Linking Domain Models and Process Models for Reference Model Configuration
Reference process models capture common practices in a given domain and variations thereof. Such models are intended to be configured in a specific setting, leading to individualized process models. Although the advantages of reference process models are
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Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia {m.larosa,m.dumas}@qut.edu.au 2 Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, 5600MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands {f.gottschalk,w.m.p.v.d.aalst}@tue.nl
Abstract. Reference process models capture common practices in a given domain and variations thereof. Such models are intended to be configured in a specific setting, leading to individualized process models. Although the advantages of reference process models are widely accepted, their configuration still requires a high degree of modeling expertise. Thus users not only need to be domain experts, but also need to master the notation in which the reference process model is captured. In this paper we propose a framework for reference process modeling wherein the domain variability is represented separately from the actual process model. Domain variability is captured as a questionnaire that reflects the decisions that need to be made during configuration and their interrelationships. This questionnaire allows subject matter experts to configure the process model without requiring them to understand the process modeling notation. The approach guarantees that the resulting process models are correct according to certain constraints. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposal, we have implemented a questionnaire toolset that guides users through the configuration of reference process models captured in two different notations. Keywords: reference model, process configuration, variability modeling.
1 Introduction Business processes like purchasing, recruitment, or customer service processes, are organized in similar ways across companies. To promote the reuse of such processes, Enterprise System vendors provide generic reference process models [4, 16, 17] that can be adapted to the needs of individual companies, thus enabling these companies to leverage proven practices and to avoid designing processes from scratch. Notations like Configurable Event-driven Process Chains (C-EPC) [13] address the issue of representing and configuring reference process models. Such notations allow users to incorporate multiple process variants into a single configurable process model by means of variation points. By eliminating the undesired variants from the variation points, one can get a configured process model that suits the individual requirements. Unfortunately, the integration and adaptation of several process variants in such notations often leads to an increase in the model's complexity. Thus, the configuration A. ter Hofstede, B. Benatallah, and H.-Y. Paik (Eds.): BPM 2007 Workshops, LNCS 4928, pp. 417–430, 2008. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008
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of a reference process model requires a significant degree of modeling expertise in the particular notation. Moreover, since these notations are designed to capture individual variation points, it is difficult to estimate the impact of high-level configuration decisions on the overall process model, i.e. to determine
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