPMN 2.0 specification contains the rules regarding the correct usage of the language’s constructs. Practitioners have also proposed best-practices for producing better BPMN models. However, those rules are expressed in natural language, yielding sometimes ambiguous interpretation, and therefore, flaws in produced BPMN models. Objective: Ensuring the correctness of BPMN models is critical for the automation of processes. Hence, errors in the BPMN models specification should be detected and corrected at design time, since faults detected at latter stages of processes’ development can be more costly and hard to correct. So, we need to assess the quality of BPMN models in a rigorous and systematic way. Method: We follow a model-driven approach for formalization and empirical validation of BPMN well-formedness rules and BPMN measures for enhancing the quality of BPMN models. Results: The rule mining of BPMN specification, as well as recently published BPMN works, allowed the gathering of more than a hundred of BPMN well-formedness and best-practices rules. Furthermore, we derived a set of BPMN measures aiming to provide information to process modelers regarding the correctness of BPMN models. Both BPMN rules, as well as BPMN measures were empirically validated through samples of BPMN models. Limitations: This work does not cover control-flow formal properties in BPMN models, since they were extensively discussed in other process modeling research works. Conclusion: We intend to contribute for improving BPMN modeling tools, through the formalization of well-formedness rules and BPMN measures to be incorporated in those tools, in order to enhance the quality of process modeling outcomes

    Proceedings of the 2nd Int'l Workshop on Enterprise Modelling and Information Systems Architectures - Concepts and Applications (EMISA'07)

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    The 2nd International Workshop on “Enterprise Modelling and Information Systems Architectures – Concepts and Applications” (EMISA’07) addresses all aspects relevant for enterprise modelling as well as for designing enterprise architectures in general and information systems architectures in particular. It was jointly organized by the GI Special Interest Group on Modelling Business Information Systems (GI-SIG MoBIS) and the GI Special Interest Group on Design Methods for Information Systems (GI-SIG EMISA). -- These proceedings feature a selection of 15 high quality contributions from academia and practice on enterprise architecture models, business processes management, information systems engineering, and other important issues in enterprise modelling and information systems architectures

    Interoperability of Enterprise Software and Applications

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    Semantic Business Process Modeling

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    This book presents a process-oriented business modeling framework based on semantic technologies. The framework consists of modeling languages, methods, and tools that allow for semantic modeling of business motivation, business policies and rules, and business processes. Quality of the proposed modeling framework is evaluated based on the modeling content of SAP Solution Composer and several real-world business scenarios
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