Contributed on September 6, 2012

2.8K

1.5K

A Decade of Business Process Management Conferences: Reflections on a Developing Discipline

Description

The Business Process Management (BPM) conference series celebrates its tenth anniversary. This is a nice opportunity to reflect on a decade of BPM research. This talk will describe the history of the conference series through the prism of typical BPM use cases and six key BPM concerns: Process Modeling Languages, Process Enactment Infrastructures, Process Model Analysis, Process Mining, Process Flexibility, and Process Reuse. Although BPM has matured as a research discipline, there are still various important problems that remain open. Moreover, despite the broad interest in BPM, there is significant room for improvement when it comes to the the adoption of state-of-the-art results by software vendors, consultants, and end-users. The BPM discipline should not shy away from the key challenges and set clear targets for the next decade.

Keynote BPM 2012: http://bpm2012.ut.ee/

Prof.dr.ir. Wil van der Aalst is a full professor of Information Systems at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e). Currently he is also an adjunct professor at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) working within the BPM group there. His research interests include workflow management, process mining, Petri nets, business process management, process modeling, and process analysis. Wil van der Aalst has published more than 150 journal papers, 17 books (as author or editor), 300 refereed conference/workshop publications, and 50 book chapters. Many of his papers are highly cited (he has an H-index of more than 92 according to Google Scholar, making him the European computer scientist with the highest H-index) and his ideas have influenced researchers, software developers, and standardization committees working on process support. He has been a co-chair of many conferences including the Business Process Management conference, the International Conference on Cooperative Information Systems, the International conference on the Application and Theory of Petri Nets, and the IEEE International Conference on Services Computing. He is also editor/member of the editorial board of several journals, including the Distributed and Parallel Databases, the International Journal of Business Process Integration and Management, the International Journal on Enterprise Modelling and Information Systems Architectures, Computers in Industry, Business & Information Systems Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, and Transactions on Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency. In 2012, he received the degree of doctor honoris causa from Hasselt University. He is also a member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen) and the Academy of Europe (Academia Europaea).

