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Bela Mutschler

Bio: Bela Mutschler is an academic researcher from University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten. The author has contributed to research in topics: Business process & Business process management. The author has an hindex of 16, co-authored 51 publications receiving 870 citations. Previous affiliations of Bela Mutschler include University of Twente & Daimler AG.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
01 May 2008
TL;DR: This paper summarizes the findings of three empirical studies, puts them in relation with each other, and uses them to show that "; process orientation"; is scarce and ";process awareness"; is needed in IS engineering.
Abstract: Process-oriented information systems (IS) aim at the computerized support of business processes. So far, contemporary IS have often fail to meet this goal. To better understand this drawback, to systematically identify its rationales, and to derive critical success factors for business process support, we conducted three empirical studies: an exploratory case study in the automotive domain, an online survey among 79 information technology professionals, and another online survey among 70 business process management experts. This paper summarizes the findings of these studies, puts them in relation with each other, and uses them to show that ";process orientation"; is scarce and ";process awareness"; is needed in IS engineering.

155 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
16 Mar 2008
TL;DR: More experimental research is needed in order to obtain more valid data on the various aspects and effects of BPM technology and tools and illustrates how experimental research can be applied in the BPM field.
Abstract: Business Process Management (BPM) technology has become an important instrument for improving process performance. When considering its use, however, enterprises typically have to rely on vendor promises or qualitative reports. What is still missing and what is also demanded by IT decision makers are quantitative evaluations based on empirical and experimental research. This paper picks up this demand and illustrates how experimental research can be applied in the BPM field. The conducted experiment compares efforts for implementing a sample business process either based on standard workflow technology or on a case handling system. We motivate and describe the experiment design, discuss threats for the validity of experiment results (as well as risk mitigations), and present experiment results. In general, more experimental research is needed in order to obtain more valid data on the various aspects and effects of BPM technology and tools.

90 citations

DissertationDOI
17 Jan 2008
TL;DR: The EcoPOST framework is introduced, which utilizes evaluation models to describe the interplay of technological, organizational, and projectspecific evaluation factors, and simulation concepts to unfold the dynamic behavior of PAIS engineering projects.
Abstract: Providing effective IT support for business processes has become crucial for enterprises to stay competitive in their market. Business processes must be defined, implemented, enacted, monitored, and continuously adapted to changing situations. Process life cycle support and continuous process improvement become critical success factors in contemporary and future enterprise computing. In this context, process-aware information systems (PAIS) adopt a key role. Thereby, organization-specific and generic process support systems are distinguished. In the former case, the PAIS is build "from scratch" and incorporates organization-specific information about the structure and processes to be supported. In the latter case, the PAIS does not contain any information about the structure and processes of a particular organization. Instead, an organization needs to configure the PAIS by specifying processes, organizational entities, and business objects. To enable the realization of PAIS, numerous process support paradigms, process modeling standards, and business process management tools have been introduced. The application of these approaches in PAIS engineering projects is not only influenced by technological, but also by organizational and project-specific factors. Between these factors there exist numerous causal dependencies, which, in turn, often lead to complex and unexpected effects in PAIS engineering projects. In particular, the costs of PAIS engineering projects are significantly influenced by these causal dependencies. What is therefore needed is a comprehensive approach enabling PAIS engineers to systematically investigate these causal dependencies as well as their impact on the costs of PAIS engineering projects. Existing economic-driven IT evaluation and software cost estimation approaches, however, are unable to take into account causal dependencies and resulting effects. In response, this thesis introduces the EcoPOST framework. This framework utilizes evaluation models to describe the interplay of technological, organizational, and projectspecific evaluation factors, and simulation concepts to unfold the dynamic behavior of PAIS engineering projects. In this context, the EcoPOST framework also supports the reuse of evaluation models based on a library of generic, predefined evaluation patterns and also provides governing guidelines (e.g., model design guidelines) which enhance the transfer of the EcoPOST framework into practice. Tool support is available as well. Finally, we present the results of two online surveys, three case studies, and one controlled software experiment. Based on these empirical and experimental research activities, we are able to validate evaluation concepts underlying the EcoPOST framework and additionally demonstrate its practical applicability.

79 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper illustrates how experimental research can be applied to technologies enabling enterprises to coordinate their business processes and to associate them with related artifacts and resources and discusses threats for the validity of the experimental results.

