Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Multi-level Hierarchical Approach for Configuring Business Processes

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Advances in ICT for Business, Industry and Public Sector

Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 579))

  • 786 Accesses

Abstract

Business Process configuration constitutes a powerful tool for expressing similarities between different Business Process models. Such models in the case of real life systems are often very complex. Configuration gives the opportunity to keep different models in a single configurable model. Another approach to manage model complexity is hierarchization, which allows for encapsulating process details into sub-levels, helps to avoid inconsistencies and fosters reuse of similar parts of models. In this paper, we present an approach for configuring Business Processes that is based on hierarchization. Our approach takes advantage of the arbitrary \(n\)-to-\(m\) relationships between tasks in the merged processes. It preserves similar abstraction level of subprocesses in a hierarchy and allows a user to grasp the high-level flow of the merged processes. We also describe how to extend the approach to support multi-level hierarchization.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    See: http://fedcsis.org/2013/abict.html.

  2. 2.

    See: https://code.djangoproject.com/.

  3. 3.

    See: http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/.

  4. 4.

    See: http://www.versionone.com/.

References

  1. OMG: Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN): Version 2.0 specification. Technical report formal/2011-01-03, Object Management Group (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Allweyer, T.: BPMN 2.0. Introduction to the Standard for Business Process Modeling. BoD, Norderstedt (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Nalepa, G.J., Kluza, K.: UML representation for rule-based application models with XTT2-based business rules. Int. J. Softw. Eng. Knowl. Eng. (IJSEKE) 22(4), 485–524 (2012). http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S021819401250012X

  4. Silver, B.: BPMN Method and Style. Cody-Cassidy Press (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Reijers, H., Mendling, J., Dijkman, R.: Human and automatic modularizations of process models to enhance their comprehension. Inf. Syst. 36(5), 881–897 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Mendling, J., Reijers, H.A., van der Aalst, W.M.P.: Seven process modeling guidelines (7PMG). Inf. Softw. Technol. 52(2), 127–136 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Yan, Z., Dijkman, R., Grefen, P.: Business process model repositories—framework and survey. Inf. Softw. Technol. 54(4), 380–395 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Dijkman, R., Dumas, M., van Dongen, B., Käärik, R., Mendling, J.: Similarity of business process models: metrics and evaluation. Information Systems 36(2), 498–516 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Baran, M., Kluza, K., Nalepa, G.J., Ligęza, A.: A hierarchical approach for configuring business processes. In: Ganzha, M., Maciaszek, L.A.,Paprzycki, M. (eds.) Proceedings of the Federated Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems—FedCSIS 2013, Krakow, Poland, 8–11 September 2013, pp. 931–937. IEEE (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Nuffel, D.V., Backer, M.D.: Multi-abstraction layered business process modeling. Comput. Ind. 63(2), 131–147 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Pittke, F., Leopold, H., Mendling, J., Tamm, G.: Enabling reuse of process models through the detection of similar process parts. In: La Rosa, M., Soffer, P. (eds.) Business Process Management Workshops. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol. 132, pp. 586–597. Springer, Berlin (2013)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  12. Weber, B., Reichert, M., Mendling, J., Reijers, H.A.: Refactoring large process model repositories. Comput. Ind. 62(5), 467–486 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. La Rosa, M., Wohed, P., Mendling, J., ter Hofstede, A., Reijers, H., Van der Aalst, W.M.P.: Managing process model complexity via abstract syntax modifications. Ind. Inf. IEEE Trans. 7(4), 614–629 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Cappelli, C., Leite, J.C., Batista, T., Silva, L.: An aspect-oriented approach to business process modeling. In: Proceedings of the 15th Workshop on Early Aspects. EA’09, pp. 7–12. ACM, New York (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Dumas, M., Garcia-Banuelos, L., Rosa, M.L., Uba, R.: Fast detection of exact clones in business process model repositories. Inf. Syst. 38(4), 619–633 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Uba, R., Dumas, M., Garcia-Banuelos, L., Rosa, M.: Clone detection in repositories of business process models. In: Rinderle-Ma, S., Toumani, F., Wolf, K. (eds.) Business Process Management. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 6896, pp. 248–264. Springer, Berlin (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Haddar, N.Z., Makni, L., Ben Abdallah, H.: Literature review of reuse in business process modeling. Softw. Syst. Model. 121, 1–15 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Mendling, J., Neumann, G., Aalst, W.: Understanding the occurrence of errors in process models based on metrics. In: Meersman, R., Tari, Z. (eds.) On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems 2007: CoopIS, DOA, ODBASE, GADA, and IS. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 4803, pp. 113–130. Springer, Berlin (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Dijkman, R., Rosa, M.L., Reijers, H.A.: Managing large collections of business process models—current techniques and challenges. Comput. Ind. 63(2), 91–97 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Kunze, M., Weske, M.: Metric trees for efficient similarity search in large process model repositories. In: Muehlen, M., Su, J. (eds.) Business Process Management Workshops. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol. 66, pp. 535–546. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  21. La Rosa, M., Gottschalk, F.: Synergia-comprehensive tool support for configurable process models. In: Proceedings of the Demo Track of the 7th International Conference on Business Process Management (BPM’09), vol. 489. CEUR (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Bobek, S., Baran, M., Kluza, K., Nalepa, G.J.: Application of bayesian networks to recommendations in business process modeling. In: Giordano, L., Montani, S., Dupre, D.T. (eds.) Proceedings of the Workshop AI Meets Business Processes 2013 co-located with the 13th Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AI*IA 2013), Turin, Italy, December 6, 2013 (2013). http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1101/

