Careflow: Theory and Practice

Semi-structured business processes are emerging at a rapid pace in industries such as government, insurance, banking and healthcare. The workflows underlying these case-oriented processes are non-deterministic. They are mostly driven by human decision making and content status and they may change frequently depending on factors such as economic conditions, legislative policy changes and technological upgrades. This paper describes a method to detect changes in a running business process by conducting spectral graph analysis of sets of execution traces of the process. This method is beneficial because it does not require mining a process model of the business process, and is consequently independent of any assumptions about the nature of the business process. This makes it particularly applicable to case-oriented semi-structured business processes whose lifecycle is not fully driven by a formal process model. In this paper we present our algorithm for computing graph spectra from business process execution traces, and discuss some initial promising results, as well as exciting ideas generated by this research for future work.

Purpose – Automating the task of identifying process weaknesses using process models is promising, as many organizations have to manage a large amount of process models. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a pattern-based approach for automatically detecting potential process weaknesses in semantic process models, thus supporting the task of business process improvement. Design/methodology/approach – Based on design research, combined with a case study, the authors explore the design, application and evaluation of a pattern-based process weakness detection approach within the setting of a real-life case study in a German bank. Findings – Business process weakness detection can be automated to a remarkable extent using pattern matching and a semantic business process modeling language. A case study provided evidence that such an approach highly supports business process analysts. Research limitations/implications – The presented approach is limited by the fact that not every potential process weakness detected by pattern matching is really a weakness but just gives the impression to be one. Hence, after detecting a weakness, analysts still have to decide on its authenticity. Practical implications – Applying weakness patterns to semantic process models via pattern matching allows organizations to automatically and efficiently identify process improvement potentials. Hence, this research helps to avoid time- and resource-consuming manual analysis of process model landscapes. Originality/value – The approach is not restricted to a single modeling language. Furthermore, by applying the pattern matching approach to a semantic modeling language, the authors avoid ambiguous search results. A case study proves the usefulness of the approach.

As business process management is increasingly applied in practice, more companies document their operations in the form of process models. Since users require descriptions of one process on various levels of detail, there are often multiple models created for the same process. Business process model abstraction emerged as a technique reducing the number of models to be stored: given a detailed process model, business process model abstraction delivers abstract representations for the same process. A key problem in many abstraction scenarios is the transition from detailed activities in the initial model to coarse-grained activities in the abstract model. This transition is realized by an aggregation operation clustering multiple activities to a single one. So far, humans decide on how to aggregate, which is expensive. This paper presents a semi-automated approach to activity aggregation that reduces the human effort significantly. The approach takes advantage of an activity meronymy relation, i.e., part-of relation defined between activities. The approach is semi-automated, as it proposes sets of meaningful aggregations, while the user still decides. The approach is evaluated by a real-world use case.KeywordsBusiness ProcessDomain OntologyNode DistanceBusiness Process ManagementBusiness Process ModelThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Assessment of critical path analyses of the relationship between permeability and electrical conductivity of pore networks

The authors present a multi-user implementation of a bi-level process modeling language (PML). Most process modeling formalisms are well-suited to one of two levels of specification, but not both. Some concentrate on global control flow and synchronization. These languages make it easy to define the broad outline of a process, but harder to refine the process by expressing constraints and policies on individual tools and data. Other process formalisms are inherently local. It is easy to define constraints, but far from straightforward to express control flow. Combining global and local formalisms is proposed to produce bi-level formalisms suitable for expressing the enacting large scale processes. The new PML is called the activity structures language. The activity structures language integrates global constrained expressions with local rules. Its implementation on top of the Marvel rule-based environment is described. >

Business Process Management (BPM) has gained remarkable importance in research and practice in the last years. Innovative information and communication technology (ICT) is a driver for the effectiveness and efficiency of enterprise collaboration and the management of inter-organizational business processes. In this context, cooperating enterprises need a shared understanding of their own processes, those of their partners as well as of emerging inter-organizational process structures. In order to create such a shared understanding, the concept of collaborative modeling can serve as a useful approach. This article introduces a concept for collaborative business process modeling and its implementation in the CoMoMod tool. The tool supports several aspects of collaborative process modeling, such as simultaneous work of spatially distributed modelers on one process model diagram. Furthermore the tool permits synchronously creating a collaborative model with different modeling languages by automatically mapping and converting the different model representations. The proof of concept utilizes Event-driven Process Chains (EPC) and Petri Nets. The usage of an integrated chat messaging service supports communication during the process of collaboratively modeling business process.

