Managing change and time in dynamic workflow processes

Business environments have become exceedingly dynamic and competitive in recent times. This dynamism is manifested in the form of changing process requirements and time constraints. Workflow technology is currently one of the most promising fields of research in business process automation. However, workflow systems to date do not provide the flexibility necessary to support the dynamic nature of business processes. In this paper we primarily discuss the issues and challenges related to managing change and time in workflows representing dynamic business processes. We also present an analysis of workflow modifications and provide feasibility considerations for the automation of this process.

Data flow and validation in workflow modelling

A complete workflow specification requires careful integration of many different process characteristics. Decisions must be made as to the definitions of individual activities, their scope, the order of execution that maintains the overall business process logic, the rules governing the discipline of work list scheduling to performers, identification of time constraints and more. The goal of this paper is to address an important issue in workflows modelling and specification, which is data flow, its modelling, specification and validation. Researchers have neglected this dimension of process analysis for some time, mainly focussing on structural considerations with limited verification checks. In this paper, we identify and justify the importance of data modelling in overall workflows specification and verification. We illustrate and define several potential data flow problems that, if not detected prior to workflow deployment may prevent the process from correct execution, execute process on inconsistent data or even lead to process suspension. A discussion on essential requirements of the workflow data model in order to support data validation is also given..

A reference methodology for conducting ontological analyses

The ontological analysis of conceptual modelling techniques is of increasing popularity. Related research did not only explore the ontological deficiencies of classical techniques such as ER or UML, but also business process modelling techniques such as ARIS or even Web services standards such as BPEL4WS. While the selected ontologies are reasonably mature, it is the actual process of an ontological analysis that still lacks rigor. The current procedure leaves significant room for individual interpretations and is one reason for criticism of the entire ontological analysis. This paper proposes a procedural model for the ontological analysis based on the use of meta models, the involvement of more than one coder and metrics. This model is explained with examples from various ontological analyses.

Linking contracts, processes and services: An event-driven approach

This paper addresses the problem of mapping business contract conditions onto the messages and rules that represent service interactions in a collaborative business process. We describe why this mapping is not straightforward by means of an example. We then consider a message-driven process language as a target for the mapping and use this mapping solution to discuss broad range of problems related to the mapping problem.

Strategy-making process and firm performance in small firms

This paper argues that individual small firms just like large firms, place differing emphasis on strategy-making and may employ different modes of strategy-making. It offers a typology of the different modes of strategy-making that seem most likely to exist in small firms, and hypothesises how this typology relates to performance. It then describes the results of an empirical study of the strategy-making processes of small firms. The structural equation analysis of the data from 477 small firms with less than 100 employees indicates among other results that the simplistic, adaptive, intrapreneurial and participative modes of strategy-making exist in these small firms. Of these modes, the simplistic mode exhibits the strongest relationship with firm performance.