Understanding of business processes is becoming an important key factor for successful businesses and today many organizations are facing the lack of knowledge about the business processes that they are working on. Since the interaction between different business processes and different actors are becoming more common it is not only enough for employees to have knowledge about the business processes that they involve directly, but also they need to know about the other business processes in the organization. Unfortunately there is not enough research on this topic in the literature and the goal of this thesis is to propose a method for solving the indicated problem by increasing the understanding of business processes by the employees in an organization. The proposed method basically contains the design and execution of process models based on a real scenario. A case study has been conducted at an IT company where the employees have no or limited knowledge about the business processes that their organization works on. Even though the method has been only tested in one organization it is generic and can be applied to any other similar organization. The design science approach is used to develop the method and build the process models as artifacts. The process models have been verified by using an executable business modeling tool, iPB, and presented to the employees in a seminar in order to make them to understand the business processes better. The knowledge of the employees about the business processes has been analyzed before and after the presentation, thus we could compare the results and find out how much their knowledge has increased after the presentation. The results have shown that the knowledge of the employees has increased significantly. In conclusion, the method of design and presentation of executable business process models has been proved to be a solution to the problem of not understanding of business processes in an organization well enough.

En la presente tesis se ha llevado a cabo una investigación detallada centrada en el paradigma de la Personalización Masiva aplicada al ámbito edificatorio. En concreto, se propone un modelo que permite la implantación del paradigma de Personalización Masiva como estrategia de posicionamiento competitivo en el mercado ante el entorno empresarial actual, que se caracteriza por la competencia global, la fragmentación del mercado y unos clientes más exigentes con tendencia en la mayoría de los casos a la exclusividad y diferenciación. Para trasladar esta ventaja competitiva a la realidad del sector, concretamente a la ejecución del proceso edificatorio y su gestión, el presente trabajo propone la aplicación de la metodología Business Process Management (BPM) como elemento vertebrador, junto con disciplinas y filosofías en auge en el sector y el uso de tecnologías emergentes como wearables, dispositivos móviles o Internet of Things (IoT´s). El modelo propuesto se centra en la sinergia entre las diferentes estrategias, técnicas y tecnologías que actualmente se utilizan en el ámbito de la gestión (como Lean Construction), junto con otras estrategias y tecnologías que han demostrado ser soluciones efectivas en otros ámbitos como por ejemplo, BPM o Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), etc… A través de la integración de todas estas herramientas se consigue una gestión eficiente de la ejecución de la obra, mejorando el rendimiento y haciendo viable la Personalización Masiva en la ejecución de proyectos. Mediante la implantación de herramientas y principios basados en filosofías Lean Construction, como Last Planner System, se reducirá la variabilidad derivada de las diferentes opciones que implica la Personalización Masiva y que afecta directamente a la calidad y tiempo de entrega. Todo esto con el apoyo de la estrategia BPM y su tecnología asociada que permitirá la automatización de procesos, el control, la disponibilidad de la información y la gestión de los cambios potenciales, dando la agilidad necesaria a una organización para adaptarse a los cambios del entorno y responder a imprevistos. Siendo esta agilidad un aspecto clave para lograr la Personalización Masiva. Para llevar a cabo el objetivo se ha realizado un estudio de los antecedentes donde se ha observado que casi todas las propuestas de aplicación del paradigma de Personalización Masiva se centran en la fase de diseño y edificación prefabricada, no enfocándose ninguna a la construcción tradicional. Asimismo, se ha realizado un estudio y definición de la problemática que conlleva la aplicación del paradigma en la construcción tradicional y se han identificado las soluciones parciales a partir de estrategias, paradigmas, técnicas y tecnologías ya existentes. Este estudio ha permitido justificar el problema, plantear la hipótesis y proponer una solución novedosa con respecto a otros enfoques existentes en la línea de investigación. Posteriormente se han analizado las soluciones parciales a la problemática identificada a partir de estrategias, paradigmas, técnicas y tecnologías ya existentes. Finalmente se ha realizado la integración de estas soluciones parciales a partir del uso de técnicas de integración de procesos y sistemas tecnológicos. El resultado es un modelo conceptual que sirve como marco de referencia para el proceso de ejecución de la edificación en la construcción tradicional bajo un enfoque de Personalización Masiva. Como paso final para validar la investigación se ha implementado un prototipo donde se han modelado y automatizado dos casos de uso, el primero de ellos está referido al proceso de ejecución del pavimentado ubicado en la capa procesos principales en la ejecución de la obra, debido a la relevancia y repercusión en la Personalización Masiva. Por otro lado, se ha modelado y automatizado el proceso LPS ubicado en la capa de procesos de gestión debido a la complejidad y dificultad de gestión de la diversidad de opciones que plantea la Personalización Masiva. El prototipo obtenido basado en los casos de uso ha permitido mostrar su validez y viabilidad poniendo de manifiesto cómo la implementación de un conjunto representativo de técnicas y su integración, permiten alcanzar los requisitos de la personalización masiva como son la eficiencia, productividad, agilidad en la gestión del cambio e integración. Además, a partir de sesiones de Benchmarking con empresas constructoras y empresas especializadas se ha concluido la utilidad y viabilidad de la propuesta en materia de usabilidad y accesibilidad.

Purpose – This research aims to explore subcultures within a target organization that have been formed in different organizational units and investigate their interactions with a central business process. This will be done by analyzing how the subcultures of a German shipyard align with values that are supportive of a business process management (BPM) approach and how they might support or hinder those values.   Design/ methodology/approach – This research is constructed as a qualitative case study. An inductive approach is utilized to conduct semi-structured interviews. Data analysis is conducted by a thematic framework analysis.   Findings – The results of the research are factors that can not only hinder but also support BPM-supportive values. Those factors are continuous communication, engagement and motivation of the employees and an active process management.   Research limitations/implications – The transferability of this research to other organizations is limited, yet not negligible. Due to the highly context-based, cultural setting that is specific to any group of people. The research contributes to further understanding the holistic approach of BPM that is highly influenced by organizational culture and subculture and its values.   Practical implications – The result can be used to either prepare organizations for a BPM-initiative or give them guidance in assessing the factors that might hinder and support the BPM-supporting values of specific organizations.   Originality/value – The research contributes to further understanding the holistic approach of BPM that is highly influenced by organizational culture and subculture and its values.

Virtual Organizations (VO)—a network of independent organizations collaborating to address specific business opportunities—have become popular in today’s technology driven business environment. Due to their autonomous and interdependent nature, management of collaboration among such organizations is a challenging task. Although many solutions have been proposed over the past two decades to support inter-organizational interactions, VOs still face several challenges due to their dynamic and temporal nature that cannot be addressed by traditional solutions such as ebXML, RosettaNet and EDI. In this research, we present a framework for process management in service oriented virtual organizations and a distributed architecture for a flexible infrastructure that supports collaborative business process execution, monitoring and management. The framework contains 6 layers with multiple components within each layer. In designing the components of the framework, standard reference architecture such as the Open-EDI reference model and the S3 service oriented architecture, as well as best practices such as ITIL V3 and PMBOK are used. The infrastructure supports the common topologies of inter-organizational collaboration (e.g. peer-to-peer, star, linear), and responds well to changes due to its loosely coupled components. The proposed infrastructure is based on federating multiple SOA infrastructures with the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) as its core. It is implemented using IBM WebSphere ™ products. We demonstrate that VOs built with our framework and implementation architecture facilitate flexibility, rapid process integration and dynamic evolution.

During the past few years, Building Information Modeling (BIM) started to gain acceptance within the AEC industry. But, as with many software products for project management, BIM currently faces significant issues and obstacles that hinder its widespread use. The broad goal of this study is to improve BIM implementation in mid-size firms during the Schematic Design (SD) and Design Development (DD) phases. The study has four main objectives. First, mapping the existing BIM related process model in mid-size firms, and modeling the flow of information between BIM users inside these firms. Second, identifying the challenges that are currently facing BIM users during the Schematic Design (SD) and Design Development (DD) phases, because of the importance of these phases in making critical decisions that directly affect the building life cycle. Then, linking these challenges to a BIM related business process model in order to identify when and how these issues occur. Third, exploring the structural conditions that may change or affect the BIM workflow. Fourth, the study proposes a new business process model that can enhance BIM implementation in mid-size firms. The study is qualitative in nature, and based on interviews with a sample of BIM users involved in mid-size firms in the USA. The researcher attempted to capture BIM issues and the flow of information between BIM users through case studies and interviews inside their firms. Also, the researcher involved a new group of BIM users in the research to seek their feedback, in order to generalize the research results. / Ph. D.

Geschäftsprozesse gelten als kritischer Erfolgsfaktor für die Unternehmensgestaltung und im Kontext der digitalen Transformation als essentielles Werkzeug für die Entwicklung von Informationssystemen. Zur Modellierung von Geschäftsprozessen werden sogenannte Prozessmodellierungssprachen verwendet. Die Ereignisgesteuerte Prozesskette (EPK) ist eine der verbreitetsten Modellierungssprachen und nutzt u.a. Ereignisse, Funktionen und Verbindungselemente, um einen betrieblichen Ablauf als semi-formales Modell abzubilden. Obwohl die Bedeutung und der positive Einfluss vorliegender Geschäftsprozessmodelle auf die Unternehmensgestaltung und den Unternehmenserfolg in Wissenschaft und Praxis dokumentiert sind, steht die Geschäftsprozessmodellierung mit der EPK vor vielfältigen Herausforderungen: Da die EPK bislang kein systematisches Spezifikationsverfahren durchlaufen hat, werden die Modellierungstätigkeiten und der Modellaustausch erschwert wird, wodurch als Konsequenz zunehmend auf andere Modellierungssprachen zurückgegriffen wird. Gleichzeitig leidet die Geschäftsprozessmodellierung an generellen Akzeptanzproblemen: Modellierungssprachen werden immer komplexer, sodass Anwender verstärkt auf rein visuelle, kaum formalisierte Modellierungsformen und grafische Standardsoftware zu Modellierungszwecken zurückgreifen. Auch das Ausbleiben von Innovationssprüngen der Modellierung führt dazu, dass die Akzeptanz und der wahrgenommene Nutzen der Prozessmodellierung in den Hintergrund rücken. Noch immer werden primär statische Desktop-Computer und umfangreiche Software-Systeme zur Prozessmodellierung verwendet, was dem mehr und mehr durch Mobilität und Agilität geprägten Arbeitsalltag der Anwender nicht mehr gerecht wird. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser Herausforderungen ist die Zielsetzung der vorliegenden Forschungsarbeit die Konstruktion und Spezifikation von Modellierungssprachen, die nicht nur für klassischen Arbeitsumgebungen wie Desktop-Computer geeignet sind, sondern auch auf neuartigen, mobilen Endgeräte wie Tablets oder Smart Glasses zur Prozessmodellierung zum Einsatz kommen können. Um die Anwendbarkeit und Zweckmäßigkeit der entwickelten Sprache zu erhöhen, sind dabei insbesondere Anwendungsfall- als auch Technologie-spezifische Anforderungen der Endgeräte berücksichtigen. Eingebettet in einen gestaltungsorientierten Forschungsrahmen werden innerhalb von sechs Einzelbeiträgen in dieser kumulativen Dissertation geeignete Forschungsmethoden der Wirtschaftsinformatik angewandt und sinnvoll verknüpft, um die skizzierte Zielsetzung sukzessive zu adressieren. Die Forschungsarbeit demonstriert die (Weiter-)Entwicklung einer Prozessmodellierungssprache auf Basis der EPK, die insbesondere eine Anwendung innerhalb des mobilen Endgeräts „Smart Glasses“ in den Mittelpunkt rückt. Gleichzeitig wird die Anwendbarkeit der entwickelten Sprachvariante durch die Implementierung innerhalb einer Smart-Glasses-basierten Prozessmodellierungsumgebung unterstrichen.

This diploma thesis focuses on business process modeling. The main theme is the use of business process modeling as a tool to increase business efficiency. The first part of the thesis provides a theoretical framework of process management and process modeling, in the context of both historical development and the latest trends. In the second part has been identified inefficiencies in the current process setup and several changes was suggested. The models were developed in accordance with the International Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard. Models were created in Bizagi Modeler. The result of this diploma thesis is optimized processes and proposals for their implementation in a particular company.

La problématique scientifique abordée correspond à la modélisation et à l'amélioration des processus métiers. Ce problème est d'un intérêt croissant pour les entreprises qui prennent conscience de l'impact indéniable que peuvent avoir une meilleure compréhension et une meilleure gestion des processus métiers (PM) sur l'efficacité, la cohérence et la transparence de leurs activités. Le travail envisagé dans le cadre de la thèse vise à proposer une méthode et un outil pour mesurer et améliorer la qualité des modèles de processus métier. L’originalité de l’approche est qu’elle vise non seulement la qualité syntaxique mais aussi la qualité sémantique et pragmatique en s’appuyant notamment sur les connaissances du domaine. / In recent years the problems related to modeling and improving business processes have been of growing interest. Indeed, companies are realizing the undeniable impact of a better understanding and management of business processes (BP) on the effectiveness, consistency, and transparency of their business operations. BP modeling aims at a better understanding of processes, allowing deciders to achieve strategic goals of the company. However, inexperienced systems analysts often lack domain knowledge leading and this affects the quality of models they produce.Our approach targets the problem related to business process modeling quality by proposing an approach encompassing methods and tools for business process (BP) models quality measurement and improvement. We propose to support this modeling effort with an approach that uses domain knowledge to improve the semantic quality of BP models.The main contribution of this thesis is fourfold:1. Exploiting the IS domain knowledge: A business process metamodel is identified.Semantics are added to the metamodel by the mean of OCL constraints.2. Exploiting the application domain knowledge. It relies on domain ontologies. Alignment between the concepts of both metamodels is defined and illustrated.3. Designing of the guided quality process encompassing methods and techniques to evaluate and improve the business process models. Our process propose many quality constraints and metrics in order to evaluat the quality of the models and finally the process propose relevant recommendations for improvement.4. Development of a software prototype “BPM-Quality”. Our prototype implements all theabove mentioned artifacts and proposes a workflow enabling its users to evaluate andimprove CMs efficiently and effectively.We conducted a survey to validate the selection of the quality constraints through a first experience and also conducted a second experiment to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of our overall approach and proposed improvements.

