The current standard product (data) modeling process relies on the experience and subjectivity of data modelers who use their experience to eliminate redundancies and identify omissions. As a result, product modeling becomes a social activity that involves iterative review processes of committees. This study aims to develop a new, formal method for deriving product models from data collected in process models of companies within an industry sector. The theoretical goals of this study are to provide a scientific foundation to bridge the requirements collection phase and the logical modeling phase of product modeling and to formalize the derivation and normalization of a product model from the processes it supports. To achieve these goals, a new and formal method, Georgia Tech Process to Product Modeling (GTPPM), has been proposed. GTPPM consists of two modules. The first module is called the Requirements Collection and Modeling (RCM) module. It provides semantics and a mechanism to define a process model, information items used by each activity, and information flow between activities. The logic to dynamically check the consistency of information flow within a process also has been developed. The second module is called the Logical Product Modeling (LPM) module. It integrates, decomposes, and normalizes information constructs collected from a process model into a preliminary product model. Nine design patterns are defined to resolve conflicts between information constructs (ICs) and to normalize the resultant model. These two modules have been implemented as a Microsoft Visio ™ add-on. The tool has been registered and is also called GTPPM ™. The method has been tested and evaluated in the precast concrete sector of the construction industry through several GTPPM modeling efforts. By using GTPPM, a complete set of information items required for product modeling for a medium or a large industry can be collected without generalizing each company's unique process into one unified high-level model. However, the use of GTPPM is not limited to product modeling. It can be deployed in several other areas including: workflow management system or MIS (Management Information System) development software specification development business process re-engineering.

¡@Business process doesn¡¦t change with technology or business objectives following with the change of environment outside enterprises. Hence, enterprises require business process improvement or BPR to improve the existing business processes. When enterprises demand business process improvement or BPR, they can¡¦t analyze and improve business process without business process modeling. Choosing an adequate tool form numerous business process modeling and analysis tools is an important work. Therefore, author chooses 4 mature tools, ARIS, IDEF, UML and INCOME to discuss. ¡@In my thesis, author enumerate the advantages and comment of each tool at first, then using a material requiring and purchasing to stock process as an example to prove the advantages. Then, Based on the 4 perspectives concluded by Curtis and Kellner, et al. to develop further factors under each perspective. Concluding the evaluating criteria under each factor to evaluate business process modeling tools. And to present each tools about business process modeling.

In an increasingly changing environment, different organizations are trying to improve their agility and efficiency by improving their business processes; thus, business process management has been gaining momentum for the last decade. The first step in business process management is the modeling of business processes. Business Process Modeling (BPM), in itself, is very important because it captures business requirements, allows for better understanding of a business and its processes, facilitates communication between business analysts and IT people, and pinpoints deficiencies in processes. It also serves as a basis for automation of these processes. But business process modeling comes with its own challenges since it is a time-consuming, complicated, and error-prone task. As a result, producing a high quality, precise business process model is not easy. BPM patterns, which are general reusable solutions to commonly occurring problems in business process modeling, have been proposed to address these challenges. In this research, we conducted an exploratory study about requirements engineering practices in a large organization. This study identified key challenges in requirements engineering and showed how business process modeling is currently being conducted. Then, we created a survey of the different BPM pattern catalogs existing in the literature. Finally, we presented one of the BPM pattern catalogs in a clear format along with examples of each pattern. The ultimate objective is to allow business analysts to effectively use BPM patterns while creating precise BP models.

Process models support the transition from business requirements to IT implementations. An organization that adopts process modeling often maintain several co-existing models of the same business process. These models target different abstraction levels and stakeholder perspectives. Maintaining consistency among these models has become a major challenge for such an organization. For instance, propagating changes requires identifying tacit correspondences among the models, which may be only in the memories of their original creators or may be lost entirely. Although different tools target specific needs of different roles, we lack appropriate support for checking whether related models maintained by different groups of specialists are still consistent after independent editing. As a result, typical consistency management tasks such as tracing, differencing, comparing, refactoring, merging, conformance checking, change notification, and versioning are frequently done manually, which is time-consuming and error-prone. This thesis presents the Shared Model, a framework designed to improve support for consistency management and impact analysis in process modeling. The framework is designed as a result of a comprehensive industrial study that elicited typical correspondence patterns between Business and IT process models and the meaning of consistency between them. The framework encompasses three major techniques and contributions: 1) matching heuristics to automatically discover complex correspondences patterns among the models, and to maintain traceability among model parts---elements and fragments; 2) a generator of edit operations to compute the difference between process models; 3) a process model synchronizer, capable of consistently propagating changes made to any model to its counterpart. We evaluated the Shared Model experimentally. The evaluation shows that the framework can consistently synchronize Business and IT views related by correspondence patterns, after non-simultaneous independent editing.

In this thesis, eliciting system functional requirements based on business requirements during software intensive systems acquisition or development process is investigated and an approach is proposed for this purpose. Concepts and current problems within the framework of business requirements are investigated with a general literature review of requirements engineering and technology acquisition. Determination of requirements of IT system to be acquired according to the business objectives and base lining business processes is dealt with business process modeling. ARIS providing integrated and complete information system architecture along with modeling techniques and modeling tool is also investigated. Proposed approach recommends EEPC as process modeling technique and ARIS software as supporting toolset, and explains how to conduct application of automatic requirements eliciting from business process models, by extending a reporting script provided by ARIS software. Proposed approach was partially applied to the real project and the obtained results were presented in this thesis.

In recent years, the Information Technology (IT) industry has been overwhelmed by a new class of packaged application software collectively known as Enterprise Systems (ES). Enterprise Systems are comprehensive business operating systems that weave together all the data within an organisation's business processes and associated functional areas. In particular, ES provide organisations with the ability to manage data and information in a real-time environment and to integrate operations between various departments; capacities that had been previously unrealized in traditional information systems. ES have since been established as an integral development in the Information Systems (IS) field and extensively studied by academics. The implementation and operation of ES are known to be complex and costly installations that require knowledge and expertise from various areas and sources. The knowledge necessary for managing ES is diverse and varied; it extends from the application of knowledge in different phases of the ES life cycle to the exchange of knowledge between ES vendors, clients and consultants. The communication of knowledge between the various agents adds another dimension to the complex nature of ES. Thus, ES clients have been motivated to reduce costs and retain ES knowledge within the organisation. Research has been conducted on the critical success factors and issues involved in implementing ES. These studies often address the lack of appropriate in-house ES knowledge and the need to actively manage ES-related knowledge. With motivation from another area of research known as Knowledge Management, academia and industry have strived to provide solutions and strategies for managing ES-related knowledge. However, it is often not clear what this 'knowledge' is, what type(s) of knowledge is relevant, who possesses the type(s) of knowledge and how knowledge can be instituted to facilitate the execution of processes. This research aims to identify the relevant knowledge in the context of Enterprise Systems. The types of knowledge required for ES are derived by studying the knowledge (techne)1 for different ES roles, managers and implementation consultants. This provides a perspective for understanding how ES knowledge can be structured. By applying a process modeling approach, the understanding of the relation of ES knowledge to roles and business processes thus gained will demonstrate how knowledge can be modeled. The understanding of ES knowledge and how it can be managed is first formalized by the development of a conceptual framework based on the existing literature. An exploratory study found that the identification of ES knowledge was necessary before the other activities in the knowledge management dimension could be effected. As an appropriate concept of knowledge could not be derived from the IS literature, the concept of techne emerged from a more comprehensive literature review. Techne ('art' or 'applied science' or 'skill') is defined as the trained ability of rationally producing, i.e. the ability to produce something reliably, under a variety of conditions, on the basis of reasoning. This involves having knowledge, or having what seems to be knowledge (awareness) of whatever principles and patterns one relies on. With this foundation, the main focus of the research is on the content analysis of the most popular implementation tool for Enterprise Systems management, ValueSAP. This tool is studied with respect to the types of knowledge (techne), roles and activities in ES implementation. The analysis of ValueSAP thus contributes to the understanding of the structure and distribution of knowledge in ES projects. Consequently, case studies were conducted to understand how the derived ES knowledge can be instituted in business processes using process modeling techniques. This part of the study demonstrates the modeling perspective of the research. 1. The terms 'knowledge' and 'skills' will be used interchangeably for the context of this thesis; where the term 'knowledge' is mentioned, the author refers to the skills required in the ES context. This section is further elaborated in Chapter 2 on techne and skills.

Large corporations increasingly utilize business process models for documenting and redesigning their operations. The extent of such modeling initiatives with several hundred models and dozens of often hardly trained modelers calls for automated quality assurance. While formal properties of control flow can easily be checked by existing tools, there is a notable gap for checking the quality of the textual content of models, in particular, its activity labels. In this paper, we address the problem of activity label quality in business process models. We designed a technique for the recognition of labeling styles, and the automatic refactoring of labels with quality issues. More specifically, we developed a parsing algorithm that is able to deal with the shortness of activity labels, which integrates natural language tools like WordNet and the Stanford Parser. Using three business process model collections from practice with differing labeling style distributions, we demonstrate the applicability of our technique. In comparison to a straightforward application of standard natural language tools, our technique provides much more stable results. As an outcome, the technique shifts the boundary of process model quality issues that can be checked automatically from syntactic to semantic aspects.

Process modeling grammars are used to create models of business processes. In this paper, we discuss how different routing symbol designs affect an individual's ability to comprehend process models. We conduct an experiment with 154 students to ascertain which visual design principles influence process model comprehension. Our findings suggest that design principles related to perceptual discriminability and pop out improve comprehension accuracy. Furthermore, semantic transparency and aesthetic design of symbols lower the perceived difficulty of comprehension. Our results inform important principles about notational design of process modeling grammars and the effective use of process modeling in practice.

