Data in Business Process Models. A Preliminary Empirical Study

Traditional activity-centric process modeling languages treat data as simple black boxes acting as input or output for activities. Many alternate and emerging process modeling paradigms, such as case handling and artifact-centric process modeling, give data a more central role. This is achieved by introducing lifecycles and states for data objects, which is beneficial when modeling data-or knowledge-intensive processes. We assume that traditional activity-centric process modeling languages lack the capabilities to adequately capture the complexity of such processes. To verify this assumption we conducted an online interview among BPM experts. The results not only allow us to identify various profiles of persons modeling business processes, but also the problems that exist in contemporary modeling languages w.r.t. The modeling of business data. Overall, this preliminary empirical study confirms the necessity of data-awareness in process modeling notations in general

Lexecute: visualisation and representation of legal procedures

Jörn Freiheit, Marc Luuk, Susanne Münch, Grozdana Sijanski and Fabrice Zangl set out the work they have undertaken for the eJustice programme of the EU and how legal procedures can be captured in digital format

Controlling Compliance of Collaborative Business Processes through an Integration Platform within an E-government Scenario

Compliance management is gaining increasing interest in inter-organizational service-oriented systems, which are usually supported by integration platforms. Due to their mediation role and capabilities, these platforms constitute a convenient infrastructure for controlling compliance requirements affecting inter-organizational message exchanges, which may be carried out as part of collaborative business processes (CBPs). This paper addresses compliance requirements of CBPs within an e-government scenario, by using a policy-based compliance control solution for integration platforms which was introduced in our previous work

A Survey on Handling Data in Business Process Models (Discussion Paper)

Traditional activity-centric process modeling languages treat data as simple black boxes acting as input or output for activities. Many alternate and emerging process modeling paradigms, such as case handling and artifact-centric process modeling, give data a more central role. This is achieved by introducing lifecycles and states for data objects, which is beneficial when modeling data- or knowledge-intensive processes. We assume that traditional activity-centric process modeling languages lack the capabilities to adequately capture the complexity of such processes. To verify this assumption, we conducted a survey among Business Process Management experts. The survey results allow us to identify the problems of contemporary modeling languages in regard to the modeling of business data. To this end, survey respondents rated the data modeling capabilities of a variety of business process modeling tools and notations. Overall, the paper confirms the need of data-awareness in process modeling notations in general

Business Process Assessment and Evaluation in Public Administrations using Activity Based Costing

Public administrations in Germany currently face challenges of cost reduction and modernization. Furthermore, Pan-European directives foster process harmonization and introduction of IT-supported and optimized processes. Hereby activity-based costing can be a useful instrument for process assessment and evaluation. Especially through the introduction of New Public Management and double-entry accounting Public Administrations in Germany now get the opportunity to use cost-centered accounting mechanisms to assess process performance and evaluate their activities in a holistic concept. Process Modeling can be a useful instrument to help the public administrations to structure their activities and capture information about them and thereby create a basis for activity-based costing. Therefore, the aim of this article is combining the domain specific process modeling method PICTURE and concept of activity-based costing for supporting Public Administrations in process assessment and evaluation

Investigating the New Zealand Off-Site Manufacturing Industry’s Readiness for Automated Compliance Checking

Numerous automated compliance checking (ACC) approaches have been developed over the last half of the twentieth century. However, little is known as to how well the ACC technology has served the off-site manufacturing (OSM) industry from the end users’ perspective. This paper aims to measure the New Zealand (NZ) OSM industry’s awareness and readiness for ACC and explore a pathway toward wider ACC adoption. It first reports on a survey study in NZ with 44 valid survey responses. It then proposes a high-level roadmap with key actions that can facilitate wider ACC adoption through 16 interviews with international ACC experts and a focus group with nine local OSM stakeholders. The results show that although there is a high demand for automating compliance processes, the OSM industry, especially small and medium enterprises, are not ready to adopt the ACC technology. Suggestions to address this include (1) establish the foundation for broad ACC adoption; (2) boost the development of the ACC technology to expedite its maturity, (3) test the ACC technology under different scenarios and customize it for the NZ context; (4) encourage the government to provide funding and policy support; and (5) promote education and training of both building information modeling (BIM) and ACC to OSM stakeholders. The results can provide software vendors with valuable information about user expectations and requirements to develop ACC products that can better serve NZ OSM projects, and help OSM stakeholders in NZ and countries with similar economic and regulatory structures to understand the technological and nontechnological gaps to better prepare for the ACC technology adoption

Investigating the design workflow for designing a component for Additive Manufacturing: A case study of designing a Jet engine combustion chamber component for AM

The increasing integration of Additive Manufacturing (AM) in the Product Development and production phase has brought a need for developing a new design for manufacturing methodology which is distinct to AM. Commonly known as Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), it aims to take complete advantage of the unique capabilities of AM by developing rules, guidelines, and design methodologies. The existing studies on DfAM do not address practical problems faced during the design stage which leads to dilemmas and uncertainties in decision making concerning the design elements. Therefore, a workflow for implementing the methodologies of DfAM is important. To solve this problem, this thesis develops and documents the workflow for modeling lattice structures and minimal structures using the best tools available. In addition to this, the study analyzes the workflow developed with the help of a case study. In this case study, a component is developed for heat management which makes the use of heat transfer between solid and fluid. The design process in the case study is developed with the integration of Design for Six Sigma methodology. The outcomes are documented, and best practices from the study are reported