Modeling Business Process: Analysis of Goal-Oriented Approaches

A crucial management issue for most corporations is the effective design and implementation of their business process. However, existing approaches describe an enterprise in terms of activities and tasks view without offering sufficient guidance towards a process-centric description of the organization. Goals have long been recognized to be essential components involved in the business process. Business process engineering research has increasingly recognized the leading role played by goals in the business process. Such recognition has led to a whole stream of research on goaloriented approaches. The study of goal-oriented methodologies indicates that modeling of organizational goals constitutes a central activity of the business process. In this paper we advocate the use of goal-oriented approaches to business process modeling. Some systematic approaches to developing and documenting business processes on the basis of the explicit or implicit business objectives are discussed. From the representation view of model, the way that models are expressed is demonstrated

Modeling Business Process Variability

This master thesis presents research findings on business process variability modeling. Its main goal is to analyze inherent problems of business process variability and solve them simply, innovatively and effectively. To achieve this goal, process variability is defined by analyzing scientific literature, its main problems identified and is illustrated using a healthcare running example: process variability is classified into process variability within the domain space and over time. These two forms of process variability respectively lead to process variability modeling and process model evolution problems. After defining the main problems inherent to process variability, the focus of this research project is defined: solving process variability modeling problems. First current business process modeling languages are evaluated to assess the effectiveness of their respective modeling concepts when modeling process variability, using a newly created set of evaluation criteria and the healthcare running example. The following business process modeling languages are evaluated: Event driven process chains (EPC), the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) and Configurable EPC (C-EPC). Business process variability modeling and Software product line engineering have similar problems. Therefore the variability modeling concepts developed by software product line engineering are analyzed. Feature diagrams and software configuration management are the main variability management concepts provided by software product line engineering. To apply these variability management concepts to model process variability meant combining them with existing business modeling languages. Riebisch feature diagrams are combined with C-EPC to form Feature-EPC. Applying software configuration management, meant merging Change Oriented Versioning with basic EPC to create COV-EPC, and merging the Proteus Configuration Language with basic EPC to design PCL-EPC. Finally these newly created business process modeling languages are also evaluated using the newly designed evaluation criteria and the healthcare running example. EPC or BPMN are not suited to model business process variability within the domain space. C-EPC provide explicit means to model business process variability, however the process models tend to get big very fast. Furthermore the syntax, the contextual constraints and the semantics of the configuration requirements and guidelines used to configure the C-EPC process models are unclear. Feature-EPC improve C-EPC with domain modeling capability and clearly defined configuration rules: their syntax, contextual constraints and semantics have been clearly defined using a context free grammar in Backus-Naur form. Furthermore, consistent combinations of features and configuration rules are ensured using respectively constraints and a conflict resolution algorithm. However, Feature-EPC and C-EPC suffer from the same weakness: large configurable process models. In COV-EPC and PCL-EPC the problem of large configurable process models is solved. COV-EPC ensures consistent combinations of options and configuration rules using respectively validities and a conflict resolution algorithm. PCL-EPC guarantees consistent combinations of process fragments by means of a PCL specification

An evaluation of the intuitiveness of the PGA modeling language notation

The Process-Goal Alignment (PGA) modeling method is a domain-specific modeling language that aims to achieve strategic fit of the business strategy with the internal infrastructure and processes. To ensure the acceptance and correct understanding of PGA models by business-oriented end-users, an intuitively understandable notation is of paramount importance. However, the current PGA notation was not formally tested up to now. In the paper at hand, we apply an evaluation technique for testing the intuitiveness of domain-specific modeling languages to bridge that research gap. Based on an analysis of the tasks, we propose improvements to six elements of the initial PGA notation. Our research contributes a comprehensive description of the empirical modeling language evaluation, which enables the reproducibility of the evaluation procedure by the conceptual modeling community

Specifying Value in GRL for Guiding BPMN Activities Prioritization

In a value-based requirements engineering approach, the stakeholders’ value propositions must be considered ahead in order to prioritize which requirements will be developed first to drive the software development activities. Early requirements approaches like the Goal- Oriented Requirements Language (GRL) focuses on modeling goals, tasks, contributions, and dependencies in order to satisfy the stakeholders’ needs, but do not provide a mechanism to specify value according to stakeholders’ value propositions. Moreover, in software development, after specifying value propositions, there is a need to align goal elements into business process elements in order to prioritize which business process activity is going to be developed next. Thus, we propose a new approach (value@GRL) to improve GRL and prioritize Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) activities. Value@GRL provides guidelines for specifying value in GRL models according to the stakeholders’ needs and prioritization mechanisms to define BPMN activities\u27 order in an incremental software development

