Participatory Development of Enterprise Process Models

In this paper we present practical experience from using a technique we call Modeling Conferences, a method for participatory constructio n and development of enterprise process models. Process models are an important way to supp ort communication, coordination and knowledge development within an organization. The M odeling Conference method focus on broad participation from all actors in the organiza tion, is grounded in a social constructivist perspective, and has its theoretical basis in the m ethod of search conferences and process modeling. In an engineering consultancy firm, the M odeling Conference method has been used to develop process models for main common work tasks t hat have been implemented on an Intranet. Independent evaluations show that participation thr ough the Modeling Conferences led to significantly more ownership to the process models, and that the actors have developed new collective knowledge.