A concept is introduced in this article which has strong practical impact for computer aided system configuration. System configuration is a cumbersome and fault sensitive task while setting up systems in a broad range of business applications like ERP (enterprise resource planning) and other workflow-systems. Given a generic process or workflow model in YAWL-notation (yet another workflow language) or any other process modeling language like business process model and notation or WFMC (workflow management coalition), it could be stated that, by using a set of reduction rules as introduced, it is possible to generate a hierarchically structured tree of sub graphs of the workflow graph-representation. According to the notation used, authors call these sub graphs facts. The tree structure of the graph-representation on one hand and the logical relation between the branches and leafs of the tree on the other can be utilized to create a set of constraints and dependencies among the single facts. Some researchers showed that the nested branches can be associated to (predefined) questions with respect to the configuration of a workflow management system, for instance an ERP-application. They presented an algorithm which dynamically sorts the questions and answers in a maximum efficient configuration path, while working through the corresponding questionnaire. By combining the different elements as facts, constraints on questions, and configuration space, it is thus possible to algorithmically generate the efficient structured and interactive questionnaire for the configuration of workflow systems and algorithmically check the consistency (dead lock free, free of synchronization structural conflict) of the underlying workflow model. The concept was tested in the prototype of the interactive questionnaire for configuration of the web-service based ERP-Application

We present the process model employed in the result-maker online consultant (ROC) workflow management system as an example of a declarative workflow language used in practice. We describe and formalize the key primitives of the ROC process model as linear time temporal logic (LTL) formulas, in line with a recent proposal of van der Aalst and Pesic to use LTL as the foundation for flexible declarative process languages. The work is one of the first steps in a recently initiated research project (trustcare) aiming at contributing to the foundations for workflow management for trustworthy pervasive healthcare services by combining research in formal process models, pervasive user interfaces, and development of research based prototype extensions to the ROC workflow management system.

Business process modeling (BPM) is one of the key technologies to benefit enterprises with higher efficiencies and greater business values. However, BPM requires intensive business expertise and human resources. Thus, it is valuable and challenging to enable fast delivery of reusable business process designs, regarding the existence of various popular business processes modeling languages and fast changing markets. In this paper, we generate language-specific business process models and process interaction semantics from UML 2.0 process models. A WS-BPEL metadata model and a process interaction semantics metadata model is defined to annotate UML 2.0 business process model as stereotypes; with a set of transformation patterns, we can generate a WS-BPEL business process model and a process interaction semantics file from each annotated UML 2.0 process model. Our approach can also be similarly applied to other process modeling languages to highly reuse the business process model in UML 2.0.

