An Application of the ψ-Theory to the Analysis of Business Process Models

This paper presents a method to analyse the consistency and completeness of process models according to the principles of the ψ-theory and the underlying concept of business transaction. Transactions specify the collaborative behaviour between actors while services are being requested and provided. The method assesses the consistency of a process in terms of the business transactions that can be inferred from it. To do so, it takes as input a process model that is converted to a transactional model. The transactional model is then analysed and revised so that all transactions become consistent and complete according to the transactional pattern. This enables to identify the problems on the original process model and to prompt areas of improvement.

[1]  A. Koller,et al.  Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language , 1969 .

[2]  G. G. Meyer,et al.  Lecture notes in business information processing , 2009 .

[3]  J. C. Tiernan,et al.  Information System Theory. , 1974 .

[4]  Olaf Zimmermann,et al.  Analysis and Design Techniques for Service-Oriented Development and Integration , 2005, GI Jahrestagung.

[5]  Jan L. G. Dietz,et al.  Enterprise ontology - theory and methodology , 2006 .

[6]  Börje Langefors Information systems theory , 1977, Inf. Syst..

[7]  Kris Ven,et al.  Translating Ontological Business Transactions into Evolvable Information Systems , 2010, 2010 Fifth International Conference on Software Engineering Advances.

[8]  José M. Tribolet,et al.  A role-based enterprise architecture framework , 2009, SAC '09.

[9]  Fpm Frank Dignum,et al.  Communication modeling - the language/action perspective : proceedings of the 2nd international workshop on communication modeling, Veldhoven, The Netherlands, 9-10 June, 1997 , 1997 .

[10]  J. Habermas The Theory of Communicative Action: Reason and the Rationalization of Society , 1986 .

[11]  Hans B. F. Mulder,et al.  Enhancing the Formal Foundations of BPMN by Enterprise Ontology , 2009, CIAO! / EOMAS.

[12]  Marta Indulska,et al.  How good is BPMN really? Insights from theory and practice , 2006, ECIS.

[13]  André Vasconcelos,et al.  Enterprise Architecture Modeling with the Unified Modeling Language , 2007 .

[14]  Remco M. Dijkman,et al.  Semantics and analysis of business process models in BPMN , 2008, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[15]  Joseph Barjis Automatic business process analysis and simulation based on DEMO , 2007, Enterp. Inf. Syst..

[16]  Hans Weigand,et al.  Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Communication Modeling - Index , 1996 .