@phdthesis{Pufahl2018,
  author    = {Pufahl, Luise},
  title     = {Modeling and executing batch activities in business processes},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-408013},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xix, 163},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Business process automation improves organizations' efficiency to perform work. Therefore, a business process is first documented as a process model which then serves as blueprint for a number of process instances representing the execution of specific business cases. In existing business process management systems, process instances run independently from each other. However, in practice, instances are also collected in groups at certain process activities for a combined execution to improve the process performance. Currently, this so-called batch processing is executed manually or supported by external software. Only few research proposals exist to explicitly represent and execute batch processing needs in business process models. These works also lack a comprehensive understanding of requirements. This thesis addresses the described issues by providing a basic concept, called batch activity. It allows an explicit representation of batch processing configurations in process models and provides a corresponding execution semantics, thereby easing automation. The batch activity groups different process instances based on their data context and can synchronize their execution over one or as well multiple process activities. The concept is conceived based on a requirements analysis considering existing literature on batch processing from different domains and industry examples. Further, this thesis provides two extensions: First, a flexible batch configuration concept, based on event processing techniques, is introduced to allow run time adaptations of batch configurations. Second, a concept for collecting and batching activity instances of multiple different process models is given. Thereby, the batch configuration is centrally defined, independently of the process models, which is especially beneficial for organizations with large process model collections. This thesis provides a technical evaluation as well as a validation of the presented concepts. A prototypical implementation in an existing open-source BPMS shows that with a few extensions, batch processing is enabled. Further, it demonstrates that the consolidated view of several work items in one user form can improve work efficiency. The validation, in which the batch activity concept is applied to different use cases in a simulated environment, implies cost-savings for business processes when a suitable batch configuration is used. For the validation, an extensible business process simulator was developed. It enables process designers to study the influence of a batch activity in a process with regards to its performance.},
  language  = {en}
}
@book{OPUS4-8381,
  title     = {Proceedings of the Master seminar on event processing systems for business process management systems},
  number    = {102},
  editor    = {Baumgraß, Anne and Meyer, Andreas and Weske, Mathias},
  publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam},
  address   = {Potsdam},
  isbn      = {978-3-86956-347-3},
  issn      = {1613-5652},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-83819},
  publisher      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {vii, 67},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Traditionally, business process management systems only execute and monitor business process instances based on events that originate from the process engine itself or from connected client applications. However, environmental events may also influence business process execution. Recent research shows how the technological improvements in both areas, business process management and complex event processing, can be combined and harmonized. The series of technical reports included in this collection provides insights in that combination with respect to technical feasibility and improvements based on real-world use cases originating from the EU-funded GET Service project - a project targeting transport optimization and green-house gas reduction in the logistics domain. Each report is complemented by a working prototype. This collection introduces six use cases from the logistics domain. Multiple transports - each being a single process instance - may be affected by the same events at the same point in time because of (partly) using the same transportation route, transportation vehicle or transportation mode (e.g. containers from multiple process instances on the same ship) such that these instances can be (partly) treated as batch. Thus, the first use case shows the influence of events to process instances processed in a batch. The case of sharing the entire route may be, for instance, due to origin from the same business process (e.g. transport three containers, where each is treated as single process instance because of being transported on three trucks) resulting in multi-instance process executions. The second use case shows how to handle monitoring and progress calculation in this context. Crucial to transportation processes are frequent changes of deadlines. The third use case shows how to deal with such frequent process changes in terms of propagating the changes along and beyond the process scope to identify probable deadline violations. While monitoring transport processes, disruptions may be detected which introduce some delay. Use case four shows how to propagate such delay in a non-linear fashion along the process instance to predict the end time of the instance. Non-linearity is crucial in logistics because of buffer times and missed connection on intermodal transports (a one-hour delay may result in a missed ship which is not going every hour). Finally, use cases five and six show the utilization of location-based process monitoring. Use case five enriches transport processes with real-time route and traffic event information to improve monitoring and planning capabilities. Use case six shows the inclusion of spatio-temporal events on the example of unexpected weather events.},
  language  = {en}
}
@book{PufahlMeyerWeske2013,
  author    = {Pufahl, Luise and Meyer, Andreas and Weske, Mathias},
  title     = {Batch regions : process instance synchronization based on data},
  publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam},
  address   = {Potsdam},
  isbn      = {978-3-86956-280-3},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-69081},
  publisher      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {18},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Business process automation improves organizations' efficiency to perform work. In existing business process management systems, process instances run independently from each other. However, synchronizing instances carrying similar characteristics, i.e., sharing the same data, can reduce process execution costs. For example, if an online retailer receives two orders from one customer, there is a chance that they can be packed and shipped together to save shipment costs. In this paper, we use concepts from the database domain and introduce data views to business processes to identify instances which can be synchronized. Based on data views, we introduce the concept of batch regions for a context-aware instance synchronization over a set of connected activities. We also evaluate the concepts introduced in this paper with a case study comparing costs for normal and batch processing.},
  language  = {de}
}