Azeem Lodhi

An Extension of BPMN Meta-model for Evaluation of Business Processes

An Extension of BPMN Meta-model for Evaluation of Business Processes Business process modeling is used for better understanding and communication of companys processes. Mostly, business process modeling is discussed from the information system development perspective. Execution of a business process involves various factors (costs and time) which are important and should be represented in business process models. Controlling of business units uses post execution analysis for detection of failures for improvement. The process models conceived for information system development are not sufficient for post execution analysis. This paper focuses on the challenges of business process modeling in the post execution context. We provide a meta model for evaluation of a business process and discuss BPMN in this context. We also extend existing BPMN meta model for performance analysis of business processes. The proposed extensions are presented with the help of an example.

Business Process Improvement Framework and Representational Support

Business process management and improvement are vital for enterprises in competitive environments. Understanding of a process is a pre-requisite and important step for improvement. Interaction between humans, computers, and business objects provide excellent opportunities for knowledge extraction. However, the specification of a framework is required for business process improvement, which extends from data collection, analytical methods, storage, and representation of knowledge. The process models conceived for information system development are not sufficient for post execution analysis and improvement. In this paper, we specify such a framework briefly and focus on providing representational support for business process improvement. The main objective is to improve the overall improvement process by providing enriched graphical process models. Furthermore, we use a case study to explain the proposed usage and extensions of an existing modeling language for business process improvement.

Applying process mining in SOA environments

Process mining is an emerging analysis technique, which extracts process knowledge from data and provides various benefits to organizations. In Service Oriented Computing environment, different services collaborate with others to carry out the operations and therefore overall picture of operations and execution is not clear. Process mining extracts the information from log files of systems, as recorded during executions, and depicts the reality. In order to apply process mining, extraction of process trace data from log files is a pre-requisite step. A case study demonstrates the practical applicability of our proposed framework for extraction of the process trace data from application systems and integration portals.

Modeling and analysis of business processes using business objects

Business processes are vital for enterprises to achieve its goals, and so investigated by many researchers. Business process modeling is used to represent business processes graphically for better understanding and communication. Recent developments in business process analysis (like Process mining) have made significant impact on process improvement and management. Process mining extracts knowledge about business processes from their executions in the system. The developments in analytical methods and abundance of analytical data motivates the investigation of modelling language specially designed for business process analysis after their executions. This paper presents a modeling approach in which business processes can be analyzed graphically at abstract level as well as at finer granularity, so more benefits from process analysis can be achieved. The proposed modelling is discussed with help of case study in which participation of involved elements (resources, data etc.) to business processes are described with a focus towards business domain.

Business process modeling for post execution analysis and improvement

Evaluation and analysis of business processes are important for improvement of business processes. Business process modeling is used as a medium of communication between stakeholders. Most of the research in business process modeling is focused on alignment of information technology services and business operations. Existing process models lack the representation of performance data for evaluation and analysis. The process models conceived for information system development are not sufficient for such representation. This paper discusses the challenges of business process modeling in the post execution analysis context and describes the characteristics of an analytical modeling language. Furthermore, we also extend an existing modeling language and explain the proposed extensions with the help of a case study.

Business Process Modeling Language for Performance Evaluation

Evaluation of business processes is important for analysis and improvement of an organization. Different methods are used to evaluate the performance like statistics or visualization. However, these methods meet demands mainly on the top organizational level. There is insufficient support to evaluate processes at the process managerial level leading to a limited visibility of deficiencies in business processes at process level. In this paper, we address this challenge and focus on the relation between evaluation of business processes and their representation at the process managerial level. In our research, we follow the design science methodology in order to provide business process models for performance analysis. We also provide constructs and patterns of our proposed modeling language for analysis and improvement of business processes. The analytical business process modeling language is further explained with the help of a case study and demonstrated by extending an existing modeling language.

Test Management Framework for Managing IT Projects in Industry

Testing is an essential phase of project management as it ensures the quality of a product. However, testing does not get the required attention in industrial projects from project managers. Due to this, the maintenance cost of projects takes more than one-third part of the project budget. One of the major reasons is that test management frameworks are overly complex and time consuming. In this paper, we propose a test management framework which is easy to follow by project managers and test team. The framework addresses the requirements of testing from the strategic level to the operational level. It also guides the organization to cope the challenges of test management. In this paper, we also discuss the application of the framework and its implication in an industrial case study. The framework is generic in nature and can be applied in any domain by project managers.

Cellular DBMS — Architecture for biologically-inspired customizable autonomous DBMS

Data management is one of the fundamental requirements of ubiquitous computing. Existing data management systems are complex and provide a multitude of functionalities. Due to complexity and their monolithic architecture, it is difficult to tune these data management systems for consistent performance. In this paper, we extend our existing work of Cellular DBMS with the concept of autonomy. We present an aspect-oriented programming based model that enables us to monitor and evolve cells during data management operations for consistent performance.

Building AS-IS process models from task descriptions

Business processes have to adopt the changes driven by the market to remain competitive. This requires improvement of business processes, which can be carried out by understanding the existing business processes. For this AS-IS business process models are built that represent the actual situation of the enterprise. In this paper, we propose an approach to build an AS-IS process model from employees descriptions instead of instance executions in information systems. We also present an algorithm that builds an AS-IS model from control flow perspective and we further elaborate it with the help of a case study.

An Analytical Business Process Modelling Language: An Illustrative Example

Fierce competition exists between companies due to globalization where even small companies have a reach to wider international markets using the internet (e-business). Evaluation of business processes is very important for analysis and improvement for an organization. Different methods are used to evaluate the performances of business processes. However, there is insufficient support to evaluate the processes with detailed graphical representations. In this paper, we focus on the relation of evaluation of business processes with its representation. We follow the design science methodology in order to provide business process models for performance analysis of processes. We also provide the constructs and patterns of business process modelling for analysis and improvement of business processes. The analytical business process modelling language is highlighted with the help of a case study.