Process-Oriented Information Logistics: Requirements, Techniques, Application

Organisations invest in a considerable number of resources towards implementing Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMS), expecting productive outcomes from the ECMS utilisation. A well-designed ECMS is impressive and deserves admiration, but to the organisations the ECMS limited value is often a major highlight. This motivates this study to understand how sustainable investment in Enterprise Content Management (ECM) technologies could support organisational Agile Business Processes (ABP). In studying how different organisation types utilise ECMS, the research employs a cross-sectional multiple-case studies approach with participation of seven large-scaled organisations. An investigation and an exploration into how these organisations interacted with ECMS are pivotal to the research. Based on the qualitative data analysis, this study proposes a sustainable ECMS-use framework that explains how ABP could benefit from it. Essentially, the framework enlightens researchers and practitioners to leverage ECM technologies for different work practices supporting ABP and organisational structures.

\nThe aim of this paper is to better understand how highly standardized and integrated businesses known as unification types of organizations use Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMS) to support their business processes. Multiple case study approach was used to study the ways two unification organizations use their ECMS in their daily work practices. Arising from these case studies are insights into the differing ways in which ECMS is used to support businesses. Based on the comparisons of the two cases, this study proposed that unification organizations may use ECMS in four ways, for: (1) collaboration, (2) information sharing that supports a standardized process structure, (3) building custom workflows that support integrated and standardized processes, and (4) providing links and access to information systems. These findings may guide organizations that are highly standardized and integrated in fashion, to achieve their intended ECMS-use, to understand reasons for ECMS failures and underutilization and to exploit technologies investments.\n\n

The advent of true client/server technology, high speed personal computers, and global access through the Internet is causing the two worlds of the business process and the computer to collide as management demands better information to use in decision-making. This paper will focus on the concept of organizing the business process to fit the goals and objectives of the enterprise, then tailoring the use of computers and software to the people, processes and data in a coherent fashion, enabling management to "see" the business more completely and therefore manage it more effectively. Computer systems are used to store and process enormous amounts of data for various parts of a business; accounting, land, reserves, documents, geotechnical, etc. Reports containing portions of these data are generated for both internal and external purposes and are often stored and processed by computers at the receiving end. Expert systems and application software are used to analyse technical data for reservoir modelling, geological and geophysical analysis and interpretation, land price analysis, and history-based forecasting for economics and planning. The problems facing management in the mineral resource industry relate to the many facets of managing risk in a volatile environment. They must be able to grasp and manipulate complex essential information to ensure the best use of their people, capital and opportunities within the business process they have adopted to achieve their goals and objectives. They want business- process related information that tells them about their own operation and their marketplace. They need reporting methods that tell them about their return on assets, capital, business units, and specific properties. They need to know how they compare to their competition and how the investment community perceives them. People planning, blueprinting, and executing the business process to achieve corporate objectives are at the heart of commerce. The use of computers must facilitate the business process without interfering with, or attempting to replace it. Client/server, Internet, and multimedia technology offer the means to enhance the business process, but only through first defining and understanding the process, then choosing and implementing the most effective combination of computers and software to enable the business process to succeed. Introduction The situation in today's mineral resources industry is one of tremendous growth and change. New players appear daily, old players consolidate, mergers and acquisitions create new superstars and they all need information that is current, relevant and easily digested to stay in the game. The data that form the basis for this information are captured, stored and managed by different parts of each organization for their specific functional needs and for purposes of reporting to management on their activities. Once the data are put into context they become "information." Our industry generates large volumes of data which has spurred the development of electronic means to store and process the data so that it may become information. "Computerization" of the industry began long ago with the development of accounting systems and geophysical systems.

To oblige with the legal requirements, organizations have to keep data up to a certain amount of time.They are creating a huge amount of data on daily basis therefore it is very difficult for them to manage and store this data due to the legal requirements. This is where Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system comes into picture. ECM is a means of organizing and storing an organization's documents and other content that relates to the organization's processes. With ECM being offered as a service, thanks to cloud computing it makes sense to offer this functionality as a shared service. There are various benefits of offering it as a shared service one of which is that it is a cheaper method to meet the needs of large organizations with different requirements for ECM functionality. ECM systems use resources like memory, central processing unit (CPU) and disk which are shared among different clients (organizations). With every client, a service level agreement is there which describes the performance criteria a provider promises to meet while delivering the ECM service. To improve the performance of the ECM by optimizing the use of resources and match the Service level agreements various techniques are used. In this thesis, heuristics technique is used. Performance baselines and utilization of resources are measured for different workloads of the clients and on the basis of that, resources of the ECM can be dynamically provisioned or assigned to different clients get the optimized resource utilization and better performance. First of all typical workload is designed which is similar to the work being performed by various banks and insurance companies using IBM ECM systems and which consists of interactive and batch type of operations. Performance baselines are being measured for these workloads by monitoring the key performance indicators (KPIs) with variable number of users performing operations on the system at the same time. After getting the results for KPIs and resource utilization, resources are being assigned dynamically according to their utilization in a way that the use of resources is optimized and clients are satisfied with better service at the same time.