Business process modelling is an important part of system design. When designing or redesigning a business process, stakeholders specify, negotiate, and agree on business requirements to be satisfied, including non-functional requirements that concern the quality of the business process. This thesis addresses the question of how to specify and compute the quality of a business process, given the model that stakeholders use. The motivation for this thesis is the increasing importance of the quality of business processes. Knowing the quality of specific business processes enables stakeholders to judge if these processes need improvement. Knowing the quality of the constructs of those processes (viz., events, inputs, activities, and outputs) and the way they are structured enables a more detailed analysis of their shortcomings and provides a basis for the design of improvements. The research challenge of this thesis is grounded in the assumption that: “Organisations need an appropriate means to effectively compute achievement of their goals and objectives by their business processes.” Given this challenge, the main research question on which this thesis focuses is: “Can the quality of a business process be computed quantitatively at different levels of granularity?” The research objective is: “To develop frameworks, factors, and metrics for computing non-functional requirements (quality) of business processes quantitatively at different levels of granularity.” The outcomes of this thesis are: 1) BPIMM, a language-independent business process integrating meta-model, based on the concepts of seven mainstream business process modelling languages: BPMN, EPC, RAD, UML AD, SADT, IDEF0, and IDEF3. 2) BPC-QC (Business Process Concept - Quality Computation), an approach to quality computation at the lowest level of granularity of a business process. The approach consists of: i. BPC-QEF (Business Process Concept - Quality Evaluation Framework), a language-independent generic framework and algorithm to compute the quality of the constructs of a business process: event, input, activity, and output. ii. A set of business process quality dimensions and factors. The following quality dimensions are distinguished: performance, efficiency, reliability, recoverability, permissibility, and availability. Each dimension categorises different quality aspects in terms of factors. A non-exhaustive set of sixteen quantitative factors is provided. iii. Quality metrics for each of the quality factors, to facilitate a quantitative computation of the quality of a specific construct of a business process. 3) BP-QC (Business Process - Quality Computation), an approach to compute the quality at the highest level of granularity of a business process. The approach consists of: i. BP-CQCF (Business Process - Compositional Quality Computation Framework), a language-independent generic framework and algorithm to compute the quality of a business process as a whole, given the quality of its constructs. ii. A set of generic business process modelling patterns to decompose a business process into more succinct parts, namely: sequential, parallel with synchronisation, exclusive, inclusive, simple loop, and complex loop. iii. A set of over one hundred computational formulae. For each combination of modelling pattern and a quality factor, there is a formula to compute the quality. 4) AAV (Approach to Application and Validation), an evaluation plan to evaluate BPIMM, BPC-QC and BP-QC in practice, together with expert stakeholders. The plan consists of the units of measure, a measurement model, and a case study procedure. To evaluate the applicability of the contributions of this thesis to real world business needs, four case studies have been conducted in different environments: a Dutch educational institution, a global financial institution, an international financial service provider, and a Dutch research project on crisis management. Each of these case studies concerns a different, single business process. This thesis shows that: 1) A quality computation approach can be adopted independent of a business process modelling language. 2) Quantitative quality factors can be introduced specifically for the constructs of a business process. 3) Quantitative metrics and computational formulae can be developed for specific quality factors, allowing the computation of different aspects of the quality of a business process quantitatively at different levels of granularity. 4) An evaluation plan can be developed to evaluate the applicability of the contributions of this thesis (viz., BPIMM, BPC-QC, and BP-QC). The contributions of this thesis are designed to be beneficial to the areas of business and management, requirements engineering, software engineering, and business process modelling. In the areas of requirements engineering and software engineering, these contributions are intended to help practitioners to consider non-functional requirements at the earliest stage. In the area of business process modelling, information systems, service computing, and cloud computing, the contributions can be used for quality-driven modelling, design, and redesign. To conclude, knowing the quality value of a business process at different levels of granularity provides a basis for its improvement.

