Measuring Process Modelling Success

Process-modelling has seen widespread acceptance, par ticularly on large IT-enabled Business Process Reengineering projects. It is applied, as a process design and management technique, across all life-cycle phases of a system. While there has been much research on aspects of process-modelling, little attention has focused on post-hoc evaluation of process-modelling success. This paper addresses this gap, and presents a process-modelling success measurement (PMS) framework, which includes the dimensions: process-model quality; model use; user satisfaction; and process modelling impact. Measurement items for each dimension are also suggested

Hybrid process modelling within business process management projects

Business Process Management (BPM) is still an important research topic amongst both academics and businesses. The recent recession has forced businesses to focus on cost control and efficiency in order to better cope with the economic downturn. Many companies in this situation turn to BPM software as a means of improving their efficiency and costs by reducing aspects of the business such as process lead-times and material costs. In order to identify areas of the business and its processes which require changing the business will most likely adopt a method of modelling their business processes. Because of the large number of available techniques decision makers usually struggle to decide the best approach. Recent literature has also pointed out that prevalent modelling techniques are designed to serve one specific purpose and may not be capable of modelling the whole picture. The key relationship between the information systems and the human behaviour is one example of where existing techniques are biased towards opposite ends of the scale. This paper proposes the use of a hybrid modelling notation composed of multiple existing notations in order to bridge this. The hybrid notation was applied to a BPM project at a company in the construction industry and a case study conducted with its users

The business process modelling ontology

In this paper we describe the Business Process Modelling Ontology (BPMO), which is part of an approach to modelling business processes at the semantic level, integrating knowledge about the organisational context, workflow activities and Semantic Web Services. We harness knowledge representation and reasoning techniques so that business process workflows can: be exposed and shared through semantic descriptions; refer to semantically annotated data and services; incorporate heterogeneous data though semantic mappings; and be queried using a reasoner or inference engine. In this paper we describe our approach and evaluate BPMO through a use case

Modeling batch annealing process using data mining techniques for cold rolled steel sheets

The annealing process is one of the important operations in production of cold rolled steel sheets, which significantly influences the final product quality of cold rolling mills. In this process, cold rolled coils are heated slowly to a desired temperature and then cooled. Modelling of annealing process (prediction of heating and cooling time and trend prediction of coil core temperature) is a very sophisticated and expensive work. Modelling of annealing process can be done by using of thermal models. In this paper, Modelling of steel annealing process is proposed by using data mining techniques. The main advantages of modelling with data mining techniques are: high speed in data processing, acceptable accuracy in obtained results and simplicity in using of this method. In this paper, after comparison of results of some data mining techniques, feed forward back propagation neural network is applied for annealing process modelling. A good correlation between results of this method and results of thermal models has been obtained

Welding process modelling and control

The research and analysis performed, and software developed, and hardware/software recommendations made during 1992 in development of the PC-based data acquisition system for support of Welding Process Modeling and Control is reported. A need was identified by the Metals Processing Branch of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, for a mobile data aquisition and analysis system, customized for welding measurement and calibration. Several hardware configurations were evaluated and a PC-based system was chosen. The Welding Measurement System (WMS) is a dedicated instrument, strictly for the use of data aquisition and analysis. Although the WMS supports many of the functions associated with the process control, it is not the intention for this system to be used for welding process control

Modelling of the dip-coating process

Dipcoating, wherein an object is withdrawn from a liquid bath, retaining a thin layer of liquid which then dries, is perhaps the simplest of coating techniques. SOLA Optical asked the MISG to investigate this process as a means of applying a protective coating to spectacle lenses. The theory, as proposed by the group, involves the 'lubrication' form of the equations of slow viscous flow. This yields an estimate of the wet coating thickness variation, which in turn depends on the liquid properties, the pull rate, and the lens curvature. When this thickness is reduced by the volatile fraction of the coating, predicted thicknesses are in rough agreement with reported values. Once applied, the liquid film drains downward and this effect is modelled numerically. An outline of a more complete model, allowing evaporation and drying, is also presented

An Audience Centred Approach to Business Process Reengineering

This paper describes a method for process modelling which is designed to provide guidance to the business process modeller. The method has evolved from our experience of attempting to apply software process modelling approaches to business processes. A major influence on the method has been our observations that a pragmatic approach to notation selection is required in order to maintain a meaningful dialogue with end-users. Business process modelling methods typically fall into two camps. General methods attempt to describe the managerial activities which surround the modelling itself (Coulson-Thomas, 94; GISIP, 95). Specific methods, on the other hand, tend to concentrate on the details of a particular notational approach. However, as with programming languages or design methods, no single notational approach is best suited to all problems. Ideally, the process modeller should be able to incorporate the appropriate notational approach into some coherent generic modelling method.This paper addresses the needs of the modeller at the detailed level without prescribing a specific notation. This is achieved by describing categories of modelling activities which the modeller should undertake within process modelling, and suggesting how notations may be used within these categories. Our method is generally applicable, and is illustrated here by models of processes within the Construction industry

Process algebra modelling styles for biomolecular processes

We investigate how biomolecular processes are modelled in process algebras, focussing on chemical reactions. We consider various modelling styles and how design decisions made in the definition of the process algebra have an impact on how a modelling style can be applied. Our goal is to highlight the often implicit choices that modellers make in choosing a formalism, and illustrate, through the use of examples, how this can affect expressability as well as the type and complexity of the analysis that can be performed