Overload Control in a Token Player for a Fuzzy Workflow Management System

The underlying proposal of this work is to control overload of a Token Player in a Fuzzy Workflow Management System. In order to accomplish this, possibility theory is used to measure how much the Token Player can be overloaded. The model used in this work is built using Colored Petri net and the simulation is made using CPN Tools. Finally, is possible to control overload of the Token Player in a Fuzzy Workflow Management System, nevertheless more time is spent to achieve the end of activities

A Taxonomy of Workflow Management Systems for Grid Computing

With the advent of Grid and application technologies, scientists and engineers are building more and more complex applications to manage and process large data sets, and execute scientific experiments on distributed resources. Such application scenarios require means for composing and executing complex workflows. Therefore, many efforts have been made towards the development of workflow management systems for Grid computing. In this paper, we propose a taxonomy that characterizes and classifies various approaches for building and executing workflows on Grids. We also survey several representative Grid workflow systems developed by various projects world-wide to demonstrate the comprehensiveness of the taxonomy. The taxonomy not only highlights the design and engineering similarities and differences of state-of-the-art in Grid workflow systems, but also identifies the areas that need further research.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figure

Ninth Workshop and Tutorial on Practical Use of Coloured Petri Nets and the CPN Tools, Aarhus, Denmark, October 20-22, 2008

This booklet contains the proceedings of the Ninth Workshop on Practical Use of Coloured Petri Nets and the CPN Tools, October 20-22, 2008. The workshop is organised by the CPN group at the Department of Computer Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark. The papers are also available in electronic form via the web pages: http://www.daimi.au.dk/CPnets/workshop0

A Petri net simulation model for virtual construction of earthmoving operations

A common and extended Petri net simulation framework for virtual construction of earthmoving operations is developed to simulate dynamic changes of workflow and information flow in the earthmoving construction process and illustrate the constraint relationship between various operational equipment and construction restrictions. The proposed framework considers factors that influence earthmoving operations including randomness of construction activities, individual preference of equipment scheduling, and constraint relationship between equipment and construction environment. With the given equipment availability and project indirect cost, the framework can predict construction situation, equipment utilization rate, estimated duration and cost to achieve visualized and intelligent scheduling of virtual construction process in earthmoving operations. The simulation process is conducted on the CPNTools platform. The data required by the research were collected on-site in an actual case. The randomness of construction activities in earthmoving operations and main factors influencing construction are simulated. The sensitivity analysis for the model is carried out. The study will provide technical support and a management basis for equipment scheduling of earthmoving operations

Elastic Business Process Management: State of the Art and Open Challenges for BPM in the Cloud

With the advent of cloud computing, organizations are nowadays able to react rapidly to changing demands for computational resources. Not only individual applications can be hosted on virtual cloud infrastructures, but also complete business processes. This allows the realization of so-called elastic processes, i.e., processes which are carried out using elastic cloud resources. Despite the manifold benefits of elastic processes, there is still a lack of solutions supporting them. In this paper, we identify the state of the art of elastic Business Process Management with a focus on infrastructural challenges. We conceptualize an architecture for an elastic Business Process Management System and discuss existing work on scheduling, resource allocation, monitoring, decentralized coordination, and state management for elastic processes. Furthermore, we present two representative elastic Business Process Management Systems which are intended to counter these challenges. Based on our findings, we identify open issues and outline possible research directions for the realization of elastic processes and elastic Business Process Management.Comment: Please cite as: S. Schulte, C. Janiesch, S. Venugopal, I. Weber, and P. Hoenisch (2015). Elastic Business Process Management: State of the Art and Open Challenges for BPM in the Cloud. Future Generation Computer Systems, Volume NN, Number N, NN-NN., http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2014.09.00

A survey of simulation techniques in commerce and defence

Despite the developments in Modelling and Simulation (M&S) tools and techniques over the past years, there has been a gap in the M&S research and practice in healthcare on developing a toolkit to assist the modellers and simulation practitioners with selecting an appropriate set of techniques. This study is a preliminary step towards this goal. This paper presents some results from a systematic literature survey on applications of M&S in the commerce and defence domains that could inspire some improvements in the healthcare. Interim results show that in the commercial sector Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) has been the most widely used technique with System Dynamics (SD) in second place. However in the defence sector, SD has gained relatively more attention. SD has been found quite useful for qualitative and soft factors analysis. From both the surveys it becomes clear that there is a growing trend towards using hybrid M&S approaches

