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Time patterns for process-aware information systems

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Abstract

Companies increasingly adopt process-aware information systems (PAISs) due to their promising perspectives for improved business process support. Although the proper handling of temporal constraints is crucial in this context, existing PAISs vary significantly regarding their support of the temporal perspective of a business process. To make PAISs comparable with respect to their ability to deal with temporal constraints and to facilitate the development of a time-aware PAIS, this paper suggests 10 time patterns. All patterns are based on empirical evidence we gathered in case studies. Additionally, they are validated through a systematic literature review. Based on the time patterns, we then provide an in-depth evaluation of selected PAISs and academic approaches. Altogether, the 10 time patterns will not only facilitate the selection of technologies for realizing time- and process-aware information systems but can also be used as reference for implementing time support in PAISs.

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Notes

  1. Translated from German.

  2. A critical path is a sequence of activities within a process schema, which add up to the longest overall process duration. Its length determines the shortest time to complete the process.

  3. http://scholar.google.com.

  4. On request the full list can be provided by the authors. Further details are available at http://www.timepatterns.org.

  5. Further details are available at http://www.timepatterns.org.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Databases and Information Systems, University of Ulm, James-Frank-Ring, 89069, Ulm, Germany

    Andreas Lanz & Manfred Reichert

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 21a, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Barbara Weber

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  1. Andreas Lanz
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  2. Barbara Weber
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  3. Manfred Reichert
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Correspondence to Andreas Lanz.

Appendix: Ontology of a process meta model including time patterns

Appendix: Ontology of a process meta model including time patterns

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Fig. 30
figure 30

Ontology of the basic constructs of a process meta model including time patterns

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Lanz, A., Weber, B. & Reichert, M. Time patterns for process-aware information systems. Requirements Eng 19, 113–141 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00766-012-0162-3

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