  23. van der Aalst, W.M.: Business process management: a comprehensive survey. In: ISRN Software Engineering 2013 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  24. La Rosa, M., Dumas, M., ter Hofstede, A.H., Mendling, J.: Configurable multi-perspective business process models. Inf. Syst. 36(2), 313–340 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Rosemann, M., van der Aalst, W.M.P.: A configurable reference modelling language. Inf. Syst. 32(1), 1–23 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Puhlmann, F., Schnieders, A., Weiland, J., Weske, M.: Variability Mechanisms for Process Models. PESOA-Report TR 17/2005, Process Family Engineering in Service-Oriented Applications (pesoa). BMBF-Project. Report, Hasso Plattner Institut, Postdam, Germany (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Schnieders, A., Puhlmann, F.: Variability mechanisms in e-business process families. In: Proceeedings of the International Conference on Business Information Systems (BIS 2006), pp. 583–601 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Tealeb, A., Awad, A., Galal-Edeen, G.: Context-based variant generation of business process models. In: Bider, I., Gaaloul, K., Krogstie, J., Nurcan, S., Proper, H.A., Schmidt, R., Soffer, P. (eds.) Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling, no. 175 in Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, pp. 363–377. Springer, Berlin (2014). http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-662-43745-2_25

  29. La Rosa, M., Dumas, M., Uba, R., Dijkman, R.M.: Business process model merging: an approach to business process consolidation. ACM Trans. Softw. Eng. Methodol. (TOSEM) 22(2), 11 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Döhring, M., Reijers, H.A., Smirnov, S.: Configuration vs. adaptation for business process variant maintenance: an empirical study. Inf. Syst. 39, 108–133 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Weidmann, M., Koetter, F., Kintz, M., Schleicher, D., Mietzner, R.: Adaptive business process modeling in the internet of services (ABIS). In: ICIW 2011, The Sixth International Conference on Internet and Web Applications and Services, pp. 29–34 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Müller, R., Greiner, U., Rahm, E.: Agentwork: a workflow system supporting rule-based workflow adaptation. Data Knowl. Eng. 51(2), 223–256 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Charfi, A., Müller, H., Mezini, M.: Aspect-oriented business process modeling with ao4bpmn. In: Modelling Foundations and Applications, pp. 48–61. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Rastrepkina, M.: Managing variability in process models by structural decomposition. In: Business Process Modeling Notation, pp. 106–113. Springer (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Gottschalk, F., Van Der Aalst, W.M., Jansen-Vullers, M.H., La Rosa, M.: Configurable workflow models. Int. J. Co-op. Inf. Syst. 17(02), 177–221 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Awad, A., Sakr, S., Kunze, M., Weske, M.: Design by selection: a reuse-based approach for business process modeling. In: Conceptual Modeling-ER 2011, pp. 332–345. Springer, Berlin (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Meerkamm, S.: Configuration of multi-perspectives variants. In: Business Process Management Workshops, pp. 277–288. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Meerkamm, S.: Staged configuration of multi-perspectives variants based on a generic data model. In: Business Process Management Workshops, pp. 326–337. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Hallerbach, A., Bauer, T., Reichert, M.: Capturing variability in business process models: the provop approach. J. Softw. Maint. Evol. Res. Pract. 