Transcript

A Decade of Business ProcessManagement Conferences:Reflections on a Developing DisciplineWil van der Aalstvdaalst.com Just before BPM 2003 How it all started …• Petri nets conference 2003• Grzegorz Rozenberg• Earlier events: − W. van der Aalst, G. De Michelis, and C.A. Ellis, editors. Workflow Management: Net-based Concepts, Models, Techniques and Tools (WFM’98), Lisbon, June 1998. − J. Desel, A. Oberweis, W. Reisig, G. Rozenberg, editors. Petri Nets and Business Process Management, Dagstuhl Seminar 98271, July 1998. − W. van der Aalst, J. Desel, and R. Kaschek, editors. Software Architectures for Business Process Management (SABPM’99), Heidelberg, June 1999. − W. van der Aalst, J. Desel, and A. Oberweis, editors. Business Process Management: Models, Techniques, and Empirical Studies, LNCS 1806, 2000. PAGE 1 BPM 2003, June 26-27, 2003, Eindhoven77 submissions, 25 papers accepted PAGE 2 PAGE 3 PAGE 4 PAGE 5 PAGE 6 PAGE 7 PAGE 8 BPM 2003 in Eindhoven PAGE 9 PAGE 10 PAGE 11 BPM 2003, Eindhoven PAGE 12 Potsdam 614 kmEindhoven PAGE 13 BPM 2004, Potsdam PAGE 14 Potsdam 818 kmNancy PAGE 15 BPM 2005, Nancy PAGE 16 Nancy 903 km Vienna PAGE 17 BPM 2006, Vienna PAGE 18 Vienna 15636 km Brisbane PAGE 19 BPM 2007, Brisbane PAGE 20 Milan 16248 km Brisbane PAGE 21 BPM 2008, Milan PAGE 22 Ulm 429 kmMilan PAGE 23 BPM 2009, Ulm PAGE 24 Ulm 6365 kmHoboken PAGE 25 BPM 2010, Hoboken PAGE 26 Hoboken 6017 km Clermont-Ferrand PAGE 27 BPM 2011, Clermont-Ferrand PAGE 28 Tallinn 2773 kmClermont-Ferrand PAGE 29 Tallinn 6741 km Beijing PAGE 30 PAGE 31 A Decade of Business Process Management ConferencesReflections on a Developing Discipline PAGE 32 Another variant of the BPM lifecycle diagnosis/ requirementsadustment insight discussion performance animation analysis enactment/ (re)design monitoring data models verification documentation specification configuration/ implementation configuration PAGE 33 Four main activities related to BPMcreating a analyzing a processprocess model using a processto be used for model and/or eventdiscussion, model analyze logs (verification,training, simulation, processanalysis or mining, etc.)enactmentusing a all other activities,process model e.g., adjusting theto control and process, reallocatingsupportconcrete enact manage resources, or managing largecases collections of related process models PAGE 34 History and Origins of the Domain user user interface interface application BPM system application application application Michael Zisman, Carl Adam Petri, SCOOP, 1977 Petri nets, 1962 Anatol Holt, Information Systems Theory database database database Skip Ellis, Office Talk, Project, 1968 system system system 1979 BPM1960 1975 1985 2000 business data/ process process reengineering mining WFM operations data management modeling formal methods office software scientific automation engineering management PAGE 35 20 BPM Use Cases PAGE 36 20 BPM Use Cases•Use cases to obtain a model [1-5]•Use cases to obtain a configurable model [6-8]•Use cases related to enactment [9-13]•Use cases for model-only-based analysis [14-15]•Use cases for log&model-based analysis [16-17]•Use cases to repair, extend or improve process models [18-20]Notation: M CM S D D|N|E D|N|E E human model configurable information event diagnostics D=descriptive model system data N=normative E=executable PAGE 37 Use Case 1:Design model (DesM) design model (DesM) M D|N|E PAGE 38 Use Case 2:Discover model from event data (DiscM) discover model from event data E (DiscM) M D|E PAGE 39 Use Case 3:Select model from collection (SelM) select model from collection MM M M (SelM) D|N|ED|N|E PAGE 40 Use Case 4:Merge models (MerM) merge models MM M M (MerM) D|N|ED|N|E PAGE 41 Use Case 5: Compose model (CompM)M M compose modelD|N|E D|N|E (CompM) M M D|N|E D|N|E PAGE 42 Use Case 6:Design configurable model (DesCM) design configurable model (DesCM) CM D|N|E PAGE 43 Use Case 7: Merge models intoconfigurable model (MerCM) merge models into configurable model MM CM M (MerCM) D|N|ED|N|E d a b g h cf variant 1 dc a b g h d e a g h fe variant 2 f PAGE 44 Use Case 8:Configure configurable model (ConCM) configure configurable modelCM (ConCM) MD|N|E D|N|E c d a b g h e f d a g h PAGE 45 f Use Case 9:Refine model (RefM) refine modelM (RefM) MD|N E PAGE 46 Use Case 10:Enact model (EnM) enact model M (EnM) S E PAGE 47 Use Case 11:Log event data (LogED) log event data S (LogED) E PAGE 48 Use Case 12:Monitor (Mon) monitor S (Mon) D PAGE 49 Use Case 13:Adapt while running (AdaWR) adapt while runningM S (AdaWR) M SE E PAGE 50 Use Case 14: Analyze performancebased on model (PerfM) analyze performance based on model M (PerfM) PD E PAGE 51 Use Case 15:Verify model (VerM) verify model M (VerM) CD E PAGE 52 Use Case 16: Check conformance usingevent data (ConfED) check conformance using event dataM E (ConfED) CDE PAGE 53 Use Case 17: Analyze performance usingevent data (PerfED) analyze performance using event dataM E (PerfED) PDE PAGE 54 Use Case 18:Repair model (RepM) repair model M CD (RepM) MD|N|E D|N|E PAGE 55 Use Case 19:Extend model (ExtM) extend modelM E (ExtM) ME E resource information in the event log can be used for social network analysis, role discovery, and performance analysis Sue Mike timestamps in the event log can be used to analyze waiting Mary times in-between activities Pete attributes in the event log can be used for decision point analysis Norman 566 b 566 check=”OK” and report=”Approved” g 1391 1537 1391 971 c 971 1537 461 461 a e start 930 930 end 1391 1537 h 1537 d 1537 146 146 146 f PAGE 56 Use Case 20:Improve model (ImpM) improve model M PD (ImpM) MD|N|E D|N|E PAGE 57 Overview Use Cases 13 diagnosis/ 2 18 19 requirements 20 adustment insight 16 17 7 discussion performance animation analysis 1 5 14 enactment/ (re)design 3 6 15 monitoring data models 4 8 11 12 verification documentation specification configuration/ 9 10 implementation configuration• Use cases to obtain a model [1-5]• Use cases to obtain a configurable model [6-8]• Use cases related to enactment [9-13]• Use cases for model-only-based analysis [14-15]• Use cases for log&model-based analysis [16-17]• Use cases to repair, extend or improve process models [18-20] PAGE 58 BPM proceedings (10 years) – enactment is broad topic surprising focus on not surprising verification weakness: topics related to process improvement and performance analysis score low 289 papers, 367 tags 59 PAGE Detailed view PAGE 60 6 BPM Key Concerns PAGE 61 6 BPM Key Concerns (not detailed here)1. Process modeling languages (suggesting new languages, comparing/evaluating languages, etc.)2. Process enactment infrastructures (focus on software and systems to execute, support, and monitor processes)3. Process model analysis (e.g., verification and simulation; no event data is used)4. Process mining (analysis based on event data)5. Process flexibility (ability to deal with foreseen and unforeseen changes)6. Process reuse (configurable models, reference models, process repositories, similarity search, etc.) PAGE 62 BPM proceedings (10 years) – PAGE 63 PAGE 64 Observations• Disclaimer: tagging of 289 papers is highly subjective and obvious classes may be missing (e.g., patterns, process integration, collaboration).• Perspectives (control-flow, data, resources, etc.) could have been added as an additional dimension.• Rapidly maturing discipline, but: − Many papers introduce a new modeling language (Needed? Used again?). − Several papers cannot be linked to one of the 20 use cases in a straightforward manner. − Coverage of the domain can be improved. − Many papers describe implementation efforts; however, frequently the software is not available for the reader. − Many papers include case studies, e.g., to test a new technique or system, which is good. Unfortunately, most case studies seem rather artificial. PAGE 65 RelatingFlexibility, Configuration, and Mining PAGE 66 BPM Challenges are Related process flexibility variability at flexibility versus different levels conformance process process configuration mining cross-organizational mining PAGE 67 Process Flexibility process flexibility variability at flexibility versus different levels conformance process process configuration mining cross-organizational mining PAGE 68 Taxonomy of Flexibility flexibility by change underspecification flexibility by process definition flexibility by degree of impact definition flexibility by process deviation instance design time runtime time at which flexibility is addedHelen Schonenberg, Ronny Mans, Nick Russell, Nataliya Mulyar, Wil M. P. van der Aalst:Process Flexibility: A Survey of Contemporary Approaches. Lecture Notes in Business PAGE 69Information Processing, 2008, Volume 10, Part 1, 16-30, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-68644-6_2 flexibility by change underspecification flexibility by Flexibility by Definition process definition flexibility by degree of impact definition flexibility by process deviation instance design time runtime time at which flexibility is addedstart a b c end flexibility by change underspecification flexibility byFlexibility by Deviation process definition flexibility by degree of impact definition flexibility by process deviation instance design time runtime time at which flexibility is addedstart a b c end flexibility by changeFlexibility by underspecification flexibility by process definition flexibility by degree of impact