Abstract
Business process models can serve different purposes, from discussion and analysis among stakeholders, to simulation and execution. While work has been done on deriving modeling guidelines to improve understandability, it remains to be determined how different modeling practices impact the execution of the models. In this paper we observe how semantically equivalent, but syntactically different, models behave in order to assess the performance impact of different modeling practices. To do so, we propose a methodology for systematically deriving semantically equivalent models by applying a set of model transformation rules and for precisely measuring their execution performance. We apply the methodology on three scenarios to systematically explore the performance variability of 16 different versions of parallel, exclusive, and inclusive control flows. Our experiments with two open-source business process management systems measure the execution duration of each model’s instances. The results reveal statistically different execution performance when applying different modeling practices without total ordering of performance ranks.
Notes
References
Aalst, W.M.P., Medeiros, A.K.A., Weijters, A.J.M.M.: Process equivalence: comparing two process models based on observed behavior. In: Dustdar, S., Fiadeiro, J.L., Sheth, A.P. (eds.) BPM 2006. LNCS, vol. 4102, pp. 129–144. Springer, Heidelberg (2006). doi:10.1007/11841760_10
Abbott, M.L., Fisher, M.T.: The Art of Scalability. Pearson, Upper Saddle River (2009)
Bacon, D.F., Graham, S.L., Sharp, O.J.: Compiler transformations for high-performance computing. ACM Comput. Surv. (CSUR) 26(4), 345–420 (1994)
Cohen, J.: A power primer. Psychol. Bull. 112(1), 55 (1992)
Dattalo, P.: Determining Sample Size: Balancing Power, Precision, and Practicality. Oxford University Press, New York (2008)
Dinno, A.: Nonparametric pairwise multiple comparisons in independent groups using dunns test. Stata J. 15, 292–300 (2015)
Dumas, M., Rosa, M., Mendling, J., Mäesalu, R., Reijers, H.A., Semenenko, N.: Understanding business process models: the costs and benefits of structuredness. In: Ralyté, J., Franch, X., Brinkkemper, S., Wrycza, S. (eds.) CAiSE 2012. LNCS, vol. 7328, pp. 31–46. Springer, Heidelberg (2012). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-31095-9_3
Eder, J., Gruber, W., Pichler, H.: Transforming workflow graphs. In: Konstantas, D., Bourrières, J.P., Léonard, M., Boudjlida, N. (eds.) Interoperability of Enterprise Software and Applications, pp. 203–214. Springer, London (2006)
Ferme, V., Ivanchikj, A., Pautasso, C.: A framework for benchmarking BPMN 2.0 workflow management systems. In: Motahari-Nezhad, H.R., Recker, J., Weidlich, M. (eds.) BPM 2015. LNCS, vol. 9253, pp. 251–259. Springer, Cham (2015). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-23063-4_18
Ferme, V., Ivanchikj, A., Pautasso, C.: Estimating the cost for executing business processes in the cloud. In: La Rosa, M., Loos, P., Pastor, O. (eds.) BPM 2016. LNBIP, vol. 260, pp. 72–88. Springer, Cham (2016). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-45468-9_5
Ferme, V., et al.: Workflow management systems benchmarking: unfulfilled expectations and lessons learned. In: Proceedings of ICSE 2017, May 2017
Gerth, C., et al.: Detection of semantically equivalent fragments for business process model change management. In: Proceedings of SCC, pp. 57–64. IEEE (2010)
Gounaris, A.: Towards automated performance optimization of BPMN business processes. In: Ivanović, M., et al. (eds.) ADBIS 2016. CCIS, vol. 637, pp. 19–28. Springer, Cham (2016). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44066-8_2
Hamby, D.: A review of techniques for parameter sensitivity analysis of environmental models. Environ. Monit. Assess. 32(2), 135–154 (1994)
Hoste, K., Eeckhout, L.: Cole: compiler optimization level exploration. In: Proceedings of CGO, pp. 165–174. ACM (2008)
Jarke, M., Koch, J.: Query optimization in database systems. ACM Comput. Surv. (CsUR) 16(2), 111–152 (1984)
Jordan, D., Evdemon, J.: Business Process Model And Notation (BPMN) Version 2.0. OMG. http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/
Koehler, J., Vanhatalo, J.: Process anti-patterns: how to avoid the common traps of business process modeling. IBM WebSph. Dev. Tech. J. 10(2), 4 (2007)
Marusteri, M., Bacarea, V.: Comparing groups for statistical differences: how to choose the right statistical test? Biochemia Medica 20(1), 15–32 (2010)
Mendling, J.: Metrics for Process Models: Empirical Foundations of Verification, Error Prediction, and Guidelines for Correctness. LNBIP, vol. 6. Springer, Heidelberg (2008). doi:10.1007/978-3-540-89224-3
Mendling, J., Reijers, H.A., van der Aalst, W.M.: Seven process modeling guidelines (7PMG). Inf. Softw. Technol. 52(2), 127–136 (2010)
Muehlen, M., Recker, J.: How much language is enough? Theoretical and practical use of the business process modeling notation. In: Bellahsène, Z., Léonard, M. (eds.) CAiSE 2008. LNCS, vol. 5074, pp. 465–479. Springer, Heidelberg (2008). doi:10.1007/978-3-540-69534-9_35
Recker, J.: Empirical investigation of the usefulness of gateway constructs in process models. Eur. J. Inf. Syst. 22(6), 673–689 (2013)
Reijers, H.A., Mendling, J.: A study into the factors that influence the understandability of business process models. IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part A Syst. Hum. 41(3), 449–462 (2011)
Rosa, M.L., et al.: Managing process model complexity via concrete syntax modifications. IEEE Trans. Ind. Inf. 7(2), 255–265 (2011)
Sengupta, A., Pal, T.K.: On comparing interval numbers. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 127(1), 28–43 (2000)
Skouradaki, M., Ferme, V., Pautasso, C., Leymann, F., Hoorn, A.: Micro-Benchmarking BPMN 2.0 workflow management systems with workflow patterns. In: Nurcan, S., Soffer, P., Bajec, M., Eder, J. (eds.) CAiSE 2016. LNCS, vol. 9694, pp. 67–82. Springer, Cham (2016). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-39696-5_5
Acknowledgements
This work is partially funded by the “BenchFlow” project (DACH Grant Nr. 200021E-145062/1).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Ivanchikj, A., Ferme, V., Pautasso, C. (2017). On the Performance Overhead of BPMN Modeling Practices. In: Carmona, J., Engels, G., Kumar, A. (eds) Business Process Management. BPM 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10445. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65000-5_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65000-5_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64999-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-65000-5
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)