Beate List

An evaluation of conceptual business process modelling languages

Conceptual Business Process Modelling Languages (BPMLs) express certain aspects of processes (e.g. activities, roles, interactions, data, etc.) and address different application areas. To evaluate BPMLs, a general framework is required. Although a lot of BPMLs are available in research and industry, an established evaluation framework as well as a comprehensive evaluation of BPMLs is missing. To bridge this gap, we propose a generic meta-model that captures a wide range of process concepts and evaluate seven BPMLs based on this meta-model.

An evaluation of open source e-learning platforms stressing adaptation issues

This paper presents an evaluation of open source e-learning platforms. The main focus is on adaptation issues. The result of the evaluation shows that the platform Moodle outperforms all other platforms and also obtained the best rating in the adaptation category.

A Comparison of Data Warehouse Development Methodologies Case Study of the Process Warehouse

Building a data warehouse is a very challenging issue because compared to software engineering it is quite a young discipline and does not yet offer well-established strategies and techniques for the development process. Current data warehouse development methods can fall within three basic groups: data-driven, goal-driven and user-driven. All three development approaches have been applied to the Process Warehouse that is used as the foundation of a process-oriented decision support system, which aims to analyse and improve business processes continuously. In this paper we evaluate all three development methodologies by various assessment criteria. The aim is to establish a link between the methodology and the requirement domain.

A UML 2 profile for business process modelling

Current UML Profiles for Business Process Modelling realise a narrow focus of the process, and capture the process flow on a low level of detail. They do not provide a comprehensive coverage of theoretical aspects. In this work, we have designed a UML 2 Profile for Business Process Modelling that provides two complementary perspectives, focussing on the business process context (e.g. goals, measures, products, customers, etc.) as well as on the detailed business process flow. Therefore, the profile presents a business process in a very comprehensive way. It is tested with an example business process.

Towards a Corporate Performance Measurement System

Corporate performance measurement is focused too strongly on the traditional functional structure of an organisation and business processes are not measured systematically. Basically, business processes are designed to transform organisational strategies into operation and create a result of value to customers. As a business process is performed by a group of organisational units, processes and the organisational structure are interdependent. Consequently, their performance must not be measured in isolation. This paper illustrates how a data warehouse can be used to facilitate a Corporate Performance Measurement System by the integration of business process performance information into a traditional data warehouse that generally represents only the functional organisation. The Corporate Performance Measurement System provides a single source of information on the performance of the company. As a proof of concept in a business environment, a feasibility study has been implemented in the insurance sector. This performance measurement approach fully supports a modern organisational structure: the customer-oriented process perspective coexisting with the traditional functional structure.

Process data store: A real-time data store for monitoring business processes

With access to real-time information on critical performance indicators of business processes, managers and staff members can play a crucial role in improving the speed and effectiveness of an organization’s business operations. While the investments in data warehouse technologies have resulted in considerable information processing efficiencies for the organizations, there is still a significant delay in the time required for mission critical information to be delivered in a form that is usable to managers and staff. In this paper we introduce an architecture for business process monitoring based on a process data store which is a data foundation for operational and tactical decision-making by providing real-time access to critical process performance indicators to improve the speed and effectiveness of workflows. The process data store allows to identify and react to exceptions or unusual events that happened in workflows by sending out notifications or by directly changing the current state of the workflow. Our proposed architecture allows to transform and integrate workflow events with minimal latency providing the data context against which the event data is used or analyzed.

Process-Oriented Requirement Analysis Supporting the Data Warehouse Design Process - A Use Case Driven Approach

A comprehensive requirement analysis for data warehouse systems is mostly often the starting point for the implementation of an enterprise-wide decision support system. Because data warehouse systems concern many organisational units, the collection of unambiguous, complete, verifiable, consistent and usable requirements can be a very difficult task. Use cases are considered as standard notation for object-oriented requirement modelling. We illustrate how use cases enhances communication between domain experts, data warehouse specialists, data warehouse designers and other professionals with different backgrounds. They can be used on a general level, which is intuitive for the users of data warehouse system. This paper explains how use cases can be used to elicit requirements for data warehouse systems, and how to involve the organisational context in the modelling process. With an adapted object model, we demonstrate how to capture different analysis perspectives of the business process. We develop a predefined set of dimension objects that belong to every classic business process and are able to create various fact objects, representing these perspectives.

Extending UML 2 activity diagrams with business intelligence objects

Data Warehouse (DWH) information is accessed by business processes. Today, no conceptual models exist that make the relationship between the DWH and the business processes transparent. In this paper, we extend a business process modeling diagram, namely the UML 2 activity diagram with a UML profile, which allows to make this relationship explicit. The model is tested with example business processes.

Multidimensional Business Process Analysis with the Process Warehouse

A data warehouse is a global information repository, which stores facts originating from multiple, heterogeneous data sources in materialised views. Up to now, a data warehouse has always been used for application data and never for control data. As efficiency, accuracy, transparency and flexibility of enterprise’s business processes have become fundamental for process reengineering programmes, paying attention to monitoring and controlling of workflow execution at an formal and strategic level will become a focus of information management in the near future.

A UML 2 Profile for Event Driven Process Chains

The Event-driven Process Chain (EPCs) is a very well established business process modelling diagram. It can be used as the starting point for software development and therefore, software engineers have to read these diagrams but prefer a well-known notation. For that reason, we have developed a UML 2 profile for EPCs based on a 1 – 1 mapping with UML 2 Activity Diagrams. The profile is tested with an example business process.