Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Querying business process model repositories

A survey of current approaches and issues

  • Published:
World Wide Web Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Business process management technology is becoming increasingly popular, resulting in more and more business process models being created. Hence, there is a need for these business process models to be managed effectively. For effective business process model management, being able to efficiently query large amount of business process models is essential. For example, it is preferable to find a similar or related model to customize, rather than building a new one from scratch. This would not only save time, but would also be less error-prone and more coherent with the existing models of the enterprise. Querying large amounts of business process models efficiently is also vital during company amalgamation, in which business process models from multiple companies need to be examined and integrated. This paper provides: an overview of the field of querying business process models; a summary of its literature; and a list of challenges (and some potential solutions) that have yet to be addressed. In particular, we aim to compare the differences between querying business process models and general graph querying. We also discuss literature work from graph querying research that can be used when querying business process models.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Abbaci, K., Lemos, F., HadjAli, A., Grigori, D., Lietard, L., Rocacher, D., Bouzeghoub, M.: Selecting and ranking business processes with preferences: an approach based on fuzzy sets. In: OTM Conferences (1), pp. 38–55 (2011)

  2. Agrawal, R., Srikant, R.: Fast algorithms for mining association rules in large databases. In: VLDB, pp. 487–499 (1994)

  3. Awad, A.: BPMN-Q: a language to query business processes. In: EMISA, pp. 115–128 (2007)

  4. Awad, A., Sakr, S.: Querying graph-based repositories of business process models. In: DASFAA Workshops, pp. 33–44 (2010)

  5. Awad, A., Polyvyanyy, A., Weske, M.: Semantic querying of business process models. In: EDOC, pp. 85–94 (2008)

  6. Becker, M., Laue, R.: Analysing differences between business process similarity measures. In: 1st International Workshop on Process Model Collections, pp. 39–49 (2011)

  7. Beeri, C., Eyal, A., Kamenkovich, S., Milo, T.: Querying business processes with BP-QL. In: VLDB, pp. 1255–1258 (2005)

  8. Beeri, C., Eyal, A., Kamenkovich, S., Milo, T.: Querying business processes. In: VLDB, pp. 343–354 (2006)

  9. Beeri, C., Eyal, A., Kamenkovich, S., Milo, T.: Querying business processes with BP-QL. Inf. Syst. 33(6), 477–507 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Braga, D., Campi, A.: XQBE: a graphical environment to query XML data. World Wide Web 8(3), 287–316 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Bunke, H., Shearer, K.: A graph distance metric based on the maximal common subgraph. Pattern Recogn. Lett. 19(3–4), 255–259 (1998)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  12. Cheng, J., Ke, Y., Ng, W., Lu, A.: Fg-index: towards verification-free query processing on graph databases. In: SIGMOD Conference, pp. 857–872 (2007)

  13. Cheng, J., Ke, Y., Ng, W.: Efficient query processing on graph databases. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 34(1) (2009)

  14. Cook, S.A.: The complexity of theorem-proving procedures. In: STOC, pp. 151–158 (1971)

  15. Deutch, D., Milo, T.: Querying structural and behavioral properties of business processes. In: DBPL, pp. 169–185 (2007)

  16. Dice, L.: Measures of the amount of ecologic association between species. Ecology 26(3), 297–302 (1945)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Dijkman, R.M., Dumas, M., García-Bañuelos, L.: Graph matching algorithms for business process model similarity search. In: BPM, pp. 48–63 (2009)

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Dumas, M., van der Aalst, W., Ter Hofstede, A.: Process-Aware Information Systems: Bridging People and Software Through Process Technology. Wiley-Blackwell (2005)

  20. 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 

  21. Elias, M., Shahzad, K., Johannesson, P.: A business process metadata model for a process model repository. In: BMMDS/EMMSAD, pp. 287–300 (2010)

  22. Engelfriet, J.: Branching processes of petri nets. Acta Inf. 28(6), 575–591 (1991)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  23. Esparza, J., Römer, S., Vogler, W.: An improvement of McMillan’s unfolding algorithm. Form. Methods Syst. Des. 20(3), 285–310 (2002)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  24. Flesca, S., Furfaro, F., Greco, S.: A query language for XML based on graph grammars. World Wide Web 5(2), 125–158 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Garey, M., Johnson, D.: Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-completeness. Freeman, New York (1979)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  26. Grimaldi, R.: Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics: An Applied Introduction. Addison-Wesley (2004)

  27. Han, J., Yan, X., Yu, P.S.: Mining, indexing, and similarity search in graphs and complex structures. In: ICDE, p. 106 (2006)

