Towards Configurable Process Visualizations with Proviado

Visualizing complex business processes is an important task of process-aware information systems (PAIS). Current PAIS, however, fail in providing adequate mechanisms for visualizing and monitoring business processes. In particular, PAIS do not support personalized or adaptable process drawings, which is particularly important for large processes. In the Proviado project we are developing a comprehensive framework for this purpose. It allows for flexible process visualization along three dimensions: process views, process notations, and process representation forms. In this paper we summarize selected concepts and features of the Proviado demonstrator

Konfigurierbare Visualisierung komplexer Prozessmodelle

Die in heutigen Unternehmen durch Informationssysteme unterstützten Geschäftsprozesse werden zunehmend komplexer. Häufig existieren keine zentralen Steuereinheiten, sondern die Ausführung eines Prozesses ist auf viele heterogene Systeme verteilt. Ohne entsprechende Werkzeugunterstützung ist es daher schwer, einen Überblick über den aktuellen Ausführungsstatus solcher fragmentierter Prozesse zu bewahren. Eine Visualisierungskomponente, welche die Prozesse (inkl. relevanter Applikationsdaten) durchgängig darstellt, ist hier essenziell. Allerdings muss eine solche Komponente in der Lage sein, die Informationsbedürfnisse der verschiedenen Benutzergruppen adäquat zu befriedigen. Typischerweise gibt es hier unterschiedliche Anforderungen an eine Prozessvisualisierung im Hinblick auf Detaillierungsgrad, angezeigte Daten und graphische Informationsaufbereitung. Heutige Werkzeuge stellen Prozesse meist in exakt derselben Form dar, wie sie vom Prozessmodellierer ursprünglich gezeichnet worden sind. Eine flexible Anpassung der Darstellung an die Bedürfnisse des Betrachters ist nicht oder nur in sehr engen Grenzen möglich. Diese Arbeit stellt mit Proviado ein Rahmenwerk für die konfigurierbare Visualisierung komplexer Prozesse vor. Proviado ermöglicht sowohl eine strukturelle als auch eine graphische Anpassung der Prozessvisualisierung. Mit Hilfe eines mächtigen View-Mechanismus können Prozessmodelle strukturell an die Bedürfnisse ihrer Betrachter angepasst werden, indem Prozesselemente reduziert oder zu abstrakten Elementen aggregiert werden. Es werden View-Bildungsoperationen bereitgestellt, die in mehreren Schichten organisiert sind. Mittels Konfigurationsparametern, die die Eigenschaften der resultierenden Prozessmodelle beeinflussen, kann die View-Bildung flexibel konfiguriert und an die Bedürfnisse des jeweiligen Anwendungsfalls angepasst werden. Weitere Möglichkeiten zur graphischen Konfiguration einer Prozessvisualisierung bietet ein fortschrittlicher Template-Mechanismus. Zum einen können die für die Visualisierung zu verwendenden Symbole einfach definiert werden. Zum anderen erlaubt dieser Mechanismus eine flexible Zuordnung der Symbole einer Prozessnotation zu Prozesselementen. Diese Zuordnung kann entweder statisch (z.B. abhängig vom Prozesselementtyp) oder dynamisch, d.h. abhängig von Laufzeitdaten (z.B. Ausführungszustand), erfolgen. Diese beiden Basismechanismen werden ergänzt um Konzepte, die für die Realisierung einer umfassenden Visualisierungskomponente unverzichtbar sind. Dazu zählen unter anderem die Anbindung prozessunterstützender Systeme (d.h. die Integration von Modell- und Laufzeitdaten) sowie Konzepte für das automatische Layout dynamisch berechneter Prozessgraphen. Insgesamt können mit Proviado Prozessvisualisierungen strukturell und graphisch an die Bedürfnisse des jeweiligen Betrachters angepasst werden. Die entsprechenden Darstellungen bieten allen in die Prozesse involvierten Personen eine wesentlich bessere Unterstützung bei der täglichen Arbeit als derzeit verfügbare Systeme

Applikationsübergreifendes Monitoring von Geschäftsprozessen

Um die Bearbeitung von Geschäftsprozessen kontrollieren und optimieren zu können, ist ein Monitoring ihrer Ausführung erforderlich. Hierfür gibt es zwar leistungsfähige Werkzeuge, es ist aber aufwendig, diese an die Prozess-Ausführungskomponenten anzubinden. Deshalb wird untersucht, wie eine generische und wiederverwendbare Anbindung realisiert werden kann, falls die Applikation durch ein Workflow-Management-System (WfMS) gesteuert wird. Dies ermöglicht ein bereichs- und applikationsübergreifendes Monitoring mit geringem Aufwand für die einzelnen Anwendungsprojekte

Enabling Personalized Visualization of Large Business Processes through Parameterizable Views

