Architecural Principles and Components of Adaptive Process Management Technology

Process-aware information systems (PAIS) must not freeze business processes, but should enable authorized users to deviate from the implemented workflows on-the-fly and to dynamically evolve them over time. While there has been a lot of work on the theoretical foundations of dynamic process changes, there is still a lack of implemented PAIS providing this dynamics. Designing the architecture of such adaptive PAIS, however, constitutes a big challenge due to the high complexity coming with dynamic changes. Besides this, performance, robustness, security and usability of the PAIS must not be affected by the added flexibility. In the AristaFlow project we follow a holistic approach to master this complexity. Based on a conceptual framework for adaptive process management, we have designed a sophisticated architecture for next generation process management technology. This paper discusses major design goals and basic architectural principles, gives insights into selected system components, and shows how change support features can be realized in an integrated and efficient manner

SeaFlows Toolset - Compliance Verification Made Easy for Process-aware Information Systems

In the light of an increasing demand on business process compliance, the verication of process models against compliance rules has become essential in enterprise computing. The SeaFlows Toolset featured in this paper extends process-aware information systems with compliance checking functionality. It provides a user-friendly environment for modeling compliance rules using a graph-based formalism and for enriching process models with these rules. To address a multitude of verification settings, we provide two complementary compliance checking approaches: The structural compliance checking approach derives structural criteria from compliance rules and applies them to detect incompliance. The data-aware behavioral compliance checking approach addresses the state explosion problem that can occur when the data dimension is explored during compliance checking. It performs context-sensitive automatic abstraction to derive an abstract process model which is more compact with regard to the data dimension enabling more efficient compliance checking. Altogether, SeaFlows Toolset constitutes a comprehensive and extensible framework for compliance checking of process models

Von ADEPT zur AristaFlow BPM Suite - Eine Vision wird Realität: "Correctness by Construction" und flexible, robuste Ausführung von Unternehmensprozessen

Angeregt durch ein Forschungsprojekt im Bereich klinischer Informationssysteme, wurde von uns Mitte der 90er Jahre das Forschungsprojekt ADEPT gestartet, welches im Bereich Prozess-Management das nahezu Unmögliche anstrebte und mittlerweile auch erreicht hat: Hochgradig flexible Ausführung von Unternehmensprozessen, Realisierung robuster prozessorientierter Anwendungen "per Konstruktion" sowie ein für alle Anwendergruppen (Prozess-Implementierer, Systemadministratoren, Endbenutzer) einfach zu benutzendes System. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt die Hintergründe des ADEPT-Projekts sowie unsere Motivation für die gesteckten Ziele, die von uns verfolgte Vision und deren vollständige Umsetzung in der nunmehr verfügbaren AristaFlow® BPM Suite

From ADEPT to AristaFlow BPM Suite: A Research Vision has become Reality

During the last decade we have developed the ADEPT next generation process management technology. Its features and its different prototype versions attracted a number of companies. However, an enterprise cannot base the implementation of its process-aware information system (PAIS) on an experimental prototype, especially if maintenance and further development are not assured. At the beginning of 2008, therefore, we founded a spin-off as joint venture with industrial partners to transfer ADEPT into an industrial-strength product version called AristaFlow BPM Suite, and to provide maintenance support for it. The product version is now available for academic and industrial use

Enabling Poka-Yoke Workflows with the AristaFlow BPM Suite

This tool presentation gives insights into the AristaFlow BPM Suite - a next generation process management technology that has originated from our research activities in the ADEPT project. We show how AristaFlow ensures ease of use for process implementers, application developers, and end users. Our overall vision is to realize robust and flexible process support without encountering bad surprises during runtime. We denote such error-safe process executions as Poka-Yoke Workflows

Obeticholic acid for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: interim analysis from a multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial

Background Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a common type of chronic liver disease that can lead to cirrhosis. Obeticholic acid, a farnesoid X receptor agonist, has been shown to improve the histological features of NASH. Here we report results from a planned interim analysis of an ongoing, phase 3 study of obeticholic acid for NASH. Methods In this multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, adult patients with definite NASH,non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) activity score of at least 4, and fibrosis stages F2–F3, or F1 with at least oneaccompanying comorbidity, were randomly assigned using an interactive web response system in a 1:1:1 ratio to receive oral placebo, obeticholic acid 10 mg, or obeticholic acid 25 mg daily. Patients were excluded if cirrhosis, other chronic liver disease, elevated alcohol consumption, or confounding conditions were present. The primary endpointsfor the month-18 interim analysis were fibrosis improvement (≥1 stage) with no worsening of NASH, or NASH resolution with no worsening of fibrosis, with the study considered successful if either primary endpoint was met. Primary analyses were done by intention to treat, in patients with fibrosis stage F2–F3 who received at least one dose of treatment and reached, or would have reached, the month 18 visit by the prespecified interim analysis cutoff date. The study also evaluated other histological and biochemical markers of NASH and fibrosis, and safety. This study is ongoing, and registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02548351, and EudraCT, 20150-025601-6. Findings Between Dec 9, 2015, and Oct 26, 2018, 1968 patients with stage F1–F3 fibrosis were enrolled and received at least one dose of study treatment; 931 patients with stage F2–F3 fibrosis were included in the primary analysis (311 in the placebo group, 312 in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group, and 308 in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group). The fibrosis improvement endpoint was achieved by 37 (12%) patients in the placebo group, 55 (18%) in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group (p=0·045), and 71 (23%) in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group (p=0·0002). The NASH resolution endpoint was not met (25 [8%] patients in the placebo group, 35 [11%] in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group [p=0·18], and 36 [12%] in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group [p=0·13]). In the safety population (1968 patients with fibrosis stages F1–F3), the most common adverse event was pruritus (123 [19%] in the placebo group, 183 [28%] in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group, and 336 [51%] in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group); incidence was generally mild to moderate in severity. The overall safety profile was similar to that in previous studies, and incidence of serious adverse events was similar across treatment groups (75 [11%] patients in the placebo group, 72 [11%] in the obeticholic acid 10 mg group, and 93 [14%] in the obeticholic acid 25 mg group). Interpretation Obeticholic acid 25 mg significantly improved fibrosis and key components of NASH disease activity among patients with NASH. The results from this planned interim analysis show clinically significant histological improvement that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. This study is ongoing to assess clinical outcomes