@article{BaierDiCiccioMendlingetal.2018, author = {Baier, Thomas and Di Ciccio, Claudio and Mendling, Jan and Weske, Mathias}, title = {Matching events and activities by integrating behavioral aspects and label analysis}, series = {Software and systems modeling}, volume = {17}, journal = {Software and systems modeling}, number = {2}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Heidelberg}, issn = {1619-1366}, doi = {10.1007/s10270-017-0603-z}, pages = {573 -- 598}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Nowadays, business processes are increasingly supported by IT services that produce massive amounts of event data during the execution of a process. These event data can be used to analyze the process using process mining techniques to discover the real process, measure conformance to a given process model, or to enhance existing models with performance information. Mapping the produced events to activities of a given process model is essential for conformance checking, annotation and understanding of process mining results. In order to accomplish this mapping with low manual effort, we developed a semi-automatic approach that maps events to activities using insights from behavioral analysis and label analysis. The approach extracts Declare constraints from both the log and the model to build matching constraints to efficiently reduce the number of possible mappings. These mappings are further reduced using techniques from natural language processing, which allow for a matching based on labels and external knowledge sources. The evaluation with synthetic and real-life data demonstrates the effectiveness of the approach and its robustness toward non-conforming execution logs.}, language = {en} } @article{MendlingWebervanderAalstetal.2018, author = {Mendling, Jan and Weber, Ingo and van der Aalst, Wil and Brocke, Jan Vom and Cabanillas, Cristina and Daniel, Florian and Debois, Soren and Di Ciccio, Claudio and Dumas, Marlon and Dustdar, Schahram and Gal, Avigdor and Garcia-Banuelos, Luciano and Governatori, Guido and Hull, Richard and La Rosa, Marcello and Leopold, Henrik and Leymann, Frank and Recker, Jan and Reichert, Manfred and Reijers, Hajo A. and Rinderle-Ma, Stefanie and Solti, Andreas and Rosemann, Michael and Schulte, Stefan and Singh, Munindar P. and Slaats, Tijs and Staples, Mark and Weber, Barbara and Weidlich, Matthias and Weske, Mathias and Xu, Xiwei and Zhu, Liming}, title = {Blockchains for Business Process Management}, series = {ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems}, volume = {9}, journal = {ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems}, number = {1}, publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}, address = {New York}, issn = {2158-656X}, doi = {10.1145/3183367}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Blockchain technology offers a sizable promise to rethink the way interorganizational business processes are managed because of its potential to realize execution without a central party serving as a single point of trust (and failure). To stimulate research on this promise and the limits thereof, in this article, we outline the challenges and opportunities of blockchain for business process management (BPM). We first reflect how blockchains could be used in the context of the established BPM lifecycle and second how they might become relevant beyond. We conclude our discourse with a summary of seven research directions for investigating the application of blockchain technology in the context of BPM.}, language = {en} } @article{NikajWeskeMendling2019, author = {Nikaj, Adriatik and Weske, Mathias and Mendling, Jan}, title = {Semi-automatic derivation of RESTful choreographies from business process choreographies}, series = {Software and systems modeling}, volume = {18}, journal = {Software and systems modeling}, number = {2}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Heidelberg}, issn = {1619-1366}, doi = {10.1007/s10270-017-0653-2}, pages = {1195 -- 1208}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Enterprises reach out for collaborations with other organizations in order to offer complex products and services to the market. Such collaboration and coordination between different organizations, for a good share, is facilitated by information technology. The BPMN process choreography is a modeling language for specifying the exchange of information and services between different organizations at the business level. Recently, there is a surging use of the REST architectural style for the provisioning of services on the web, but few systematic engineering approach to design their collaboration. In this paper, we address this gap in a comprehensive way by defining a semi-automatic method for the derivation of RESTful choreographies from process choreographies. The method is based on natural language analysis techniques to derive interactions from the textual information in process choreographies. The proposed method is evaluated in terms of effectiveness resulting in the intervention of a web engineer in only about 10\% of all generated RESTful interactions.}, language = {en} } @article{DeckerMendling2009, author = {Decker, Gero and Mendling, Jan}, title = {Process instantiation}, issn = {0169-023X}, doi = {10.1016/j.datak.2009.02.013}, year = {2009}, abstract = {Although several process modeling languages allow one to specify processes with multiple start elements, the precise semantics of such models are often unclear, both from a pragmatic and from a theoretical point of view. This paper addresses the lack of research on this problem and introduces the CASU framework (from Creation, Activation, subscription, Unsubscription). The contribution of this framework is a systematic description of design alternatives for the specification of instantiation semantics of process modeling languages. We classify six prominent languages by the help of this framework. We validate the relevance of the CASU framework through empirical investigations involving a large set of process models from practice. Our work provides the basis for the design of new correctness criteria as well as for the formalization of Event-driven Process Chains (EPCs) and extension of the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). It complements research such as the workflow patterns.}, language = {en} } @article{WeidlichMendlingWeske2011, author = {Weidlich, Matthias and Mendling, Jan and Weske, Mathias}, title = {Efficient consistency measurement based on behavioral profiles of process models}, series = {IEEE transactions on software engineering}, volume = {37}, journal = {IEEE transactions on software engineering}, number = {3}, publisher = {Inst. of Electr. and Electronics Engineers}, address = {Los Alamitos}, issn = {0098-5589}, doi = {10.1109/TSE.2010.96}, pages = {410 -- 429}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Engineering of process-driven business applications can be supported by process modeling efforts in order to bridge the gap between business requirements and system specifications. However, diverging purposes of business process modeling initiatives have led to significant problems in aligning related models at different abstract levels and different perspectives. Checking the consistency of such corresponding models is a major challenge for process modeling theory and practice. In this paper, we take the inappropriateness of existing strict notions of behavioral equivalence as a starting point. Our contribution is a concept called behavioral profile that captures the essential behavioral constraints of a process model. We show that these profiles can be computed efficiently, i.e., in cubic time for sound free-choice Petri nets w.r.t. their number of places and transitions. We use behavioral profiles for the definition of a formal notion of consistency which is less sensitive to model projections than common criteria of behavioral equivalence and allows for quantifying deviation in a metric way. The derivation of behavioral profiles and the calculation of a degree of consistency have been implemented to demonstrate the applicability of our approach. We also report the findings from checking consistency between partially overlapping models of the SAP reference model.}, language = {en} } @article{WeidlichMendling2012, author = {Weidlich, Matthias and Mendling, Jan}, title = {Perceived consistency between process models}, series = {Information systems}, volume = {37}, journal = {Information systems}, number = {2}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0306-4379}, doi = {10.1016/j.is.2010.12.004}, pages = {80 -- 98}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Process-aware information systems typically involve various kinds of process stakeholders. That, in turn, leads to multiple process models that capture a common process from different perspectives and at different levels of abstraction. In order to guarantee a certain degree of uniformity, the consistency of such related process models is evaluated using formal criteria. However, it is unclear how modelling experts assess the consistency between process models, and which kind of notion they perceive to be appropriate. In this paper, we focus on control flow aspects and investigate the adequacy of consistency notions. In particular, we report findings from an online experiment, which allows us to compare in how far trace equivalence and two notions based on behavioural profiles approximate expert perceptions on consistency. Analysing 69 expert statements from process analysts, we conclude that trace equivalence is not suited to be applied as a consistency notion, whereas the notions based on behavioural profiles approximate the perceived consistency of our subjects significantly. Therefore, our contribution is an empirically founded answer to the correlation of behaviour consistency notions and the consistency perception by experts in the field of business process modelling.}, language = {en} } @article{WeidlichZiekowGaletal.2014, author = {Weidlich, Matthias and Ziekow, Holger and Gal, Avigdor and Mendling, Jan and Weske, Mathias}, title = {Optimizing event pattern matching using business process models}, series = {IEEE transactions on knowledge and data engineering}, volume = {26}, journal = {IEEE transactions on knowledge and data engineering}, number = {11}, publisher = {Inst. of Electr. and Electronics Engineers}, address = {Los Alamitos}, issn = {1041-4347}, doi = {10.1109/TKDE.2014.2302306}, pages = {2759 -- 2773}, year = {2014}, abstract = {A growing number of enterprises use complex event processing for monitoring and controlling their operations, while business process models are used to document working procedures. In this work, we propose a comprehensive method for complex event processing optimization using business process models. Our proposed method is based on the extraction of behaviorial constraints that are used, in turn, to rewrite patterns for event detection, and select and transform execution plans. We offer a set of rewriting rules that is shown to be complete with respect to the all, seq, and any patterns. The effectiveness of our method is demonstrated in an experimental evaluation with a large number of processes from an insurance company. We illustrate that the proposed optimization leads to significant savings in query processing. By integrating the optimization in state-of-the-art systems for event pattern matching, we demonstrate that these savings materialize in different technical infrastructures and can be combined with existing optimization techniques.}, language = {en} } @article{BaierMendlingWeske2014, author = {Baier, Thomas and Mendling, Jan and Weske, Mathias}, title = {Bridging abstraction layers in process mining}, series = {Information systems}, volume = {46}, journal = {Information systems}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0306-4379}, doi = {10.1016/j.is.2014.04.004}, pages = {123 -- 139}, year = {2014}, abstract = {While the maturity of process mining algorithms increases and more process mining tools enter the market, process mining projects still face the problem of different levels of abstraction when comparing events with modeled business activities. Current approaches for event log abstraction try to abstract from the events in an automated way that does not capture the required domain knowledge to fit business activities. This can lead to misinterpretation of discovered process models. We developed an approach that aims to abstract an event log to the same abstraction level that is needed by the business. We use domain knowledge extracted from existing process documentation to semi-automatically match events and activities. Our abstraction approach is able to deal with n:m relations between events and activities and also supports concurrency. We evaluated our approach in two case studies with a German IT outsourcing company. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{WeidlichMendlingWeske2012, author = {Weidlich, Matthias and Mendling, Jan and Weske, Mathias}, title = {Propagating changes between aligned process models}, series = {The journal of systems and software}, volume = {85}, journal = {The journal of systems and software}, number = {8}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {New York}, issn = {0164-1212}, doi = {10.1016/j.jss.2012.02.044}, pages = {1885 -- 1898}, year = {2012}, abstract = {There is a wide variety of drivers for business process modelling initiatives, reaching from organisational redesign to the development of information systems. Consequently, a common business process is often captured in multiple models that overlap in content due to serving different purposes. Business process management aims at flexible adaptation to changing business needs. Hence, changes of business processes occur frequently and have to be incorporated in the respective process models. Once a process model is changed, related process models have to be updated accordingly, despite the fact that those process models may only be loosely coupled. In this article, we introduce an approach that supports change propagation between related process models. Given a change in one process model, we leverage the behavioural abstraction of behavioural profiles for corresponding activities in order to determine a change region in another model. Our approach is able to cope with changes in pairs of models that are not related by hierarchical refinement and show behavioural inconsistencies. We evaluate the applicability of our approach with two real-world process model collections. To this end, we either deduce change operations from different model revisions or rely on synthetic change operations.}, language = {en} } @article{WeidlichPolyvyanyyMendlingetal.2011, author = {Weidlich, Matthias and Polyvyanyy, Artem and Mendling, Jan and Weske, Mathias}, title = {Causal behavioural profiles - efficient computation, applications, and evaluation}, series = {Fundamenta informaticae}, volume = {113}, journal = {Fundamenta informaticae}, number = {3-4}, publisher = {IOS Press}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0169-2968}, doi = {10.3233/FI-2011-614}, pages = {399 -- 435}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Analysis of behavioural consistency is an important aspect of software engineering. In process and service management, consistency verification of behavioural models has manifold applications. For instance, a business process model used as system specification and a corresponding workflow model used as implementation have to be consistent. Another example would be the analysis to what degree a process log of executed business operations is consistent with the corresponding normative process model. Typically, existing notions of behaviour equivalence, such as bisimulation and trace equivalence, are applied as consistency notions. Still, these notions are exponential in computation and yield a Boolean result. In many cases, however, a quantification of behavioural deviation is needed along with concepts to isolate the source of deviation. In this article, we propose causal behavioural profiles as the basis for a consistency notion. These profiles capture essential behavioural information, such as order, exclusiveness, and causality between pairs of activities of a process model. Consistency based on these profiles is weaker than trace equivalence, but can be computed efficiently for a broad class of models. In this article, we introduce techniques for the computation of causal behavioural profiles using structural decomposition techniques for sound free-choice workflow systems if unstructured net fragments are acyclic or can be traced back to S-or T-nets. We also elaborate on the findings of applying our technique to three industry model collections.}, language = {en} } @article{WeidlichPolyvyanyyDesaietal.2011, author = {Weidlich, Matthias and Polyvyanyy, Artem and Desai, Nirmit and Mendling, Jan and Weske, Mathias}, title = {Process compliance analysis based on behavioural profiles}, series = {Information systems}, volume = {36}, journal = {Information systems}, number = {7}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0306-4379}, doi = {10.1016/j.is.2011.04.002}, pages = {1009 -- 1025}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Process compliance measurement is getting increasing attention in companies due to stricter legal requirements and market pressure for operational excellence. In order to judge on compliance of the business processing, the degree of behavioural deviation of a case, i.e., an observed execution sequence, is quantified with respect to a process model (referred to as fitness, or recall). Recently, different compliance measures have been proposed. Still, nearly all of them are grounded on state-based techniques and the trace equivalence criterion, in particular. As a consequence, these approaches have to deal with the state explosion problem. In this paper, we argue that a behavioural abstraction may be leveraged to measure the compliance of a process log - a collection of cases. To this end, we utilise causal behavioural profiles that capture the behavioural characteristics of process models and cases, and can be computed efficiently. We propose different compliance measures based on these profiles, discuss the impact of noise in process logs on our measures, and show how diagnostic information on non-compliance is derived. As a validation, we report on findings of applying our approach in a case study with an international service provider.}, language = {en} } @book{SmirnovWeidlichMendlingetal.2009, author = {Smirnov, Sergey and Weidlich, Matthias and Mendling, Jan and Weske, Mathias}, title = {Action patterns in business process models}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-009-0}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-33586}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {19}, year = {2009}, abstract = {Business process management experiences a large uptake by the industry, and process models play an important role in the analysis and improvement of processes. While an increasing number of staff becomes involved in actual modeling practice, it is crucial to assure model quality and homogeneity along with providing suitable aids for creating models. In this paper we consider the problem of offering recommendations to the user during the act of modeling. Our key contribution is a concept for defining and identifying so-called action patterns - chunks of actions often appearing together in business processes. In particular, we specify action patterns and demonstrate how they can be identified from existing process model repositories using association rule mining techniques. Action patterns can then be used to suggest additional actions for a process model. Our approach is challenged by applying it to the collection of process models from the SAP Reference Model.}, language = {en} } @article{LeopoldMendlingGuenther2016, author = {Leopold, Henrik and Mendling, Jan and Guenther, Oliver}, title = {Learning from Quality Issues of BPMN Models from Industry}, series = {IEEE software}, volume = {33}, journal = {IEEE software}, publisher = {Inst. of Electr. and Electronics Engineers}, address = {Los Alamitos}, issn = {0740-7459}, doi = {10.1109/MS.2015.81}, pages = {26 -- 33}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Many organizations use business process models to document business operations and formalize business requirements in software-engineering projects. The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), a specification by the Object Management Group, has evolved into the leading standard for process modeling. One challenge is BPMN's complexity: it offers a huge variety of elements and often several representational choices for the same semantics. This raises the question of how well modelers can deal with these choices. Empirical insights into BPMN use from the practitioners' perspective are still missing. To close this gap, researchers analyzed 585 BPMN 2.0 process models from six companies. They found that split and join representations, message flow, the lack of proper model decomposition, and labeling related to quality issues. They give five specific recommendations on how to avoid these issues.}, language = {en} } @article{GuentherLeopoldMendling2016, author = {G{\"u}nther, Oliver and Leopold, Henrik and Mendling, Jan}, title = {Learning from quality issues of BPMN models from industry}, series = {CEUR Workshop Proceedings}, volume = {1701}, journal = {CEUR Workshop Proceedings}, issn = {1613-0073}, pages = {36 -- 38}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Many organizations use business process models for documenting their business operations. In recent years, the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) evolved into the leading standard for process modeling. However, BPMN is complex: The specification offers a huge variety of different elements and often several representational choices for the same semantics. This raises the question of how well modelers can deal with these choices. Empirical insights into BPMN usage from the perspective of practitioners are still missing. We close this gap by analyzing a large set of BPMN 2.0 process models from practice. We found that particularly representational choices for splits and joins, the correct use of message flow, the proper decomposition of models, and the consistent labeling appear to be connected with quality issues. Based on our findings we give five recommendations how these issues can be avoided in the future. The work summarized in this extended abstract has been published in [LMG16].}, language = {en} } @article{GuentherLeopoldMendling2016, author = {G{\"u}nther, Oliver and Leopold, Henrik and Mendling, Jan}, title = {Learning from quality issues of BPMN models from industry}, series = {IEEE Software}, volume = {33}, journal = {IEEE Software}, number = {4}, publisher = {Inst. of Electr. and Electronics Engineers}, address = {Los Alamitos}, issn = {0740-7459}, doi = {10.1109/MS.2015.81}, pages = {26 -- 33}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Many organizations use business process models to document business operations and formalize business requirements in software-engineering projects. The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), a specification by the Object Management Group, has evolved into the leading standard for process modeling. One challenge is BPMN's complexity: it offers a huge variety of elements and often several representational choices for the same semantics. This raises the question of how well modelers can deal with these choices. Empirical insights into BPMN use from the practitioners' perspective are still missing. To close this gap, researchers analyzed 585 BPMN 2.0 process models from six companies. They found that split and join representations, message flow, the lack of proper model decomposition, and labeling related to quality issues. They give five specific recommendations on how to avoid these issues.}, language = {en} }