Martin Jurisch

On representing, purging, and utilizing change logs in process management systems

In recent years adaptive process management technolgy has emerged in order to increase the flexibility of business process implementations and to support process changes at different levels. Usually, respective systems log comprehensive information about changes, which can then be used for different purposes including process traceability, change reuse and process recovery. Therefore the adequate and efficient representation of change logs is a crucial task for adaptive process management systems. In this paper we show which information has to be (minimally) captured in process change logs and how it should be represented in a generic and efficient way. We discuss different design alternatives and show how to deal with noise in process change logs. Finally, we present an elegant and efficient implementation approach, which we applied in the ADEPT2 process management system. Altogether the presented concepts provide an important pillar for adaptive process management technology and emerging fields (e.g., process change mining).

Towards Truly Flexible and Adaptive Process-Aware Information Systems

If current process management systems shall be applied to a broad spectrum of applications, they will have to be significantly improved with respect to their technological capabilities. Particularly, in dynamic environments it must be possible to quickly implement and deploy new processes, to enable ad-hoc modifications of running process instances on-the-fly (e.g., to dynamically add, delete or move process steps), and to support process schema evolution with instance migration (i.e., to propagate process schema changes to already running instances if desired). These requirements must be met without affecting process consistency and by preserving the robustness of the process management system. In this paper we describe how these challenges have been addressed and solved in the ADEPT2 Process Management System. Our overall vision is to provide a next generation process management technology which can be used in a variety of application domains.

From ADEPT to AristaFlow BPM Suite: A Research Vision Has Become Reality

During the last decade we have developed the ADEPT next generation process management technology. Its features and its different prototype versions attracted a number of companies. However, an enterprise cannot base the implementation of its process-aware information system (PAIS) on an experimental prototype, especially if maintenance and further development are not assured. At the beginning of 2008, therefore, we founded a spin-off as joint venture with industrial partners to transfer ADEPT into an industrial-strength product version called AristaFlow BPM Suite, and to provide maintenance support for it. The product version is now available for academic and industrial use.

Architectural Design of Flexible Process Management Technology

To provide effective support, process-aware information systems (PAIS) must not freeze existing business processes. Instead they should enable authorized users to deviate on-the-fly from the implemented processes and to dynamically evolve them over time. While there has been a lot of work on the theoretical foundations of dynamic process changes, there is still a lack of PAIS implementing this dynamics. Designing the architecture of respective technology constitutes a big challenge due to the high complexity coming with dynamic processes. Besides this, performance, robustness, security and usability of the system must not be affected by the added flexibility. In the AristaFlow project we have taken a holistic approach to master this complexity. Based on a conceptual framework for flexible process enactment and dynamic processes, we have designed a sophisticated architecture for next generation process management technology. This paper discusses major design goals and basic architectural principles, gives insights into selected system components, and shows how change support features can be realized in an integrated and effective manner.

Von ADEPT zur AristaFlow® BPM Suite - eine Vision wird Realität: "Correctness by Construction" und flexible, robuste Ausführung von Unternehmensprozessen

Workflow-Management-Systeme (WfMS) sind mittlerweile machtige Werkzeuge fur die computerunterstutzte Ausfuhrung von Geschaftsprozessen. Letztere konnen unabhangig von spezifischen Anwendungen modelliert, ausgefuhrt und uberwacht werden. Trotzdem existieren auf dem Software-Markt noch zahlreiche Anwendungen mit im Code fest verdrahteter Prozesslogik. Die Ursache dafur, dass konventionelle WfMS bei der Entwicklung prozessorientierter Anwendungen noch nicht die erhoffte Verbreitung erfahren haben, ist zum einen auf ihre Architektur und zum anderen auf ihr aktivitatsorientiertes Paradigma zuruckzufuhren. Die Verwaltung von Anwendungsdaten erfolgt, auserhalb des WfMS, d.h. innerhalb der eingebundenen externen Applikationen. Geschaftsprozesse und Geschaftsdaten konnen jedoch nicht unabhangig voneinander betrachtet werden, sondern Prozessmodelle sollten in Analogie zur Datenstruktur definiert werden konnen. Des Weiteren sind die in WfMS fest vorgegebenen Kontrollstrukturen zu starr fur die Ausfuhrung datenorientierter Prozesse. Der Fortschritt eines Prozesses ist hier nicht primar abhangig von bereits ausgefuhrten Aktivitaten, sondern von Anderungen der Attributwerte innerhalb der Anwendungsobjekte. In diesem Artikel fassen wir die charakteristischen Eigenschaften von daten- und prozessorientierten Anwendungen zusammen, die wir anhand verschiedener Fallstudien gesammelt haben. Wir zeigen, in wie weit konventionelle WfMS diesen Herausforderungen gewachsen sind. Auf dieser Basis leiten wir die Anforderungen ab, die eine generische Komponente zur Unterstutzung datengetriebener Prozesse mit einer integrierten Sicht auf Prozesse und Daten, erfullen sollte.

Equivalence of Web Services in Process-Aware Service Compositions

Deciding on web service equivalence in process-aware service compositions is a crucial challenge throughout the composition life cycle. Restricting such decisions to (activity) label equivalence constitutes a simplification for many practical applications: if two web services have equivalent labels, does this necessarily mean they are equivalent as well? In many scenarios other factors play an important role. Examples include context information (e.g., input and output messages) and information on the position of web services within compositions. In this paper, we introduce the composition life cycle and discuss specific requirements for web service equivalence along its different phases. We define adequate equivalence notions for design, execution, analysis, and evolution of service compositions. Main focus is put on attribute and position equivalence. Altogether this paper is a first step towards a new understanding and treatment of equivalence notions in service compositions.

On Utilizing Web Service Equivalence for Supporting the Composition Life Cycle

Deciding on Web service equivalence in process-aware service compositions is a crucial challenge throughout the composition life cycle. However, restricting such decisions to activity label equivalence is not sufficient for many practical applications: if two activities and Web services respectively have equivalent labels, does this necessarily mean they are equivalent as well? In many scenarios e.g., evolution of a composition schema or mining of completed composition instances, other factors also play an important role. Examples include context information e.g., input and output messages and information on the position of Web services within compositions. In this paper, the authors introduce the whole composition life cycle and discuss specific requirements for Web service equivalence along its different phases. The authors define adequate equivalence notions for the design, execution, analysis, and evolution of service compositions. This paper focuses on attribute and position equivalence and contributes a new understanding and treatment of equivalence notions in service compositions.

Lightweight Process Support with Spreadsheet-Driven Processes: A Case Study in the Finance Domain

The use of process management technology constitutes a salient factor for a multitude of business domains as it particularly addresses the flexibility demands of the digital enterprise. Still, spreadsheet applications are more likely to be used in many scenarios in which process management technology appears to be a more appropriate solution. Especially in the context of human-centric and knowledge-intensive processes, spreadsheets are widely used, even if more business-tailored applications exist. For example, financial service providers, like banks or insurers, prefer spreadsheet applications for accomplishing their daily business. However, this kind of usage reveals drawbacks when working collaboratively based on the same spreadsheet document. To remedy these drawbacks, we suggest the use of spreadsheet-driven processes, which shall combine the advantages of traditional process management technology with the ones of spreadsheets. Using a sophisticated scenario from the financial domain, this paper shows how spreadsheet-driven processes improve collaborative work, as required in the context of business processes, significantly. Moreover, a proof-of-concept prototype is presented to evaluate the approach in practice. Altogether, first results indicate that spreadsheet-driven processes may be a promising technical solution for everyday business involving human resources.