Bela Mutschler

Investigating the effort of using business process management technology: Results from a controlled experiment

Business Process Management (BPM) technology has become an important instrument for supporting complex coordination scenarios and for improving business process performance. When considering its use, however, enterprises typically have to rely on vendor promises or qualitative reports. What is still missing and what is demanded by IT decision makers are quantitative evaluations based on empirical and experimental research. This paper picks up this demand and illustrates how experimental research can be applied to technologies enabling enterprises to coordinate their business processes and to associate them with related artifacts and resources. The conducted experiment compares the effort for implementing and maintaining a sample business process either based on standard workflow technology or on a case handling system. We motivate and describe the experimental design, discuss threats for the validity of our experimental results (as well as risk mitigations), and present the results of our experiment. In general, more experimental research is needed in order to obtain valid data on the various aspects and effects of BPM technology and BPM tools.

BPM in practice: who is doing what?

This paper investigates the adoption of BPM, i.e., the use and deployment of BPM concepts in different kinds of organizations. A set of 33 completed, industrial BPM projects is analyzed based on project documentation and interviews with involved project members. In addition to the main study, which is conducted in the Netherlands, the paper also presents results of a replication study in Germany comprising six interview-based case studies and an international survey among 77 BPM experts. Thereby, various characteristics of BPM projects (such as a projects objective, strategic orientation or focus area) are analyzed to derive valuable insights both for practitioners performing BPM projects and for academics facing the challenge to support practitioners with innovative solutions in the field of BPM.

Analyzing the dynamic cost factors of process-aware information systems: a model-based approach

Introducing process-aware information systems (PAIS) in enterprises is usually associated with high costs. It is therefore crucial to understand those factors that determine these costs. Though software cost estimation has received considerable attention during the last decades, it is difficult to apply existing approaches to PAIS. This difficulty particularly stems from the inability of these techniques to deal with the dynamic interactions of the many technological, organizational and project-driven cost factors which specifically arise in the context of PAIS. Picking up this problem, this paper presents an approach to investigate the complex cost structures of PAIS engineering projects based on evaluation models. We present a formalism to design such evaluation models, discuss one characteristic evaluation model and its derivation in detail (based on the outcome of an empirical study), and introduce the notion of value-based evaluation patterns to enable the reuse of evaluation models.

On the Context-aware, Personalized Delivery of Process Information: Viewpoints, Problems, and Requirements

Enterprises are confronted with an increasing amount of data. This data overload makes it difficult to provide knowledge-workers and decision-makers with the needed information. Particularly challenging in this context is the integrated provision of both structured and unstructured information depending on the current process context and user, i.e., the context-aware, personalized delivery of process information. Examples of unstructured process information include all kinds of office documents or e-mails. Examples of structured process information are business process models or data from enterprise information systems. Picking up the need for a context-aware, personalized delivery of process information, this paper presents results from three empirical studies: two exploratory case studies from the automotive domain and the healthcare sector, and an online survey among 219 participants. In a first step, we identify and describe problems with respect to process-oriented information management in general and the personalized provision of process information in particular. In a second step, we derive requirements on the user-adequate handling of process information.

A framework for the intelligent delivery and user-adequate visualization of process information

A continuously increasing amount of data makes it difficult for knowledge-workers to identify the information they need to perform their tasks in the best possible way. Particularly challenging in this context is the alignment of process-related information (e.g., working instructions, best practices) with business processes. In fact, process-related information (process information for short) and business processes are usually handled separately. On one hand, shared drives, databases, and information systems are used to manage process information, on the other, process management technology provides the basis for managing business processes. In practice, enterprises often establish (Intranet) portals to connect both perspectives. However, such portals are not sufficient. Reasons are that process information is usually delivered without considering the current work context and business processes are presented to process participants in a rather static manner. Therefore, enterprises crave for new ways of making process information available. This paper picks up this challenge and presents the niPRO framework. niPRO is based on semantic technology and enables the intelligent delivery and user-adequate visualization of comprehensive process information.

A Context Framework for Process-Oriented Information Logistics

A continuously increasing data overload makes it a challenging task for knowledge-workers and decision-makers to quickly identify relevant information, i.e., information they need when executing business processes. To tackle this challenge, process-oriented information logistics is a promising approach. The basic idea is to provide the right process information, in the right format and quality, at the right place, at the right point in time, and to the right people. To achieve this, it becomes particularly important to take the work context of process participants into account. In fact, knowing and utilizing context information is a prerequisite to effectively provide relevant process information to process participants. This paper provides a sophisticated context framework for enabling context-awareness in process-oriented information logistics.

Process-oriented Information Logistics: Aligning Enterprise Information with Business Processes

Today, enterprises are confronted with a continuously increasing amount of data. Examples of such data include office files, e-mails, process descriptions, and data from process-aware information systems. This data overload makes it difficult for knowledge-workers to identify the information they need to perform their tasks in the best possible way. Particularly challenging is the alignment of process-related information with business processes. In fact, process-related information and business processes are usually managed separately. On the one hand, enterprise content management systems, shared drives, and Intranet portals are used for organizing information, on the other hand, process management technology is used to design and enact business processes. With process-oriented information logistics (POIL) this paper presents an approach for bridging this gap. POIL enables the process-oriented and context-aware delivery of process-related information to knowledge-workers. We also present a clinical use case and a proof-of-concept prototype to demonstrate the application and benefits of POIL.

Designing an economic-driven evaluation framework for process-oriented software technologies

During the last decade there has been a dramatic increase in the number of paradigms, standards and tools that can be used to realize process-oriented information systems. A major problem neglected in software engineering research so far has been the systematic determination of costs, benefits, and risks that are related to the use of these process-oriented software engineering methods and technologies. This task is quite difficult as the added value is influenced by many drivers. This paper sketches an economic-driven evaluation methodology to analyze costs, benefits, and risks of process-oriented software technologies and corresponding projects. We introduce an evaluation meta model and sketch a formalism to describe economic-driven evaluation scenarios.

On Handling Process Information: Results from Case Studies and a Survey

An increasing data overload makes it difficult to provide the needed information to knowledge-workers and decision-makers in today’s process-oriented enterprises. The main problem is to identify the information being relevant in a given process context. Moreover, there are new ways of collaboration in the context of distributed processes (e.g., automotive engineering, patient treatment). The goal is to provide the right process information, in the right format and quality, at the right place, at the right point in time to the right people. Picking up this goal, enterprises crave for an intelligent and process-oriented information logistics. In this paper we investigate fundamental issues enabling such information logistics based on two exploratory case studies in the automotive and the clinical domain. Additionally, we present results of an online survey with 219 participants supporting our case study findings. Our research does not only reveal different types of process information, but also allows for the derivation of factors determining its relevance. Understanding these factors, in turn, is a fundamental prerequisite to realize effective process-oriented information logistics.

Understanding the Costs of Business Process Management Technology

Providing effective IT support for business processes has become crucial for enterprises to stay competitive in their market. Business processes must be defined, configured, implemented, enacted, monitored and continuously adapted to changing situations. Process life cycle support and continuous process improvement have therefore become critical success factors in enterprise computing. In response to this need, a variety of process support paradigms, process specification standards, process management tools, and supporting methods have emerged. Summarized under the term Business Process Management (BPM), they have become a successcritical instrument for improving overall business performance. However, introducing BPM approaches in enterprises is associated with significant costs. Though existing economic-driven IT evaluation and software cost estimation approaches have received considerable attention during the last decades, it is difficult to apply them to BPM projects. In particular, they are unable to take into account the dynamic evolution of BPM projects caused by the numerous technological, organizational and project-specific factors influencing them. The latter, in turn, often lead to complex and unexpected cost effects in BPM projects making even rough cost estimations a challenge. What is needed is a comprehensive approach enabling BPM professionals to systematically investigate the costs of BPM projects. This chapter takes a look at both known and often unknown cost factors in BPM projects, shortly discusses existing IT evaluation and software cost estimation approaches with respect to their suitability for BPM projects, and finally introduces the Eco- POST framework. EcoPOST utilizes evaluation models to describe the interplay of technological, organizational, and project-specific BPM cost factors as well as simulation concepts to unfold the dynamic behavior and costs of BPM projects.