Barbara Thönssen

A collaborative approach to maturing process-related knowledge

We introduce a new approach supporting knowledge workers in sharing process-related knowledge. It is based on the insight that - while offering valuable context information - traditional business process modelling approaches are too rigid and inflexible to capture the actual way processes are executed. Therefore, business process models are made agile and open for changes during execution. To achieve this, the strict distinction between build time modelling and run time execution are softened and process activities are represented to the users in a way that allows for individual adaptations. That can be done by attaching resources, commenting on an issue or adding problems and solutions to an activity or process. In addition activities can be delegated or new (sub-)activities can be added. Thus, the model can adapt to the reality of actual process executions and valuable resources and experiences are proactively presented to users in the right context. A double-staged approach is chosen to apply the model in the real application scenario of a university.

KISS-knowledge-intensive service support: an approach for agile process management

Automating business processes especially in the tertiary sector is still a challenge as they are normally knowledge intensive, little automated but compliance relevant. To meet these requirements the paper at hand introduces the KISS approach: modeling knowledge intensive services by enriching business rules semantically and linking rules to processes. We defined four types of rules, each focusing on a specific problem (resource allocation, constraints checking, intelligent branching and variable process planning and execution). For knowledge formalization we provide a 3-phase-procedure starting with a semi-formal representation (business model), followed by a formal representation (interchange model), leading to a machine executable representation (execution model).

Ontologies for E-government

Ontologies will pave the way in boosting e-government in the years to come. First of all public administrations need to have a shared understanding of public services amongst different levels of administration (e.g. state, country, county) in order to offer administration independent one-stop e-government and most flexible service execution. When it comes to business process (re)engineering, a repository of reference models and best practices can keep down costs. In order to provide good governance, traceable compliance with regulations becomes more and more important. We first present a methodology for ontology building that is compatible with software project management in the public sector; then we combine semantically enhanced process modelling with business rules resulting in what we call agile process management.

An Enterprise Ontology Building the Bases for Automatic Metadata Generation

’Information Overload’ or ’Document Deluge’ is a problem enterprises and Public Administrations alike are still dealing with. Although commercial products for Enterprise Content or Records Management are available since more than two decades, especially in Small and Medium Enterprises and Public Administrations they didn’t get through. Because of the wide range of document types and formats full-text indexing is not sufficient, but assigning metadata manually is not possible. Thus, automatic, format-independent generation of metadata for (public) enterprise documents is needed. Using context to infer metadata automatically has been researched for example for web-documents or learning objects. If (public) enterprise objects were modelled ’machine understandable’ they could be build the context for automatic metadata generation. The approach introduced in this paper is to model context (the (public) enterprise objects) in an ontology and using that ontology to infer content-related metadata.

Connecting enterprise architecture and information objects using an enterprise ontology

In this paper we show how semantic metadata - derived from the enterprise architecture description - can improve both the exploitation of information in the operative business and the continuous alignment of information systems with the business. ArchiMEO, a formal representation of the ArchiMate framework, was applied to model selected parts of a large Swiss company, including metadata of concrete information objects stored in various applications. The evaluation of our approach clearly gave evidence that linking an enterprise ontology with operational databases is beneficiary: it provides an integrated view and management of enterprise entities spread over various data stores, represented in different ways and levels of granularity. Furthermore, because of its inference capabilities, when used as metadata encoding scheme an enterprise ontology can provide context-sensitive access to relevant information.

Refining process models through the analysis of informal work practice

The work presented in this paper explores the potential of leveraging the traces of informal work and collaboration in order to improve business processes over time. As process executions often differ from the original design due to individual preferences, skills or competencies and exceptions, we propose methods to analyse personal preferences of work, such as email communication and personal task execution in a task management application. Outcome of these methods is the detection of internal substructures (subtasks or branches) of activities on the one hand and the recommendation of resources to be used in activities on the other hand, leading to the improvement of business process models. Our first results show that even though human intervention is still required to operationalise these insights it is indeed possible to derive interesting and new insights about business processes from traces of informal work and infer suggestions for process model changes.

Referenzmodellierung für E-Government-Services

The realisation of E-Government Services in Switzerland makes only little progresS. Reasons are — on the one hand — the federal constitution of the Swiss Confederation. On the other hand, public administrations are concerned about the high initial effort and the corresponding financial investmentS. As a partner in the EU–funded project OntoGov the Swiss Federal Chancellery now takes over an active role in the configuration of E–Government services. With the OntoGov system reference process models are provided at various abstraction layerS. Public administrations can adapt these reference models to their specific needs and make them available for the citizenS. Decisions for designing and adapting reference processes are explicitly modelled using ontologies, making the decision process traceable. Thus, subsequent changes in the reference models can be transferred to all the depending models.

Towards a Procedure for Assessing Supply Chain Risks Using Semantic Technologies

In the APPRIS project an Early-Warning-System (EWS) is developed applying semantic technologies, namely an enterprise ontology and an inference engine, for the assessment of procurement risks. Our approach allows for analyzing internal resources (e.g. ERP and CRM data) and external sources (e.g. entries in the Commercial Register and newspaper reports) to assess known risks, but also for identifying ‘black swans’, which hit enterprises with no warning but potentially large impact. For proof of concept we developed a prototype that allows for integrating data from various information sources, of various information types (structured and unstructured), and information quality (assured facts, news); automatic identification, validation and quantification of risks and aggregation of assessment results on several granularity levels. The motivating scenario is derived from three business project partners’ real requirements for an EWS.

The Modelling of Knowledge-Intensive Processes Using Semantics

In the “i2010 eGovernment Action Plan” it is stated that: “Member States have committed themselves to inclusive eGovernment objectives to ensure that by 2010 all citizens [...] become major beneficiaries of eGovernment, and European public administrations deliver public information and services that are more easily accessible and increasingly trusted by the public, through innovative use of ICT, increasing awareness of the benefits of eGovernment and improved skills and support for all users” (Commission of the European Communities 2006). For example, in the latest study on e-Government in Switzerland conducted by the University of St. Gallen, it was stated for the first time that measures for e-Government quality improvement are change (42% of the Swiss cantons, 19% of the Swiss municipalities) and benchmarking (business) activities/processes (41% of the Swiss cantons, 50% of the Swiss municipalities). But in the same study, design and IT-supported processes are considered a huge challenge (Schedler et al. 2007a, b). Thus, what Becker et al. already described still holds true: Although the benefit of having formal models of business processes is well known in public administrations, too few processes have been modelled and lesser still have been automated (Becker et al. 2003).

An Ontology-based and Case-based Reasoning supported Workplace Learning Approach

The support of workplace learning is increasingly relevant as the change in every form determines today’s working world in the industry and public administrations alike. Adapting quickly to a new job, a new task or a new team is a significant challenge that must be dealt with ever faster. Workplace learning differs significantly from school learning as it is aligned with business goals. Our approach supports workplace learning by suggesting historical cases and providing recommendations of experts and learning resources. We utilize users’ workplace environment, we consider their learning preferences, provide them with useful prior lessons, and compare required and acquired competencies to issue the best-suited recommendations. Our research work follows a Design Science Research strategy and is part of the European funded project Learn PAd. The recommender system introduced here is evaluated in an iterative manner, first by comparing it to previously elicited user requirements and then through practical application in a test process conducted by the project application partner.