Henry H. Bi

Applying Propositional Logic to Workflow Verification

The increasing complexity of business processes in the era of e-business has heightened the need for workflow verification tools. However, workflow verification remains an open and challenging research area. As an indication, most of commercial workflow management systems do not yet provide workflow designers with formal workflow verification tools. We propose a logic-based verification method that is based on a well-known formalism, i.e., propositional logic. Our logic-based workflow verification approach has distinct advantages such as its rigorous yet simplistic logical formalism and its ability to handle generic activity-based process models. In this paper, we present the theoretical framework for applying propositional logic to workflow verification and demonstrate that logic-based workflow verification is capable of detecting process anomalies in workflow models.

The Impact of Process Mapping on Transparency

Purpose - Process mapping is used to articulate the activities and procedures of business entities in a graphical way as pictorial images readily convey considerable information. The objective of this research is to provide evidence and a methodology to assist organizations in evaluating the early stages of their process mapping efforts. Design/methodology/approach - A review of literature identifies key characteristics of transparency (process visibility) related to process mapping. Quizzes and surveys are used to study the impact of process mapping on transparency in an employee training session. Findings - The paper finds that process mapping increases transparency between 5 percent and 27 percent for the applications discussed in this paper. Research limitations/implications - The research presumes that better understanding and recall of the companys business processes equates to higher transparency. This research study is limited to one field test, organization, and process mapping methodology. These limitations should be considered when extrapolating the results to other organizations. Practical implications - The methodology outlined in this paper provides a way to measure the impact that formalizing (mapping) an organizations business processes and then using these maps to communicate the organizations business processes has on an individual employees understanding and recall of those business processes. This methodology may help other organizations evaluate the early stages of their process mapping efforts. Originality/value - A measurable definition of transparency is developed. A field study provides evidence that process mapping increases transparency and a methodology is shared for others to study the impacts of their process mapping efforts.

RFID-Enabled Discovery of Supply Networks

Many organizations have very limited information about the supply networks in which they are involved. For the purpose of planning business strategies, tracing products, and assuring product quality, organizations are eager to know their entire supply networks, i.e., who are their supplierspsila suppliers and who are their buyerspsila buyers. However, because an organizations higher-tier suppliers and buyers are not directly connected to the organization, it is difficult for the organization to obtain the information about all entities and their relationships in its supply networks. This paper aims at providing an innovative solution for organizations to discover their supply networks. We first propose a new taxonomy of supply networks, which provides a necessary and systematic framework for mapping supply networks based on the mapping purpose and available information. We then develop a methodology for discovering and mapping supply networks by means of radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled capture and sharing of the information about the movement of products throughout supply networks. This research solves a real-world supply chain management problem of what supply networks can be discovered using RFID and Internet technologies and how to discover them.

Comprehensive Citation Index for Research Networks

The existing Science Citation Index only counts direct citations, whereas PageRank disregards the number of direct citations. We propose a new Comprehensive Citation Index (CCI) that evaluates both direct and indirect intellectual influence of research papers, and show that CCI is more reliable in discovering research papers with far-reaching influence.

A Note on the Factor Values of Three Common Shewhart Variables Control Charts

It is a common practice that people directly use the published factor values in constructing Shewhart variables control charts. Currently, the values of most of the factors are published typically with up to 4 decimal places of precision and from sample size n = 2 through 25; a number of discrepancies in the published factor values from different sources also exist. In this article, we compute and provide the factor values with more precision of 10 decimal places and consecutively through n = 100 for three commonly used variables control charts: charts, charts, and XmR charts.

A robust interpretation of teaching evaluation ratings

Abstract There are no absolute standards regarding what teaching evaluation ratings are satisfactory. It is also problematic to compare teaching evaluation ratings with the average or with a cutoff number to determine whether they are adequate. In this paper, we use average and standard deviation charts ( charts), which are based on the theory of statistical process control, to assess five-year teaching evaluation ratings at a management school. We demonstrate that the upper and lower three-sigma limits of charts are sufficiently robust to unbiasedly identify comparatively exceptional teaching evaluation ratings. This research work makes two recommendations concerning teaching and teaching evaluations: teachers should look for special causes, which contribute to exceptional teaching evaluation ratings outside the three-sigma limits, for the purpose of making improvements or maintaining good teaching performance; if teaching evaluation ratings are used for decision-making, the teaching evaluation ratings within the three-sigma limits represent normal teaching performance and thus should not be treated differently.

Multi-criterion and Multi-period Performance Benchmarking of Products and Services: Discovering Hidden Performance Gaps

Purpose: A product or service usually has multiple measurable characteristics, and its performance on different measures may vary and may change over time. Multi-criterion and multi-period performance benchmarking presents a challenge for management to determine performance gaps among comparable products or services. In this paper, we propose a new performance benchmarking method to address this challenge.Design/methodology/approach: We develop this method by formulating two benchmarking functions: A differentiation function based on Shewhart average and standard deviation charts to distinguish the performance of products or services on a single measure, and a categorization function to classify each product’s or service’s overall performance across all measures. By systematically removing the lowest-performing products or services from comparison, we use these functions iteratively to detect performance gaps. Findings: Using this method, we find performance gaps in each of three benchmarking applications of airports, hotels, and minivans, although a number of performance gaps are not obvious from the raw data. Research limitations/implications: Our benchmarking study focuses on the quantifiable outcome performance of products and services. Practical implications: This benchmarking method is generic and applicable to most products and services. It is robust not only for discovering performance gaps, but also for providing useful insights for managers to prioritize improvement efforts on individual performance measures.Originality/value: The novelty of this benchmarking method lies in that it can not only find the “best overall” products or services for all performance measures, but can also pinpoint the “best-in-class” products or services as well as performance gaps for each performance measure. In addition, this paper presents several original ideas for performance benchmarking, including: (1) using the control limits of Shewhart control charts to categorize performance gaps, (2) systematically removing the lowest-performing products or services from comparison for the purpose of detecting hidden performance gaps, and (3) using symbolic expressions to integrate benchmarking results from all measures and to show all performance gaps intuitively.

Toward a Formal Semantics for Control-Flow Process Models

A number of information systems have been developed to automate business processes. For process modeling, verification, and automation in information systems, a formal semantics of control-flow process models is needed. Usually process modeling languages e.g., BPMN, EPC, IDEF3, UML, and WfMC standards are used to represent control-flow process models. When these process modeling languages are developed, their informal semantics are typically described using examples, but their formal semantics are not defined. Although many different semantics for control-flow process models have been proposed, the existing semantics specifications have limitations because they do not support certain desirable features. In this paper, we propose a new formal semantics for control-flow process models. We show that it is more accurate, complete, and applicable than the existing semantics specifications.

A structured language for manipulating process models

Purpose: Although software systems used to automate business processes have been becoming rather advanced, the existing practice of developing and modifying graphical process models in those software systems is still primitive: Users have to manually add, change, or delete each node and arc piece by piece. Because such manual operations are typically tedious, time-consuming, and prone to errors, it is desirable to develop an alternative approach. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, we develop a novel, human-understandable process manipulation language (PML) for specifying operations (e.g., insertion, deletion, merging, and split) on process models. We also develop a prototype system to demonstrate PML. Findings: Manipulation operations on process models can be standardized and, thus, can be facilitated and automated through using a structured language like PML. Originality/value: PML can improve manipulation operations on process models over the existing manual approach in two aspects: First, using PML, users only need to specify what operations are to be performed on process models, and then a computer carries out specified operations as well as performs other routine operations (e.g., generating nodes and arcs). This feature minimizes user effort to deal with low-level details on nodes and arcs. Second, using PML, users can systematically specify operations on process models, thus reducing arbitrary operations and problems in process models.

Benchmarking the International Compulsory Education Performance of 65 Countries and Economies: Findings from PISA 2006, 2009, and 2012

Purpose The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) measured 15-year-olds’ performance in mathematics, reading, and science. The purpose of this paper is to use the assessment results of PISA 2006, 2009, and 2012 to benchmark the compulsory education performance of 65 countries and economies with emphasis on two benchmarking steps: identifying benchmarks and determining performance gaps. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a multi-criterion and multi-period performance categorization method to identify a group of best performers as benchmarks. Then, the authors use two-sample t-tests to detect against benchmarks whether each country or economy has significant performance gaps on individual performance measures. Findings Based on the mean scores of three assessment subjects in PISA 2006, 2009, and 2012, six best performers (Top-6) are identified from 65 participating countries and economies. In comparison with Top-6’s weighted averages, performance gaps are found for most countries and economies on the mean score of each subject, the percentage of top-performing students in all three subjects, and the percentage of lowest-performing students in each subject. Originality/value For compulsory education systems around the world, this paper provides an original categorization of performance based on the results of three PISA cycles, and provides new insights for countries and economies to prioritize improvement efforts to increase average performance, pursue excellence, and tackle low performance. For benchmarking applications involving multi-criterion and multi-period data, this paper presents a novel method of using statistical control charts to identify benchmarks and then using two-sample t-tests to determine performance gaps on individual performance measures.