Context: Process mining is an approach that exploits event logs to discover real processes executed in organizations, enabling them to (re)design and improve process models. Goal modelling, on the other hand, is a requirements engineering (RE) approach mainly used to analyze what-if situations and support decision making. Problem: Common problems with process mining include the complexity of discovered “spaghetti” processes and a lack of goal-process alignment. Current process mining practices mainly focus on activities and do not benefit from considering stakeholder goals and requirements to manage complexity and alignment. The critical artifact that process mining practices rely on is the event log. However, using a raw version of real-life event logs will typically result in process models being too complex, unstructured, difficult to understand and, above all, not aligned with stakeholders’ goals. Method: Involving goal-related factors can augment the precision and interpretability of mined models and help discover better opportunities to satisfy stakeholders. This thesis proposes three algorithms for goal-oriented process enhancement and discovery (GoPED) that show synergetic effects achievable by combining process mining and goal-oriented modelling. With GoPED, good historical experiences will be found within the event log to be used as a basis for inferring good process models, and bad experiences will be found to discover models to avoid. The goodness is defined in terms of alignment with regards to three categories of goal-related criteria: • Case perspective: satisfaction of individual cases (e.g., patient, costumer) in terms of some goals; • Goal perspective: overall satisfaction of some goals (e.g., to decrease waiting time) rather than individual cases; and • Organization perspective: a comprehensive satisfaction level for all goals over all cases. GoPED first adds goal-related attributes to conventional event characteristics (case identifier, activities, and timestamps), selects a subset of cases concerning goal-related criteria, and finally discovers a process model from that subset. For each criterion, an algorithm is developed to enable selecting the best subset of cases where the criterion holds. The resulting process models are expected to reproduce the desired level of satisfaction. The three GoPED algorithms were implemented in a Python tool. In addition, three other tools were implemented to complete a line of actions whose input is a raw event log and output is a subset of the event log selected with respect to the goal-related criteria. GoPED was used on real healthcare event logs (an illustrative example and a case study) to discover processes, and the performance of the tools was also assessed. Results: The performance of the GoPED toolset for various sizes and configurations of event logs was assessed through extensive experiments. The results show that the three GoPED algorithms are practical and scalable for application to event logs with realistic sizes and types of configurations. The GoPED method was also applied to the discovery of processes from the raw event log of the trajectories of patients with sepsis in a Dutch hospital, from their registration in the emergency room until their discharge. Although the raw data does not explicitly include goal-related information, some reasonable goals were derived from the data and a related research paper in consultation with a healthcare expert. The method was applied, and the resulting models were i) substantially simpler than the model dis-covered from the whole event log, ii) free from the drawbacks that using the whole event log causes, and iii) aligned with the predefined goals. Conclusion: GoPED demonstrates the benefits of exploiting goal modelling capabilities to enhance event logs and select a subset of events to discover goal-aligned and simplified process models. The resulting process model can also be compared to a model discovered from the original event log to reveal new insights about the ability of different forms of process models to satisfy the stakeholders’ goals. Learning from good behaviours that satisfy goals and detecting bad behaviours that hurt them is an opportunity to redesign models, so they are simpler, better aligned with goals, and free from drawbacks that using the whole event log may cause.

This thesis describes the research carried out to identify mechanisms as potential causes of action that can lead to improved learning outcomes. Identifying mechanisms requires an exploratory approach because mechanisms are not always directly perceivable. The potential mechanisms in this study were identified by analysing the reflections of students who participated in experiential learning projects during business process management education. The research was necessary due to a persistent need to minimise the gap between learning and practice. The research is unique because it takes a student-dominant approach to review students' reflective practices using a novel pragmatic-critical realist paradigm. Although reflection is central to experiential learning, there is limited understanding of how students reflect and what they consider to influence their learning outcomes. This limitation was explored using action research with mixed methods analysis which combined thematic analysis and partial least squares based structural equation modelling. During four action research cycles, student reflections on business process projects as part of higher education enterprise systems and business process management courses in a South African higher education institution were observed and analysed. Each action research cycle changed one aspect of the students' projects. The first intervention required students to reflect on action, the second required students to reflect in action, and the third required reflection for action. In the fourth cycle, the teaching staff changed. The findings showed that reflection is complex and must be linked to action to improve learning. Reflections were observed to positively influence learning outcomes when students apply effort to assigned tasks. On the basis of the observations, two models were proposed. The first model is a learning influence model embedded in the second disruptive learning model. The models show that reflective practices can improve learning outcomes by recognising that students learn at different levels but are predominantly absolutist. Students need to be inspired to apply effort in completing tasks and overcoming satisficing.