Rule- and context-based dynamic business process modelling and simulation

Abstract

Olegas Vasilecas, Diana Kalibatiene and Dejan Lavbič. 2016. Rule-and context-based dynamic business process modelling and simulation, Journal of Systems and Software (JSS), 122, pp. 1 -15. AbstractThe traditional approach used to implement a business process (BP) in today's information systems (IS) no longer covers the actual needs of the dynamically changing business. Therefore, a necessity for a new approach of dynamic business process (DBP) modelling and simulation has arisen. To date, existing approaches to DBP modelling and simulation have been incomplete, i.e. they lack theory or a case study or both. Furthermore, there is no commonly accepted definition of BDP. Current BP modelling tools are suitable almost solely for the modelling and simulation of a static BP that strictly prescribes which activities, and in which sequence, to execute. Usually, a DBP is not defined strictly at the beginning of its execution, and it changes under new conditions at runtime. In our paper, we propose six requirements of DBP and an approach for rule-and context-based DBP modelling and simulation. The approach is based on changing BP rules, BP actions and their sequences at process instance runtime, according to the new business system context. Based on the proposed approach, a reference architecture and prototype of a DBP simulation tool were developed. Modelling and simulation were carried out using this prototype, and the case study shows correspondence to the needs of dynamically changing business, as well as possibilities for modelling and simulating DBP.

Dynamic Reconfiguration of Business Processes

“…In [11], an operational semantics for a declarative graph based language is proposed and a tool [15] for enacting the underlying workflow is available. Rule based descriptions of business process requirements have also been proposed (e.g., [16,26]). Such descriptions are naturally executable.…”

Uma Arquitetura para Integrar Processos de Negócios e Situações Contextuais por Meio de Regras de Negócio

“…Um mapeamento sistemático foi conduzido com o objetivo de investigar trabalhos que propõem a integração entre sensibilidade ao contexto e processos de negócio. Este mapeamento será descrito de forma resumida e demonstrará que, embora pesquisas estejam sendo conduzidas em direção à integração de processos e regras de negócio, como pode ser visto em [4,7,[9][10][11][12][13], poucas contam com…”

“…Elas guiam comportamentos, descrevendo como determinadas operações devem ser realizadas e se há algum limite que precisa ser aplicado. Elas permitem a especificação do conhecimento comercial de uma maneira que seja compreensível pelo "negócio", mas também executável pelos mecanismos de regras, contemplando assim, a lacuna entre os negócios e a tecnologia [3,4]. Devido a sua relevância, foram desenvolvidos Business Rule Management Systems (BRMS) com a finalidade de gerenciar as regras em sistemas baseados em processos de negócio [5].…”

An approach to business process simulation using mined probabilistic models

“…As opposed to this, in dynamic BP execution activities are activated based on rules applied to the context, instead of a control flow mechanism, and as such it adds further flexibility or capability to use complex decisions based on data generated in the process. The dynamic BP simulation was chosen for the approach due to its ability to use data generated inside the processes and use complex contextual rule for controlling the execution of the process [24]. The process model of how such simulation is done is depicted in Figure 1.…”