Complexity and Understandability Comparison between Unstructured and Structured Business Process Models

Käesoleva magistritöö peamine eesmärk on välja selgitada, kas struktureerimata kujul olevate äriprotsessimudelite transformeerimine struktureeritud kujule muudab nad vähem keerukamaks ning lihtsamini arusaadavamaks. Püstitatud hüpoteeside järgi on struktureeritud kujul mudelid keerukuselt lihtsamad ning kergemini arusaadavad. Töös kasutatakse varasemas uurimistöös valminud avatud lähtekoodiga programmi BPStruct, mille abil transformeeritakse hulk äriprotsessimudeleid struktureeritud kujule. Kasutatakse reaalsest elust pärit mudelitest koosnevat IBM andmestikku. Nimetatud mudelid mõõdetakse akadeemilises kirjandusest kirjeldatud meetrikate põhjal ning viiakse läbi võrdlev uurimus. Võrdleva uurimuse käigus saadud tulemusi kontrollitakse eksperimendi abil, mille käigus Tartu Ülikooli tudengid, kes õpivad ainet nimega Äriprotsesside juhtimine, jaotatakse kahte gruppi – kontrollgrupp ja eksperimentaalne grupp. Kontrollgrupi tudengid vastavad struktureerimata kujul olevate mudelite kohta spetsiifilisi küsimusi. Eksperimentaalse grupi tudengid vastavad samade mudelite struktureeritud kujul olevate variantide kohta samadele küsimustele. Nimetatud kahe uurimuse tulemuste vahel viiakse läbi võrdlev analüüs ning selle põhjal tehakse järeldused selle kohta, kas struktureeritud kujul olevad mudelid on tõesti lihtsamad ning kas neist on kergem aru saada.The main goal of my work will be to determine if an unstructured business process model (BP model) is more understandable after being converted into an equivalent structured variant. In order to reach that conclusion I will study a dataset of models from real-life composed by IBM. I will use an open-source program called Bpstruct to generate structured equivalents for all models in the two datasets that qualify as structurable. Then I will analyze the models (unstructured models and their equivalent structured versions) using complexity metrics introduced in the academic literature on BP models. Using these measurements I will perform statistical analysis in order to compare the properties of unstructured models and of their equivalent structured versions. From this analysis, I will also select some sample models that will illustrate the complexity tradeoffs between unstructured and structured models. The extracted sample models will be used to conduct a survey among students in the University of Tartu who attend the Business Process Management course to empirically evaluate if the structured variants of models are simpler to understand. The results of the survey will be combined with the measurements of the models to reach conclusions about whether structuring an unstructured BP model makes it simpler and easier to understand

Managing Decision Tasks and Events in Time-Aware Business Process Models

Time-aware business process models capture processes where temporal properties and constraints have to be suitably managed to achieve proper completion. Temporal aspects also constrain how decisions are made in processes: while some constraints hold only along certain paths, decision outcomes may be restricted to satisfy temporal constraints. In this paper, we present time-aware BPMN processes and discuss how to: (i) add temporal features to process elements, by considering also the impact of events on temporal constraint management; (ii) characterize decisions based on when they are made and used within a process; (iii) specify and use two novel kinds of decisions based on how their outcomes are managed; (iv) deal with intertwined temporal and decision aspects of time-aware BPMN processes to ensure proper execution

A modular approach to the specification and management of time duration constraints in BPMN

The modeling and management of business processes deals with temporal aspects both in the inherent representation of activity coordination and in the specification of activity properties and constraints. In this paper, we address the modeling and specification of constraints related to the duration of process activities. In detail, we consider the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard and propose an approach to define re-usable duration-aware process models that make use of existing BPMN elements for representing different nuances of activity duration at design time. Moreover, we show how advanced event-handling techniques may be exploited for detecting the violation of duration constraints during the process run-time. The set of process models specified in this paper suitably captures duration constraints at different levels of abstraction, by allowing designers to specify the duration of atomic tasks and of selected process regions in a way that is conceptually and semantically BPMN-compliant. Without loss of generality, we refer to real-world clinical working environments to exemplify our approach, as their intrinsic complexity makes them a particularly challenging and rewarding application environment

