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Criteria and Heuristics for Business Process Model Decomposition

Review and Comparative Evaluation

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Abstract

It is generally agreed that large process models should be decomposed into sub-processes in order to enhance understandability and maintainability. Accordingly, a number of process decomposition criteria and heuristics have been proposed in the literature. This paper presents a review of the field revealing distinct classes of criteria and heuristics. The study raises the question of how different decomposition heuristics affect process model understandability and maintainability. To address this question, an experiment is conducted where two different heuristics, one based on breakpoints and the other on data objects, were used to decompose a flat process model. The results of the experiment show that, although there are minor differences, the heuristics cause very similar results in regard to understandability and maintainability as measured by various process model metrics.

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Notes

  1. The list of publications can be accessed at http://sep.cs.ut.ee/Main/ProcessDecomposition.

  2. The flat process model can be accessed at http://sep.cs.ut.ee/Main/ProcessDecomposition.

  3. The values for the experiment can be accessed at http://sep.cs.ut.ee/Main/ProcessDecomposition.

  4. The statistical analysis can be accessed at http://sep.cs.ut.ee/Main/ProcessDecomposition.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the European Social Fund via the Doctoral Studies and Internationalisation Programme – DoRa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tartu, Liivi 2, 504 09, Tartu, Estonia

    Fredrik Milani, Marlon Dumas, Raimundas Matulevičius, Naved Ahmed & Silva Kasela

Authors
  1. Fredrik Milani
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  2. Marlon Dumas
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  3. Raimundas Matulevičius
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  4. Naved Ahmed
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  5. Silva Kasela
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Correspondence to Fredrik Milani.

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Accepted after two revisions by the editors of the special issue.

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Milani, F., Dumas, M., Matulevičius, R. et al. Criteria and Heuristics for Business Process Model Decomposition. Bus Inf Syst Eng 58, 7–17 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-015-0413-1

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