Time patterns for process-aware information systems

Companies increasingly adopt process-aware information systems (PAISs) due to their promising perspectives for improved business process support. Although the proper handling of temporal constraints is crucial in this context, existing PAISs vary significantly regarding their support of the temporal perspective of a business process. To make PAISs comparable with respect to their ability to deal with temporal constraints and to facilitate the development of a time-aware PAIS, this paper suggests 10 time patterns. All patterns are based on empirical evidence we gathered in case studies. Additionally, they are validated through a systematic literature review. Based on the time patterns, we then provide an in-depth evaluation of selected PAISs and academic approaches. Altogether, the 10 time patterns will not only facilitate the selection of technologies for realizing time- and process-aware information systems but can also be used as reference for implementing time support in PAISs

Workflow Time Patterns for Process-aware Information Systems

Formal specification and operational support of time constraints constitute fundamental challenges for any process-aware information system. Although temporal constraints play an important role in the context of long-running business processes, time support is limited in existing process management systems. By contrast, different kinds of planning tools (e.g., calendar systems, project management tools) provide more sophisticated facilities for handling task-related time constraints, but lack operational support for business processes. This paper presents a set of time patterns to foster systematic design and comparison of the different technologies in respect to the time perspective. These time patterns are all based on empirical evidence from several large case studies. Their widespread use will contribute to further maturation of process-aware information systems and related evaluation schemes

Time Patterns for Process-aware Information Systems: A Pattern-based Analysis

Formal specification and operational support of time constraints constitute fundamental challenges for any enterprise information system. Although temporal constraints play an important role in the context of long-running business processes, time support is very limited in existing process management systems. By contrast, different kinds of planning tools (e.g., calendar systems and project management tools) provide more sophisticated facilities for handling task-related time constraints, but lack an operational support for business processes. This paper presents a set of 10 time patterns to foster the systematic comparison of these different technologies in respect to time management. The proposed patterns are all based on empirical evidence from several large case studies. In addition, we provide an in-depth evaluation of selected process management systems, calendar systems and project management tools based on the suggested patterns. The presented work will not only facilitate comparison of these different technologies in respect to their support of time constraints, but also make evident that their integration offers promising perspectives in respect to time support for long-running business processes

A Formal Semantics of Time Patterns for Process-aware Information Systems

Companies increasingly adopt process-aware information systems (PAISs) to coordinate, monitor and evolve their business processes. Although the proper handling of temporal constraints (e.g., deadlines and minimum time lags between activities) is crucial in many application domains, existing PAISs vary significantly regarding their support of the temporal perspective of business processes. Both the formal specification and operational support of temporal constraints constitute fundamental challenges in this context. In previous work, we introduced time patterns facilitating the comparison of PAISs in respect to their support of the temporal perspective and provided empirical evidence for them. To avoid ambiguities and to ease the use as well as implementation of the time patterns, this paper formally defines their semantics. To enable pattern use in a wide range of process modeling languages and pattern integration with existing PAISs, this semantics is expressed independent of a particular process meta model. Altogether, the presented pattern formalization will foster the integration of the temporal perspective in PAISs

Time Patterns for Process-aware Information Systems: A Pattern-based Analysis - Revised version

Formal speci�cation and operational support of time constraints constitute fundamental challenges for any enterprise information system. Although temporal constraints play an important role in the context of long-running business processes, time support is very limited in existing process management systems. By contrast, di�fferent kinds of planning tools (e.g., calendar systems and project management tools) provide more sophisticated facilities for handling task-related time constraints, but lack an operational support for business processes. This paper presents a set of 10 time patterns to foster the systematic design and comparison of these different technologies in respect to time management. These time patterns are all based on empirical evidence from several large case studies. In order to ease use and implementation for each time pattern we provide a precise formal semantics. In addition, we provide an in-depth evaluation of selected process management systems, calendar systems and project management tools based on the suggested patterns. The presented work will not only facilitate comparison of these diff�erent technologies in respect to their support of time constraints, but also make evident that their integration o�ers promising perspectives in respect to time support for long-running business processes. Their widespread use will contribute to further maturation of process-aware information systems and related evaluation schemes

Enabling Personalized Process Schedules with Time-aware Process Views

Companies increasingly adopt process-aware information systems (PAISs) to model, enact, monitor, and evolve their business processes. Although the proper handling of temporal constraints (e.g., deadlines and minimum time lags between activities) is crucial for many application domains, existing PAISs vary significantly regarding the support of the temporal perspective of a business process. In previous work, we introduced characteristic time patterns for specifying the temporal perspective of PAISs. However, time-aware process schemas might be complex and hard to understand for end-users. To enable their proper visualization, therefore, this paper introduces an approach for transforming time-aware process schemas into enhanced Gantt charts. Based on this, a method for creating personalized process schedules using process views is suggested. Overall, the presented approach enables users to easily understand and monitor time-aware processes in PAISs

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

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

Optimized Time Management for Declarative Workflows

Declarative process models are increasingly used since they fit better with the nature of flexible process-aware information systems and the requirements of the stakeholders involved. When managing business processes, in addition, support for representing time and reasoning about it becomes crucial. Given a declarative process model, users may choose among different ways to execute it, i.e., there exist numerous possible enactment plans, each one presenting specific values for the given objective functions (e.g., overall completion time). This paper suggests a method for generating optimized enactment plans (e.g., plans minimizing overall completion time) from declarative process models with explicit temporal constraints. The latter covers a number of well-known workflow time patterns. The generated plans can be used for different purposes like providing personal schedules to users, facilitating early detection of critical situations, or predicting execution times for process activities. The proposed approach is applied to a range of test models of varying complexity. Although the optimization of process execution is a highly constrained problem, results indicate that our approach produces a satisfactory number of suitable solutions, i.e., solutions optimal in many cases

Process time patterns: A formal foundation

Companies increasingly adopt process-aware information systems (PAISs) to model, execute, monitor, and evolve their business processes. Though the handling of temporal constraints (e.g., deadlines or time lags between activities) is crucial for the proper support of business processes, existing PAISs vary significantly regarding the support of the temporal perspective. Both the formal specification and the operational support of temporal constraints constitute fundamental challenges in this context. In previous work, we introduced process time patterns, which facilitate the comparison and evaluation of PAISs in respect to their support of the temporal perspective. Furthermore, we provided empirical evidence for these time patterns. To avoid ambiguities and to ease the use as well as the implementation of the time patterns, this paper formally defines their semantics. To additionally foster the use of the patterns for a wide range of process modeling languages and to enable pattern integration with existing PAISs, the proposed semantics are expressed independently of a particular process meta model. Altogether, the presented pattern formalization will be fundamental for introducing the temporal perspective in PAISs