BPMNt : a proposal for flexible process tailoring representation in BPMN /

Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is a de-facto standard for business process modeling, which focuses on the representation of the process behavior. However, it can also succeed in representing the behavior of software processes, since they are a type of business process. Although BPMN has been extensively used for modeling processes in different domains, its standard specification does not have any mechanism to support users in activities related to process adaptation (tailoring). Moreover, researches extending BPMN are based on complex consolidated models, which hamper the analysis and maintenance of individual variant process models and are not appropriate for application domains in which process variations are difficult to predict, such as in software development processes. Thus, our objective was to provide a BPMN-compliant extension and associated mechanisms for specifying flexible process tailoring on models produced with this language while ensuring the correctness of adapted process models and explicitly capturing change traces. We have focused our research on the domains of Software Process Engineering (SPE) and Business Process Management (BPM). At last, we evaluated the applicability of the proposal for representing realistic tailoring scenarios in both domains.BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) é um padrão para modelagem de processos de negócio, que tem seu foco na representação do comportamento de processos. No entanto, ele pode também ser usado para representar o comportamento de processos de software, já que eles são um tipo de processo de negócio. Embora BPMN tem sido extensivamente usado para modelar processos em diferentes domínios, sua especificação padrão não possui nenhum mecanismo para apoiar usuários em atividades relacionadas à adaptação de processos. Pesquisas que estendem o padrão são baseadas em modelos complexos, que dificultam a análise e manutenção de modelos variantes, e não são apropriadas para domínios de aplicação onde variações de processo são difíceis de predizer, como em processos de desenvolvimento de software. Assim, nosso objetivo foi fornecer uma extensão para BPMN, chamada BPMNt, e mecanismos de suporte para especificar, de modo flexível, adaptações em processos modelados com esta linguagem. BPMNt deve também garantir a corretude de modelos adaptados e explicitamente capturar rastros de mudanças realizadas. Essa pesquisa teve como foco os domínios de Engenharia de Processos de Software e Gerenciamento de Processos de Negócio. Por fim, nós avaliamos a aplicabilidade da proposta para representar cenários de adaptação reais em ambos os domínios

Aplicação do pensamento enxuto em ambientes administrativos públicos por meio da técnica business process model and notation: uma pesquisa-ação no IFSP Campus São José dos Campos

The objective of this work was to implement Lean Thinking associated with BPMN to improve the efficiency of the purchasing process of a Federal Institute. As a result, an increase in efficiency and effectiveness in this environment was proven, through an increase in the value delivered and a reduction in the amount of waste present. To achieve these goals, initially, an analysis of the existing literature was carried out on what involves Lean Thinking, Efficiency in Public Administration, Business Process Model and Notation and the use of Business Process Model and Notation in the application of Lean Thinking concepts to increase efficiency in Public Administration by reducing waste. From the standpoint of methodological procedures, this research is classified as action research. Data were collected from the object of study represented by the purchasing process of a campus of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of São Paulo, using a questionnaire, informed and documentary techniques, between the period 2019 and 2020. This work contributed, theoretically, with the scarce literature on Lean Thinking applied to public administrative environments, and applied, first, for a better identification of value specification by internal and external customers in the purchasing process, allowing an improvement in the efficiency of its results, and, second, for a reduction in the lead time of the purchasing process from 199.2 to 42.6 days, allowing an improvement in the efficiency of its resources. Finally, a synergy between Lean Thinking and the Business Process Model and Notation observed in the referred object of study of this research should be highlightedO objetivo deste trabalho foi de implementar o Pensamento Enxuto associado com o BPMN para melhorar a eficiência do processo de compras de um Instituto Federal. Comprovou-se, com isso, o aumento da eficiência e eficácia nesse ambiente, por meio do aumento no valor entregado e da diminuição dos desperdícios presentes. Para atingir tais objetivos, inicialmente foi realizada uma análise da literatura existente acerca daquilo que envolve Pensamento Enxuto, Eficiência na Administração Pública, Business Process Model and Notation e utilização do Business Process Model and Notation na aplicação dos conceitos do Pensamento Enxuto para aumento de eficiência na Administração Pública por meio da diminuição dos desperdícios. Sob o ponto de vista dos procedimentos metodológicos, classifica-se essa pesquisa como pesquisa ação. Os dados foram coletados do objeto de estudo representado pelo processo de compras de um campus do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de São Paulo, utilizando se questionário, entrevistas e técnicas documentais, entre o período de 2019 e 2020. Esse trabalho contribuiu, de forma teórica, com a escassa literatura voltada ao Pensamento Enxuto aplicado aos ambientes administrativos públicos, e de forma aplicada, primeiro, para uma melhor identificação da especificação de valor pelos clientes internos e externos do processo de compras, permitindo uma melhora da eficácia dos seus resultados e, segundo, para uma redução do lead time do processo de compras de 199,2 para 42,6 dias, permitindo uma melhora da eficiência dos seus recursos. Por fim, deve-se destacar a sinergia entre Pensamento Enxuto e Business Process Model and Notation observada no referido objeto de estudo desta pesquisa

