Analysis of the Runtime Resource Provisioning of BPMN Processes using Maude

International audienceCompanies are continuously adjusting their resources to their needs following different strategies. However, the dynamic provisioning strategies are hard to compare. This paper proposes an automatic analysis technique to evaluate and compare the execution time and resource occupancy of a business process relative to a workload and a provisioning strategy. Such analysis is performed on models conforming to an extension of BPMN with quantitative information, including resource availability and constraints. Within this framework, the approach is fully mechanized using a formal and executable specification in the rewriting logic framework, which relies on existing techniques and tools for simulating probabilistic and real-time specifications

Computing the Parallelism Degree of Timed BPMN Processes

International audienceA business process is a combination of structured and related activities that aim at fulfilling a specific organizational goal for a customer or market. An important measure when developing a business process is the degree of parallelism, namely, the maximum number of tasks that are executable in parallel at any given time in a process. This measure determines the peak demand on tasks and thus can provide valuable insight on the problem of resource allocation in business processes. This paper considers timed business processes modeled in BPMN, a workflow-based graphical notation for processes, where execution times can be associated to several BPMN constructs such as tasks and flows. An encoding of timed business processes into Maude's rewriting logic system is presented, enabling the automatic computation of timed degrees of parallelism for business processes. The approach is illustrated with a simple yet realistic case study in which the degree of parallelism is used to improve the business process design with the ultimate goal of optimizing resources and, therefore, with the potential for reducing operating costs

Symbolic Specification and Verification of Data-aware BPMN Processes using Rewriting Modulo SMT

International audienceThe Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is the standard notation for modeling business processes. It relies on a workflow-based language that allows for the modeling of the control-flow graph of an entire process. In this paper, the main focus is on an extension of BPMN with data, which is convenient for describing real-world processes involving complex behavior and data descriptions. By considering this level of expressiveness due to the new features, challenging questions arise regarding the choice of the semantic framework for specifying such an extension of BPMN, as well as how to carry out the symbolic simulation, validation, and assess the correctness of the process models. These issues are addressed first by providing a symbolic executable rewriting logic semantics of BPMN using the rewriting modulo SMT framework, where the execution is driven by rewriting modulo axioms and by querying SMT decision procedures for data conditions. Second, reachability properties, such as deadlock freedom and detection of unreachable states with data exhibiting certain values, can be specified and automatically checked with the help of Maude, thanks to its support for rewriting modulo SMT. The approach presented in this paper has been validated on realistic processes and it is illustrated with a running example

BPMN 2.0 execution semantics formalized as graph rewrite rules : extended version

The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard version 2.0 informally defines a precise execution semantics. This paper defines that execution semantics formally, by defining the execution rules as graph rewrite rules. The paper shows that the formal definition of execution rules in this manner is intuitive and simple, in particular because they can be specified graphically, using the BPMN symbols, while maintaining mathematical rigour. Using graph rewriting tools, the resulting formal execution semantics can be used to directly execute models that are created in the BPMN. Therefore, it can be used as a reference implementation of the execution semantics and to test BPMN 2.0 engines, in combination with a set of BPMN test models that we also provide

Proceedings of the 2008 Oxford University Computing Laboratory student conference.

This conference serves two purposes. First, the event is a useful pedagogical exercise for all participants, from the conference committee and referees, to the presenters and the audience. For some presenters, the conference may be the first time their work has been subjected to peer-review. For others, the conference is a testing ground for announcing work, which will be later presented at international conferences, workshops, and symposia. This leads to the conference's second purpose: an opportunity to expose the latest-and-greatest research findings within the laboratory. The fourteen abstracts within these proceedings were selected by the programme and conference committee after a round of peer-reviewing, by both students and staff within this department

A Benchmark for ASP Systems: Resource Allocation in Business Processes

The goal of this paper is to benchmark Answer Set Programming (ASP) systems to test their performance when dealing with a complex optimization problem. In particular, the problem tackled is resource allocation in the area of Business Process Management (BPM). Like many other scheduling problems, the allocation of resources and starting times to business process activities is a challenging optimization problem for ASP solvers. Our problem encoding is ASP Core-2 standard compliant and it is realized in a declarative and compact fashion. We develop an instance generator that produces problem instances of different size and hardness with respect to adjustable parameters. By using the baseline encoding and the instance generator, we provide a comparison between the two award-winning ASP solvers clasp and wasp and report the grounding performance of gringo and i-dlv. The benchmark suggests that there is room for improvement concerning both the grounders and the solvers. Fostered by the relevance of the problem addressed, of which several variants have been described in different domains, we believe this is a solid application-oriented benchmark for the ASP community.Series: Working Papers on Information Systems, Information Business and Operation

A Benchmark for ASP Systems: Resource Allocation in Business Processes

The goal of this paper is to benchmark Answer Set Programming (ASP) systems to test their performance when dealing with a complex optimization problem. In particular, the problem tackled is resource allocation in the area of Business Process Management (BPM). Like many other scheduling problems, the allocation of resources and starting times to business process activities is a challenging optimization problem for ASP solvers. Our problem encoding is ASP Core-2 standard compliant and it is realized in a declarative and compact fashion. We develop an instance generator that produces problem instances of different size and hardness with respect to adjustable parameters. By using the baseline encoding and the instance generator, we provide a comparison between the two award-winning ASP solvers CLASP and WASP and report the grounding performance of GRINGO and I-DLV. The benchmark suggests that there is room for improvement concerning both the grounders and the solvers. Fostered by the relevance of the problem addressed, of which several variants have been described in different domains, we believe this is a solid application-oriented benchmark for the ASP community.Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) 845638 (SHAPE