Adequacy of Business Process Modeling Techniques and Stability of Models with Respect to Changes in Business Reality

Mission To go through various modeling techniques and investigate their suitability for the task of creating and maintaining the fit between business processes (BP) and business process support (BPS) systems Approach We suggest splitting the investigation of suitability into two separate problem domains: 1. ADEQUACY, which concerns static properties of modeling techniques. Adequacy is important when creating a fit. 2. STABILITY, which considers dynamic properties of modeling techniques. Stability is important when maintaining a fit. For each of the above, a list of properties/criteria needs to be established so that we can go through a number of known techniques and investigate their adequacy and stability. Adequacy As we deal with a fit between BP and BPS, we presume that a BP model is being designed to be incorporated into software (in one way or another). Therefore, the technique should be formal or at least formalizable to a certain extent, more exactly to the extent the system is aimed to help its users to run their BP. An important topic for adequacy is the compatibility with the mission (nature) of a BPS system. Following missions, for example, could be considered (see details in [1]) • Integrate existing systems along process-flow • Facilitate coordination / communication between process participants • Introduce strict order in production-like processes