TY - JOUR A1 - Decker, Gero A1 - Kopp, Oliver A1 - Leymann, Frank A1 - Weske, Mathias T1 - Interacting services : from specification to execution N2 - Interacting services play a key role to realize business process integration among different business partners by means of electronic message exchange. In order to provide seamless integration of these services, the messages exchanged as well as their dependencies must be well-defined. Service choreographies are a means to describe the allowed conversations. This article presents a requirements framework for service choreography languages, along which existing choreography languages are assessed. The requirements framework provides the basis for introducing the language BPEL4Chor, which extends the industry standard WS-BPEL with choreography-specific concepts. A validation is provided and integration with executable service orchestrations is discussed. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0169023X U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.datak.2009.04.003 SN - 0169-023X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Decker, Gero A1 - Mendling, Jan T1 - Process instantiation N2 - 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. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0169023X U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.datak.2009.02.013 SN - 0169-023X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Decker, Gero A1 - Weske, Mathias T1 - Interaction-centric modeling of process choreographies JF - Information systems N2 - With the rise of electronic integration between organizations, the need for a precise specification of interaction behavior increases. Information systems, replacing interaction previously carried out by humans via phone, faxes and emails, require a precise specification for handling all possible situations. Such interaction behavior is described in process choreographies. While many proposals for choreography languages have already been made, most of them fall into the category of interconnection models, where the observable behavior of the different partners is described and then related via message flow. As this article will show, this modeling approach fails to support fundamental design principles of choreographies and typically leads to modeling errors. This motivates an alternative modeling style, namely interaction modeling, for overcoming these limitations. While the main concepts are independent of a concrete modeling language, iBPMN is introduced as novel interaction modeling language. Formal execution semantics are provided and a comprehensive toolset implementing the approach is presented. KW - Choreographies KW - B2B process integration KW - Interaction modeling KW - Business Process Modeling Notation Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.is.2010.06.005 SN - 0306-4379 VL - 36 IS - 2 SP - 292 EP - 312 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - THES A1 - Decker, Gero T1 - Design and analysis of process choreographies T1 - Design und Analyse von Prozesschoreographien N2 - With the rise of electronic integration between organizations, the need for a precise specification of interaction behavior increases. Information systems, replacing interaction previously carried out by humans via phone, faxes and emails, require a precise specification for handling all possible situations. Such interaction behavior is described in process choreographies. Choreographies enumerate the roles involved, the allowed interactions, the message contents and the behavioral dependencies between interactions. Choreographies serve as interaction contract and are the starting point for adapting existing business processes and systems or for implementing new software components. As a thorough analysis and comparison of choreography modeling languages is missing in the literature, this thesis introduces a requirements framework for choreography languages and uses it for comparing current choreography languages. Language proposals for overcoming the limitations are given for choreography modeling on the conceptual and on the technical level. Using an interconnection modeling style, behavioral dependencies are defined on a per-role basis and different roles are interconnected using message flow. This thesis reveals a number of modeling "anti-patterns" for interconnection modeling, motivating further investigations on choreography languages following the interaction modeling style. Here, interactions are seen as atomic building blocks and the behavioral dependencies between them are defined globally. Two novel language proposals are put forward for this modeling style which have already influenced industrial standardization initiatives. While avoiding many of the pitfalls of interconnection modeling, new anomalies can arise in interaction models. A choreography might not be realizable, i.e. there does not exist a set of interacting roles that collectively realize the specified behavior. This thesis investigates different dimensions of realizability. N2 - Elektronische Integration zwischen Organisationen erfordert eine präzise Spezifikation des Interaktionsverhaltens: Informationssysteme, die Kommunikation per Telefon, Fax und Email ablösen, können nicht so flexibel und selbständig auf Ausnahmesituationen reagieren wie Menschen. Choreographien ermöglichen es, Interaktionsverhalten genau zu spezifizieren. Diese Modelle zählen die beteiligten Rollen, die erlaubten Interaktionen, Nachrichteninhalte und Verhaltensabhängigkeiten auf und dienen somit als Interaktionsvertrag zwischen den Organisationen. Auch als Ausgangspunkt für eine Anpassung existierender Prozesse und Systeme sowie für die Implementierung neuer Softwarekomponenten finden Choreographien Anwendung. Da ein Vergleich von Choreographiemodellierungssprachen in der Literatur bislang fehlt, präsentiert diese Arbeit einen Anforderungskatalog, der als Basis für eine Evaluierung existierender Sprachen angewandt wird. Im Kern führt diese Arbeit Spracherweiterungen ein, um die Schwächen existierender Sprachen zu überwinden. Die vorgestellten Erweiterungen adressieren dabei Modellierung auf konzeptioneller und auf technischer Ebene. Beim Verlinkungsmodellierungsstil werden Verhaltensabhängigkeiten innerhalb der beteiligten Rollen spezifiziert und das Interaktionsverhalten entsteht durch eine Verlinkung der Kommunikationsaktivitäten. Diese Arbeit stellt einige "Anti-Pattern" für die Verlinkungsmodellierung vor, welche wiederum Untersuchungen bzgl. Choreographiesprachen des Interaktionsmodellierungsstils motivieren. Hier werden Interaktionen als atomare Blöcke verstanden und Verhaltensabhängigkeiten werden global definiert. Diese Arbeit führt zwei neue Choreographiesprachen dieses zweiten Modellierungsstils ein, welche bereits in industrielle Standardisierungsinitiativen eingeflossen sind. Während auf der einen Seite zahlreiche Fallstricke der Verlinkungsmodellierung umgangen werden, können in Interaktionsmodellen allerdings neue Anomalien entstehen. Eine Choreographie kann z.B. "unrealisierbar" sein, d.h. es ist nicht möglich interagierende Rollen zu finden, die zusammen genommen das spezifizierte Verhalten abbilden. Dieses Phänomen wird in dieser Arbeit über verschiedene Dimensionen von Realisierbarkeit untersucht. KW - Prozessmodellierung KW - Choreographien KW - Interaktionsmodellierung KW - Verifikation KW - Sprachdesign KW - Process modeling KW - choreographies KW - interaction modeling KW - verification KW - language design Y1 - 2009 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-40761 ER -