  28. Han, W.S., Lee, J., Pham, M.D., Yu, J.X.: iGraph: a framework for comparisons of disk-based graph indexing techniques. PVLDB 3(1), 449–459 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Han, W.S., Pham, M.D., Lee, J., Kasperovics, R., Yu, J.X.: iGraph in action: performance analysis of disk-based graph indexing techniques. In: SIGMOD Conference, pp. 1241–1242 (2011)

  30. He, H., Singh, A.K.: Closure-tree: an index structure for graph queries. In: ICDE, p. 38 (2006)

  31. Hepp, M., Roman, D.: An ontology framework for semantic business process management. In: Wirtschaftsinformatik (1), pp. 423–440 (2007)

  32. Jiang, H., Wang, H., Yu, P.S., Zhou, S.: GString: a novel approach for efficient search in graph databases. In: ICDE, pp. 566–575 (2007)

  33. Jin, T., Wang, J., Wu, N., Rosa, M.L., ter Hofstede, A.H.M.: Efficient and accurate retrieval of business process models through indexing (short paper). In: OTM Conferences (1), pp. 402–409 (2010)

  34. Jin, T., Wang, J., Wen, L.: Efficient retrieval of similar business process models based on structure (short paper). In: OTM Conferences (1), pp. 56–63 (2011)

  35. Jin, T., Wang, J., Wen, L.: Querying business process models based on semantics. In: DASFAA (2), pp. 164–178 (2011)

  36. Jin, T., Wang, J., Rosa, M.L., ter Hofstede, A., Wen, L.: Efficient querying of large process model repositories. Comput. Ind. (CII) 64(1), 41–49 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Jin, T., Wang, J., Wen, L.: Efficient retrieval of similar workflow models based on behavior. In: Sheng, Q.Z., Wang, G., Jensen, C.S., Xu, G. (eds.) APWeb. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 7235, pp. 677–684. Springer (2012)

  38. Ke, Y., Cheng, J., Yu, J.X.: Querying large graph databases. In: DASFAA (2), pp. 487–488 (2010)

  39. Kiepuszewski, B., ter Hofstede, A.H.M., van der Aalst, W.M.P.: Fundamentals of control flow in workflows. Acta Inf. 39(3), 143–209 (2003)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  40. Kunze, M., Weske, M.: Metric trees for efficient similarity search in large process model repositories. In: Business Process Management Workshops, pp. 535–546 (2010)

  41. Lincoln, M., Gal, A.: Searching Business Process Repositories Using Operational Similarity. In: OTM Conferences (1), pp. 2–19 (2011)

  42. Lohmann, N., Verbeek, E., Dijkman, R.M.: Petri net transformations for business processes—a survey. T. Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency (TOPNOC) 2, 46–63 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Lu, R., Sadiq, S.W.: Managing process variants as an information resource. In: Business Process Management, pp. 426–431 (2006)

  44. Mahleko, B., Wombacher, A.: Indexing business processes based on annotated finite state automata. In: ICWS, pp. 303–311 (2006)

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Murata, T.: Petri nets: properties, analysis and applications. Proc. IEEE 77(4), 541–580 (1989)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Papadopoulos, A., Manolopoulos, Y.: Structure-based similarity search with graph histograms. In: DEXA Workshop, pp. 174–178 (1999)

  48. Pesic, M.: Constraint-based workflow management systems: shifting control to users. Ph.D. thesis, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (2008)

  49. Qiao, M., Akkiraju, R., Rembert, A.J.: Towards efficient business process clustering and retrieval: combining language modeling and structure matching. In: BPM, pp. 199–214 (2011)

  50. Raymond, J.W., Gardiner, E.J., Willett, P.: RASCAL: calculation of graph similarity using maximum common edge subgraphs. Comput. J. 45(6), 631–644 (2002)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  51. Rosa, M.L., Reijers, H.A., van der Aalst, W.M.P., Dijkman, R.M., Mendling, J., Dumas, M., García-Bañuelos, L.: APROMORE: an advanced process model repository. Expert Syst. Appl. 38(6), 7029–7040 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Sakr, S., Awad, A.: A framework for querying graph-based business process models. In: WWW, pp. 1297–1300 (2010)

  53. Scheidegger, C.E., Vo, H.T., Koop, D., Freire, J., Silva, C.T.: Querying and re-using workflows with vistrails. In: SIGMOD Conference, pp. 1251–1254 (2008)

