[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/ Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

An approach to merge collaborating processes of an inter-organizational business process for artifact lifecycle synthesis

  • Published:
Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Artifact-centric approach to business process modeling has received considerable attention for elevating data logic to the same level as the process flow logic. With the emergence of this modeling paradigm, several recent works have focused on synthesizing the indispensable lifecycles of key business entities called artifacts from the standalone activity-centric processes. However, synthesizing artifact lifecycles from the inter-organizational business processes (IOBP) is challenging, as the artifacts and states are shared among two or more collaborating processes. Thus, unlike a standalone process, the synthesis of artifact lifecycles from an IOBP require the process interactions to be captured by preserving the dependencies between the involved artifacts and states in the resulting lifecycles. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an automated approach that aims at merging the collaborating processes of an IOBP in order to support the synthesis of artifact lifecycles from an IOBP. The proposed approach is comprised of algorithms that combine the nodes of collaborating processes to generate an integrated process that can be used to synthesize the artifact lifecycles pertinent to an IOBP. We demonstrate the proposed approach using an e-business process scenario and the validity is proved using theorems and a prototype implementation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
£29.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (United Kingdom)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

Notes

  1. Business Process Model and Notation, http://www.bpmn.org/.

  2. In this paper, we use the terms process model and process interchangeably.

  3. https://github.com/jyothikunchala/ProcessMerging.git.

References

  1. Assy N, Chan NN, Gaaloul W (2013) Assisting business process design with configurable process fragments. In: IEEE international conference on services computing. IEEE, pp 535–542

  2. Bhattacharya K, Caswell NS, Kumaran S, Nigam A, Wu FY (2007) Artifact-centered operational modeling: lessons from customer engagements. IBM Syst J 46(4):703–721

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bulanov P, Lazovik A, Aiello M (2011) Business process customization using process merging techniques. In: IEEE international conference on service-oriented computing and applications (SOCA). IEEE, pp 1–4

  4. Chao T, Cohn D, Flatgard A, Hahn S, Linehan M, Nandi P, Nigam A, Pinel F, Vergo J, y Wu F (2009) Artifact-based transformation of IBM global financing. In: International conference on business process management. Springer, pp 261–277

  5. Chinnici R, Haas H, Lewis AA, Moreau JJ, Orchard D, Weerawarana S (2007) Web services description language (WSDL) version 2.0 part 2: adjuncts. W3C recommendation

  6. Derguech W, Bhiri S (2011) An automation support for creating configurable process models. In: International conference on web information systems engineering. Springer, pp 199–212

  7. Derguech W, Bhiri S, Curry E (2017) Designing business capability-aware configurable process models. Inform Syst 72:77–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Eshuis R, Van Gorp P (2012) Synthesizing object life cycles from business process models. In: International conference on conceptual modeling. Springer, pp 307–320

  9. Eshuis R, Van Gorp P (2016) Synthesizing object life cycles from business process models. Softw Syst Model 15(1):281–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Gottschalk F, van der Aalst WM, Jansen-Vullers MH (2008) Merging event-driven process chains. In: OTM confederated international conferences on the move to meaningful internet systems. Springer, pp 418–426

  11. Huang Y, Li W, Liang Z, Xue Y, Wang X (2018) Efficient business process consolidation: combining topic features with structure matching. Soft Comput 22(2):645–657

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Kiepuszewski B, Ter Hofstede AH, Bussler CJ (2000) On structured workflow modelling. In: International conference on advanced information systems engineering. Springer, pp. 431–445

  13. Kunchala J, Yu J, Sheng QZ, Han Y, Yongchareon S (2015) Synthesis of artifact lifecycles from activity-centric process models. In: IEEE 19th international enterprise distributed object computing conference. IEEE, pp 29–37

  14. Kunchala J, Yu J, Yongchareon S, Han Y (2017) Towards merging collaborating processes for artifact lifecycle synthesis. In: Proceedings of the Australasian computer science week multiconference. ACM, p 50

  15. La Rosa M, Dumas M, Uba R, Dijkman R (2013) Business process model merging: an approach to business process consolidation. ACM Trans Softw Eng Methodol 22(2):11

    Google Scholar 

  16. La Rosa M, Dumas M, Uba R, Dijkman R (2010) Merging business process models. In: OTM confederated international conferences on the move to meaningful internet systems. Springer, pp 96–113

  17. Liu R, Wu FY, Kumaran S (2010) Transforming activity-centric business process models into information-centric models for soa solutions. J Database Manag 21(4):14–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Mendling J, Simon C (2006) Business process design by view integration. In: International conference on business process management. Springer, pp 55–64

  19. Meyer A, Weske M (2013) Activity-centric and artifact-centric process model roundtrip. In: International conference on business process management. Springer, pp 167–181

  20. Nigam A, Caswell NS (2003) Business artifacts: an approach to operational specification. IBM Syst J 42(3):428–445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Schunselaar DM, Leopold H, Verbeek HM, van der Aalst WM, Reijers HA (2014) Configuring configurable process models made easier: an automated approach. In: International conference on business process management. Springer, pp 105–117

  22. Sun S, Kumar A, Yen J (2006) Merging workflows: a new perspective on connecting business processes. Decis Support Syst 42(2):844–858

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Xu W, Su J, Yan Z, Yang J, Zhang L (2011) An artifact-centric approach to dynamic modification of workflow execution. In: OTM confederated international conferences on the move to meaningful internet systems. Springer, pp 256–273

  24. Yongchareon S, Liu C, Zhao X (2012) A framework for behavior-consistent specialization of artifact-centric business processes. In: International conference on business process management. Springer, pp 285–301

  25. Yongchareon S, Yu J, Zhao X (2015) A view framework for modeling and change validation of artifact-centric inter-organizational business processes. Inform Syst 47:51–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Zemni MA, Mammar A, Hadj-Alouane NB (2016) An automated approach for merging business process fragments. Comput Ind 82:104–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is supported in part by Key Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61832004 and 61672042).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

    Jyothi Kunchala, Jian Yu & Sira Yongchareon

  2. School of Software and Electrical Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria, Australia

    Chengfei Liu

Authors
  1. Jyothi Kunchala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jian Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sira Yongchareon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Chengfei Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jyothi Kunchala.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kunchala, J., Yu, J., Yongchareon, S. et al. An approach to merge collaborating processes of an inter-organizational business process for artifact lifecycle synthesis. Computing 102, 951–976 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00607-019-00770-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00607-019-00770-z

Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classification

Search

Navigation