USING SECONDARY NOTATION TO IMPROVE THE COGNITIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF BPMN-MODELS

Almost every implementation of a modeling grammar uses secondary notation to further specify a modeling grammar. Yet, secondary notation is usually applied in an unsystematic way, might contradict what is specified in primary notation and implements research results that should rather be implemented in primary notation. With this work we aim at showing how secondary notation can be used to implement recent research results that are not yet available in primary notation without contracting what is already specified in primary notation. We demonstrate a systematic update of recent research of extended Perceptual Discriminability for BPMN secondary notation and that way, show how research results can quickly be made available for practice without contradicting primary notation. We choose Perceptual Discriminability as it can be used to focus the model user’s attention on the most important constructs and can that way, improve model comprehension. For an update of BPMN secondary notation we first specify free BPMN variables and further show how these variables can be used to focus the model user’s attention on those constructs that most foster comprehension

Toward more rigor in ontological analyses

Ontological analyses have been used in numerous publications to compare existing modelling grammars with an ontology. However, a sound theoretical research framework is still missing. Consequently, working with the results of such ontological analyses is theoretically questionable. The aim of the paper is threefold. Firstly, we want to contribute to such a theoretical research framework by formalising the ontological analyses approach. Secondly, we derive four formal requirements each ontological analyses must comply with. Lastly, we analyse whether current state of the art ontological analyses comply with our findings. While the formalisation demonstrates the strengths of the approach we conclude that current ontological analyses have theoretical deficiencies, which lead to serious limitations in their application

Corporate Risks in Social Networks – Towards a Risk Management Framework

Social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn can be used by companies in various fields like marketing, distribution, product development or support for gaining business value. However, in contrast to these opportunities there are also corporate risks regarding the usage of social networks, for example resulting brand damages, industrial espionage or inefficiency. So far, only little understanding of corporate risks in social networks exists. Just a few single risks are discussed in literature. Thus, an extensive literature analysis was conducted for the creation of a systematic risk catalog. For a better understanding of the domain, a reference data model was developed consisting of data objects that could be exploited by attackers in social networks. Finally, a first approach towards a risk management framework is proclaimed in order to be used by companies in social networks. It integrates the identified risks, dedicated process steps and specific IT artifacts

Ontology Based Method Engineering

We need conceptual modelling languages to gain domain knowledge in the requirements engineering and analysis phases of an IS development project. These languages should serve an IS expert as means of communication between him or her and the domain expert. Many different modelling languages have been used for conceptual modelling. Consequently, questions relating to the quality of these languages have arisen. Wand, Weber and others have evaluated these languages using an ontology. Each of the languages was found to contain certain deficits. Because our aim is to construct a language without such deficits, we propose the opposite technique. We develop an ontologically clear modelling language for process modelling with the help of the BWW representational model. In addition to this modelling language, we introduce a process model which guides model creation. Both components form a conceptual modelling method

On the Restriction of Conceptual Modeling – Outlining an Approach to Enable Business Driven SOA

Service-oriented architectures were introduced to create a technological basis for reacting to business requirements in a distributed application environment. Services encapsulate functionality to be reused in different processes and can be easily described in design models that should be the result of analyzing the business requirements described in conceptual models. However, this process is nontrivial, iterative, and can not be fully automated. This paper presents an approach to introduce artifacts to establish a consensus on language level which enhances the comparability of models and allows to semi-automate the transformation process by weakening the strict separation of language creation and language usage. In contrast to previous approaches, this approach enables a model based configuration of service-oriented architectures that allows an automation of activities of the SOA development process that are currently carried out manually. As a result, the technical knowledge relevant to cope with the task is reduced, which at the same time shortens the time and effort for solving the overall task. This promotes the goal-oriented configuration of SOA. As specific technical knowledge is no longer needed, the modeler can concentrate on the analysis of the business problem

Application of Lifetime Electronic Health Records: Are we ready yet?

Integrated care concepts can help to diminish demographic challenges. Therefore, the use of eHealth solutions is recognised as an efficient approach. Lifetime electronic health records (LEHRs) are expected to increase continuity, effectiveness, efficiency and thus quality of the care process. With respect to these benefits, an overarching implementation of LEHRs is desirable but non-existent. Hence, the aim of the article is to analyse the current LEHR implementation readiness of EU member states to derive implications for further LEHR research and development. Therefore, a case study on Denmark, Germany and Italy was conducted. The analysis shows that all countries fulfil the technical requirements but Denmark has great experiences and willingness to implement advanced eHealth measures like LEHRs. First Italian pilot projects are quite promising as well. The article paves the way for LEHR implementation and there with for integrated care

Modeling Clinical Pathways - Design and Application of a Domain-Specific Modeling Language

Networking and collaboration in clinical care are increasingly entailing new requirements on supporting medical processes. The information technology (IT) in public health accordingly earns strategic relevance and encounters new potentials as well as challenging demands. The application of conceptual models in health care domain is almost entirely restricted to documentation tasks. Approaches like Model-Driven-Architectures or Workflow Management Systems have shown that the application of models, e.g. transformation, execution and formal interpretation, has huge potential. This article presents a modeling language for modeling clinical pathways. Three scenarios show the potential of conceptual models in health care domain and provide foundations for language requirements. Presenting a state-of-the-art of modeling languages for clinical domain and evaluating existing approaches to the requirements provide the gap to develop a domain-specific language. The potentials of the language and the use of corresponding models in medical treatment are demonstrated exemplarily including a discussion on model-driven management

Compliance Check of Health Care Process Models

Improving medical care quality and reducing care costs requires the interaction of patients, healthcare professionals andmedical associations. Patients want to be informed about treatments, healthcare professionals demand easy access to bestpractice information and medical associations need to communicate evidence based guidelines. The configuration of medicalcare workflow systems and the compliance check of care processes according to national and international guidelines is themotivation for this paper. We are following a process model based approach for the management of health care networks. Wepresent a method for the compliance check of process models and enable a configuration of information systems with processmodels. The application of the method as well as the discussion of the practical benefits is illustrated by a real world casestudy