Abstract
At process-aware information systems (PAIS), it is sometimes necessary to deviate from the predefined process. Otherwise the users are restricted too much. This paper presents an approach that allows to pre-model predictable flexibility already at build-time. An advantage, compared to completely dynamic changes at run-time, is that the effort for the end users necessary to trigger a deviation is reduced significantly. Furthermore, process safety is increased since, for instance, it can be predefined which users are allowed to perform which modifications. The corresponding requirements for the control-flow perspective are presented in this paper, with a special focus on the kind of information that shall be predefined at build-time. Examples from practice are presented in order to illustrate the necessity of the requirements. Furthermore, the interaction with the users is explained in order to show that triggering a flexible deviation causes only little effort at run-time.
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Notes
- 1.
In order to improve readability, only the male form is used in the following.
- 2.
The search was performed with the following terms, all in combination with business process: flexibility by design, pre-designed flexibility, pre-modelled flexibility, flexibility build-time, flexibility control flow. Furthermore, [1] as an “overview book for flexibility in BP” was examined with respect to hints to relevant approaches.
- 3.
A realization would be possible with a XOR-Split with “Deferred Choice” semantics [25]. This type of XOR, however, is typically not supported by commercial PMS. As an alternative, in BPMN, a two-way event-based XOR-Split may be modelled in combination with intermediate throw and catch events. Defining such a sophisticated BP graph, however, may overwhelm “normal” BP-designers.
- 4.
In order to realize process execution by a process engine, however, it is an option to map the “easy to understand” modelling constructs (presented in this paper) automatically to such already existing constructs of the BP execution engine, even in a sophisticated way.
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Bauer, T. (2021). Pre-modelled Flexibility for the Control-Flow of Business Processes: Requirements and Interaction with Users. In: Filipe, J., Śmiałek, M., Brodsky, A., Hammoudi, S. (eds) Enterprise Information Systems. ICEIS 2020. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 417. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75418-1_38
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