Testing a Selection of BPMN Tools for Their Support of Modelling Guidelines

BPMN has become the de facto standard notation for process modelling. Past research has demonstrated the need for modelling guidelines to improve the quality of process models. In previous research we collected a set of practical guidelines through a systematic literature survey and classified those in different categories. In this paper we test a selection of BPMN tools for their support for these guidelines, and report on existing support per category of guideline and the kinds of support used by the tool to support the different guidelines. The results give insight into which domains of guidelines are well supported and which lack support from BPMN tools. Further, different preferences of the vendors are observed regarding the methods of support they implement in their tools.

[1]  M. Daneva.  A best practice based approach to CASE-tool selection , 1999, Proceedings 4th IEEE International Software Engineering Standards Symposium and Forum (ISESS'99). 'Best Software Practices for the Internet Age'.

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

[3]  D. Lubke,et al.  Visualizing Use Case Sets as BPMN Processes , 2008, 2008 Requirements Engineering Visualization.

[4]  Anna Grimán,et al.  Tools selection criteria in software-developing Small and Medium Enterprises , 2010 .

[5]  Jan C. Recker,et al.  BPMN Modeling - Who, Where, How and Why , 2008 .

[6]  Jan Mendling,et al.  Thresholds for error probability measures of business process models , 2012, J. Syst. Softw..

[7]  Monique Snoeck,et al.  A systematic literature review of studies on business process modeling quality , 2015, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[8]  Jan Recker,et al.  How Much Language Is Enough? Theoretical and Practical Use of the Business Process Modeling Notation , 2008, CAiSE.

[9]  Monique Snoeck,et al.  Pragmatic guidelines for business process modeling , 2014 .

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

[11]  Annette L. du Plessis,et al.  A method for CASE tool evaluation , 1993, Inf. Manag..

[12]  Louis A. Le Blanc,et al.  A structured approach to the evaluation and selection of CASE tools , 1992, SAC '92.

[13]  Wil M.P. van der Aalst,et al.  Pi calculus versus petri nets: let us eat humble pie rather than further inflate the Pi hype , 2005 .

[14]  Jan Mendling,et al.  Seven process modeling guidelines (7PMG) , 2010, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[15]  Alberto Trombetta,et al.  BPMN: An introduction to the standard , 2012, Comput. Stand. Interfaces.