Modeling and Simulation of Task Allocation with Colored Petri Nets

The task allocation problem is a key element in the solution of several applications from different engineering fields. With the explosion of the amount of information produced by the today Internet-connected solutions, scheduling techniques for the allocation of tasks relying on grids, clusters of computers, or in the cloud computing, is at the core of efficient solutions. The task allocation is an important problem within some branch of the computer sciences and operations research, where it is usually modeled as an optimization of a combinatorial problem with the inconvenience of a state explosion problem. This chapter proposes the modeling of the task allocation problem by the use of Colored Petri nets. The proposed methodology allows the construction of compact models for task scheduling problems. Moreover, a simulation process is possible within the constructed model, which allows the study of some performance aspects of the task allocation problem before any implementation stage

Modelagem e simulação de sistemas de gerenciamento de processos de negócios baseadas em workflow net temporais com mecanismos de alocação de recursos híbridos fuzzy

The main objective of this doctoral research is to propose a new business process model for efficient (and realistic) resources and time management in Workflow nets. This research had as its starting point the validation of the fuzzy resource allocation model presented in (JESKE, 2006). In particular, a specialized inference mechanism of the token player type adapted to a fuzzy hybrid resource allocation model was implemented in the modeling, analysis and simulation tool of colored Petri nets called CPN Tools. Such simulations have shown that the new model in relation to a simple resource allocation mechanism with an earlier firing policy (FIFO) allows an improvement in the proportion of cases that meet the established deadlines. To solve the scheduling problem in Workflow Management Systems, important characteristics inherent to these systems should be considered. In particular, when many cases are run concurrently, conflict situations due to shared resource can occur and must be resolved in real time (without a backward mechanism). Also, temporary restrictions regarding the deadlines for delivery of specific cases should be considered. For that, a fuzzy time associated to the activities of the processes was defined as well as a mechanism of propagation of restrictions whose role is to guarantee the consistency of the time constraints to carry out the activities respecting the expected delivery times. With the objective of making the behavior of the new model the closest and consistent with the behavior of the human collaborators involved in the execution of business process activities, the notion of joint possibility was inserted in the model. This notion involves the uncertain and nebulous character of the execution times of the activities of the processes and the intensity of the resources used to carry out the activities. New firing rules for transitions were then defined based on the concept presented. Token players based on the new model presented were defined, implemented, simulated and validated in the CPN Tools, whose main role is to show the execution of the new models presented. Using the CPN Tools, it was possible to evaluate the system behavior considering the expected or most critical operating. It is important to point out that through the simulation results it is possible to predict how the system will behave and, from this, to evaluate several possible resource distribution scenarios in order to be able, in the future, to carry out the sizing of the system based on a modeling and simulation tool that approximates of the way employees work in an office environment.Tese (Doutorado)O principal objetivo desta pesquisa de doutorado é propor um novo modelo de processo de negócios para uma gestão eficiente (e realista) dos recursos e do tempo em Workflow nets. Esta pesquisa teve como ponto de partida a validação do modelo de alocação de recursos fuzzy apresentado em (JESKE, 2006). Em particular, um mecanismo de inferência especializado do tipo token player adaptado a um modelo de alocação de recurso híbrido fuzzy foi implementado na ferramenta de modelagem, análise e simulação de redes de Petri coloridas chamada CPN Tools. Tais simulações mostraram que o novo modelo em relação a um mecanismo simples de alocação de recurso com uma política de disparo mais cedo (FIFO) permite uma melhoria da proporção de casos que respeitam os prazos estabelecidos. Para resolver o problema do escalonamento em Sistemas de Gerenciamento de Workflow deverão ser consideradas características importantes inerentes a estes sistemas. Em particular, quando muitos casos são executados simultaneamente, situações de conflito por recursos compartilhados podem ocorrer e devem ser resolvidas em tempo real (sem um mecanismo de retrocesso). Também, deverão ser consideradas restrições temporais relativas aos prazos de entrega de casos específicos. Para tanto, definiu-se um tempo fuzzy associado às atividades dos processos bem como um mecanismo de propagação de restrições cujo papel é garantir a consistência das restrições de tempo para realização das atividades respeitando os prazos de entrega previstos. Com o objetivo de tornar o comportamento do novo modelo o mais próximo e consistente com o comportamento de funcionários humanos envolvidos na execução de atividades de processos de negócios, a noção de possibilidade conjunta que envolve o caráter incerto e nebuloso tanto dos tempos de execução das atividades dos processos quanto das intensidades de carga dos recursos utilizados para a realização de atividades foi inserida no modelo. Novas regras de disparo de transições foram então definidas baseadas no conceito apresentado. Jogadores de rede de Petri do tipo token player baseados no novo modelo apresentado foram definidos, implementados, simulados e validados na ferramenta CPN Tools, cujo papel principal é mostrar a execução dos novos modelos apresentados. Com o uso da ferramenta CPN Tools foi possível avaliar o comportamento do sistema em funcionamento esperado ou em situação mais crítica. É importante salientar que através dos resultados de simulação é possível prever como o sistema se comportará, isso a fim de avaliar diversos cenários possíveis de distribuição de recursos para poder, no futuro, realizar o dimensionamento do sistema baseado numa ferramenta de modelagem e simulação próxima da forma de trabalhar dos funcionários em ambiente de escritório