Tackling Dierent Business Process Perspectives

Business Process Management (BPM) has emerged as a discipline to design, control, analyze, and optimize business operations. Conceptual models lie at the core of BPM. In particular, business process models have been taken up by organizations as a means to describe the main activities that are performed to achieve a specific business goal. Process models generally cover different perspectives that underlie separate yet interrelated representations for analyzing and presenting process information. Being primarily driven by process improvement objectives, traditional business process modeling languages focus on capturing the control flow perspective of business processes, that is, the temporal and logical coordination of activities. Such approaches are usually characterized as \u201cactivity-centric\u201d. Nowadays, activity-centric process modeling languages, such as the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard, are still the most used in practice and benefit from industrial tool support. Nevertheless, evidence shows that such process modeling languages still lack of support for modeling non-control-flow perspectives, such as the temporal, informational, and decision perspectives, among others. This thesis centres on the BPMN standard and addresses the modeling the temporal, informational, and decision perspectives of process models, with particular attention to processes enacted in healthcare domains. Despite being partially interrelated, the main contributions of this thesis may be partitioned according to the modeling perspective they concern. The temporal perspective deals with the specification, management, and formal verification of temporal constraints. In this thesis, we address the specification and run-time management of temporal constraints in BPMN, by taking advantage of process modularity and of event handling mechanisms included in the standard. Then, we propose three different mappings from BPMN to formal models, to validate the behavior of the proposed process models and to check whether they are dynamically controllable. The informational perspective represents the information entities consumed, produced or manipulated by a process. This thesis focuses on the conceptual connection between processes and data, borrowing concepts from the database domain to enable the representation of which part of a database schema is accessed by a certain process activity. This novel conceptual view is then employed to detect potential data inconsistencies arising when the same data are accessed erroneously by different process activities. The decision perspective encompasses the modeling of the decision-making related to a process, considering where decisions are made in the process and how decision outcomes affect process execution. In this thesis, we investigate the use of the Decision Model and Notation (DMN) standard in conjunction with BPMN starting from a pattern-based approach to ease the derivation of DMN decision models from the data represented in BPMN processes. Besides, we propose a methodology that focuses on the integrated use of BPMN and DMN for modeling decision-intensive care pathways in a real-world application domain

Unraveling unstructured process models

A BPMN model is well-structured if splits and joins are always paired into single-entry-single-exit blocks. Well-structuredness is often a desirable property as it promotes readability and makes models easier to analyze. However, many process models found in practice are not well-structured, and it is not always feasible or even desirable to restrict process modelers to produce only well-structured models. Also, not all processes can be captured as well-structured process models. An alternative to forcing modelers to produce well-structured models, is to automatically transform unstructured models into well-structured ones when needed and possible. This talk reviews existing results on automatic transformation of unstructured process models into structured ones