Domenico Raucci

Application of Equivalence Checking in a Loan Origination Process in Banking Industry

Equivalence checking is traditionally applied to computer system design. It is a promising formal technique for the improvement of software quality. However, it requires detailed specifications of systems and is therefore not very accessible, above all in certain restricted fields of application. One of this domain is business process management. In particular, we examine the applicability of equivalence checking to validation of Business Processes that are mapped through the systems of Workflow Management. The usage of formal methods in business domain, however, is still not widely used. This is due also to the state explosion problem, which says that the state space grows exponentially in the number of concurrent processes. In this paper we consider a heuristic-based methodology developed to combat the state explosion problem for checking process equivalence. Our proposal is two-fold: (i) we show how equivalence checking can be applied in the context of business modelling and analysis; (ii) we evaluate and test the heuristic-based methodology using, as a case study, a real-world banking workflow of a loan origination process. Our investigations suggest that the business community, especially in the banking held, can benefit from this efficient methodology developed in the process algebra area to prevent significant errors. We show and discuss the experimental results obtained.

Model Checking to Support Action Controls in the Purchasing Process

In this paper, we use model checking to perform the analysis and the assessment of the Purchasing Process performance in the field of Action Controls. The aim of these controls, in a Management Control Systems, is to ensure that the employee behaviours are consistent with the objectives and strategies of the organization. However, model checking suffers from the so-called state explosion problem, which says that the state space grows exponentially in the number of concurrent processes. In this paper we consider a property-based methodology developed to combat the state explosion problem. Our focus is two fold: (i) we show how model checking can be applied in the context of business process modelling and analysis, (ii) we evaluate and test the reduction methodology using an academic case study. Our investigations suggest that the business community can benefit from this efficient methodology developed in formal methods since it can detect errors that were missed by traditional verification techniques. Thus, formal methods can be adopted to enhance the effectiveness of the organizational control together with an increase of process efficiency levels. We show and discuss the obtained experimental results.

Efficient Formal Verification in Banking Processes

Model checking is a very useful method to verify concurrent and distributed systems which is traditionally applied to computer system design. We examine the applicability of model checking to validation of Business Processes that are mapped through the systems of Workflow Management. The use of model checking in business domain is affected by the state explosion problem, which says that the state space grows exponentially in the number of concurrent processes. In this paper we consider a property-based methodology developed to combat the state explosion problem. Our focus is two fold; firstly we show how model checking can be applied in the context of business modelling and analysis and secondly we evaluate and test the methodology using as a case study a real-world banking workflow of a loan origination process. Our investigations suggest that the business community, especially in the banking field, can benefit from this efficient methodology developed in formal methods since it can detect errors that were missed by traditional verification techniques, and being cost-efficient, it can be adopted as a standard quality assurance procedure. We show and discuss the experimental results obtained.

Gli indicatori economici, ambientali e sociali nei rendiconti di sostenibilità delle società quotate alla Borsa italiana

Our paper aims to achieve two main objectives. First of all, in order to identify the most accounted economic, environmental and social indicators, we used the content analysis to examine the GRI-based sustainability report issued by companies listed on the Italian Stock Exchange. Secondly, we aimed to verify the extent some variables related to profitability, size and sector can explain the behavior of companies according to the number and type of indicators presented, as well as how it usually takes place. Moreover our research was motivated by the fact that in literature there are very few studies that have analyzed the adoption of GRI indicators in the sustainability reports. Unlike others, this study outlines, through the regression trees technique, what characteristics diversify companies in the use of GRI indicators. The results show the widespread use of those indicators, with relevant levels of disclosure. The most used category of indicators is the one related to the Working Practices, followed by Economic and Environmental ones. Finally, we can say that the ROE and the business sector of the companies played a significant role considering their classification related to the different number and type of accounted indicators

Powerful Equivalence Checking in the Bank Supply Process

Equivalence checking is a powerful formal technique to improve the quality of computer and software systems. It is usually employed to verify the correctness in a model-based design. Notwithstanding, a detailed and precise specification is required in order to apply equivalence checking to a given domain. Unfortunately, certain fields of application like business process management lack of such adequate information. We explore the applicability of equivalence checking to validation of Business Processes described by the aid of Workflow Management systems. Due to the state explosion problem, formal methods are not very popular in the business domain. In fact, the state space grows exponentially in the number of concurrent processes leading to an impracticable verification. In this paper we deal with a heuristic-based methodology developed to beat the state explosion problem when checking non-equivalence. Our contribution is two-fold: (i) we show how equivalence checking can successfully operate in the business modelling and analysis context, (ii) we model and use the bank supply process as a real case study to evaluate and test the heuristic-based methodology. We show and debate encouraging experimental results comparing them with a state of the art model checker i.e. CADP. This suggests that the business community, mostly in the banking field, can take advantage from our efficient methodology based on process algebra.