Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Pre-modelled Flexibility for the Control-Flow of Business Processes: Requirements and Interaction with Users

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 417))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

At process-aware information systems (PAIS), it is sometimes necessary to deviate from the predefined process. Otherwise the users are restricted too much. This paper presents an approach that allows to pre-model predictable flexibility already at build-time. An advantage, compared to completely dynamic changes at run-time, is that the effort for the end users necessary to trigger a deviation is reduced significantly. Furthermore, process safety is increased since, for instance, it can be predefined which users are allowed to perform which modifications. The corresponding requirements for the control-flow perspective are presented in this paper, with a special focus on the kind of information that shall be predefined at build-time. Examples from practice are presented in order to illustrate the necessity of the requirements. Furthermore, the interaction with the users is explained in order to show that triggering a flexible deviation causes only little effort at run-time.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    In order to improve readability, only the male form is used in the following.

  2. 2.

    The search was performed with the following terms, all in combination with business process: flexibility by design, pre-designed flexibility, pre-modelled flexibility, flexibility build-time, flexibility control flow. Furthermore, [1] as an “overview book for flexibility in BP” was examined with respect to hints to relevant approaches.

  3. 3.

    A realization would be possible with a XOR-Split with “Deferred Choice” semantics [25]. This type of XOR, however, is typically not supported by commercial PMS. As an alternative, in BPMN, a two-way event-based XOR-Split may be modelled in combination with intermediate throw and catch events. Defining such a sophisticated BP graph, however, may overwhelm “normal” BP-designers.

  4. 4.

    In order to realize process execution by a process engine, however, it is an option to map the “easy to understand” modelling constructs (presented in this paper) automatically to such already existing constructs of the BP execution engine, even in a sophisticated way.

References

  1. Reichert, M., Weber, B.: Enabling Flexibility in Process-Aware Information Systems. Challenges, Methods, Technologies. Springer, Berlin (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Redding, G., Dumas M., Ter Hofstede, A.H.M., Iordachescu, A.: Modelling flexible processes with business objects. In: Proceedings IEEE Conference on Commerce and Enterprise Computing, pp. 41–48 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Schonenberg, M.H., Mans, R.S., Russell, N.C., Mulyar, N.A., van der Aalst, W.M.P.: Towards a Taxonomy of Process Flexibility (Extended Version). Eindhoven Univ. Technol. 10, 41–56 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Dadam, P., Reichert, M., Rinderle-Ma, S.: Process Management Systems. Only a bit Flexibility will not be enough (in German). Informatik-Spektrum 34, 364–376 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Kumar, K., Narasipuram, M.M.: Defining requirements for business process flexibility. In: Workshop on Business Process Modeling, Design and Support, Proc. of CAiSE06 Workshops, pp. 137–148 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Bauer, T.: Business processes with pre-designed flexibility for the control-flow. In: Proceedings 22nd International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, pp. 631–642 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bauer, T.: Pre-modelled flexibility for business processes. In: Proceedings of 21th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, pp. 547–555 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Regev, G., Soffer, P., Schmidt, R.: Taxonomy of flexibility in business processes. Workshop on business process modeling, design and support. In: Proceedings of CAiSE06 Workshops, pp. 90–93 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Reichert, M., Dadam, P.: ADEPTflex - supporting dynamic changes of workflows without losing control. J. Intell. Inf. Syst. Spec. Issue Workflow Manage. Syst. 10, 93–129 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Sadiq, S., Marjanovic, O., Orlowska, M.: Managing change and time in dynamic workflow processes. Int. J. Coop. Inf. Syst. 9, 93–116 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Weske, M.: Formal foundation and conceptual design of dynamic adaptations in a workflow management system. In: Proceedings of 34th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Bandinelli, S., Fugetta, A., Ghezzi, C.: Software process model evolution in the SPADE environment. IEEE Trans. Soft. Eng. 19, 1128–1144 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Rinderle, S.: Schema evolution in process management systems. Ph.D. thesis, Universität Ulm (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Joeris, G., Herzog, O.: Managing evolving workflow specifications. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Cooperative Information Systems, pp. 310–321 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Kradolfer, M., Geppert, A.: Dynamic workflow schema evolution based on workflow type versioning and workflow migration. In: Proceedings of International Conference in Cooperative Information Systems, pp. 104–114 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Weske, M.: Flexible modeling and execution of workflow activities. In: Proceedings of 31th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp. 713–722 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Casati, F., Ceri, S., Pernici, B., Pozzi, G.: Workflow evolution. Data Knowl. Eng. 24, 211–238 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. La Rosa, M., van der Aalst, W.M.P., Dumas, M., Ter Hofstede, A.H.M.: Questionnaire-based variability modeling for system configuration. Soft. Syst. Model. 8, 251–274 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Schobbens, P.Y., Heymans, P., Trigaux, J.C.: Feature diagrams: a survey and a formal semantics. In: 14th IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference Minneapolis/St. Paul, pp. 136–145 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Reinhartz-Berger, I., Soffer, P., Sturm, A.: Extending the adaptability of reference models. IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. 40, 1045–1056 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Gottschalk, F.: Configurable process models. Ph.D. thesis, Eindhoven University of Technology (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Reichert, M., Hallerbach, A., Bauer, T.: Lifecycle management of business process variants. In: vom Brocke, J., Rosemann, M. (eds.) Handbook on Business Process Management 1. IHIS, pp. 251–278. Springer, Heidelberg (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-45100-3_11

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  23. Lerner, B.S., Christov, S., Osterweil, L.J., Bendraou, R., Kannengiesser, U., Wise, A.E.: Exception handling patterns for process modeling. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 36, 162–183 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Reichert, M., Dadam, P., Bauer, T.: Dealing with forward and backward jumps in workflow management systems. Softw. Syst. Model. 2, 37–58 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Russell, N., Ter Hofstede, A.H.M.: Workflow control-flow patterns. A revised view. BPM Center Report BPM-06–22 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Weber, B., Reichert, M., Rinderle-Ma, S.: Change patterns and change support features - enhancing flexibility in process-aware information systems. Data Knowl. Eng. 66, 438–466 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Klingemann, J.: Controlled Flexibility in Workflow Management. In: Wangler, B., Bergman, L. (eds.) CAiSE 2000. LNCS, vol. 1789, pp. 126–141. Springer, Heidelberg (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45140-4_10

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  28. Mangan, P., Sadiq, S.: On building workflow models for flexible processes. Aust. Comput. Sci. Commun. 24, 103–109 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  29. van der Aalst, W.M.P., Weske, M., Grünbauer, D.: Case handling: a new paradigm for business process support. Data Knowl. Eng. 53, 129–162 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Montali, M.: Specification and verification of declarative open interaction models. Springer, Berlin (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Pesic, M., Schonenberg, M.H., Sidorova, N., van der Aalst, W.M.P.: Constraint-based workflow models: change made easy. In: Proceedings of 15th International Conference on Cooperative Information Systems, pp. 77–94 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Sadiq, S., Sadiq, W., Orlowska, M.: Pockets of flexibility in workflow specification. In: S.Kunii, H., Jajodia, S., Sølvberg, A. (eds.) ER 2001. LNCS, vol. 2224, pp. 513–526. Springer, Heidelberg (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45581-7_38

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  33. Dourish, P., Holmes, J., MacLean, A., Marqvardsen, P., Zbyslaw, A.: Freeflow: mediating between representation and action in workflow systems. In: Proceedings of ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, pp. 190–198 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Wainer, J., Bezerra, F., Barthelmess, P.: Tucupi: a flexible workflow system based on over ridable constraints. In: Proceedings of ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, pp. 498–502 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Burmeister, B., Steiert, H.-P., Bauer, T., Baumgärtel, H.: Agile processes through goal- and context-oriented business process modeling. In: Eder, J., Dustdar, S. (eds.) BPM 2006. LNCS, vol. 4103, pp. 217–228. Springer, Heidelberg (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/11837862_22

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  36. Laue, R., Kirchner, K.: Using patterns for communicating about flexible processes. In; Proceedings of 18th International Conference on Business Process Modeling, Development and Support, pp. 12–19 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Reichert, M., Kolb, J., Bobik, R., Bauer, T.: Enabling personalized visualization of large business processes through parameterizable views. In: Proceedings of 27th Symposium On Applied Computing, pp. 1653–1660 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Russell, N., van der Aalst, W., ter Hofstede, A., Edmond, D.: workflow resource patterns: identification, representation and tool support. In: Pastor, O., Falcão e Cunha, J. (eds.) CAiSE 2005. LNCS, vol. 3520, pp. 216–232. Springer, Heidelberg (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/11431855_16

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hochschule Neu-Ulm, Wileystr. 1, 89231, Neu-Ulm, Germany

    Thomas Bauer

Authors
  1. Thomas Bauer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Bauer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal/INSTICC, Setúbal, Portugal

    Joaquim Filipe

  2. Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland

    Michał Śmiałek

  3. George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Alexander Brodsky

  4. MODESTE/ESEO, Angers, France

    Slimane Hammoudi

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Bauer, T. (2021). Pre-modelled Flexibility for the Control-Flow of Business Processes: Requirements and Interaction with Users. In: Filipe, J., Śmiałek, M., Brodsky, A., Hammoudi, S. (eds) Enterprise Information Systems. ICEIS 2020. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 417. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75418-1_38

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75418-1_38

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-75417-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-75418-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation