Skip to main content

Towards Understanding Process Modeling – The Case of the BPM Academic Initiative

  • Conference paper
Book cover Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN 2011)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 95))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Business process models are typically graphs that communicate knowledge about the work performed in organizations. Collections of these models are gathered to analyze and improve the way an organization operates. From a research perspective, these collections tell about modeling styles, the relevance of modeling constructs, and common formal modeling mistakes.

With this paper, we outline a research agenda for investigating the act of process modeling using models of the BPM Academic Initiative. This collection comprises 1903 models, the majority captured in BPMN. The models were created by students from various universities as part of their process modeling education. As such, the collection is particularly suited to investigate modeling practice since it is probably unique in terms of modeling heterogeneity. As a first step, we characterize EPC and BPMN models of the collection using established process model metrics. Further, we investigate the usage of language constructs for these models. Our findings largely confirm the results obtained in prior, smaller studies on modeling in a professional context.

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

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight 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

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Cardoso, J.: Business Process Control-Flow Complexity: Metric, Evaluation, and Validation. Int. J. Web Service Res. 5(2), 49–76 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Curran, T., Keller, G., Ladd, A.: SAP R/3 Business Blueprint: Understanding the Business Process Reference Model. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Decker, G.: Design and Analysis of Process Choreographies. PhD thesis, Hasso Plattner Institut an der Universität Potsdam (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  4. 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 

  5. Dijkman, R., Dumas, M., García-Bañuelos, L.: Graph Matching Algorithms for Business Process Model Similarity Search. In: Dayal, U., Eder, J., Koehler, J., Reijers, H.A. (eds.) BPM 2009. LNCS, vol. 5701, pp. 48–63. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  6. Dumas, M., García-Bañuelos, L., Dijkman, R.M.: Similarity Search of Business Process Models. IEEE Data Eng. Bull. 32(3), 23–28 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Figl, K., Laue, R.: Cognitive Complexity in Business Process Modeling. In: Mouratidis, H., Rolland, C. (eds.) CAiSE 2011. LNCS, vol. 6741, pp. 452–466. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Grosskopf, A., Brunnert, J., Wehrmeyer, S., Weske, M.: BPMNCommunity.org: A Forum for Process Modeling Practitioners – A Data Repository for Empirical BPM Research. In: Rinderle-Ma, S., Sadiq, S., Leymann, F. (eds.) BPM 2009. LNBIP, vol. 43, pp. 525–528. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  9. Jin, T., Wang, J., Wu, N., La Rosa, M., ter Hofstede, A.H.M.: Efficient and Accurate Retrieval of Business Process Models through Indexing - (Short Paper). In: Meersman, R., Dillon, T.S., Herrero, P. (eds.) OTM 2010. LNCS, vol. 6426, pp. 402–409. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  10. Keller, G., Nüttgens, M., Scheer, A.-W.: Semantische Prozessmodellierung auf der Grundlage Ereignisgesteuerter Prozessketten (EPK) (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kunze, M., Weidlich, M., Weske, M.: Behavioral Similarity – A Proper Metric. In: Rinderle-Ma, S., Toumani, F., Wolf, K. (eds.) BPM 2011. LNCS, vol. 6896, pp. 166–181. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  12. Kunze, M., Weske, M.: Metric Trees for Efficient Similarity Search in Large Process Model Repositories. In: zur Muehlen, M., Su, J. (eds.) BPM Workshops. LNBIP, vol. 66, pp. 535–546. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  13. Kunze, M., Weske, M.: Signavio-Oryx Academic Initiative. In: BPM 2010 Demonstration Track. CEUR, vol. 615 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Laue, R., Gadatsch, A.: Measuring the Understandability of Business Process Models – Are We Asking the Right Questions. In: BPD 2010 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Lee, G.S., Yoon, J.-M.: An Empirical Study on the Complexity Metrics of Petri Nets. Microelectronics and Reliability 32(3), 323–329 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Leopold, H., Mendling, J., Reijers, H.A.: On the Automatic Labeling of Process Models. In: Mouratidis, H., Rolland, C. (eds.) CAiSE 2011. LNCS, vol. 6741, pp. 512–520. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Mendling, J.: Testing Density as a Complexity Metric for EPCs. In: German EPC Workshop on Density of Process Models (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Mendling, J.: Detection and Prediction of Errors in EPC Business Process Models. PhD thesis (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Mendling, J.: Metrics for Process Models: Empirical Foundations of Verification, Error Prediction, and Guidelines for Correctness. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  20. Mendling, J., Reijers, H.A., Recker, J.: Activity Labeling in Process Modeling: Empirical Insights and Recommendations. Inf. Syst. 35(4), 467–482 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Mendling, J., Reijers, H.A., van der Aalst, W.M.P.: Seven Process Modeling Guidelines (7PMG). Information & Software Technology 52(2), 127–136 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. zur Muehlen, M., Recker, J.: How Much Language Is Enough? Theoretical and Practical Use of the Business Process Modeling Notation. In: Bellahsène, Z., Léonard, M. (eds.) CAiSE 2008. LNCS, vol. 5074, pp. 465–479. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  23. Nissen, M.E.: Valuing it Through Virtual Process Measurement. In: ICIS, pp. 309–323 (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Object Management Group. Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) Specification, Version 2.0

    Google Scholar 

  25. Rosemann, M.: Potential Pitfalls of Process Modeling: Part A. Business Process Management Journal 12(2), 249–254 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Scheer, A.W., Thomas, O., Adam, O.: Process Modeling Using Event-driven Process Chains (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Smirnov, S., Weidlich, M., Mendling, J., Weske, M.: Action Patterns in Business Process Models. In: Baresi, L., Chi, C.-H., Suzuki, J. (eds.) ICSOC-ServiceWave 2009. LNCS, vol. 5900, pp. 115–129. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  28. Weidlich, M., Mendling, J., Weske, M.: Efficient Consistency Measurement based on Behavioural Profiles of Process Models. IEEE TSE 37(3), 410–429 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Weske, M.: Business Process Management: Concepts, Languages, Architectures. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Yan, Z., Dijkman, R., Grefen, P.: Fast Business Process Similarity Search with Feature-Based Similarity Estimation. In: Meersman, R., Dillon, T.S., Herrero, P. (eds.) OTM 2010. LNCS, vol. 6426, pp. 60–77. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Kunze, M., Luebbe, A., Weidlich, M., Weske, M. (2011). Towards Understanding Process Modeling – The Case of the BPM Academic Initiative. In: Dijkman, R., Hofstetter, J., Koehler, J. (eds) Business Process Model and Notation. BPMN 2011. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 95. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25160-3_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25160-3_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-25159-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-25160-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics