Identifying common and persistent errors made by novice analysts when modeling business processes using UML activity diagram: utilizing a hierarchical error classification

Abstract

Accurate process modeling is critical to the successful design of information systems. Therefore, learning to design correct, complete, and irredundant process models is an important part of training for systems analysts, yet it is very challenging, especially for novice analysts. To teach high-quality modeling skills, it is essential to identify the common difficulties encountered in designing process models. Motivated by this insight, we formulated two research objectives: (1) identify the errors made by novices during process modeling, and analyze and classify them in light of three quality criteria—completeness, irredundancy, and correctness; (2) identify the most common errors, particularly the most persistent ones, that is, those most resistant to training. To this end, we analyzed 525 models built by 181 students (two or three models per student) during an academic course. We classified the students’ modeling errors, based on the principles of the modeling language, and carried out a frequency analysis, wherein we counted the prevalence of each error type. Our analysis produced a four-layer hierarchical classification of errors with 52 elements, including 38 error categories, subcategories, and irreducible types. We also identified the most common and most persistent error categories, both of which pertained mainly to difficulties in abstracting from a given scenario. This hierarchical classification plays an important role in establishing ways to improve the quality of process models designed by systems analysts, especially novices. Moreover, identifying persistent errors and “cracking” them is an essential step in designing a learning methodology that will help novice analysts to recognize such errors and, indeed, avoid them in the first place.

Appendices

Appendix

Table 11 Summary of Task 1 and 2 criteria and categories along with their scoring method

Fig. 4

Recommended solution for semester A scenario of Task 2

Fig. 5

Recommended solution for semester B scenario of Task 2

First Task

The background to the task:

The following text tells the story of Rebecca.

The text describes two processes, which you are required to model. The processes are:

• 1. Administrative admission to the hospital

• 2. Nursing reception in the emergency room (ER)

Task description:

• 1. You must model both processes using UML Activity Diagram.

• 2. You received 2 pages. Describe each process on a separate page. At the top of the page, state the name of the modeled process and your ID number.

• 3. You have 1 h to complete the task.

The text of the story

Rebecca, a 75-year-old woman, was rushed by an ambulance to the ER at the nearest hospital, as she was not feeling well. She arrived at the hospital when she was escorted to her daughter, fully conscious, and complained of a feeling of pressure in her chest. She shouted that she was suffocating and had great difficulty breathing. It seemed that she breathes heavily and contracted with each intake of air into her lungs. She also complained of weakness in her legs and nausea.

When she was admitted to the ER, her daughter was asked to go to the admissions office to carry out an orderly admission process for her mother, who had difficulty speaking and walking. First, the receptionist looked for the patient’s details (according to her ID number) in the hospital’s databases. Since this is her first visit to the hospital, no hospitalization history of the patient was found. Therefore, the receptionist opened a new medical record for Rebecca. After that, the daughter was required to fill out a full admission form that included health insurance information and a short health declaration. The receptionist went over the details of the form with her daughter and asked if her mother was connected to a distress sensor at home. Finally, the receptionist issued a sticker with the patient’s name and her ID card, stuck it on a paper folder, and gave it to her daughter, who went with it back to the ER.

Meanwhile, due to the urgency of the mother’s condition, the nurse in the emergency department has already begun the nursing admission process. First, the nurse checked the following indicators: body temperature (thermometer), pulse and blood pressure, and blood oxygen saturation (saturation) using an optical reader attached to the finger. These tests give an immediate and initial picture of the cardiovascular system, which includes the function of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels. These tests allow the doctor to determine, among other things, how stable the patient is or whether it is a medical emergency that requires immediate treatment. The nurse also performed a pain assessment. After the nurse finished taking all the necessary measurements, she entered the data into the patient’s nursing record (this can only be done if a medical record for the patient exists in the system). When the daughter returned from the admissions office, the nurse asked her to tell a short medical history about the mother, in addition, the daughter was asked to detail which medications the mother regularly takes and for what reason. The nurse also asked to know what the mother’s life habits were. The daughter informed that the mother lives alone. She is self-employed and smokes at least one pack of cigarettes a day. The daughter went on to say that the mother was staying with her over the weekend and added that last month the mother was hospitalized at another hospital near her home, due to acute pneumonia. The nurse asked if she had any results of recent laboratory tests, chest x-rays, or the interpretation of CT or MRI scans. The upset daughter replied that unfortunately she does not have this information, and since today is Saturday, she will not be able to locate the family doctor to find out. At the end of the questioning, the nurse entered the patient’s complaint and then determined a nursing diagnosis according to the details given to her.

Second Task

The background to the task:

In the “Full Health” hospital in the state of Zimbabwe, there are advanced medical services thanks to donations coming from around the world, but an information system has not yet been implemented in the emergency room (ER). The ER is near the rooms of the specialist doctors, a laboratory for blood tests, and various institutes (such as CT, MRI, X-ray, ultrasound, and EKG) operated by professional technicians. The following is a description of a procedure for treating a patient who comes to the ER for diagnosis, receiving initial treatment, and, if necessary, transferring to the hospitalization in one of the hospital's departments.

Task description:

• 1. Draw an Activity Diagram for modeling the treatment process described in the story

• 2. Assume that the work process in which the patient performs tests and visits the doctors is modeled in a separate diagram. Thus, in this current diagram, present it as an action.

The text of the story

The patient arrives at the reception office, where a member of the medical staff performs an initial registration, which includes opening a file in which the following details will appear: name, postal code, telephone, time of arrival at the ER, the severity of the patient's condition (mild, moderate, severe, or critical), and whether he is independent or Disabled (a patient defined as independent can move around by himself and a patient defined as disabled will be moved from place to place by a sanitor). At the end of the initial registration, the staff member performs an initial diagnosis and adds to the file the identified symptoms, a list of specialist doctors with whom the patient must be examined, and a list of tests that the patient must undergo (blood tests, X-rays, EKG, etc.). Then, he places the file to the patient (if he is independent) or to an invited sanitor (if he is disabled). He instructs the patient (or the sanitor) that he must go to all the specialist doctors that appear on the list and perform all the tests that appear on the list, and at the end of all these, he returns to the ER and is admitted to one of the ER doctors.

At this stage, the medical staff member turns to receive the next patient, while the current patient begins to perform the tests and/or the visits to the specialist doctors. The patient must first perform all the tests, and at the end perform all the doctor's visits (the order of the tests and the order of the visits is not important). If he is required to be tested at an institute/laboratory, he goes to the appropriate institute/laboratory, hands over his file wait for his turn, and at the end of the test, the institute's technician adds the test results to the file and hands it to the patient. A patient who needs to be examined by a specialist doctor arrives at the doctor's room, hands him the file, and waits for the doctor to call him (according to the appointment or the urgency of the treatment). At the end of the examination, the doctor adds the diagnosis and his recommendations to the file, and the patient continues to the next doctor.

At the end of all the visits and tests, the patient returns to the ER, and he is seen by one of the emergency doctors to make a decision: either performing additional tests/visits, or, releasing the patient to his home, or, admitting the patient to one of the hospital's departments. For a patient who has decided to be discharged, the doctor will prepare a discharge letter, one copy will be given to the patient and one copy will be sent to the archive. A patient who decided to be hospitalized will be transferred to the appropriate department along with his file.