Implementation of Aspect-oriented Business Process Models with Web Services

In software development, crosscutting concerns, such as security, audit, access control, authentication, logging, persistence, transaction, error handling etc. can be modularized using the aspect-oriented paradigm. In busi- ness process modeling, aspects have been used to reduce visualization complexity, increase reuse and improve model maintainability. There are techniques which address aspects in modeling and implementation phases of business process; however, these techniques adopt different semantic representations, hindering the integration of these phases into the BPM lifecycle. This work proposes an architecture for service discovery capable of selecting web services that implement crosscutting concerns and meet the goals established in the aspect modeling phase, executing them accordingly with a prioritization. A proof of concept to analyze the proposed architecture and generated artifacts was performed. Afterwards, the proposal was evaluated by means of an experiment. The results suggest that the def- inition of an operational goal enables the business spe- cialists to concentrate on the modeling of the aspect without necessarily concerning its implementation, since a proper option for implementation is discovered during the execution of the process

Goal-oriented business process engineering

Service-orientierte Architekturen haben sich als Architekturstil für die Entwicklung von Geschäftsanwendungen etabliert. Dementsprechend spielen Geschäftsprozessmodelle eine zentrale Rolle sowohl für die Beschreibung fachlicher Anforderungen als auch für die Spezifikation der erforderlichen Service-Kompositionen. Die modellierten Geschäftsprozesse dienen in der Regel keinem Selbstzweck, sondern der Erreichung eines strategischen Geschäftsziels. Um die Angemessenheit der Geschäftsprozessmodelle, zum Beispiel hinsichtlich ihrer Vollständigkeit und Relevanz, zu bewerten, müssen ihre Beziehungen und Abhängigkeiten zu den Unternehmensziele berücksichtigt werden.In bestehenden Arbeiten gibt es keine integrierte und durchgängige Spezifikationsmethode, die die zielorientierte Spezifikation, die systematische Ableitung von Geschäftsprozessmodellen und die Sicherstellung der Qualität ausreichend berücksichtigt. In dieser Arbeit wird ein Ansatz zur zielorientierten Spezifikation von Geschäftsprozessen vorgestellt, der Modellierungstechniken und Qualitätsanalysefunktionen beinhaltet. Basierend auf einer vorhandenen Ziebeschreibungssprache wird ein erweiterter Modellierungsansatz vorgestellt, der die Beschreibung von Abhängigkeiten zwischen Geschäftszielen und relevanten Elementen im Geschäftskontext sowie die Identifikation von komponierbaren Aktionen unterstützt. In einem systematischen Ableitungsverfahren wird beschrieben, wie diese Informationen bei der Komposition eines Geschäftsprozesses berücksichtigt werden können. Die Qualität der Spezifikation wird durch verschiedene Analyseverfahren sichergestellt.Service-oriented architectures have emerged as an architectural style for the design of business applications. Accordingly, business process models play a central role in the description of business requirements as well as in the specification of required service compositions.The modeling of business processes is not pursued for its own sake, but contributes to the achievement of strategic concerns represented by business goals. In order to evaluate the suitability of business process models, e.g. with respect to completeness and relevance, their relations to business goals need to be considered. This comprises the initial specification of business goals and business processes as well as the preservation of consistency between evolving models.In previous work, several goal-oriented requirements engineering approaches and business process modeling techniques have been proposed. Nonetheless, there is no integrated specification method that supports the goal-oriented specification, the systematic derivation of business process models and the assurance of quality in a sufficient manner.In this thesis, we present an approach for goal-oriented business process engineering that provides modeling techniques and analysis capabilities to assure the overall specification quality. Based on an existing goal-modeling notation, we introduce an extended modeling approach that supports the expression of goal dependencies, relevant business context elements and the identification of composable actions. Further, we describe a systematic derivation method to ensure the consideration of this information in the business process composition. To ensure a valid and consistent specification, a quality analysis and assurance framework is introduced.Tag der Verteidigung: 04.05.2015Paderborn, Univ., Diss., 201