  54. Shahzad, K., Elias, M., Johannesson, P.: Requirements for a business process model repository: a stakeholders’ perspective. In: BIS, pp. 158–170 (2010)

  55. Shang, H., Zhang, Y., Lin, X., Yu, J.X.: Taming verification hardness: an Efficient Algorithm for Testing Subgraph Isomorphism. PVLDB 1(1), 364–375 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  56. Shao, Q., Sun, P., Chen, Y.: WISE: a workflow information search engine. In: ICDE, pp. 1491–1494 (2009)

  57. Shasha, D., Wang, J.T.L., Giugno, R.: Algorithms and Applications of Tree and Graph Searching. In: PODS, pp. 39–52 (2002)

  58. van der Aalst, W.M.P.: The application of petri nets to workflow management. J. Circuits Syst. Comput. 8(1), 21–66 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. van der Aalst, W.M.P., Weijters, T., Maruster, L.: Workflow mining: discovering process models from event logs. IEEE Trans. Knowl. Data Eng. 16(9), 1128–1142 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. van Dongen, B.F., de Medeiros, A.K.A., Verbeek, H.M.W., Weijters, A.J.M.M., van der Aalst, W.M.P.: The ProM framework: a new era in process mining tool support. In: ICATPN, pp. 444–454 (2005)

  61. van Glabbeek, R.J.: The linear time-branching time spectrum (extended abstract). In: CONCUR, pp. 278–297 (1990)

  62. Wang, H., Li, J., Wang, H.: Clustered chain path index for XML document: efficiently processing branch queries. World Wide Web 11(1), 153–168 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Weidlich, M., Mendling, J., Weske, M.: Efficient consistency measurement based on behavioral profiles of process models. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 37(3), 410–429 (2011)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  64. Williams, D.W., Huan, J., Wang, W.: Graph database indexing using structured graph decomposition. In: ICDE, pp. 976–985 (2007)

  65. Wong, K.F., Yu, J.X., Tang, N.: Answering XML queries using path-based indexes: a survey. World Wide Web 9(3), 277–299 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. Yan, X., Han, J.: gSpan: Graph-based substructure pattern mining. In: ICDM, pp. 721–724 (2002)

  67. Yan, X., Yu, P.S., Han, J.: Graph indexing: a frequent structure-based approach. In: SIGMOD Conference, pp. 335–346 (2004)

  68. Yan, X., Yu, P.S., Han, J.: Graph indexing based on discriminative frequent structure analysis. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 30(4), 960–993 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Yan, X., Yu, P.S., Han, J.: Substructure similarity search in graph databases. In: SIGMOD Conference, pp. 766–777 (2005)

  70. Yan, X., Zhu, F., Yu, P.S., Han, J.: Feature-based similarity search in graph structures. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 31(4), 1418–1453 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  71. Yan, Z., Dijkman, R.M., Grefen, P.: Fast business process similarity search with feature-based similarity estimation. In: OTM Conferences (1), pp. 60–77 (2010)

  72. Zha, H., Wang, J., Wen, L., Wang, C., Sun, J.: A workflow net similarity measure based on transition adjacency relations. Comput. Ind. 61(5), 463–471 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  73. Zhang, S., Hu, M., Yang, J.: TreePi: a novel graph indexing method. In: ICDE, pp. 966–975 (2007)

  74. Zhao, P., Yu, J.X., Yu, P.S.: Graph indexing: tree + Delta >= graph. In: VLDB, pp. 938–949 (2007)

  75. Zheng, S., Zhou, A., Zhang, L., Lu, H.: DVQ: towards visual query processing of XML database systems. World Wide Web 6(2), 233–253 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  76. Zou, L., Chen, L., Yu, J.X., Lu, Y.: A novel spectral coding in a large graph database. In: EDBT, pp. 181–192 (2008)

  77. Zou, L., Chen, L., Zhang, H., Lu, Y., Lou, Q.: Summarization graph indexing: beyond frequent structure-based approach. In: DASFAA, pp. 141–155 (2008)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Software, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Jianmin Wang, Tao Jin & Lijie Wen

  2. Key Laboratory for Information System Security, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China

    Jianmin Wang, Tao Jin & Lijie Wen

  3. Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology, Beijing, China

    Jianmin Wang, Tao Jin & Lijie Wen

  4. School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, Australia

    Raymond K. Wong

Authors
  1. Jianmin Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tao Jin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Raymond K. Wong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lijie Wen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jianmin Wang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wang, J., Jin, T., Wong, R.K. et al. Querying business process model repositories. World Wide Web 17, 427–454 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11280-013-0210-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11280-013-0210-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation