The Structured Process Modeling Theory (SPMT): a cognitive view on why and how modelers benefit from structuring the process of process modeling

After observing various inexperienced modelers constructing a business process model based on the same textual case description, it was noted that great differences existed in the quality of the produced models. The impression arose that certain quality issues originated from cognitive failures during the modeling process. Therefore, we developed an explanatory theory that describes the cognitive mechanisms that affect effectiveness and efficiency of process model construction: the Structured Process Modeling Theory (SPMT). This theory states that modeling accuracy and speed are higher when the modeler adopts an (i) individually fitting (ii) structured (iii) serialized process modeling approach. The SPMT is evaluated against six theory quality criteria

The Structured Process Modeling Method (SPMM) : what is the best way for me to construct a process model?

More and more organizations turn to the construction of process models to support strategical and operational tasks. At the same time, reports indicate quality issues for a considerable part of these models, caused by modeling errors. Therefore, the research described in this paper investigates the development of a practical method to determine and train an optimal process modeling strategy that aims to decrease the number of cognitive errors made during modeling. Such cognitive errors originate in inadequate cognitive processing caused by the inherent complexity of constructing process models. The method helps modelers to derive their personal cognitive profile and the related optimal cognitive strategy that minimizes these cognitive failures. The contribution of the research consists of the conceptual method and an automated modeling strategy selection and training instrument. These two artefacts are positively evaluated by a laboratory experiment covering multiple modeling sessions and involving a total of 149 master students at Ghent University

Fostering Creativity in Engineering Education: Relationship of Design Task Difficulty to Solution Novelty

Conflicting claims about engineering students’ abilities to innovate solutions to design tasks warranted evaluation of measures and clarification of roles of design task and student characteristics in developing innovative solutions. Three manuscripts clarified quality of measures and roles of design tasks and student characteristics using survey data from 361 students. The first manuscript evaluated measures of task difficulty, current achievement motivation and cognitive style using CFA, EFA and reliability analyses. Measures were found to have low validity and reliability. Future studies should be conducted with large sample sizes and improved item quality. The second manuscript clarified roles of Grade Point Average (GPA), classification, major, task familiarity, current achievement motivation, and cognitive style in developing innovative solutions using decision tree analysis. GPA, major, current achievement motivation, and cognitive style were significant predictors of novelty. Eight combinations of students’ characteristics that predict novelty of students’ solutions to a design task were identified. Of the eight, four combinations predict conventional solutions. The remaining four combinations predict novel solutions. Stability of combinations and their thresholds should be verified with different design tasks and large sample sizes. The third manuscript examined relationships of design task structuredness and complexity to novelty of solutions after controlling for GPA, major, challenge, anxiety, interest and novelty-seeking orientation. Structural equation modeling found significant iii positive association between structuredness and novelty, significant negative association between complexity and novelty, and significant positive correlation between structuredness and complexity. Only major 2 (BAEN, BMEN, CHEN, ETID, ISEN, NUEN, OCEN or PETE) was found significant relative to undeclared majors. Structuredness, complexity, major 2 explained 21% of the total variance in novelty. Findings support development of models to explain relationships between design tasks and abilities to innovate as moderated or mediated by student characteristics, controlling confounding effects of design tasks and students’ characteristics in ideation studies, and discovery of strategies to develop students’ abilities to innovate solutions

Fostering Creativity in Engineering Education: Relationship of Design Task Difficulty to Solution Novelty

Conflicting claims about engineering students’ abilities to innovate solutions to design tasks warranted evaluation of measures and clarification of roles of design task and student characteristics in developing innovative solutions. Three manuscripts clarified quality of measures and roles of design tasks and student characteristics using survey data from 361 students. The first manuscript evaluated measures of task difficulty, current achievement motivation and cognitive style using CFA, EFA and reliability analyses. Measures were found to have low validity and reliability. Future studies should be conducted with large sample sizes and improved item quality. The second manuscript clarified roles of Grade Point Average (GPA), classification, major, task familiarity, current achievement motivation, and cognitive style in developing innovative solutions using decision tree analysis. GPA, major, current achievement motivation, and cognitive style were significant predictors of novelty. Eight combinations of students’ characteristics that predict novelty of students’ solutions to a design task were identified. Of the eight, four combinations predict conventional solutions. The remaining four combinations predict novel solutions. Stability of combinations and their thresholds should be verified with different design tasks and large sample sizes. The third manuscript examined relationships of design task structuredness and complexity to novelty of solutions after controlling for GPA, major, challenge, anxiety, interest and novelty-seeking orientation. Structural equation modeling found significant iii positive association between structuredness and novelty, significant negative association between complexity and novelty, and significant positive correlation between structuredness and complexity. Only major 2 (BAEN, BMEN, CHEN, ETID, ISEN, NUEN, OCEN or PETE) was found significant relative to undeclared majors. Structuredness, complexity, major 2 explained 21% of the total variance in novelty. Findings support development of models to explain relationships between design tasks and abilities to innovate as moderated or mediated by student characteristics, controlling confounding effects of design tasks and students’ characteristics in ideation studies, and discovery of strategies to develop students’ abilities to innovate solutions