Process mining has an important place in business process (BP) analysis. It aims to analyze process events in order to discover the related BP model. However, these techniques are only based on process events and sometimes on business data, leaving aside a large set of data, namely the BP execution context. Existing studies have shown the benefits of considering the context in the BP analysis but they only suggest manual techniques to bind a BP with its context, which is not scalable and time consuming in real deployment environment. To address this issue, we propose a semi-automatic BP contextualization solution which takes into account the BP execution context in the BP analysis time. It uses semantic techniques to perform a matching of the BP model with contextual data and with business data, and then it obtains the value of these data during the BP execution. In this paper, we present a tool that implements this solution in order to enhance current analysis techniques which facilitates the monitoring and enables deep BP analysis. The proposed tool is validated by its application to a real life process, a palettization process.

The market for enterprise content management (ECM) systems is difficult to understand. ECM systems provide an information backbone for an entire organization, but the areas of application and how the systems are used and handled vary between enterprises. Technical standards and functional enhancements have further blurred the borders between the software sections, and the segmentation of the ECM market is complicated by the many different terms used. This paper demonstrates a way to classify ECM software systems and highlights substantial developments within the market. In an effort to enhance our understanding of how the term “ECM” is used today, this paper uses several approaches to specify the ECM market’s segments. The focus points are the software offering/vendor, the area of application, and the customers’ point of view. The evaluation is based on 10 years of market analysis of ECM software in the BARC laboratory, consulting customers in ECM projects, and doing market research on ECM solutions. By providing detailed information on the segments of the ECM market and market trends, this paper provides a theoretical approach to ECM market analysis and some practical tools with which to evaluate software solutions for their applicability in a specific project.

During the early 1990s, workflow technologies were the only ones to offer a transversal integration capacity to the enterprise applications, thus allowing the representation and the enactment of business processes. However, the formalisms developed for workflow specifications were almost systematically activity oriented. Consequently, the resulting process definitions have the advantage to be easily transformable in executable code, but the disadvantage of being prescriptive and rigid. Recent works underline the needs in term of flexible and adaptive workflows, whose execution can evolve according to situations that cannot always be prescribed. In fact, a flexible representation of business processes is an asset to maintain the fit between business processes and their supporting systems in an evolving environment. This article proposes a conceptual framework for an intention‐driven modeling of flexible workflow applications. The purpose of the underlying modeling formalism is to define an integration/orchestration for islands of business process chunks and their support systems in order to create and to maintain the fit between them. The modeling framework offers the ability to represent in the same business process definition the well‐structured process chunks as well as the ill‐structured orad hocones. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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.

As the promotion of technologies and applications of Big Data, the research of business process management (BPM) has gradually deepened to consider the impacts and challenges of big business data on existing BPM technologies. Recently, parallel business process mining (e.g. discovering business models from business visual data, integrating runtime business data with interactive business process monitoring visualisation systems and summarising and visualising historical business data for further analysis, etc.) and multi‐perspective business data analytics (e.g. pattern detecting, decision‐making and process behaviour predicting, etc.) have been intensively studied considering the steep increase in business data size and type. However, comprehensive and in‐depth testing is needed to ensure their quality. Testing based solely on existing business processes and their system logs is far from sufficient. Large‐scale randomly generated models and corresponding complete logs should be used in testing. To test parallel algorithms for discovering process models, different log completeness and generation algorithms were proposed. However, they suffer from either state space explosion or non‐full‐covering task dependencies problem. Besides, most existing generation algorithms rely on random executing strategy, which leads to low and unstable efficiency. In this paper, we propose a novel log completeness type, that is, #TAR completeness, as well as its generation algorithm. The experimental results based on a series of randomly generated process models show that the #TAR complete logs outperform the state‐of‐the‐art ones with lower capacity, fuller dependencies covering and higher generating efficiency.

Business processes and information systems mutually affect each other in non-trivial ways. Frequently, the business process design and the information system design are not well aligned. This means that business processes are designed without taking the information system impact into account, and vice versa. Missing alignment at design time often results in quality problems at runtime, such as large response times of information systems, large process execution times, overloaded information systems or interrupted processes. Aligning business process quality and information system quality at design time requires to
\nsolve the following problems (P). Business process quality and information system quality have to be characterized. P1: In contrast to information system quality, which is specified in the ISO/IEC 9126 standard, for example, there is no common and comprehensive understanding of business process quality. P2: Beyond that, current business process
\nmodeling notations do not aim to represent quality aspects. The impact of a business process on the quality of an information system, and vice versa, is unknown at design
\ntime. P3: The mutual impact between business processes and information systems must be predicted at design time.
\nIn this thesis, the Business Process Quality Reference-Model (BPQRM), a quality model for business processes, is introduced. The model allows for a comprehensive characterization of business process quality (P1). The BPQRM is applied successfully in a case study to
\nidentify potential for process quality improvement in practice. Based on the BPQRM an existing process modeling notation is extended by model elements to represent quality
\naspects (P2). Simulation is a powerful means to predict the impact of a business process on the quality of an information system, and vice versa, at design time. This thesis proposes two simulation approaches to predict the mutual impact between business processes and information systems, in terms of performance (P3). The approach Business
\nIT Impact Simulation (BIIS) defines interfaces between the business process simulation and the information system simulation. Performance-relevant information is exchanged
\nvia the interfaces between both simulations. Using business process simulation and information system simulation in isolation, workload burstiness is not adequately reflected.
\nThis is especially true for occasional, volatile peak loads. Workload burstiness can significantly affect the performance of business processes and information systems. The approach Integrated Business IT Impact Simulation (IntBIIS) for the integration of business processes and information systems in a single simulation allows for reflecting workload burstiness correctly. The simulation approaches support the comparison of design alternatives and the verification of a certain design against requirements. A case study confirms the feasibility in practice and the acceptance from practitioners’ point of
\nview.

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems have emerged as critical infrastructure within the insurance industry, fundamentally transforming how insurers manage documentation, ensure regulatory compliance, and deliver customer service across property, auto, and life insurance sectors. The integration of sophisticated ECM architectures enables seamless information flow between previously siloed departments while simultaneously addressing the stringent requirements of multi-jurisdictional compliance frameworks. Recent implementations by major insurers demonstrate significant improvements in claims processing efficiency, customer communication, and documentation accessibility through omnichannel delivery systems. Particularly noteworthy is the capacity of modern ECM systems to provide robust support during catastrophic events, allowing for rapid document processing and real-time communication when policyholders are most vulnerable. As insurers continue to navigate complex regulatory environments and evolving customer expectations, the strategic deployment of integrated content management solutions represents a decisive competitive advantage, balancing operational efficiency with enhanced service delivery and compliance assurance.

Making implicit procedural knowledge explicit by business processes is an established means for analyzing and improving efficiency of organizational knowledge work. Such an explicit definition of processes is only to a limited extend applicable to individual knowledge work due to its high complexity and dynamics. Nevertheless, there are structured and repeating activities in individual knowledge work that are worth to capture. Dynamic and ad-hoc workflows allow for capturing these activities. However, they do not allow for synchronizing them with business processes. This hampers communication of best practices and transfer of knowledge between the knowledge workers. Our analysis shows that none of the existing models fully provides the desired functionality. Thus, we have developed our own approach the pattern system strukt and applied it at the example scenario of a real architectural office. The strukt prototype helps knowledge workers to organize their activities, collaborate with others, and synchronize one’s very individual activities with the business processes.

In service-oriented environment, a number of providers may offer functionally identical services with different Quality of Service (QoS). Sometimes, some providers lure customers to discover and select their services by deception. To address the unreliability of web services and other issues, we propose a reliable composite service computation framework, which integrates business process definitions with composite service selection and service binding. The proposed framework utilizes flexible business process definitions to support flexible selections of service composition during business process enactment. In the end, a case study was illustrated to verify the effectiveness of this technology.

Executive decisions are the core components affecting the growth of the organization. While one right decision can make the business to reach the sky, one wrong decision can bring down the business. With the increasing competition of IT industries, the investments, business directives and the business data are increasing exponentially. Hence, the business owner should be extra cautious and must keep all the factors in mind while decision making. Thus, demanding a great requirement of a tool which measures and monitors the growth of the business and to evidence that the business is heading towards the profitable direction. Even though there are few existing methods to measure the growth of the company, these are limited to provide basic information or have restrictions in analyzing the behavior of the business. Therefore, fail to provide the complete assurance to business owners in decision making. This work provides an efficient Nobel solution to address these problems by focusing on developing a Performance Dashboard. The proposed technique involves an integration of business intelligence technologies, data mining and data visualization technologies creating a perfect solution to analyze the business trends, business growth, the amount of profit, employee performance, customer satisfaction, areas of improvements in business and much more. This performance dashboard showcases the information by understating the business behavior right from the organization start period. It acts as an information management tool that is used to track the metrics, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and additional key factors applicable to the business or specific process. Using data visualization techniques, dashboard simplifies the complex data sets to deliver users with a glancing awareness of present performance and to keep track on the department's capability to accomplish service level targets.

Companies increasingly adopt process management technology which offers promising perspectives for realizing flexible information systems. However, there still exist numerous process scenarios not adequately covered by contemporary information systems. One major reason for this deficiency is the insufficient understanding of the inherent relationships existing between business processes on the one side and business data on the other. Consequently, these two perspectives are not well integrated in many existing process management systems. This paper emphasizes the need for both object- and process-awareness in future information systems, and illustrates it along several examples. Especially, the relation between these two fundamental perspectives will be discussed, and the role of business objects and data as drivers for both process modeling and process enactment be emphasized. In general, any business process support should consider object behavior as well as object interactions, and therefore be based on two levels of granularity. In addition, data-driven process execution and integrated user access to processes and data are needed. Besides giving insights into these fundamental characteristics, an advanced framework supporting them in an integrated manner will be presented and its application to real-world process scenarios be shown. Overall, a holistic and generic framework integrating processes, data, and users will contribute to overcome many of the limitations of existing process management technology.