62 citations

Book ChapterDOI
13 Sep 2010
TL;DR: Results of a replication study in Germany are presented, comprising six interview-based case studies and an international survey among 77 BPM experts, to derive valuable insights both for practitioners performing BPM projects and for academics facing the challenge to support practitioners with innovative solutions.
Abstract: This paper investigates the adoption of BPM, i.e., the use and deployment of BPM concepts in different kinds of organizations. A set of 33 completed, industrial BPM projects is analyzed based on project documentation and interviews with involved project members. In addition to the main study, which is conducted in the Netherlands, the paper also presents results of a replication study in Germany comprising six interview-based case studies and an international survey among 77 BPM experts. Thereby, various characteristics of BPM projects (such as a project's objective, strategic orientation or focus area) are analyzed to derive valuable insights both for practitioners performing BPM projects and for academics facing the challenge to support practitioners with innovative solutions in the field of BPM.

49 citations


Cited by
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Book
29 Nov 2005

2,161 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: The paper proposes an underlying theoretical framework with the utilization of three theories: contingency, dynamic capabilities and task-technology fit that is used to identify critical success factors on a case study from the banking sector.
Abstract: Although business process management (‘BPM’) is a popular concept, it has not yet been properly theoretically grounded. This leads to problems in identifying both generic and case specific critical success factors of BPM programs. The paper proposes an underlying theoretical framework with the utilization of three theories: contingency, dynamic capabilities and task technology fit. The main premise is that primarily the fit between the business environment and business processes is needed. Then both continuous improvement and the proper fit between business process tasks and information systems must exist. The underlying theory is used to identify critical success factors on a case study from the banking sector.

797 citations

Book
19 Nov 2014
TL;DR: This book provides guidelines for practicing design science in the fields of information systems and software engineering research by providing guidelines on how to effectively structure research goals, how to analyze research problems concerning design goals and knowledge questions,How to validate artifact designs and how to empirically investigate artifacts in context and finally how to present the results of the design cycle as a whole.
Abstract: This book provides guidelines for practicing design science in the fields of information systems and software engineering research. A design process usually iterates over two activities: first designing an artifact that improves something for stakeholders and subsequently empirically investigating the performance of that artifact in its context. This validation in context is a key feature of the book - since an artifact is designed for a context, it should also be validated in this context. The book is divided into five parts. Part I discusses the fundamental nature of design science and its artifacts, as well as related design research questions and goals. Part II deals with the design cycle, i.e. the creation, design and validation of artifacts based on requirements and stakeholder goals. To elaborate this further, Part III presents the role of conceptual frameworks and theories in design science. Part IV continues with the empirical cycle to investigate artifacts in context, and presents the different elements of research problem analysis, research setup and data analysis. Finally, Part V deals with the practical application of the empirical cycle by presenting in detail various research methods, including observational case studies, case-based and sample-based experiments and technical action research. These main sections are complemented by two generic checklists, one for the design cycle and one for the empirical cycle. The book is written for students as well as academic and industrial researchers in software engineering or information systems. It provides guidelines on how to effectively structure research goals, how to analyze research problems concerning design goals and knowledge questions, how to validate artifact designs and how to empirically investigate artifacts in context and finally how to present the results of the design cycle as a whole.

758 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose an underlying theoretical framework with the utilization of three theories: contingency, dynamic capabilities and task-technology fit to identify critical success factors on a case study from the banking sector.

664 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Sep 2008
TL;DR: A set of 18 change patterns and seven change support features are suggested to foster the systematic comparison of existing process management technology in respect to process change support to facilitate the selection of technologies for realizing flexible PAISs.
Abstract: Companies increasingly adopt process-aware information systems (PAISs), which offer promising perspectives for more flexible enterprise computing. The emergence of different process support paradigms and the lack of methods for comparing existing approaches enabling PAIS changes have made the selection of adequate process management technology difficult. This paper suggests a set of 18 change patterns and seven change support features to foster the systematic comparison of existing process management technology in respect to process change support. While the proposed patterns are all based on empirical evidence from several large case studies, the suggested change support features constitute typical functionalities provided by flexible PAISs. Based on the proposed change patterns and features, we provide a detailed analysis and evaluation of selected approaches from both academia and industry. The presented work will not only facilitate the selection of technologies for realizing flexible PAISs, but can also be used as a reference for implementing flexible PAISs.

630 citations