A definition and measure of workflow modularity

OF THE THESIS A DEFINITION AND MEASURE OF WORKFLOW MODULARITY by Dawn-Marie Chin Florida International University, 2005 Miami, Florida Professor Ronald Giachetti, Major Professor The purpose of this study is to define and measure workflow modularity. There is an increasing need for organizations to implement processes that can be easily configured to offer distinctive capabilities compared to the competition. The concept of modularity provides the foundation for organizations to design flexible processes. The Event-Driven Process Chain (EPC) approach is used to model an example workflow to illustrate. Based on the model of atomic tasks, rules are developed to guide the creation of modules with high cohesion between tasks in a module and loose-coupling between modules. Matrices of atomic tasks interdependencies are developed and tasks are then clustered based on interdependence strengths. The main deliverable is a mathematical model for defining and analyzing a modular workflow to enable the creation of flexible workflow processes. The modularization model represents tasks relationships that maximizes cohesion between tasks, minimizes coupling between modules, while minimizing workflow time.

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