During the last 30 years Petri nets have shown a continuous popularity and durability as process modelling language. While some process modelling languages were crossed with others or even disappeared, Petri nets are continuously used as modelling language addressing various purposes in the context of business processes. In this paper, we refer to the success of Petri nets and describe business process modelling extensions as well as approaches for process modelling, simulation, execution and evaluation relying on Petri nets. The variety of Petri net-based extensions shows that Petri nets can be adapted to changing requirements for which these extensions, modifications or variants have been proposed.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Exascale Computing Project (ECP) has fostered and strengthened the use of modern software engineering practices for developing applications and libraries, and this effort has resulted in the coordinated and interoperable E4S1 and xSDK2 ecosystems. Although this approach is cost-effective, it relies on robust programming systems and tools (PST) as the underlying foundation for our HPC software. At present, our primary PST stack consists of traditional high-performance computing (HPC) languages, namely Fortran, C, C++, and the popular Python language for data analysis and AI workflows. These languages support various programming frameworks and run-time abstractions that enable parallelism and concurrency across multiple node architectures and thousands of nodes through a variety of interconnect systems. However, to accommodate users’ diverse needs, certain aspects of the HPC ecosystem are delegated to vendor-specific or third-party implementations that extend beyond a particular scientific domain. This broader scope results in a multitude of specifications and variations, which leads to a complex orchestration of many-ecosystems. Unfortunately, this complexity in the ecosystem imposes additional overhead costs on consumers during the latter stages of the development cycle. In addition to the software ecosystem challenge, the upcoming conclusion of the ECP by December 2023 has raised significant concerns within the HPC programming systems community, from both the economic and social perspectives. The ECP has implemented a management structure for software development and funding decisions across all ECP participants by following a conventional hierarchical and centralized approach. However, this structure has prompted certain considerations within the community, particularly in anticipation of the Software Sustainability initiative by the DOE’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research Program (ASCR). For the success of this new initiative, it is of utmost importance to secure consistent funding and foster close engagement with researchers and core developers of existing programming-system products. This collaboration is vital to maintaining the critical capabilities of the current software during the transition phase while proactively adapting to future technology and workforce trends. The community recognizes the significance of adapting to emerging trends and is aware of the inherent fragility of the HPC software ecosystem, particularly in relation to programming systems that cater to all users. The ability to adapt and evolve is essential to staying relevant and effectively addressing these technical, economic, and social challenges. The S4PST team, which represents one of the six ASCR Software Sustainability seedling projects, is dedicated to tackling these challenges through community-based approaches that go beyond the scope of the DOE. This involves collaboration between national laboratories with academia, non-DOE institutions, hardware and system vendors, and international partners. By fostering these partnerships, we aim to create a robust and sustainable HPC software ecosystem that can effectively meet the needs of the community. This new community effort, driven by the eight DOE labs, will take on the responsibility of guiding funding decisions for programming-systems development and maintenance with transparency and consistency across all decisions. Additionally, the team will offer common technical services to the programming systems community, irrespective of their funding situations, and facilitate community-wide incubation to proactively nurture the software ecosystem. By actively engaging with stakeholders and employing a collaborative approach, we can collectively shape the future of programming systems and ensure a robust and thriving HPC software landscape. On May 11–12, 2023, the S4PST team conducted its inaugural kick-off workshop at the Innovative Computing Laboratory (ICL) in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, hosted by Hartwig Anzt. The workshop encompassed various sessions dedicated to presentations and discussions, with the aim of comprehending the team members’ perspectives on the vision of software sustainability. Additionally, the workshop aimed to identify the technical, economic, and social requirements for sustaining the programming-systems community in the field of HPC. This report provides a summary of the S4PST effort by highlighting five major thrust areas discussed during the workshop: (i) community, (ii) technical support, (iii) training and diversity, (iv) verification, validation and correctness, and (v) emerging technologies. It also encompasses an overview of the presentations and discussions held throughout the event, our views and potential synergies with other seedling efforts, along with the outcomes and key takeaways from our initial discussions.

Applications of critical path analysis to uniform grain packings with narrow conductance distributions: I. Single-phase permeability

Applications of critical path analysis to uniform grain packings with narrow conductance distributions: II. Water relative permeability

General-purpose modeling languages are inadequate to model and visualize business processes precisely. An enterprise has its own vocabulary for modeling processes and its specific tasks may have attached data that define the tasks precisely. We propose using Domain Specific Modeling (DSM) languages to model business processes, such that an enterprise can define its own DSM language(s) capturing its vocabulary and data requirement. We suggest using UML profiles and UML activity diagrams as the semantic base for these DSM languages and present tools that are able to create a DSM language and tool support for a given domain. One tool, called ADSpecializer, can generate a UML profile and its tool support of a given application domain. The other tool, ADModeler, is used to create UML activity diagrams within such a domain-specific UML profile. The two tools enable an enterprise to efficiently define and utilize their own DSM language.