Process-aware information systems (PAISs) need to support personalized views on business processes since different user groups have distinguished perspectives on these processes and related data. Existing PAISs, however, do not provide mechanisms for creating and visualizing such process views. Typically, processes are displayed to users in exactly the same way as originally modeled. This paper presents a flexible approach for creating personalized process views based on parameterizable operations. Respective view-building operations can be flexibly composed in order to hide process information or abstract from it in the desired way. Depending on the chosen parameterization of the operations applied, we obtain process views with more or less relaxed properties (e.g., regarding the degree of information loss or soundness). Altogether, the realized view concept enables a more flexible visualization of large business processes satisfying the needs of different user groups

Access Control for Monitoring System-Spanning Business Processes in Proviado

Integrated process support is highly desirable in environments where data related to a particular (business) process are scattered over distributed, heterogeneous information systems (IS). A process monitoring component is a much-needed module in order to provide an integrated view on all these process data. Regarding process data integration, access control (AC) issues are very important but also quite complex to be addressed. A major problem arises from the fact that the involved IS are usually based on heterogeneous AC components. For several reasons, the only feasible way to tackle the problem of AC at the process monitoring level is to define access rights for the process monitoring component, hence getting rid of the burden to map access rights from the IS level. This paper discusses requirements for AC in process monitoring, which we derived from our case studies in the automotive domain. It then presents alternative approaches for AC: the view-based and the object-based approach. The latter is retained, and a core AC model is proposed for the definition of access rights that meet the derived requirements. AC mechanisms provided within the core model are key ingredients for the definition of model extensions

The Proviado Access Control Model for Business Process Monitoring Components

Integrated process support is highly desirable in environments where data related to a particular business process are scattered over distributed, heterogeneous information systems. A business process monitoring component is a much-needed module in order to provide an integrated view on all these process data. Regarding process visualization and process data integration, access control (AC) issues are very important but also quite complex to be addressed. A major problem arises from the fact that the involved information systems are usually based on heterogeneous AC components. For several reasons, the only feasible way to tackle the problem of AC at the process monitoring level is to define access rights for the process monitoring component, hence getting rid of the burden to map access rights from the information system level. This paper presents the Proviado process visualization framework and discusses requirements for AC in process monitoring, which we derived from our case studies in the automotive domain. It then presents alternative approaches for AC: the view-based and the object-based approach. The latter is retained, and a core AC model is proposed for the definition of access rights that meet the derived requirements. AC mechanisms provided within the core model are key ingredients for the definition of model extensions

View-Based Process Visualization

In large organizations different users or user roles have distinguished perspectives over business processes and related data. Personalized views of the managed processes are needed. Existing BPM tools, however, do not provide adequate mechanisms for building and visualizing such views. Very often processes are displayed to users in the same way as drawn by the process designer. To tackle this inflexibility this paper presents a visualization approach, which allows to create personalized process views based on well-defined, parameterizable operations. Respective view operations can be flexibly composed in order to reduce or aggregate process information in the desired way. This allows us to consider the specific needs of the respective applications (e.g., process monitoring tools or process editors). Altogether, the realized view concept enables advanced support for process visualization

BUSINESS PROCESS VISUALIZATION -- USE CASES, CHALLENGES, SOLUTIONS

The proper visualization and monitoring of their (ongoing) business processes is crucial for any enterprise. Thus a broad spectrum of processes has to be visualized ranging from simple, short–running processes to complex long–running ones (consisting of up to hundreds of activities). In any case, users shall be able to quickly understand the logic behind a process and to get a quick overview of related tasks. One practical problem arises when different fragments of a business process are scattered over several systems where they are often modeled using different process meta models (e.g., High–Level Petri Nets). The challenge is to find an integrated and user–friendly visualization for these business processes. In this paper we discover use cases relevant in this context. Since existing graph layout approaches have focused on general graph drawing so far we further develop a specific approach for layouting business process graphs. The work presented in this paper is embedded within a larger project (Proviado) on the visualization of automotive processes

Business Process Visualization - Use Cases, Challenges, Solutions

The proper visualization and monitoring of their (ongoing) business processes is crucial for any enterprise. Thus a broad spectrum of processes has to be visualized ranging from simple, short–running processes to complex long–running ones (consisting of up to hundreds of activities). In any case, users shall be able to quickly understand the logic behind a process and to get a quick overview of related tasks. One practical problem arises when different fragments of a business process are scattered over several systems where they are often modeled using different process meta models (e.g., High–Level Petri Nets). The challenge is to find an integrated and user–friendly visualization for these business processes. In this paper we discover use cases relevant in this context. Since existing graph layout approaches have focused on general graph drawing so far we further develop a specific approach for layouting business process graphs. The work presented in this paper is embedded within a larger project (Proviado) on the visualization of automotive processes