Business Process Management and Process Mining within a Real Business Environment: An Empirical Analysis of Event Logs Data in a Consulting Project

Il presente elaborato esplora l’attitudine delle organizzazioni nei confronti dei processi di business che le sostengono: dalla semi-assenza di struttura, all’organizzazione funzionale, fino all’avvento del Business Process Reengineering e del Business Process Management, nato come superamento dei limiti e delle problematiche del modello precedente. All’interno del ciclo di vita del BPM, trova spazio la metodologia del process mining, che permette un livello di analisi dei processi a partire dagli event data log, ossia dai dati di registrazione degli eventi, che fanno riferimento a tutte quelle attività supportate da un sistema informativo aziendale. Il process mining può essere visto come naturale ponte che collega le discipline del management basate sui processi (ma non data-driven) e i nuovi sviluppi della business intelligence, capaci di gestire e manipolare l’enorme mole di dati a disposizione delle aziende (ma che non sono process-driven). Nella tesi, i requisiti e le tecnologie che abilitano l’utilizzo della disciplina sono descritti, cosi come le tre tecniche che questa abilita: process discovery, conformance checking e process enhancement. Il process mining è stato utilizzato come strumento principale in un progetto di consulenza da HSPI S.p.A. per conto di un importante cliente italiano, fornitore di piattaforme e di soluzioni IT. Il progetto a cui ho preso parte, descritto all’interno dell’elaborato, ha come scopo quello di sostenere l’organizzazione nel suo piano di improvement delle prestazioni interne e ha permesso di verificare l’applicabilità e i limiti delle tecniche di process mining. Infine, nell’appendice finale, è presente un paper da me realizzato, che raccoglie tutte le applicazioni della disciplina in un contesto di business reale, traendo dati e informazioni da working papers, casi aziendali e da canali diretti. Per la sua validità e completezza, questo documento è stata pubblicato nel sito dell'IEEE Task Force on Process Mining

Research on key techniques of flexible workflow based approach to supporting dynamic engineering design process

