Semantically Standardized and Transparent Process Model Collections via Process Building Blocks

Becker Jörg, Clever Nico, Holler Justus, Püster Johannes, Shitkova Maria

Abstract

Process model repositories management is a complex endeavor including modeling and publishing challenges. Existing modeling notations like BPMN or EPC are not able to cover the requirements induced by the volumes of such process model collections (PMC). The modeling technique proposed in this work addresses these requirements and enables organizations to efficiently manage their respective PMC. In fact, the proposed notation based on process building blocks allows for the efficient handling of PMC of any size. Its integrated structure of building block based process models combined with the concepts of layers, attributes, glossaries, reference models, and variants makes it a universal yet semantically standardized process modeling technique. The conceptual definition of the modeling technique and a prototypical instantiation and implementation are introduced. The practical applicability of the technique is justified through an evaluation in practice.