Identifying Variability in Process Performance Indicators

The performance perspective of business processes is concerned with the definition of performance requirements usually specified as a set of Process Performance Indicators (PPIs). Like other business process perspectives such as control-flow or data, there are cases in which PPIs are subject to variability. However, although the modelling of business process variability (BPV) has evolved significantly, there are very few contributions addressing the variability in the performance perspective of business processes. Modelling PPI variants with tools and techniques non-suitable for variability may generate redundant models, thus making it difficult its maintenance and future adaptations, also increasing possibility of errors in its managing. In this paper we present different cases of PPI variability detected as result of the analysis of several processes where BPV is present. Based on an existent metamodel used for defining PPIs over BPs, we propose its formal extension that allows the definition of PPI variability according to the cases identified.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-70560-RJunta de Andalucía P12-TIC-1867Junta de Andalucía P10-TIC-590

Transforming unstructured natural language descriptions into measurable process performance indicators using Hidden Markov Models

Monitoring process performance is an important means for organizations to identify opportunities to improve their operations. The definition of suitable Process Performance Indicators (PPIs) is a crucial task in this regard. Because PPIs need to be in line with strategic business objectives, the formulation of PPIs is a managerial concern. Managers typically start out to provide relevant indicators in the form of natural language PPI descriptions. Therefore, considerable time and effort have to be invested to transform these descriptions into PPI definitions that can actually be monitored. This work presents an approach that automates this task. The presented approach transforms an unstructured natural language PPI description into a structured notation that is aligned with the implementation underlying a business process. To do so, we combine Hidden Markov Models and semantic matching techniques. A quantitative evaluation on the basis of a data collection obtained from practice demonstrates that our approach works accurately. Therefore, it represents a viable automated alternative to an otherwise laborious manual endeavo

On the Relationships between Decision Management and Performance Measurement

Decision management is of utmost importance for the achievement of strategic and operational goals in any organisational context. Therefore, decisions should be considered as first-class citizens that need to be modelled, analysed, monitored to track their performance, and redesigned if necessary. Up to now, existing literature that studies decisions in the context of business processes has focused on the analysis of the definition of decisions themselves, in terms of accuracy, certainty, consistency, covering and correctness. However, to the best of our knowledge, no prior work exists that analyses the relationship between decisions and performance measurement. This paper identifies and analyses this relationship from three different perspectives, namely: the impact of decisions on process performance, the performance measurement of decisions, and the use of performance indicators in the definition of decisions. Furthermore, we also introduce solutions for the representation of these relationships based, amongst others, on the DMN standard.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BELI (TIN2015-70560-R)Junta de Andalucía P12-TIC-1867Junta de Andalucía P10-TIC-590

VISUAL PPINOT: A Graphical Notation for Process Performance Indicators

Process performance indicators (PPIs) allow the quantitative evaluation of business processes, providing essential information for decision making. It is common practice today that business processes and PPIs are usually modelled separately using graphical notations for the former and natural language for the latter. This approach makes PPI definitions simple to read and write, but it hinders maintenance consistency between business processes and PPIs. It also requires their manual translation into lower-level implementation languages for their operationalisation, which is a time-consuming, error-prone task because of the ambiguities inherent to natural language definitions. In this article, Visual ppinot, a graphical notation for defining PPIs together with business process models, is presented. Its underlying formal metamodel allows the automated processing of PPIs. Furthermore, it improves current state-of-the-art proposals in terms of expressiveness and in terms of providing an explicit visualisation of the link between PPIs and business processes, which avoids inconsistencies and promotes their co-evolution. The reference implementation, developed as a complete tool suite, has allowed its validation in a multiple-case study, in which five dimensions of Visual ppinot were studied: expressiveness, precision, automation, understandability, and traceability

Invirtiendo las clases de laboratorio en Ingeniería Informática: Un enfoque ágil

En este artículo describimos nuestra experiencia al aplicar la metodología de clase invertida en la asignatura Arquitectura e Integración de Sistemas Software, de segundo curso del grado de Ingeniería del Software. Varios aspectos caracterizan este estudio frente a los trabajos relacionados. En primer lugar, la metodología fue aplicada en las clases prácticas de la asignatura, donde conseguimos aumentar el tiempo dedicado a la resolución de ejercicios en 24 minutos de media. En segundo lugar, la volatilidad del temario hizo necesario desarrollar una aproximación ágil a la metodología, en la que los profesores debían ser capaces de elaborar vídeos docentes de calidad en sus propios despachos y en unos pocos minutos. Este artículo resume algunas de las muchas lecciones aprendidas en relación a la elaboración del material. En tercer lugar, el estudio destaca también por el tamaño, habiéndose realizado a lo largo de dos cursos académicos, 2017 y 2018, involucrando a un total de 434 alumnos y 6 profesores. Los resultados del estudio, respaldados por un sólido análisis estadístico de los datos, demuestran la idoneidad de esta metodología para ser aplicada en las clases de laboratorio del área de Ingeniería del software.In this paper, we report our experience on flipping a second-year undergraduate course on software architecture and integration, taught in a Software Engineering degree. Several aspects characterize this study with respect to related works. In the first place, the methodology was applied in the practical classes of the course, where we managed to increase the time dedicated to exercises solving in 24 minutes on average. Second, due to the constant updates in tools and software used in the course, we applied an agile approach to the methodology, in which lecturers had to produce high-quality teaching videos in their own offices just in minutes. This paper summarizes some of the many lessons learned in this regard. Third, the study also stands out for its size, having been conducted over two academic courses, 2017 and 2018, involving a total amount of 434 students and 6 lecturers. The results of the study, backed by a solid statistical analysis of the data, demonstrate the suitability of this methodology to be applied in the laboratory classes in the Software Engineering area

