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Flaws in the Flow: The Weakness of Unstructured Business Process Modeling Languages Dealing with Data

  • Conference paper
On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems: OTM 2009 (OTM 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 5870))

Abstract

Process-Aware Information Systems (PAISs) need more flexibility for supporting complex and varying human activities. PAISs usually support business process design by means of graphical graph-oriented business process modeling languages (BPMLs) in conjunction with textual executable specifications. In this paper we discuss the flexibility of such BPMLs which are the main interface for users that need to change the behavior of PAISs. In particular, we show how common BPMLs features, that seem good when considered alone, have a negative impact on flexibility when they are combined together for providing a complete executable specification. A model has to be understood before being changed and a change is made only when the benefits outweigh the effort. Two main factors have a great impact on comprehensibility and ease of change: concurrency and modularity. We show why BPMLs usually offer a limited concurrency model and lack of modularity; finally we discuss how to overcome these problems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Informatica, Università di Verona, Strada Le Grazie, 15, Verona, Italy

    Carlo Combi & Mauro Gambini

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  1. Carlo Combi
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  2. Mauro Gambini
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. STARLab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Bldg G/10, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Robert Meersman

  2. DEBII - CBS, De Laeter Way, Curtin University of Technology, 6102, Bentley, WA, Australia

    Tharam Dillon

  3. Facultad de Informática, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus de Montegancedo S/N, 28660, Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain

    Pilar Herrero

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Combi, C., Gambini, M. (2009). Flaws in the Flow: The Weakness of Unstructured Business Process Modeling Languages Dealing with Data. In: Meersman, R., Dillon, T., Herrero, P. (eds) On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems: OTM 2009. OTM 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5870. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05148-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05148-7_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-05147-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-05148-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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