Error on title page - correct year of award is 2015 not 2013.Engineering design process (EDP) is a highly dynamic and creative process, and the capability in managing an EDP is considered as a major differentiating factor between competing enterprises. The most important prerequisite to establish an engineering design process excellence is a proper management of all the design process activities and the associated information. The most important impact in recent years on the EDP and on the activities of designers has come from computer-based data processing. Workflow, the automation of a business processes in whole or part, is a useful tool for modelling and managing a business process which can be reprensented by a workflow model (computerized process definition). By considering the dynamic characteristics of EDP, an EDP management system must be flexible enough to support the creative and dynamic EDP. After the introduction of engineering design process and its new trend, as well as flexible workflow technology, reviews of both engineering design process and its supporting flexible workflow technology shows that there is a need for a holistic framework to automate and coordinate design activities in the creative and dynamic EDP, and the flexible workflow technology should also be improved comprehensively in flexibility and intelligence in order to support better engineering design management. By introducing the relations between the EDP and flexible workflow, a virtual workflow and an autonomic flexible workflow built upon autonomic computing is investigated, and an innovative engineering design process management framework based on multi-autonomic objects flexible workflow is proposed. For the flexible workflow modelling in the framework, a dynamic instance-based flexible workflow modelling method is proposed for multi-autonomic objects flexible workflow. In order to improve the intelligence of flexible workflow, after examining the principle of flexible workflow intelligence in flexible workflow, a new flexible workflow autonomic object intelligence algorithm based on both extended Mamdani fuzzy reasoning and neural network is proposed, weighted fuzzy reasoning algorithm, as well as precise and fuzzy hybrid knowledge reasoning algorithm is designed; a bionic flexible workflow adaptation algorithm is proposed to improve the intelligence of autonomic object flexible workflow further. According to the characteristic of EDP, such as cross-enterprises and geographical distribution, and in order to realize the flexible execution of distributed flexible workflow engine, a distributed flexible workflow engine architecture based on web service is proposed and a flexible workflow model description method based on extended WSDL (Web Service Description Language) and BPEL4WS (Business Process Execution Language for Web Services) is proposed. A flexible workflow prototype system supporting engineering design process is implemented according to the proposed EDP management framework in Microsoft VS.Net 2005 environment. The framework is demonstrated by the application in an EDP of a MTO company, and it shows that the proposed framework can support the creative and dynamic process in an efficient way. Finally, the strengths and weakness of the framework as well as the prototype system is discussed based on the results of the evaluation, and the proposed areas of future work are given.Engineering design process (EDP) is a highly dynamic and creative process, and the capability in managing an EDP is considered as a major differentiating factor between competing enterprises. The most important prerequisite to establish an engineering design process excellence is a proper management of all the design process activities and the associated information. The most important impact in recent years on the EDP and on the activities of designers has come from computer-based data processing. Workflow, the automation of a business processes in whole or part, is a useful tool for modelling and managing a business process which can be reprensented by a workflow model (computerized process definition). By considering the dynamic characteristics of EDP, an EDP management system must be flexible enough to support the creative and dynamic EDP. After the introduction of engineering design process and its new trend, as well as flexible workflow technology, reviews of both engineering design process and its supporting flexible workflow technology shows that there is a need for a holistic framework to automate and coordinate design activities in the creative and dynamic EDP, and the flexible workflow technology should also be improved comprehensively in flexibility and intelligence in order to support better engineering design management. By introducing the relations between the EDP and flexible workflow, a virtual workflow and an autonomic flexible workflow built upon autonomic computing is investigated, and an innovative engineering design process management framework based on multi-autonomic objects flexible workflow is proposed. For the flexible workflow modelling in the framework, a dynamic instance-based flexible workflow modelling method is proposed for multi-autonomic objects flexible workflow. In order to improve the intelligence of flexible workflow, after examining the principle of flexible workflow intelligence in flexible workflow, a new flexible workflow autonomic object intelligence algorithm based on both extended Mamdani fuzzy reasoning and neural network is proposed, weighted fuzzy reasoning algorithm, as well as precise and fuzzy hybrid knowledge reasoning algorithm is designed; a bionic flexible workflow adaptation algorithm is proposed to improve the intelligence of autonomic object flexible workflow further. According to the characteristic of EDP, such as cross-enterprises and geographical distribution, and in order to realize the flexible execution of distributed flexible workflow engine, a distributed flexible workflow engine architecture based on web service is proposed and a flexible workflow model description method based on extended WSDL (Web Service Description Language) and BPEL4WS (Business Process Execution Language for Web Services) is proposed. A flexible workflow prototype system supporting engineering design process is implemented according to the proposed EDP management framework in Microsoft VS.Net 2005 environment. The framework is demonstrated by the application in an EDP of a MTO company, and it shows that the proposed framework can support the creative and dynamic process in an efficient way. Finally, the strengths and weakness of the framework as well as the prototype system is discussed based on the results of the evaluation, and the proposed areas of future work are given