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Business Process Management Demystified: A Tutorial on Models, Systems and Standards for Workflow Management

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Lectures on Concurrency and Petri Nets (ACPN 2003)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 3098))

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Abstract

Over the last decade there has been a shift from “data-aware” information systems to “process-aware” information systems. To support business processes an enterprise information system needs to be aware of these processes and their organizational context. Business Process Management (BPM) includes methods, techniques, and tools to support the design, enactment, management, and analysis of such operational business processes. BPM can be considered as an extension of classical Workflow Management (WFM) systems and approaches. This tutorial introduces models, systems, and standards for the design, analysis, and enactment of workflow processes. Petri nets are used for the modeling and analysis of workflows. Using Petri nets as a formal basis, contemporary systems, languages, and standards for BPM and WFM are discussed. Although it is clear that Petri nets can serve as a solid foundation for BPM/WFM technology, in reality systems, languages, and standards are developed in an ad-hoc fashion. To illustrate this XPDL, the “Lingua Franca” proposed by the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC), is analyzed using a set of 20 basic workflow patterns. This analysis exposes some of the typical semantic problems restricting the application of BPM/WFM technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Technology Management, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O.Box 513, NL-5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Wil M. P. van der Aalst

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  1. Wil M. P. van der Aalst
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Computer Science, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt,  

    Jörg Desel

  2. Institut für Informatik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany

    Wolfgang Reisig

  3. , Leiden Center of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 1, 2333, Leiden, CA, The Netherlands

    Grzegorz Rozenberg

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van der Aalst, W.M.P. (2004). Business Process Management Demystified: A Tutorial on Models, Systems and Standards for Workflow Management. In: Desel, J., Reisig, W., Rozenberg, G. (eds) Lectures on Concurrency and Petri Nets. ACPN 2003. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3098. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-27755-2_1

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