How Advanced Change Patterns Impact the Process of Process Modeling

Process model quality has been an area of considerable research efforts. In this context, correctness-by-construction as enabled by change patterns provides promising perspectives. While the process of process modeling (PPM) based on change primitives has been thoroughly investigated, only little is known about the PPM based on change patterns. In particular, it is unclear what set of change patterns should be provided and how the available change pattern set impacts the PPM. To obtain a better understanding of the latter as well as the (subjective) perceptions of process modelers, the arising challenges, and the pros and cons of different change pattern sets we conduct a controlled experiment. Our results indicate that process modelers face similar challenges irrespective of the used change pattern set (core pattern set versus extended pattern set, which adds two advanced change patterns to the core patterns set). An extended change pattern set, however, is perceived as more difficult to use, yielding a higher mental effort. Moreover, our results indicate that more advanced patterns were only used to a limited extent and frequently applied incorrectly, thus, lowering the potential benefits of an extended pattern set

Flexibility in Process-Aware Information Systems

Abstract. Process-aware information systems (PAIS) must be able to deal with uncertainty, exceptional situations, and environmental changes. Needed business agility is often hindered by the lacking flexibility of existing PAIS. Once a process is implemented, its logic cannot be adapted or refined anymore. This often leads to rigid behavior or gaps between real-world processes and implemented ones. In response to this drawback, adaptive PAIS have emerged, which allow to dynamically adapt or evolve the structure of process models under execution. This paper deals with fundamental challenges related to structural process changes, discusses how existing approaches deal with them, and shows how the various problems have been exterminated in ADEPT2 change framework. We also survey existing approaches fostering flexible process support.

Using process mining to learn from process changes in evolutionary systems

Abstract. Traditional information systems struggle with the requirement to provide flexibility and process support while still enforcing some degree of control. Accordingly, adaptive process management systems (PMSs) have emerged that provide some flexibility by enabling dynamic process changes during runtime. Based on the assumption that these process changes are recorded explicitly, we present two techniques for mining change logs in adaptive PMSs; i.e., we do not only analyze the execution logs of the operational processes, but also consider the adaptations made at the process instance level. The change processes discovered through process mining provide an aggregated overview of all changes that happened so far. This, in turn, can serve as basis for integrating the extrinsic drivers of process change (i.e., the stimuli for flexibility) with existing process adaptation approaches (i.e., the intrinsic change mechanisms). Using process mining as an analysis tool we show in this paper how better support can be provided for truly flexible processes by understanding when and why process changes become necessary

Supporting Data Collection in Complex Scenarios with Dynamic Data Collection Processes

Nowadays, companies have to report a large number of data sets (e.g., sustainability data) regarding their products to different legal authorities. However, in today's complex supply chains products are the outcome of the collaboration of many companies. To gather the needed data sets, companies have to employ cross-organizational and long-running data collection processes that imply great variability. To support such scenarios, we have designed a lightweight, automated approach for contextual process configuration. That approach can capture the contextual properties of the respective situations and, based on them, automatically configure a process instance accordingly, even without human involvement. Finally, we implemented our approach and started an industrial evaluation

Resilience Analysis of Service Oriented Collaboration Process Management systems

Collaborative business process management allows for the automated coordination of processes involving human and computer actors. In modern economies it is increasingly needed for this coordination to be not only within organizations but also to cross organizational boundaries. The dependence on the performance of other organizations should however be limited, and the control over the own processes is required from a competitiveness perspective. The main objective of this work is to propose an evaluation model for measuring a resilience of a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) collaborative process management system. In this paper, we have proposed resilience analysis perspectives of SOA collaborative process systems, i.e. overall system perspective, individual process model perspective, individual process instance perspective, service perspective, and resource perspective. A collaborative incident and maintenance notification process system is reviewed for illustrating our resilience analysis. This research contributes to extend SOA collaborative business process management systems with resilience support, not only looking at quantification and identification of resilience factors, but also considering ways of improving the resilience of SOA collaborative process systems through measures at design and run-time

The Development of Mouse APECED Models Provides New Insight into the Role of AIRE in Immune Regulation

Autoimmune polyendocrinopathy candidiasis ectodermal dystrophy is a rare recessive autoimmune disorder caused by a defect in a single gene called AIRE (autoimmune regulator). Characteristics of this disease include a variable combination of autoimmune endocrine tissue destruction, mucocutaneous candidiasis and ectodermal dystrophies. The development of Aire-knockout mice has provided an invaluable model for the study of this disease. The aim of this review is to briefly highlight the strides made in APECED research using these transgenic murine models, with a focus on known roles of Aire in autoimmunity. The findings thus far are compelling and prompt additional areas of study which are discussed