Injecting continuous time execution into service-oriented computing

Service-Oriented Computing is a computing paradigm that utilizes services as fundamental elements to support rapid, low-cost development of distributed applications in heterogeneous environments. In Service-Oriented Computing, a service is defined as an independent and autonomous piece of functionality which can be described, published, discovered and used in a uniform way. SENSORIA Reference Modeling Language is developed in the IST-FET integrated project. It provides a formal abstraction for services at the business level. Hybrid systems arise in embedded control when components that perform discrete changes are coupled with components that perform continuous processes. Normally, the discrete changes can be modeled by finite-state machines and the continuous processes can be modeled by differential equations. In an abstract point of view, hybrid systems are mixtures of continuous dynamics and discrete events. Hybrid systems are studied in different research areas. In the computer science area, a hybrid system is modeled as a discrete computer program interacting with an analog environment. In this thesis, we inject continuous time execution into Service-Oriented Computing by giving a formal abstraction for hybrid systems at the business level in a Service-Oriented point of view, and develop a method for formal verifications. In order to achieve the first part of this goal, we make a hybrid extension of Service-Oriented Doubly Labeled Transition Systems, named with Service-Oriented Hybrid Doubly Labeled Transition Systems, make an extension of the SENSORIA Reference Modeling Language and interpret it over Service-Oriented Hybrid Doubly Labeled Transition Systems. To achieve the second part of this goal, we adopt Temporal Dynamic Logic formulas and a set of sequent calculus rules for verifying the formulas, and develop a method for transforming the SENSORIA Reference Modeling Language specification of a certain service module into the respective Temporal Dynamic Logic formulas that could be verified. Moreover, we provide a case study of a simplified small part of the European Train Control System which is specified and verified with the approach introduced above. We also provide an approach of implementing the case study model with the IBM Websphere Process Server, which is a comprehensive Service-Oriented Architecture integration platform and provides support for the Service Component Architecture programming model. In order to realize this approach, we also provide functions that map models specified with the SENSORIA Reference Modeling Language to Websphere Process Server applications

A multi-driven approach to requirements analysis of data warehouse model: A case study

In this paper, a multi-driven approach to data modeling in data warehousing will be presented, which integrates three existing approaches normally used separately: goal-driven, user-driven and data-driven; and two approaches usually not used in data warehousing field: process-driven and technology-driven. Goal-driven approach produces subjects and KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) of main business fields. User-driven approach produces analytical requirements represented by measures and dimensions of each subject. Process-driven approach propose improvements in business processes (by using and creating subject oriented enterprise data model) to satisfy the KPI’s, measures and dimensions identified in the previous approaches. Technology-driven approach is an enabler or an obstacle to be considered in a data warehouse model. Data-driven approach is a combination of the results of previous approaches and results in a data warehouse model. By using a multi-driven approach with five stages, a layered data warehouse model more aligned with business and individual needs can be obtained. This will be illustrated by using examples of a case study

Improving the Quality and Cost-effectiveness of Process-oriented, Service-driven Applications: Techniques for Enriching Business Process Models

A key objective of any Service-driven architectural approach is to improve the alignment between business and information technology (IT). Business process management, service composition, and service orchestration, play major roles in achieving this goal. In particular, they allow for the process-aware integration of business actors, business data, and business services. To optimize business-IT alignment and to achieve high business value, the business processes implemented in process-aware information systems (PAISs) must be defined by domain experts, and not by members of the IT department. In current practice, however, the information relevant for process execution is usually not captured at the required level of detail in business process models. In turn, this requires costly interactions between IT departments and domain experts during process implementation. To improve this situation, required execution information should be captured at a sufficient level of detail during business process design (front-loading). As another drawback, existing methods and tools for business process design do not consider available Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) artifacts such as technical service descriptions during process design (look-ahead). Both front-loading and look-ahead are not adequately supported by existing business process modeling tools. In particular, for many process aspects, appropriate techniques for specifying them at a sufficient level of detail during business process design are missing. This chapter presents techniques for enabling front-loading and look-ahead for selected process aspects and investigates how executable process models can be derived from business process models when enriched with additional information