Modelling Service Level Agreements for Business Process Outsourcing Services

Many proposals to model service level agreements (SLAs) have been elaborated in order to automate different stages of the service lifecycle such as monitoring, implementation or deployment. All of them have been designed for computational services and are not well–suited for other types of services such as business process outsourcing (BPO) services. However, BPO services suported by process–aware information systems could also benefit from modelling SLAs in tasks such as performance monitoring, human resource assignment or process configuration. In this paper, we identify the requirements for modelling such SLAs and detail how they can be faced by combining techniques used to model computational SLAs, business processes, and process performance indicators. Furthermore, our approach has been validated through the modelling of several real BPO SLAsMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2012-32273Junta de Andalucía TIC-5906Junta de Andalucía P12-TIC-186

Aprendiendo arquitectura software a partir de proyectos de código abierto en GitHub

La enseñanza de arquitectura del software supone todo un reto. Los conceptos teóricos son a menudo muy abstractos y los problemas arquitectónicos sólo son claramente visibles en aplicaciones de cierta envergadura. El reto es aún mayor cuando estos conceptos se enseñan en las primeras etapas del grado cuando los conocimientos de diseño y programación del alumnado aún son limitados. Para abordar este reto, inspirados por una propuesta llevada a cabo en la Delft University, decidimos adoptar un enfoque novedoso: enseñar arquitectura del software a través del análisis, evaluación y documentación de la arquitectura de proyectos existentes alojados en la plataforma GitHub. Para ello, fue necesario adaptar el método original, empleado a nivel de máster, a la asignatura objeto del estudio impartida durante el segundo curso de grado. Para evaluar este enfoque realizamos un total de 258 encuestas a estudiantes de dos cursos consecutivos. Los resultados del estudio, respaldados por un sólido análisis estadístico de los datos, demuestran la idoneidad de este método para la enseñanza de arquitectura del software en los primeros cursos de grado.Teaching software architecture is a challenge. Theoretical concepts are often very abstract and architectural problems are only clearly visible in applications of a certain magnitude. The challenge is even greater when these concepts are taught in the early stages of the bachelor’s degree when the students’ knowledge of design and programming is still limited. To address this challenge, inspired by a proposal carried out at Delft University, we decided to adopt a novel approach: teaching software architecture by analysing, evaluating and documenting the architecture of existing projects hosted on the GitHub platform. To do so, it was necessary to adapt the original method, used in a master course, to the course under study, taught during the second year of the bachelor’s degree. To evaluate this approach we conducted a total of 258 student surveys in two consecutive years. The results of the study, supported by a robust statistical analysis of the data, demonstrate the suitability of this method for teaching software architecture in the first years of the bachelor’s degree.Trabajo parcialmente financiado por el Dpto de Lenguajes y Sistemas de la Universidad de Sevilla y los proyectos TED2021-131023B-C21, TED2021-131023B-C22, PID2021-126227NB-C21, PID2021-126227NB-C22 financiados por MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER y por la Unión Europea NextGenerationEU/PRTR

An Approach for the Automated Generation of Engaging Dashboards

Organizations use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor whether they attain their goals. To support organizations at tracking the performance of their business, software vendors offer dash boards to these organizations. For the development of the dashboards that will engage organizations and enable them to make informed deci sions, software vendors leverage dashboard design principles. However, the dashboard design principles available in the literature are expressed as natural language texts. Therefore, software vendors and organizations either do not use them or spend significant efforts to internalize and apply them literally in every engaging dashboard development process. We show that engaging dashboards for organizations can be automati cally generated by means of automatically visualized KPIs. In this con text, we present our novel approach for the automated generation of engaging dashboards for organizations. The approach employs the deci sion model for visualizing KPIs that is developed based on the dashboard design principles in the literature. We implemented our approach and evaluated its quality in a case study.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BELI (TIN2015-70560-R)Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades OPHELIA RTI2018-101204-B-C2

Enhancing physicians’ radiology diagnostics of COVID-19’s effects on lung health by leveraging artificial intelligence

Introduction: This study aimed to develop an individualized artificial intelligence model to help radiologists assess the severity of COVID-19's effects on patients' lung health.Methods: Data was collected from medical records of 1103 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 using RT- qPCR between March and June 2020, in Hospital Madrid-Group (HM-Group, Spain). By using Convolutional Neural Networks, we determine the effects of COVID-19 in terms of lung area, opacities, and pulmonary air density. We then combine these variables with age and sex in a regression model to assess the severity of these conditions with respect to fatality risk (death or ICU).Results: Our model can predict high effect with an AUC of 0.736. Finally, we compare the performance of the model with respect to six physicians' diagnosis, and test for improvements on physicians' performance when using the prediction algorithm.Discussion: We find that the algorithm outperforms physicians (39.5% less error), and thus, physicians can significantly benefit from the information provided by the algorithm by reducing error by almost 30%