Philip Effinger

On a Study of Layout Aesthetics for Business Process Models Using BPMN

As BPMN spreads among a constantly growing user group, it is indispensable to analyze the expectations of users towards the appearance of a BPMN model. The user groups are mostly inhomogeneous since users stem from different backgrounds, e.g. IT, managerial sciences or economics. It is conceivable that BPMN novices may have different issues compared to higher skilled modeling experts. When this large set of users starts modeling, the expectations considering the graphical outcome of the modeling process may differ significantly.

Enhancing Visualizations of Business Processes

In todays business world, there exist multitudinous tools to model processes. For an automatic layout algorithm for those processes, it is important to take into account criteria like process flow and the semantic of the modeling notation. Most of the existing tools use standard layout approaches that often produce unsatisfying results since the calculated drawings are too dense and/or too large. This makes it difficult for users to understand the underlying process model.

A 3D-Navigator for Business Process Models

In this tool report, we present an approach to inspect and present business process models in 3D. We show our interactive 3D-software Flight Navigator. Flight Navigator supports numerous interaction paradigms that enable the user to easily present, inspect and analyse a process model in a 3D-environment. A major feature, that is part of our contribution, is the support of interactively browsing through a process (performing ’flights’). The tool provides navigational help for the user by displaying possible directions for further browsing using a head-up-display (HUD). The goal of Flight Navigator is to present, inspect and analyse business process models exploiting 3D-navigation features. At the same time, the tool is aiming to provide ease of use without cognitively overburdening the user faced with a 3D-environment.

The open graph archive: a community-driven effort

A graphbase, a term coined by Knuth [7], is a database of graphs and computer programs that generate, analyze, manipulate, and visualize graphs. The terms graphlibrary and grapharchive are often used as synonyms for this term. Our vision is to provide an infrastructure and quality standards for a public graphbase, named the Open Graph Archive, that is accessible to researchers and other interested parties around the world via the worldwide web. This paper describes the current work undertaken towards this goal; the paper is also intended to be a call for participation since this will be a community-driven effort where most of the content will be provided by users of the system.

An automatic layout algorithm for BPEL processes

The Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) is the standard execution language for business workflows. BPEL is an XML-based, verbose and complex language, consisting of block- and graph-oriented control structures, which makes it hard to generate intuitive visualizations. Although many tools enable the visualization of workflows before the transformation into executable systems, notations and style criteria for the visualization and layout of workflows are not standardized, so it is very hard to compare different tools. Often, the construction of a layout for a possibly complex workflow is left to the user or the result is visually unsatisfying. We present a novel algorithm for the layout of complex BPEL workflows, which uses the principles of the algorithm by Sugiyama and takes into account BPEL specifics, e.g. nested structures, parallel paths and several distinct types of elements. The BPEL specifics represent challenges to the layout algorithm and are not completely fulfilled by any other layout approach for BPEL.

Lifting business process diagrams to 2.5 dimensions

In this work, we describe our visualization approach for business processes using 2.5 dimensional techniques (2.5D). The idea of 2.5D is to add the concept of layering to a two dimensional (2D) visualization. The layers are arranged in a three-dimensional display space. For the modeling of the business processes, we use the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). The benefit of connecting BPMN with a 2.5D visualization is not only to obtain a more abstract view on the business process models but also to develop layering criteria that eventually increase readability of the BPMN model compared to 2D. We present a 2.5D Navigator for BPMN models that offers different perspectives for visualization. Therefore we also develop BPMN specific perspectives. The 2.5D Navigator combines the 2.5D approach with perspectives and allows free navigation in the three dimensional display space. We also demonstrate our tool and libraries used for implementation of the visualizations. The underlying general framework for 2.5D visualizations is explored and presented in a fashion that it can easily be used for different applications. Finally, an evaluation of our navigation tool demonstrates that we can achieve satisfying and aesthetic displays of diagrams stating BPMN models in 2.5D-visualizations.

Visualization of complex BPEL models

In this work, we present our approach for producing layouts of complex workflows given in the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) [1]. BPEL is a verbose, hierarchical workflow language containing nested, alternative and concurrent execution paths. Our approach enhances the Sugiyama algorithm [2] by introducing special paths, which are constrained to be drawn in parallel, and hence, orthogonally to the layers in the Sugiyamamodel. To prove the feasibility of our approach,we have developed an extension to the collaborative BPEL development system HOBBES [3] [4]. Collaboration enhances the need for visualizations of complex workflow models, as team members have to coordinate their activities.

Layout Patterns with BPMN Semantics

BPMN is a notation language that provides visual elements for modeling business processes. The resulting BPMN diagrams that represent BPMN models follow rules concerning their layout for creating a common understanding among all BPMN designers. A subset of the rules is determined by the BPMN standard. Other rules evolved when the BPMN community gained experience in the usage of its notation language. From a layout algorithmic perspective, the rules are formalized as so-called aesthetics. Until today, aesthetics for BPMN are mostly limited to the underlying graph structure of a BPMN process model diagram.

Softwareauswahl — auch eine Frage der Usability!

ZusammenfassungBei der Entscheidung, welches Anwendungssystem für einen bestimmten Aufgabenbereich genutzt werden soll, haben Unternehmen häufig die Qual der Wahl. Produkte verschiedener Hersteller werden anhand vermeintlicher Erfolgskriterien wie Leistungsumfang, Kompatibilität und Performance verglichen. Die Usability als „Soft Fact“ kommt hierbei meist zu kurz, trotz ihrer ökonomischen Relevanz. Ein produkt- und anwenderspezifisches Usability-Profil kann hier Abhilfe schaffen.

Layout techniques coupled with web2.0-based business process modeling

The most wide-spread notation for process models is the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). With Oryx, we have a open-source modeling tool at hand that supports collaborative and web-based modeling of BPMN diagrams. Here, we show how automatic layout of diagrams can support the designer when starting to model a process in BPMN. We provide an automatic layout integrated into Oryx that computes a new layout for a given diagram considering BPMN drawing conventions, e.g. orthogonal edges, hierarchical structures, partitions, etc.