Understanding Business Process Quality

Abstract Organizations have taken benefit from quality management prac-tices in manufacturing and logistics with respect to competitiveness as well as profitability. At the same time, an ever-growing share of the organizational value chain centers around transactional administrative processes addressed by business process management concepts, e.g. in finance and accounting. Integrating these fields is thus very promising from a management perspec-tive. Obtaining a clear understanding of business process quality constitutes the most important prerequisite in this respect. However, related approaches have not yet provided an effective solution to this issue. In this chapter, we consider effectiveness requirements towards business process quality concepts from a management perspective, compare existing approaches from various fields, deduct a definition framework from organizational targets, and take initial steps towards practical adoption. These steps provide fundamental in-sights into business process quality, and contribute to obtain a clear grasp of what constitutes a good business process.

Speech, truth and liberty: Bentham to John Stuart Mill

Bentham’s Utilitarianism transforms earlier free speech doctrine in the service of the pursuit of truth and the control of government, preserving the distinction between statements of opinion and of fact and awarding the latter a lesser degree of protection. The work of James Mill and the early writings of John Stuart Mill retain this distinction, but their accounts are weighed down by the problems of a direct Utilitarian approach, in their consequentialist balancing of different values against each other, and in their dependence on a majoritarian epistemology and their commitment to a naive progressive optimism. Mill goes on in On Liberty to address and resolve these problems on the basis of a new justification for free speech as free deliberative thought. I argue that, contrary to most interpretations, his new justification leaves untouched the basic distinction between absolutely protected expressions of opinion and only functionally and contingently protected assertions of fact, leaving room for restrictions on factual statements, especially when untrue

Die Politische Ökonomie Beruflicher Weiterbildung: Der Einfluss von Tarifverträgen auf Arbeitgeberinvestitionen und Teilnahmequoten

Warum sind aber Arbeitgeber in einigen Ländern bereit, sich an Weiterbildungsmaßnahmen ihrer Mitarbeiter zu beteiligen, während dies in anderen Ländern nicht der Fall ist? In diesem Artikel wird die tarifvertragliche Abdeckung als zentraler Mechanismus hierfür herausgearbeitet: Einerseits intendiert, durch vertraglich geregelte Weiterbildungsmaßnahmen, und anderseits unintendiert, durch die Angleichung von Löhnen zwischen Firmen. Mithilfe von Mehrebenenregressionsanalysen auf Basis von Daten des European Social Survey kann gezeigt werden, dass Tarifverträge einen postiven Effekt auf die Finanzierungsbeteiligung von Arbeitgebern haben, sowie auf individuelle Teilnahmen. Diese Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass institutionelle Faktoren gewichtige Einflussgrößen in Erklärungen von Firmeninvestitionen und Weiterbildungsbeteiligung sind. In einer abschließenden Diskussion werden diese Funde im Kontext der internationalen Debatte um die Dezentralisierung korporatistischer Arrangements besprochen.Why are employers in some countries willing to pay for further training of their employees, but not in other countries. In this article, it is argued that the central mechanism for this is collective bargaining coverage. On the one hand, intentionally through contractual regulations regarding further training. On the other hand, unintentionally through equalization of wages between companies. Using multilevel-regression based on data from the European Social Survey, results indicate a positive effect of collective bargaining coverage on employer’s willingness to pay for further training, as well as on participation in further training. These results suggest institutions are significant factors in explanations of firm investments into skills and further training. In a concluding discussion, findings are reviewed in the context of the international debate about decentralization of corporatist arrangements

An economic design change method

New product design as well as design revision to remedy defects is complicated by an inability to precisely predict product performance. Designers often jind that they are conjident about the performance of some design alternatives and uncertain about others. Similarly, alternative design changes may differ substantially in uncertainty, potential impact, and cost. This paper describes a method for including the effects of uncertainty in the evaluation of economic benejits of various design change options. The results indicate that the most projitable change option sequence depends not only on relative costs but also on the relative degree of uncertainty and on the magnitude of the potential design defects. The method demonstrates how design change alternatives can be compared using the engineering design of a beam. Finally, the validity of some common engineering change heuristics are discussed relative to their associated, quantitatively determined limits. [DOI: 10.1115/1.1561040