A Petri Nets Evolution Method that Supports BPMN Model Changes

Abstract

The correctness of the business process modelling notation (BPMN) is essential for software success, and the BPMN formalization is the foundation of the correctness verification process. However, dynamically adapting the formalized BPMN model to changes in the BPMN model and protecting tokens from being lost in the remapping formalization are the main limitations of the BPMN formalization under changing business requirements. To overcome these limitations, an approach for evolving a Petri nets model according to the BPMN changes is proposed in this paper. In this approach, a check algorithm is designed to identify the differences between the original BPMN model and the updated BPMN model. Then, the evolution rules of the extended Petri nets (EPN) model are defined according to the results of the checking program. Finally, these evolution rules are described in the query/view/transformation operational mapping (QVTo) language and implemented in the Eclipse platform. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the evolution of the BPMN formalization using a case study of the Web Payment business system. Moreover, the dynamic evolution of the BPMN formalization can maintain the consistency between the original model and the updated model, and this consistency has been successfully verified.