Computing and Information Systems - Research Publications
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ItemBusiness Process Model Abstraction(Springer-Verlag, 2010-01-01)In order to execute, study, or improve operating procedures companies document them as business process models. Often business process analysts capture every single exception handling or alternative task handling scenario within a model. Such a tendency results in large process specifications. The core process logic becomes hidden in numerous modeling constructs. To fulfill different tasks companies develop several model variants of the same business process at different abstraction levels. Afterwards, maintenance of such model groups involves a lot of synchronization effort and is erroneous. We propose an abstraction technique that allows generalization of process models. Business process model abstraction assumes a detailed model of a process to be available and derives coarse grained models from it. The task of abstraction is to tell significant model elements from insignificant ones and to reduce the latter. We propose to learn insignificant process elements from supplementary model information, e.g., task execution time or frequency of task occurrence. Finally, we discuss a mechanism for user control of the model abstraction level - an abstraction slider.
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ItemCollaborative business process modeling in multi-surface environments(Springer International Publishing, 2017-01-10)Analyzing and redesigning business processes is a complex task which requires the collaboration of multiple actors such as process stakeholders, domain experts and others. Current collaborative modeling approaches mainly focus on modeling workshops where participants verbally contribute their perspective on a process along with ideas on how to improve it. These workshops are supported by modeling experts who facilitate the workshop and translate participants’ verbal contributions into a process model. Being limited to verbal contributions however might negatively affect the motivation of participants to actively contribute. Interactive technology such as smartphones, tablets, digital tabletops and interactive walls can provide opportunities for participants to directly interact with process models. Multi surface environments where different interactive technologies (e.g. display walls, tabletops, tablets, and mobiles) are combined also allow for orchestrating different modes of collaboration. In this chapter we describe an approach that combines different styles of collaboration using various interactive surfaces in a multi surface environment. Testing this approach in three different settings we found indications that interactive technology not only improves involvement by participants but also speeds up workshops and improves the quality of collaboration outcomes. The studies also revealed means for improving the proposed approach.
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ItemThe Structured Phase of Concurrency(Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013)This extended abstract summarizes the state-of-the-art solution to the structuring problem for models that describe existing real world or envisioned processes. Special attention is devoted to models that allow for the true concurrency semantics. Given a model of a process, the structuring problem deals with answering the question of whether there exists another model that describes the process and is solely composed of structured patterns, such as sequence, selection, option for simultaneous execution, and iteration. Methods and techniques for structuring developed by academia as well as products and standards proposed by industry are discussed. Expectations and recommendations on the future advancements of the structuring problem are suggested.
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ItemFlexible Service Systems(SPRINGER, 2011-01-01)Service science combines scientific, management, and engineering disciplines to improve the understanding of how service systems cooperate to create business value. Service systems are complex configurations of people, technologies, and resources that coexist in a common environment of service provisioning. While the general concepts of service science are understood and agreed upon, the representation of service systems using models is still in its infancy. In this chapter, we look at business processes and their role in properly representing service systems. We propose flexible process graphs, a high-level process modeling language, and extend it in order to specify service systems and their compositions within shared environments in a flexible way. The discussion in this chapter is the first step towards a formal description of service science environment, including service systems, networks, and whole ecology.