Submitted by Priscila Oliveira (priscila.b.oliveira@ufes.br) on 2016-07-12T12:40:28Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) cp128327.pdf: 6590453 bytes, checksum: 5654758329fe7af83bec07339d8a3ffb (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Patricia Barros (patricia.barros@ufes.br) on 2016-08-15T18:10:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) cp128327.pdf: 6590453 bytes, checksum: 5654758329fe7af83bec07339d8a3ffb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-15T18:10:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) cp128327.pdf: 6590453 bytes, checksum: 5654758329fe7af83bec07339d8a3ffb (MD5) / Business process modelling basically comprises an activity whose main goal is to provide a formalization of business processes in an organization or a set of cooperating organizations (Recker, et al., 2006) (van der Aalst, et al., 2003). By modelling an organization’s business processes, it is possible to capture how the organization coordinates the work and resources with the aim of achieving its goals and strategies (Sharp, et al., 2001). Since business processes and goals are intrinsically interdependent, establishing an alignment between the process and the goal domains arises as a natural approach. This thesis reports on a real-life exploratory case study in which we investigated the relationship between the elements of the enterprise (modeled in the ARIS framework) and the goals (modeled in the Tropos framework and modeling language) which are attained by these elements. The case study has been conducted in the Rheumatology Department of a University Hospital in Brazil. In the course of the case study, we have identified the need of splitting this effort into three phases: the elicitation phase (in which goal models and business process models are captured from the organizational domain), the harmonization phase (in which the goal domain is structured for alignment according to the business processes structures that will support it) and the alignment phase (in which the relationships between the goal domain and the elements of the organizational domain are established). In order to investigate the relation between goals and enterprise elements, we propose an ontological account for both architectural domains. We recognize the importance in considering the business process as the means for implementing an enterprise’s strategy, but we do not exclude the remaining enterprise elements. Furthermore, we are concerned with both the identification of the relationships and with a classification for their nature.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-02-23Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:29:53Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 torres_ma_me_bauru.pdf: 3096697 bytes, checksum: 96356c853b90b7ce2797a1db02b1f2aa (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O entendimento dos processos de Modelo de Referência de Operações da Cadeia de Suprimentos (ou Supply Chain Reference - SCOR model) pode ser facilitado pelo uso de uma metodologia de modelagem de processos. O emprego de uma notação com semântica adequada para representar esses modelos de processos, associadas a ferramentas de modelagem e gestão, podem contribuir para a melhor compreensão e o gerenciamento de uma cadeia de suprimentos. Existem várias notações propostas na literatura, como por exemplo, a Notação para Modelagem de Processos de Negócios (ou Bussiness Process Modeling Notation - BPMN), a Cadeia de Processos Dirigida por Eventos (ou Event-Driven Process Chain - EPC) e a Linguagem de Modelagem Unificada (ou Unified Modeling Language - UML). Também podem ser identificadas algumas ferramentas de suporte computacional para a modelagem dos processos, como por exemplo, o Bonita Studio, o ARIS Express e o Intalio Designer. Este trabalho analisou e comparou algumas notações e ferramentas de suporte computacional para melhor representar os modelos de processos SCOR. Definidos as notações, ferramentas e critérios de comparação, as análises indicaram a notação BPMN e a ferramenta Intalio como sendo as mais adequadas. Como resultado final, a notação e a ferramenta foram utilizadas para a geração de uma biblioteca de modelos a partir de processos padrão de terceiro nível do modelo SCOR. Exemplos de desenvolvimento de modelos são apresentados, visando demonstrar a adequação da notação e ferramenta, e exemplificar como a biblioteca de modelos pode ser usada visando o desenvolvimento de modelos de quarto nível, a partir da bibioteca de modelos, por possível usuários. Como trabalho futuro, propõe-se a geração de modelos de referência de software com base nos modelos SCOR / The understanding of the process of Supply Chain Operation Reference - SCOR model can be facilitated by use of a methodology for process modeling. The use of a notation with semantics appropriate for representing these types of processes associated with the modeling and management tools, can contribute to better understanding and management of a supply chain. There are several notations proposed in the literature, for exemple, the notation for Business Modeling Notation - BPMN, the Event-Driven Process Chain - EPC and Unified Modeling Language - UML). Can also be identified some tools for computational modeling of processes, such as the Bonita Studio, ARIS Express and Intalio Designer. This study analyzed and compared some notations and support tools to best represent the computational process models SCOR. Defined notations, tools and benchmarks, the analysis indicated the Intalio BPMN notation and the most appropriate. As a final result, the notation and the tool was used to generate a library of models from standard processes of the third level of the SCOR model. Examples of model development are presented to demonstrate the adequacy of the notation and tool, ans illustrate how the model library can be used for the develpment of models of the fourth level, from the library of models for potential users. As future work, we propose the generation of role models for developing software systems based on the SCOR model