Home // International Journal On Advances in Software, volume 9, numbers 1 and 2, 2016 // View article

Infinite Horizon Decision Support For Rule-based Process Models

Authors:
Michaela Baumann
Michael Heinrich Baumann
Dominik Franz-Xaver Gruber
Stefan Jablonski

Keywords: Process execution; Rule-based process models; Process decision support;

Abstract:
In recent years, process models tend to turn away from common procedural models to more flexible, rule-based models. These models are characterized by the fact that in each execution step users usually have to decide between several rule-consistent tasks to perform next. Precise execution paths are not given, which is why adequate execution support needs to be provided. Simulation is one means to facilitate the users' decisions. In this context, we suggest an execution simulation tool with an infinite horizon, i.e., in each (simulated) step, users are informed about the tasks that in any case still need to be done to properly finish one process instance, and about tasks that may no longer be executed. The forecasts consider an actual or a simulated history of the process instance and the rules given by the model. In contrast to systems that show consequences of decisions for the next 1, 2, 3,... steps, our system deals with impacts until the end of the process instance, independent of the length of the instance, i.e., the number of steps, which is what we call "infinite horizon."

Pages: 141 to 153

Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2016. Used with permission.

Publication date: June 30, 2016

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2628