Towards the development of stylized facts on the understandability of graphical business process models

The development of theory is one of the major tasks of every scientific discipline, and thus of Information Systems Research (ISR) as well as Business Informatics (BI). While different approaches can be used to develop theory in ISR and BI, there is one “dominant” way of IS theory development which has been described by GROVER and LYYTINEN in a recent article published in MISQ as the common “epistemic script”. The authors criticize this epistemic script for promoting a quite restricted production of IS-related knowledge. Furthermore, GROVER and LYYTINEN, identify new potential ways of overcoming the common epistemic script and propose – among others – the concept of Stylized Facts (SF) as one potential way for innovative knowledge production in ISR and BI. Against the background that we – the authors of this report – have been using Stylized Facts as a research approach for some years and can confirm the potential of this approach, the following report presents the idea and the current state of a promising comprehensive dissertation project (first author of this report) using Stylized Facts in ISR and BI which started in 2014. In the following, the idea of developing Stylized Facts regarding the understandability of graphical business process models is elaborated. Besides the presentation of an approach for a transparent development of SF, a comprehensive application example will illustrate the derivation of a SF regarding the relationships of the structuredness of business process models and the resulting model understandability

An overview of process model quality literature - The Comprehensive Process Model Quality Framework

The rising interest in the construction and the quality of (business) process models resulted in an abundancy of emerged research studies and different findings about process model quality. The lack of overview and the lack of consensus hinder the development of the research field. The research objective is to collect, analyse, structure, and integrate the existing knowledge in a comprehensive framework that strives to find a balance between completeness and relevance without hindering the overview. The Systematic Literature Review methodology was applied to collect the relevant studies. Because several studies exist that each partially addresses this research objective, the review was performed at a tertiary level. Based on a critical analysis of the collected papers, a comprehensive, but structured overview of the state of the art in the field was composed. The existing academic knowledge about process model quality was carefully integrated and structured into the Comprehensive Process Model Quality Framework (CPMQF). The framework summarizes 39 quality dimensions, 21 quality metrics, 28 quality (sub)drivers, 44 (sub)driver metrics, 64 realization initiatives and 15 concrete process model purposes related to 4 types of organizational benefits, as well as the relations between all of these. This overview is thus considered to form a valuable instrument for both researchers and practitioners that are concerned about process model quality. The framework is the first to address the concept of process model quality in such a comprehensive way

Joint A Contrario Ellipse and Line Detection.

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TPAMI.2016.2558150We propose a line segment and elliptical arc detector that produces a reduced number of false detections on various types of images without any parameter tuning. For a given region of pixels in a grey-scale image, the detector decides whether a line segment or an elliptical arc is present (model validation). If both interpretations are possible for the same region, the detector chooses the one that best explains the data (model selection ). We describe a statistical criterion based on the a contrario theory, which serves for both validation and model selection. The experimental results highlight the performance of the proposed approach compared to state-of-the-art detectors, when applied on synthetic and real images.This work was partially funded by the Qualcomm postdoctoral program at École Polytechnique Palaiseau, a Google Faculty Research Award, the Marie Curie grant CIG-334283-HRGP, a CNRS chaire d’excellence and chaire Jean Marjoulet, and EPSRC grant EP/L010917/1

Towards the development of stylized facts on the understandability of graphical business process models

The development of theory is one of the major tasks of every scientific discipline, and thus of Information Systems Research (ISR) as well as Business Informatics (BI). While different approaches can be used to develop theory in ISR and BI, there is one “dominant” way of IS theory development which has been described by GROVER and LYYTINEN in a recent article published in MISQ as the common “epistemic script”. The authors criticize this epistemic script for promoting a quite restricted production of IS-related knowledge. Furthermore, GROVER and LYYTINEN, identify new potential ways of overcoming the common epistemic script and propose – among others – the concept of Stylized Facts (SF) as one potential way for innovative knowledge production in ISR and BI. Against the background that we – the authors of this report – have been using Stylized Facts as a research approach for some years and can confirm the potential of this approach, the following report presents the idea and the current state of a promising comprehensive dissertation project (first author of this report) using Stylized Facts in ISR and BI which started in 2014. In the following, the idea of developing Stylized Facts regarding the understandability of graphical business process models is elaborated. Besides the presentation of an approach for a transparent development of SF, a comprehensive application example will illustrate the derivation of a SF regarding the relationships of the structuredness of business process models and the resulting model understandability