Enterprise Modelling and Information Systems Architectures Vol . 4 , No . 1 , June 2009 The Difference Between Graph-Based and Block-Structured Business Process Modelling Languages 3

The most prominent business process notations in use today are BPMN, EPC and BPEL. While all those languages show similarities on the conceptual level and share similar constructs, the semantics of these constructs and even the intended use of the language itself are often quite different. As a result, users are uncertain when to use which language or construct in a particular language, especially when they have used another business process notation before. In this paper, we discuss the core characteristics of graph-based and block-structured modelling languages and compare them with respect to their join and loop semantics.

[1]  Moe Thandar Wynn,et al.  Achieving a General, Formal and Decidable Approach to the OR-Join in Workflow Using Reset Nets , 2005, ICATPN.

[2]  Jan Mendling,et al.  On the Translation between BPMN and BPEL , 2006, EMMSAD.

[3]  Marian Petre,et al.  When Visual Programs are Harder to Read than Textual Programs , 1992 .

[4]  Mathias Weske,et al.  Using the pi-Calculus for Formalizing Workflow Patterns , 2005, Business Process Management.

[5]  Nancy Cunniff,et al.  Graphical vs. textual representation: an empirical study of novices' program comprehension , 1987 .

[6]  Oliver Kopp,et al.  On the Choice Between Graph-Based and Block-Structured Business Process Modeling Languages , 2008, MobIS.

[7]  Frank Leymann,et al.  Production Workflow: Concepts and Techniques , 1999 .

[8]  S. Krishnan,et al.  2 XLANG : Web Services for Business Process Design , 2002 .

[9]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Workflow Exception Patterns , 2006, CAiSE.

[10]  Jan Mendling,et al.  Instantiation Semantics for Process Models , 2008, BPM.

[11]  Bartosz Kiepusewski,et al.  Expressiveness and suitability of languages for control flow modelling in workflows , 2003 .

[12]  Ed Baroth,et al.  Visual programming in the real world , 1995 .

[13]  Fei Cao,et al.  Compiling business processes: untangling unstructured loops in irreducible flow graphs , 2006, Int. J. Web Grid Serv..

[14]  David A. Scanlan.  Structured flowcharts outperform pseudocode: an experimental comparison , 1989, IEEE Software.

[15]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Pattern-Based Translation of BPMN Process Models to BPEL Web Services , 2008, Int. J. Web Serv. Res..

[16]  Joachim Wehler,et al.  Boolean and Free-choice Semantics of Event-driven Process , 2007, EPK.

[17]  Frank Leymann,et al.  E Role-based Decomposition of Business Processes using BPEL , 2006, 2006 IEEE International Conference on Web Services (ICWS'06).

[18]  Brent Auernheimer,et al.  Visual Depiction of Decision Statements: What is Best for Programmers and Non-Programmers? , 1997, Empirical Software Engineering.

[19]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  On the Suitability of BPMN for Business Process Modelling , 2006, Business Process Management.

[20]  Wil M.P. van der Aalst,et al.  YAWL: yet another workflow language , 2005, Inf. Syst..

[21]  Bernhard Thalheim,et al.  On Defining the Behavior of OR-joins in Business Process Models , 2009, J. Univers. Comput. Sci..

[22]  Marlon Dumas,et al.  Service Interaction Patterns , 2005, Business Process Management.

[23]  Ted G. Lewis,et al.  Visual Object-Oriented Programming: Concepts and Environments , 1995 .

[24]  Hongyan Ma,et al.  Process-aware information systems: Bridging people and software through process technology , 2007, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[25]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Workflow Data Patterns: Identification, Representation and Tool Support , 2005, ER.

[26]  Tom Mens,et al.  A Taxonomy of Model Transformation , 2006, GRaMoT@GPCE.

[27]  Ekkart Kindler,et al.  On the Semantics of EPCs: A Framework for Resolving the Vicious Circle , 2004, Business Process Management.

[28]  Marlon Dumas,et al.  Correlation Patterns in Service-Oriented Architectures , 2007, FASE.

[29]  Jan Mendling,et al.  Detection and prediction of errors in EPC business process models , 2007 .

[30]  Frank Leymann,et al.  Exception Handling in the BPEL4WS Language , 2003, Business Process Management.

[31]  Jasna Kuljis,et al.  Some Evidence for Graphical Readership, Paradigm Preference, and the Match-Mismatch Conjecture in Graphical Programs , 2001, PPIG.

[32]  J. Krogstie,et al.  Formalization and verification of EPCs with OR-joins based on state and context , 2007 .

[33]  Mathias Weske,et al.  BPEL to BPMN: The Myth of a Straight-Forward Mapping , 2008, OTM Conferences.

[34]  Stefan Kühne,et al.  Business to IT Transformations Revisited , 2008, Business Process Management Workshops.

[35]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  The Application of Petri Nets to Workflow Management , 1998, J. Circuits Syst. Comput..

[36]  Marian Petre,et al.  Why looking isn't always seeing: readership skills and graphical programming , 1995, CACM.

[37]  Mathias Weske,et al.  Business Process Management: Concepts, Languages, Architectures , 2007 .

[38]  Moe Thandar Wynn,et al.  Semantics of Standard Process Models with OR-Joins , 2007, OTM Conferences.