EPC Verification in the ARIS for MySAP reference model database

Process aware information systems, such as Workflow Management Systems or ERP systems require process specifications for their implementation. Since many of those process specifications are similar for different companies, databases with so-called reference models, such as Aris for My-SAP, have been developed. These databases can be customized towards company-specific process specifications, thus keeping implementation costs down. To avoid costly problems with information systems on an operational level, it is of the utmost importance that the reference models used to design the information system are correct. In this paper, we analyze a selection of the reference models for SAP R/3 that are stored in the ARIS for MySAP database, and we verify whether they are correct. Since these models are stored as Event-driven Process Chains (EPCs), we use a verification approach tailored towards the verification of this language to check for errors in the models. We show that the reference models in ARIS for MySAP indeed contain some errors and we present the implications of those errors, if these models would be used for the execution of business processes.

[1]  Tadao Murata,et al.  Petri nets: Properties, analysis and applications , 1989, Proc. IEEE.

[2]  A. Scheer.  Business Process Engineering: Reference Models for Industrial Enterprises , 1994 .

[3]  Maria E. Orlowska,et al.  Modeling and Verification of Workflow Graphs , 1996 .

[4]  Wolfgang Reisig,et al.  Lectures on Petri Nets I: Basic Models , 1996, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[5]  T. Curran,et al.  SAP R/3 Business Blueprint: Understanding the Business Process Reference Model , 1997 .

[6]  Thomas Teufel,et al.  Sap R/3 Process Oriented Implementation , 1998 .

[7]  Christoph Schneider,et al.  Petri Net Based Certification of Event-Driven Process Chains , 1998, ICATPN.

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

[9]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Formalization and verification of event-driven process chains , 1999, Inf. Softw. Technol..

[10]  Ulrich Frank,et al.  Conceptual Modelling as the Core of the Information Systems Discipline - Perspectives and Epistemological Challenges , 1999 .

[11]  Maria E. Orlowska,et al.  Applying Graph Reduction Techniques for Identifying Structural Conflicts in Process Models , 1999, CAiSE.

[12]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Workflow Verification: Finding Control-Flow Errors Using Petri-Net-Based Techniques , 2000, Business Process Management.

[13]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Verification Of Workflow Task Structures: A Petri-net-baset Approach , 2000, Inf. Syst..

[14]  Maria E. Orlowska,et al.  Analyzing Process Models Using Graph Reduction Techniques , 2000, Inf. Syst..

[15]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Woflan 2.0: A Petri-Net-Based Workflow Diagnosis Tool , 2000, ICATPN.

[16]  Len Silverston.  The Data Model Resource Book, Vol. 1: A Library of Universal Data Models for All Enterprises , 2001 .

[17]  Len Silverston.  The Data Model Resource Book, Vol. 2: A Library of Data Models for Specific Industries , 2001 .

[18]  Juliane Dehnert,et al.  Relaxed Soundness of Business Processes , 2001, CAiSE.

[19]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  An Alternative Way to Analyze Workflow Graphs , 2002, CAiSE.

[20]  Kees M. van Hee,et al.  Workflow Management: Models, Methods, and Systems , 2002, Cooperative information systems.

[21]  Ekkart Kindler,et al.  On the semantics of EPCs: A vicious circle , 2002, EPK.

[22]  Hao Lin,et al.  A novel graph reduction algorithm to identify structural conflicts , 2002, Proceedings of the 35th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[23]  Peter Loos,et al.  Classification of reference models: a methodology and its application , 2003, Inf. Syst. E Bus. Manag..

[24]  Kees M. van Hee,et al.  Soundness and Separability of Workflow Nets in the Stepwise Refinement Approach , 2003, ICATPN.

[25]  Michael Rosemann,et al.  Application Reference Models and Building Blocks for Management and Control (ERP Systems) , 2003 .

[26]  Peter Bernus,et al.  GERAM: The Generalised Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology , 2003 .

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

[28]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Bridging The Gap Between Business Models And Workflow Specifications , 2004, Int. J. Cooperative Inf. Syst..

[29]  Boudewijn F. van Dongen,et al.  Verification of SAP Reference Models , 2005, Business Process Management.

[30]  Boudewijn F. van Dongen,et al.  Verification of EPCs: Using Reduction Rules and Petri Nets , 2005, CAiSE.

[31]  Jörg Desel,et al.  Free Choice Petri Nets (Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science) , 2005 .

[32]  Boudewijn F. van Dongen,et al.  The ProM Framework: A New Era in Process Mining Tool Support , 2005, ICATPN.

[33]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  A configurable reference modelling language , 2007, Inf. Syst..

[34]  Len Silverston.  Data Model Resource Book: A Library of Data Models for Specific Industries 2 , 2007 .