Combining Intention-Oriented and State-Based Process Modeling

Business process modeling and design has gained importance in recent years. Consequently, a large number of modeling languages have emerged. Many of them lack formality, whereas some others support the verification of the designed process. Most of existing modeling languages adopt an operational view focusing on how the process is performed. By contrast, others follow the human intention of achieving a goal as the force that drives the process, and concentrate on what the process must do, i.e. on its rationale. The aim of this paper is to combine intention-oriented modeling with formal statebased modeling and achieve their synergy, benefiting from the advantages of both. We use the Map formalism as an example of the former and the Generic Process Model (GPM) as an example of the latter. The paper proposes a procedure for converting a Map into GPM concepts, illustrates it with the SAP Material Management Module and shows the benefits resulting from it.