definitionUnderspecification flexibility by process deviation instance design time runtime time at which flexibility is addedstart a ? c end x y z flexibility by change underspecification flexibility byFlexibility by Change process definition flexibility by degree of impact definition flexibility by process deviation instance design time runtime time at which flexibility is addedstart a b c endstart a c end Procedural Versus Declarative response: every occurrence of b should be eventually followed by c or d drink beer c response c2 c1 precedence a c4 b eat food feel bad c3 non co-existence dprecedence: every occurrence drink wine non co-existence: activities b and dof d needs to be preceded by a cannot happen both for the same caseDeclarative = anything is possible unless it is explicitly forbiddenProcedural = everything is impossible unless it is triggered explicitly PAGE 74 Process Configuration process flexibility variability at flexibility versus different levels conformance process process configuration mining cross-organizational mining PAGE 75 Variants of the same process d a b g h f c d a b g h e f c d a g h e f PAGE 76 Configurable process models• Reference models revisited, but now better (correct, executable, etc.).• Examples: − 430 Dutch municipalities need to execute the same collection of processes, but value their “couleur locale” − Hertz has 8,650 rental locations in about 150 countries worldwide all executing essentially the same set of processes (but with local differences) − All 94 U.S. District Courts in the United States share the same set of workflows• Process sharing will increase (cf. cloud computing, SaaS, etc.)• “Content” is often missing in BPM approaches! PAGE 77 Process Mining process flexibility variability at flexibility versus different levels conformance process process configuration mining cross-organizational mining PAGE 78 ProcessDiscovery PAGE 79 Conformance Checking desire line expected or normative path PAGE 80 PAGE 81 BPM Challenges are Related process flexibility process process configuration mining PAGE 82 Process Flexibility and Process Mining potential high waste degree of examination e la nc ba uncontrolled low chaos low high degree of flexibility PAGE 83 Process and Case Dimensionsclustering andclassification group acbe abce ade acbe acbe abce abce ade ade concept time drift cross- location analysis organizational process mining PAGE 84 Example: Hertz has 8,650 rental locationsand different types of customers gold silver normal PAGE 85 Example: All municipalities need to handle building permits >100k>50k & 100k 50k PAGE 86 Example: Suncorp has different brandsand different types of insurance PAGE 87 Example Questions • How to detect changes over time (concept drift)? • How to compare process flexibility process variants in different organizations (cross-group organizational process process configuration mining mining)? time location PAGE 88 Concept drift (work of JC Bose) PAGE 89 Cross-organizational mining (work of Joos Buijs)• 10 muncipalities: Coevorden, Emmen, Hellendoorn,Gemert-Bakel, Zwolle, Bergeijk, Bladel, Eersel, Reusel-De Mierden, and Oirschot.• 8 processes: Gemeentelijke Basisadministratie Persoonsgegevens (GBA 3x), Melding Openbare Ruimte (MOR), Wet Algemene Bepalingen Omgevingsrecht (WABO 2x), Wet Maatschappelijke Ondersteuning (WMO), and Waardering Onroerende Zaken (WOZ). Ingredients: • event logs • models • conformance checking • key performance indicators Questions: • How similar? • Why better? PAGE 90 A maturing discipline … PAGE 91 Some books (1/4) PAGE 92 Some books (2/4) PAGE 93 Some books (3/4) PAGE 94 Some books (4/4) PAGE 95 Conclusion PAGE 96 10 Years of BPM Conferences• Business Process Management (BPM) is an important, relevant and interesting topic.• Provides challenging and fascinating computer science problems (verification, process mining, enactment, flexibility, etc.).• Requires connections to other sciences (management science, operations research, social sciences, etc.). PAGE 97 Recommendations• Avoid introducing new languages without a clear purpose (short lifetime, incomparable results).• Artifacts (software and data) need to be made available (suggestion: classify papers based on their level of openness).• Evaluate results based on a predefined criterion and compare with other approaches.• Many prototypes are developed from scratch and “fade into oblivion”, so as a community we should build on shared platforms (and not always ask for something “new”).• Contribution is not always clear; a paper should focus on at least one of the 20 use cases. Suggestions: − Further develop use case classification − Tag papers based on these use cases PAGE 98