[Back]

D. Winkler, M. Schönbauer, S. Biffl:
"Towards Automated Process and Workflow Management: A Feasibility Study on Tool-Supported and Automated Engineering Process Modeling Approaches";
Talk: 40th Euromicro Conferences on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA), Verona, Italy; 2014-08-27 - 2014-08-29; in: "Proceedings of the 40th Euromicro Conferences on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA), Software Management Track", IEEE, (2014), ISBN: 978-1-4799-5795-8; 102 - 110.

[Context] Engineering workflows and processes typically
include a wide range of organization specific best-practices
required for successful project execution. In contrast to business
administration processes, engineering processes are highly specific
and can include various heterogeneous engineering tools to be
integrated in an overall process and project environment.
[Challenge] High complexity and volatility of engineering
processes require specific solutions to define, model, implement,
and evaluate individual engineering process steps. In this paper we
focus on the first step of process management, i.e., the process
definition phase. Based on the well-established Business Process
Management Notation (BPMN) various tools have been developed
that aim at supporting process modeling and automation. The key
question is to what extent different tools support process automation
in a defined context, i.e., in heterogeneous engineering environments.
[Method] Following a common tool evaluation approach,
we developed an evaluation framework and conducted a
feasibility study to investigate process modeling and automation
capability of tools based on defined requirements and scenarios.
[Results] The developed tool evaluation process was found useful
for analyzing candidate process modeling tools. In addition, results
of the evaluation process highlighted a set of specific tools that can
support modeling and process automation. [Conclusions] The
evaluation framework can enable benchmarking for process modeling
tools and support (a) process engineers in selecting most
valuable tools and (b) tool vendors to better understand complex
process needs with respect to improving and/or extending current
solutions.

software management, process configuration, process automation, workflow modeling, tool evaluation, feasibility study, BPMN