Process modeling

About: Process modeling is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 11639 publications have been published within this topic receiving 223996 citations. The topic is also known as: process simulation.

Disassembly modeling, planning and application: a review

Abstract: Industrial recycling and remanufacturing is practice of growing importance due to the increasing environmental and economic pressures. It involves product disassembly to retrieve the desired parts and/or subassemblies by separating a product into its constituencies. The disassembly process modeling and planning is more challenging than assembly since its termination goal is not necessarily fixed depending on the system status. Moreover, it is uncontested that disassembly is charged with more uncertainty in system structures and component conditions than assembly. The paper reviews methods for modeling and process planning in disassembly. Its purpose is to survey the state-of-the-art of this emerging area to supply important information for future study.

Modeling and simulating causal dependencies on process-aware information systems from a cost perspective

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.

Business process reference models: survey and classification

Abstract: Within the Information Systems field, reference models are well-known for many years. The aim of this paper is to survey and to describe reference models for business processes. Our analysis of 30 process reference models is based on a framework consisting of criteria such as application domain, used process modeling languages, model's size, known evaluations and applications of process reference models. Furthermore, we identify model domains, which have been dealt with, describe similarities and differences between the available process reference models, and point to open research questions.

A knowledge centred framework for collaborative business process modelling

Abstract: Purpose – The paper aims to present the design rationale, the structure and the use of a web‐based information systems framework for collaborative business process modelling.Design/methodology/approach – By viewing process modelling as a “problematic situation” that entails a considerable amount of social and knowledge activity in order to be resolved, a novel process modelling construct has been developed and a participative problem‐structuring methodology adapted to the specific domain. The framework presented is the result of an action research study for process improvement and has been introduced in a real organizational setting as a pilot application.Findings – Experiences from the use of the framework presented indicate that it stimulates interaction and makes participants more accountable for their modelling contributions, as well as aiding them to define, understand, document, analyze and improve business processes in a holistic manner by interacting with one another and with the model under const...

Modelling non-functional requirements of business processes

Abstract: This paper presents an approach to the identification and inclusion of 'non-functional' aspects of a business process in modelling for business improvement. The notion of non-functional requirements (NFRs) is borrowed from software engineering, and a method developed in that field for linking NFRs to conceptual models is adapted and applied to business process modelling. Translated into this domain, NFRs are equated with the general or overall quality attributes of a business process, which, though essential aspects of any effective process, are not well captured in a functionally oriented process model. Using an example of a healthcare process (cancer registration in Jordan). We show how an analysis and evaluation of NFRs can be applied to a process model developed with role activity diagramming (RAD) to operationalise desirable quality features more explicitly in the model. This gives a useful extension to RAD and similar modelling methods, as well as providing a basis for business improvement.