Toward Process Modeling in Creative Domains

Process modeling has emerged as a widely accepted approach in order to reduce organizational complexity in organizations. Process models are used for different purposes, including process analysis and redesign, risk management, and the implementation of software systems. However, the majority of existent approaches is restricted to processes that are wellstructured and predictable. Highly creative environments, such as the film industry or R&D departments, however, are characterized by high levels of flexibility. As existent approaches do not provide ample means to model such processes, this paper discusses the capabilities that a conceptual process modeling grammar for processes in creative environments must provide. Furthermore, we suggest an approach to process analysis that aims at the identification and specification of creativity in business processes. The study belongs to the design science paradigm; the discussion is grounded in a theory that explains the nature of processes that rely on creativity

How German hospitals govern IT - An empirical exploration

Health care services in German hospitals are causing immense expenses. Successful IT Governance might help to support specific challenges for every organization with an adequate use of IT. The market structure of hospitals in Germany is very heterogeneous, e.g. in size and sponsorship. This paper analyses the state of the art of IT Governance based on a survey among 220 IT executives in German hospitals. The quantitative analyses of collected survey data reveal that hospitals govern their IT differently according to size and sponsorship. In addition, our analyses show that decision-making authority for the IT budget rises with hospital size and is positively correlated with the fraction of IT projects in the overall IT budget. We also show that the investments in innovative IT projects increase with hospital size. Our study revealed that a high number of private and larger hospitals lack a systematic IT Governance approach within the decision domain on IT projects. This study is the first to shed light into the empirical situation of IT Governance in German hospitals. Creativity-intensive processes such as the development of marketing campaigns or the production of visual effects increasingly find their way into the agenda of process managers. Such processes often comprise of both well-structured, transactional parts and creative parts that often cannot be specified in terms of their process flow, required resources, and outcome. Moreover, the processes’ high variability sets boundaries for the possible degree of automation. In this paper we introduce the concept of pockets of creativity as an analytic device which is hoped to support process managers in their efforts to identify and describe creative sections in business processes. We argue that this step of identifying and describing is imperative to successfully allocate resources, integrate creativity into the overall process, and introduce process automation for those parts that are well-structured and can actually be automated. Our argument rests in the examination of existent literature as well as in findings from exploratory case studies that were conducted in the film and visual effects industry in order to study processes that rely on creativity

Change Support in Process-Aware Information Systems - A Pattern-Based Analysis

In today's dynamic business world the economic success of an enterprise increasingly depends on its ability to react to changes in its environment in a quick and flexible way. Process-aware information systems (PAIS) offer promising perspectives in this respect and are increasingly employed for operationally supporting business processes. To provide effective business process support, flexible PAIS are needed which do not freeze existing business processes, but allow for loosely specified processes, which can be detailed during run-time. In addition, PAIS should enable authorized users to flexibly deviate from the predefined processes if required (e.g., by allowing them to dynamically add, delete, or move process activities) and to evolve business processes over time. At the same time PAIS must ensure consistency and robustness. The emergence of different process support paradigms and the lack of methods for comparing existing change approaches have made it difficult for PAIS engineers to choose the adequate technology. In this paper we suggest a set of changes patterns and change support features to foster the systematic comparison of existing process management technology with respect to process change support. Based on these change patterns and features, we provide a detailed analysis and evaluation of selected systems from both academia and industry. The identified change patterns and change support features facilitate the comparison of change support frameworks, and consequently will support PAIS engineers in selecting the right technology for realizing flexible PAIS. In addition, this work can be used as a reference for implementing more flexible PAIS

SmartPM: Automated Adaptation of Dynamic Processes

In this demonstration paper, we present the first working version of SmartPM, a Process Management System that is able to automatically adapt dynamic processes at run-time when unanticipated exceptions occur, thus requiring no specification of recovery policies at design-time

Identifying and Evaluating Change Patterns and Change Support Features in Process-Aware Information Systems.

In order to provide effective support, the introduction of process-aware information systems (PAIS) must not freeze existing business processes. Instead PAIS should allow authorized users to flexibly deviate from the predefined processes if required and to evolve business processes in a controlled manner over time. Many software vendors promise flexible system solutions for realizing such adaptive PAIS, but are often unable to cope with fundamental issues elated to process change (e.g., correctness and robustness). The existence of different process support paradigms and the lack of methods for comparing existing change approaches makes it difficult for PAIS engineers to choose the adequate technology. In this paper we suggest a set of changes patterns and change support features to foster systematic comparison of existing process management technology with respect to change support. Based on these change patterns and features, we provide a detailed analysis and evaluation of selected systems from both academia and industry

Supporting Flexible Processes with Adaptive Workflow and Case Handling

Workflow management technology has profoundly transformed the way complex tasks are being handled in modern, large-scale organizations. However, it is mostly those systems’ inherent lack of flexibility that hinders their broad acceptance, and that is perceived as annoyance by users. In this context, Adaptive Process Management and Case Handling provide two very different paradigms, which both attempt to make process management more flexible and user-friendly. In this paper, we compare strengths and weaknesses of these two paradigms, and point out situations in which each is particularly appropriate. We further outline ways, in which either technology can be enhanced by crucial concepts from the other. This integration of flexibility approaches has the potential to remedy fundamental problems still present in each technology on its own

Evaluating Groupware for Creative Group Processes – The Case Study of CreativeFlow

The creative potential of teams plays a crucial role in generating the competitive advantage of organizations. We introduce an architecture supporting creative group processes in the context of business processes. Based on the theoretical concept of Pockets of Creativity (Seidel et al. 2010), the architecture aims to balance freedom for creative group work and constraints set by the processes in its environment. The architecture is implemented in the prototype CreativeFlow, integrating a groupware component and a workflow component. The prototype is evaluated in a case study in a TV production company. Free participation in group tasks and support for the structuring of ideas were deemed appropriate for the support of creative group processes. Process structure is mainly imposed by project deadlines that require user notification, also outside the workflow component. Process orientation is a promising approach to increase the efficiency of the creative value creation

A constraint specification approach to building flexible workflows

Process support systems, such as workflows, are being used in a variety of domains. However, most areas of application have focused on traditional production-style processes, which are characterised by predictability and repetitiveness. Application in non-traditional domains with highly flexible process is still largely unexplored. Such flexible processes are characterised by lack of ability to completely predefine and/or an explosive number of alternatives. Accordingly we define flexibility as the ability of the process to execute on the basis of a partially defined model where the full specification is made at runtime and may be unique to each instance. In this paper, we will present an approach to building workflow models for such processes. We will present our approach in the context of a non-traditional domain for workflow, deployment, which is, degree programs in tertiary institutes. The primary motivation behind our approach is to provide the ability to model flexible processes without introducing non-standard modelling constructs. This ensures that the correctness and verification of the language is preserved. We propose to build workflow schemas from a standard set of modelling constructs and given process constraints. We identify the fundamental requirements for constraint specification and classify them into selection, termination and build constraints. We will detail the specification of these constraints in a relational model. Finally, we will demonstrate the dynamic building of instance specific workflow models on the basis of these constraints