An Evolutionary Algorithm Based Approach for Business Process Multi-Criteria Optimization

Abstract

Business processes design optimization is known as the problem of creating feasible business processes while optimizing their criteria such as resource cost and execution time. In this paper, the authors propose an evolutionary multi-criteria approach based on a modified evolutionary algorithm for generating optimized business processes. The main contribution of this work is a framework capable of (i) generating business processes using an enhanced version of evolutionary algorithm NSGAII, (ii) verifying the feasibility of each business process created employing an effective algorithm, and (iii) selecting Pareto optimal solutions in a multi criteria optimization environment up to three criteria, with use of an effectual fitness function. The experimental results showed that the authors' proposal generates efficient business processes with high quality in terms of qualitative parameters compared with existing solutions.

Evolutionary Multi-objective Optimization of Business Process Designs with MA-NSGAII

“…It turns out that a larger library (with more resources) could improve the obtained solutions (at least quantitatively). It appears to the authors that the selection operator as much as the crossover operator (see [20]) has a moderate effect on the generated solutions quality.…”

“…Zhong et al [19] present an interesting study on the reduction of solutions diversity following a MOO (02 criteria) using NSGAII with truncation selection. Mahammed et al [20] propose an evolutionary multi-criteria approach based on a modified EA for generating optimized business processes. They replace the binary tournament selection with uniform selection, roulette wheel selection and ranking selection, combining the whole with a proposed crossover operator.…”

“…Following a number of steps, the proposed Framework is able to generate a series of optimized designs from an initial BP. The authors define a BP as a set of activities that takes one or more kinds of input and creates an output that has value to the customer [20]. Throughout the Framework course (Fig.…”