TY - JOUR
T1 - Design and management of flexible process variants using templates and rules
AU - Kumar, Akhil
AU - Yao, Wen
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the Smeal College of Business at Penn State . Appendix A
PY - 2012/2
Y1 - 2012/2
N2 - This paper makes four main contributions towards managing large collections of process models. First, we show how flexible process variants can be configured by applying rules to a generic process template using a configuration algorithm. This leads to a separation of control flow and business policy. Second, we develop a new succinct representation for process trees as strings by performing a post-order traversal. This structure can facilitate process variant configuration and retrieval. Third, we develop techniques for querying a repository of process variants by means of bit vectors. In this way the management of variants even in a large repository is greatly enhanced. Finally, we describe a preliminary implementation of our approach with a case study for demonstration. Our focus is on capturing deeper process knowledge and achieving a holistic approach to robust process design, as well as ease of accommodating changes to business policy.
AB - This paper makes four main contributions towards managing large collections of process models. First, we show how flexible process variants can be configured by applying rules to a generic process template using a configuration algorithm. This leads to a separation of control flow and business policy. Second, we develop a new succinct representation for process trees as strings by performing a post-order traversal. This structure can facilitate process variant configuration and retrieval. Third, we develop techniques for querying a repository of process variants by means of bit vectors. In this way the management of variants even in a large repository is greatly enhanced. Finally, we describe a preliminary implementation of our approach with a case study for demonstration. Our focus is on capturing deeper process knowledge and achieving a holistic approach to robust process design, as well as ease of accommodating changes to business policy.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.compind.2011.12.002
DO - 10.1016/j.compind.2011.12.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84862817053
SN - 0166-3615
VL - 63
SP - 112
EP - 130
JO - Computers in Industry
JF - Computers in Industry
IS - 2
ER -