22(6–7), 519–546 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Döhring, M., Zimmermann, B.: vBPMN: Event-Aware Workflow Variants by Weaving BPMN2 and Business Rules. In: Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling, pp. 332–341. Springer (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  41. Nalepa, G.J.: Proposal of business process and rules modeling with the XTT method. In: V. Negru, et al. (eds.) Symbolic and numeric algorithms for scientific computing, 2007. SYNASC Ninth international symposium. September 26–29, pp. 500–506. IEEE Computer Society, IEEE, CPS Conference Publishing Service, Los Alamitos, California; Washington; Tokyo (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  42. Ligęza, A., Nalepa, G.J.: A study of methodological issues in design and development of rule-based systems: proposal of a new approach. Wiley Interdisciplinary Rev. Data Mining Knowl. Discov. 1(2), 117–137 (2011). doi:10.1002/widm.11

  43. Nalepa, G.J., Ligęza, A., Kaczor, K.: Formalization and modeling of rules using the XTT2 method. Int. J. Artif. Intell. Tools 20(6), 1107–1125 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Nalepa, G., Bobek, S., Ligęza, A., Kaczor, K.: Algorithms for rule inference in modularized rule bases. In: Bassiliades, N., Governatori, G., Paschke, A. (eds.) Rule-Based Reasoning, Programming, and Applications. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 6826, pp. 305–312. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  45. Kluza, K., Nalepa, G.J.: Proposal of square metrics for measuring business process model complexity. In: M. Ganzha, L.A. Maciaszek, M. Paprzycki (eds.) Proceedings of the Federated Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems—FedCSIS 2012, Wroclaw, Poland, 9–12 September 2012, pp. 919–922 (2012). http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=6354395

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the organizers of the ABICT 2013 workshop on the FedCSIS 2013 conference for providing an ample environment for presenting and discussing our research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. AGH University of Science and Technology, Al. A. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059, Krakow, Poland

    Mateusz Baran, Krzysztof Kluza, Grzegorz J. Nalepa & Antoni Ligęza

  2. Cracow University of Technology, Ul. Warszawska 24, 31-155, Krakow, Poland

    Mateusz Baran

Authors
  1. Mateusz Baran
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Krzysztof Kluza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Grzegorz J. Nalepa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Antoni Ligęza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Krzysztof Kluza .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Katowice University of Economics, Katowice, Poland

    Maria Mach-Król

  2. Katowice University of Economics, Katowice, Poland

    Celina M. Olszak

  3. AGH University of Mining and Metallurgy, Kraków, Poland

    Tomasz Pełech-Pilichowski

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Baran, M., Kluza, K., Nalepa, G.J., Ligęza, A. (2015). A Multi-level Hierarchical Approach for Configuring Business Processes. In: Mach-Król, M., M. Olszak, C., Pełech-Pilichowski, T. (eds) Advances in ICT for Business, Industry and Public Sector. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 579. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11328-9_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11328-9_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-11327-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-11328-9

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation