•Current landscape modeling approaches were investigated including BPMN.•A new language for modeling process landscapes (i.e. process maps) was developed.•12 diagrams from academia and industry were ...analyzed and remodeled in BPMN-L.•BPMN-L is capable to model all “in-use” landscape concepts.•BPMN-L is visually and structurally compatible with BPMN.•All BPMN-L concepts demonstrated practical applicability.
Process landscape diagrams represent the umbrella part of a process architecture by defining the scope and relationships between an organization’s business processes. They are fostering awareness and process-related communication by leveraging the benefits of visual notations. However, in contrast to business process diagrams, where nowadays BPMN prevails, process landscape diagrams lack standardization. Accordingly, the main objective of our efforts is to define an effective language for modeling of process landscapes, which is visually compliant with current landscape modeling approaches and structurally related to the BPMN standard. This was achieved by following the design science research methodology in which the proposed solution (named BPMN-L) was characterized, designed, and implemented by analyzing existing process landscape languages and approaches. Afterward, BPMN-L based diagrams were demonstrated and validated quantitatively and with a ‘proof-of-concept’ approach. The results show that BPMN-L is visually compatible with current landscape modeling approaches, especially value chains as well it suits well with multi-abstraction layered modeling based on BPMN. The investigated sample landscape diagrams demonstrate that all concepts, which are specified in BPMN-L, are applicable also in practice. Overall, the proposed solution has the potential to standardize and simplify process landscape discovery and modeling, semi-automate triggering of processes in a value chain and improve the consistency as well as the compatibility of processes architectures.
Unlike business process diagrams, where ISO/IEC 19510 (BPMN 2.0) prevails, high-level process landscape diagrams are being designed using a variety of standard- or semi-standard-based notations. ...Consequently, landscape diagrams differ among organizations, domains, and modeling tools. As (process landscape) diagrams need to be understandable in order to communicate effectively and thus form the basis for valid business decisions, this study aims to empirically validate the cognitive effectiveness of common landscape designs, including those BPMN-L-based, which represent a standardized extension of BPMN 2.0 specifically aimed at landscape modeling. Empirical research with 298 participants was conducted in which cognitive effectiveness was investigated by observing the speed, ease, accuracy, and efficiency of answering questions related to semantically equivalent process landscape diagrams modeled in three different notations: value chains, ArchiMate, and BPMN-L. The results demonstrate that BPMN-L-based diagrams performed better than value chain- and ArchiMate-based diagrams concerning speed, accuracy, and efficiency; however, subjects perceived BPMN-L-based diagrams as being less easy to use when compared to their counterparts. The results indicate that differences in cognitive effectiveness measures may result from the design principles of the underlying notations, specifically the complexity of the visual vocabulary and semiotic clarity, which states that modeling concepts should have unique visualizations.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the current state of the research field of business process architecture (BPA) and its design methodologies.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic ...literature review (SLR) was conducted using meta- and content-based perspectives.
Findings
From over 6,000 candidate studies, 89 were selected. A fifth of these primary works corresponded to BPA design methodologies. Though the BPA research field remains in an early stage of development, it bears promising growth potential. Regarding BPA design methodologies, the following aspects susceptible for further research were detected: identification and modeling of business process relationships; specification of inputs; standardization of models, notations and tool support; consideration of managerial concerns; integration of knowledge from other areas; and validation of methodological and product quality aspects.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of the work lies in not being fully reproducible due to the fixed number of data sources and their digital nature, together with subjective decisions in work selection, data extraction and data analysis.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge no study has yet analyzed the BPA research field by means of an SLR. This study will benefit practitioners and research groups working on this topic by allowing them to get a rigorous overview of the BPA research field with an emphasis on available BPA design methodologies, and become aware of research gaps within the BPA field to position further research.
Case Management is a paradigm to support knowledge-intensive processes. The different approaches developed for modeling these types of processes tend to result in scattered information due to the low ...abstraction level at which the inherently complex processes are represented. Thus, readability and understandability are more challenging than in imperative process models. This paper extends a case modeling language—the fragment-based Case Management (fCM) language—to a so-called fCM landscape (fCML) with the goal of modeling a single knowledge-intensive process from a higher abstraction level. Following the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, we first define requirements for an fCML, and then review how literature—in the fields of process overviews and case management—could support them. Design decisions are formalized by specifying a syntax for an fCML and the transformation rules from a given fCM model. The proposal is empirically evaluated via a laboratory experiment. Quantitative results imply that interpreting an fCML requires less effort in terms of time—and is thus more efficient—than interpreting its equivalent fCM case model. Qualitative results provide indications on the factors affecting case model interpretation and guidelines for future work.
A business process architecture (BPA) model depicts business processes in an organization and their relations. An artifact for generating BPA models is proposed as the outcome of a design science ...research project. The proposed artifact consists of a method (i.e., a set of concepts, a proposed notation, and a detailed procedure), which is termed the domain-based BPA (dBPA) method due to using domain models as a starting point. The dBPA method tackles issues of currently available approaches: lack of structured inputs, limited consideration of process relations types, and restricted use of industry-standard modeling languages. The paper formalizes the dBPA method and illustrates its application in the manufacturing industry. Evaluation of the dBPA method revealed that practitioners perceived it as useful to achieve its goal with the benefits of being objective and clear and allowing to create complete and understandable BPA models that enable the integration of processes and the software that automates them.
The relevance of the paper is conditioned by the multiple threats for social and personal security in the modern world. The purpose of the paper is aimed at supporting of acceptable security risks in ...real conditions of educational institutions’ functioning. The authors present a dynamic model of educational organizations’ complex safety. The leading approaches to the research are integrative, process and personality-activities approaches. The authors have developed the landscape of educational organizations, processes, providing comprehensive security. The priorities of the educational organization’s activities in the field of integrated security are presented. This paper is intended for educators, researchers, heads of educational organizations involved in the management of education organizations’ complex safety.
The relevance of the paper is conditioned by the multiple threats for social and personal security in the modern world. The purpose of the paper is aimed at supporting of acceptable security risks in ...real conditions of educational institutions' functioning. The authors present a dynamic model of educational organizations' complex safety. The leading approaches to the research are integrative, process and personality-activities approaches. The authors have developed the landscape of educational organizations, processes, providing comprehensive security. The priorities of the educational organization's activities in the field of integrated security are presented. This paper is intended for educators, researchers, heads of educational organizations involved in the management of education organizations' complex safety.
In this paper a domain specific process modelling method for public administrations is presented. The public sector is facing an increased service level demand from citizens and companies which comes ...along with reduced financial scope. Higher process efficiency as well as time and cost savings are required to cope with this challenge. However, reorganisation projects in public administrations with established generic process modelling methods could only identify limited reorganisation potential and just led to small local improvements 1. Therefore, we have created the domain specific modelling approach PICTURE. The PICTURE-method applies the domain vocabulary to efficiently capture the process landscape of a public organisation. Thus, PICTURE creates process transparency and is able to detect holistic reorganisation potentials within the entire administration.
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