Andrea Giglio

A SAAS-based automated framework to build and execute distributed simulations from SysML models

The development of complex systems requires the use of quantitative analysis techniques to allow a designtime evaluation of the system behavior. In this context, distributed simulation (DS) techniques can be effectively introduced to assess whether or not the system satisfies the user requirements. Unfortunately, the development of a DS requires the availability of an IT infrastructure that could not comply with time-to-market requirements and budget constraints. In this respect, this work introduces HLAcloud, a model-driven and cloud-based framework to support both the implementation of a DS system from a SysML specification of the system under study and its execution over a public cloud infrastructure. The proposed approach, which exploits the HLA (High Level Architecture) DS standard, is founded on the use of model transformation techniques to generate both the Java/HLA source code of the DS system and the scripts required to deploy and execute the HLA federation onto the PlanetLab cloud-based infrastructure.

A Transformation Approach to Enact the Design-Time Simulation of BPMN Models

Simulation is a key technique for enabling business process analysts to predict the process behavior at design time. However, some issues limit the effectiveness of business process simulation (e.g., lack of simulation know how, costs and difficulties for gathering process data, semantic gap between the business process model and the simulation model). This paper proposes a model-driven method that automates the generation of executable business process simulation code. In order to address the increasing complexity and to take into account the inherent collaborative aspects of modern business processes, the simulation code produced by the proposed method replicates the business process distributed structure (in terms, e.g., of a service-oriented architecture) by including a set of simulation services that are orchestrated into a distributed simulation execution. The characterization of business processes in terms of the required performance properties is introduced through standard BPMN annotations according to a well-defined syntax, thus avoiding the need of additional languages. The implementation of the executable simulation code is based on the eBPMN language, a domain-specific language that preserves the semantic behavior of the original BPMN standard.

Simulation-based performance and reliability analysis of business processes

The use of process modeling combined with the use of simulation-based analysis provides a valuable way to analyze business processes (BPs) and to evaluate design alternatives before committing resources and effort. The simulation-based analysis of BPs usually addresses performance in terms of efficiency, i.e., focusing on time-related properties (e.g., throughput or execution time). Differently, this paper proposes an automated method for the analysis of BPs in terms of both efficiency-related performance and reliability. In addition, the method allows business analysts to carry out a joint performance and reliability analysis by introducing a so-called performability attribute. The proposed method is illustrated by use of a running example dealing with a conventional e-commerce scenario.

Towards performance-oriented perfective evolution of BPMN models

Simulation techniques are successfully applied to analyze and validate the performance of a business process (BP) since the early phases of its lifecycle, when the BP representation is commonly specified in BPMN. The BP simulation model is first to be built from the BPMN model, then implemented and finally executed to yield the performance indices of interest.

A BPMN extension for modeling Cyber-Physical-Production-Systems in the context of Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 denotes a recent trend that aims at exploiting Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), based on IoT (Internet of Things) and cloud computing technologies, to obtain increased degrees of cooperation and communication in production systems, thus leading to what is referred to as Cyber Physical Production Systems (CPPS) or “Smart Factories”.

A BPMN-Based Automated Approach for the Analysis of Healthcare Processes

Healthcare organizations are increasingly pushed to improve the quality of care service taking into account the increasing complexity in patient treatment and the continuous reduction of available resources. The adoption of Business Process Management (BPM) practices is thus becoming a key enabler for the improvement of healthcare processes (HPs). Accordingly, methods and tools are required to address behavioral and performance aspects from the early phases of the process lifecycle in order to improve the quality of healthcare, reduce costly reworks and increase the effectiveness of BPM approaches. This paper specifically addresses the specification and analysis phases of the process lifecycle and introduces a model-driven method for healthcare process simulation. The proposed method is based on a model transformation approach that takes as input the process specification in BPMN, appropriately extended to include the performance properties of the process, and yields as output the corresponding process simulation code, ready to be executed. In order to illustrate the method and its effectiveness, the paper describes an example application to a process dealing with the hip fracture for elderly patients.

A Model-Driven Approach to Enable the Distributed Simulation of Complex Systems

The increasing complexity of modern systems makes their design, development and operation extremely challenging and therefore new Systems Engineering and Modeling and Simulation (M&S) techniques, methods and tools are emerging, also to benefit from distributed simulation environments. In this context, one of the most mature tools is the IEEE 1516-2010—Standard for M&S High Level Architecture (HLA). However, building and maintaining distributed simulations components, based on the IEEE 1516-2010 standard, is still a challenging and costly task. To ease the development of full-fledged HLA-based simulations, the paper proposes the MONADS method that, according to the model-driven systems engineering paradigm, allows one to generate the HLA-based simulation code from SysML models by the use of a chain of model-to-model and model-to-text transformations. The effectiveness of the method is shown through a case study that concerns an Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) approaching and docking to the International Space Station (ISS).

An HLA-based BPMN extension for the specification of business process collaborations

Inter-organization business process collaboration is one of the most significant factors driving todays global business development. Such collaborations are typically composed by various processes executed by different organizations and are often difficult to specify and analyze, due to their distributed nature and to data interoperability issues. The standard notation for business process modeling, namely BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation), only provides a limited support to the specification of collaborations. This paper introduces a data model extension of BPMN inspired by the HLA (High Level Architecture) distributed simulation standard. In addition, the paper proposes a metamodel-based mapping from BPMN to HLA, which can be seen as a significant step towards the implementation of a conceptual framework for specifying and analyzing collaborative business processes by use of distributed simulation approaches.