A framework for modeling and executing task
- As resources are valuable assets, organizations have to decide which resources to allocate to business process tasks in a way that the process is executed not only effectively but also efficiently. Traditional role-based resource allocation leads to effective process executions, since each task is performed by a resource that has the required skills and competencies to do so. However, the resulting allocations are typically not as efficient as they could be, since optimization techniques have yet to find their way in traditional business process management scenarios. On the other hand, operations research provides a rich set of analytical methods for supporting problem-specific decisions on resource allocation. This paper provides a novel framework for creating transparency on existing tasks and resources, supporting individualized allocations for each activity in a process, and the possibility to integrate problem-specific analytical methods of the operations research domain. To validate the framework, the paper reports on the designAs resources are valuable assets, organizations have to decide which resources to allocate to business process tasks in a way that the process is executed not only effectively but also efficiently. Traditional role-based resource allocation leads to effective process executions, since each task is performed by a resource that has the required skills and competencies to do so. However, the resulting allocations are typically not as efficient as they could be, since optimization techniques have yet to find their way in traditional business process management scenarios. On the other hand, operations research provides a rich set of analytical methods for supporting problem-specific decisions on resource allocation. This paper provides a novel framework for creating transparency on existing tasks and resources, supporting individualized allocations for each activity in a process, and the possibility to integrate problem-specific analytical methods of the operations research domain. To validate the framework, the paper reports on the design and prototypical implementation of a software architecture, which extends a traditional process engine with a dedicated resource management component. This component allows us to define specific resource allocation problems at design time, and it also facilitates optimized resource allocation at run time. The framework is evaluated using a real-world parcel delivery process. The evaluation shows that the quality of the allocation results increase significantly with a technique from operations research in contrast to the traditional applied rule-based approach.…
Author details: | Sven IhdeORCiD, Luise PufahlORCiDGND, Maximilian VölkerORCiD, Asvin GoelORCiDGND, Mathias WeskeORCiDGND |
---|---|
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s00607-022-01093-2 |
ISSN: | 0010-485X |
ISSN: | 1436-5057 |
Title of parent work (English): | Computing : archives for informatics and numerical computation |
Subtitle (English): | specific resource allocations in business processes |
Publisher: | Springer |
Place of publishing: | Wien |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2022/06/17 |
Publication year: | 2022 |
Release date: | 2024/02/29 |
Tag: | Activity-oriented Optimization; Business Process Management; Process Execution; Resource Allocation; Resource Management |
Volume: | 104 |
Number of pages: | 25 |
First page: | 2405 |
Last Page: | 2429 |
Funding institution: | BMWi [01MD18012C] |
Organizational units: | Digital Engineering Fakultät / Hasso-Plattner-Institut für Digital Engineering GmbH |
DDC classification: | 0 Informatik, Informationswissenschaft, allgemeine Werke / 00 Informatik, Wissen, Systeme / 004 Datenverarbeitung; Informatik |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access / Hybrid Open-Access |
License (German): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |