Article

Workflow Automation: Overview and Research Issues

Springer Nature
Information Systems Frontiers
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Abstract

Workflow management systems, a relatively recent technology, are designed to make work more efficient, integrate heterogeneous application systems, and support interorganizational processes in electronic commerce applications. In this paper, we introduce the field of workflow automation, the subject of this special issue of Information Systems Frontiers. In the first part of the paper, we provide basic definitions and frameworks to aid understanding of workflow management technologies. In the remainder of the paper, we discuss technical and management research opportunities in this field and discuss the other contributions to the special issue.

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... The model also considers sanitized information (i.e., where information is disguised so that the corporation's identity is not discovered). For such information, access restrictions are lifted [21]. ...
... In this model, information can only flow upwards or within the same security class. Although the BLP model is well-suited for upholding confidentiality, it suffers from several limitations as slated by [21]. 1. ...
... Profiles define how SAML protocols and bindings (as well as assertions) can be combined to solve specific business problems. The main properties of SAML as narrated by [21] include: ...
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Traditional access control mechanisms focus on centralized systems and implicitly assume that all resources reside in one domain. This serves as a critical limitation for inter-organizational collaboration, which is characteristically decentralized, distributed and heterogeneous. A consequence of the lack of suitable access control mechanisms for inter-organizational collaborative environments is that data owners relinquish all control over data they release. This paper emphasizes using cryptography for access control, and enforcement for addressing the access control concerns for inter-organizational environments. An essential requirement of workflows is the ability to transfer data resources from one entity to another. From a security perspective, current support for electronic data flow is inadequate for inter-organizational workflows, partly due to access control limitations for inter-organizational environments. Security Policies and Access Control Focus now shifts to information security, and in particular, security policies and access control. This section explores various policy and access control models, from abstract policy models to the traditional access control models and finally some emerging access control technologies. But to begin, first look at the concepts that are fundamental to information security [1]. Security Concepts Confidentiality deals with the protection of sensitive information. This is typically influenced by rules stating the disclosure restrictions of the protected information. Making data incomprehensible is the most common form of confidentiality. This is achieved by using encryption. The two types of encryption techniques which exist include conventional encryption (based on symmetric encryption algorithms) and public-key encryption (based on asymmetric encryption algorithms). Both types are discussed in the following subsections [2].
... Automated workflow systems automate the flow of documents and information within an organization [10]. They can improve efficiency and accuracy, in particular by reducing the need for manual processing, so eliminating errors caused by manual data entry. ...
... Automated workflow systems consist of computer-based systems developed to automate the management of workflow within an organization [10]. These generally employ software and hardware, as well as other technologies designed to automate processes and tasks otherwise performed manually. ...
... Moreover, workflow management systems act to automate business processes by coordinating and controlling the flow of work and information between different users. They can thus be regarded as a form of middleware, connecting separate office and legacy applications, allowing them to coalesce into an enterprise-wide system [10]. In addition, workflow automation includes recognising sequences of tasks capable of being streamlined through technology and modern computing, thus offering opportunities to address issues such as quality within the healthcare system, along with safety and efficiency [32]. ...
Article
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A number of recent studies have examined the impact of advanced technologies on organizations. However, many (particularly those in developing countries) still face challenges when it comes to the adoption of mature technologies and have also continued to repeat many of the mistakes of early adopters, primarily in relation to automated workflow systems. The current paper analyses a case study of a public organization in the developing country of Saudi Arabia, with the aim of understanding its resistance to change brought about by the implementation of a mature technology, i.e., automated workflow systems. The study undertook semi-structured interviews with employees to establish the nature of this resistance, identifying their preference for familiar processes and systems, alongside their unwillingness to embrace the new system. Furthermore, the study highlighted a number of issues experienced during the implementation of automated workflow systems, including job security; changes in laws and rules; an inability to understand, and/or trust, the technology; the perceived risks and costs associated with change; and the transformation of business processes. It also cited factors related to organizational structure and power, and the discomfort involved in making difficult decisions. This study, therefore, aims to assist organizations to create a sound foundation for change prior to the adoption of more advanced technologies.
... K. Verle in Markič (2010, 131) ugotavljata, da lahko z organiziranostjo vplivamo na zadovoljstvo zaposlenih, in v ospredje postavljata procesno organiziranost podjetij. Prav tako Antonucci (1997) in drugi (Chaffey 1998;Stohr in Zhao 2001v Reijers 2006 potrjujejo, da je toga birokratska organizacijska struktura (instrumentalni vidik) pomembna ovira pri uvajanju sprememb temeljnih procesov v podjetje. Po McCormacku (2001, 51) in drugih avtorjih (Reijers 2006, 393;Verle in Markič 2010, 131) procesna usmerjenost podjetja pomaga dosegati večjo uspešnost, zadovoljstvo zaposlenih zmanjšuje medsebojne konflikte, ki po navadi nastajajo ravno zaradi toge funkcijske organiziranosti. ...
... Dejavnost vodenja temeljnih procesov v podjetju mora upoštevati primerno celovit pogled in zajeti tako vidike vodenja sodelavcev (interesni vidik) kot vidike poslovodenja (instrumentalni vidik). Parkes (2002, 363) in drugi (Trammel 1996;Antonucci 1997;Kobielus 1997;Grinter 2000;Stohr in Zhao 2001v Rei-jers 2006 ugotavljajo, da je vključevanje sodelavcev ključnega pomena za uspešno uvajanje sprememb v procese. Reijers (2006, 405) predlaga, da pri raziskovanju vloge sodelavcev pri spremembah temeljnih procesov vključujemo vidike medsebojnega komuniciranja med sodelavci, osredotočenje na rezultate, povezovanje različnih timov in razmišljanje v smeri koristi za kupca. ...
... 2010, 303 izpostavljajo, da je procesna organizacijska kultura eden izmed temeljnih dejavnikov, ki podpirajo uspešnost podjetja. A. Parkes (2002, 363) in drugi (Trammel 1996;Antonucci 1997;Kobielus 1997;Grinter 2000;Stohr in Zhao 2001v Reijers 2006 ugotavljajo, da je vključevanje sodelavcev ključnega pomena za uspešno uvajanje sprememb v procese. Prav tako Vom Brocke idr. ...
... Stock and Lambert (2001) A business process can be viewed as a structure of activities designed for action with focus on the end customer and the dynamic management of flows involving products, information, cash, knowledge and ideas. Stohr and Zhao (2001) A business process consists of a sequence of activities. It has distinct inputs and outputs and serves a meaningful purpose within an organisation or between organisations. ...
... Zakarian (2001) emphasises that any transformation occurring in the business process should add value to the inputs and create an output that is useful to a downstream recipient. Others, such as Davenport (1993), Johanson et al. (1993), Shen et al. (2004 and Stohr and Zhao (2001) provide definitions that involve most of the above issues. There are also some distinctive definitions, such as the ones from Volkner and Werners (2000) and Wang and Wang (2005). ...
... Li et al. (2004a) A workflow specification is a formal description of business processes in the real world. Stohr and Zhao (2001) A workflow is a specific kind of process, whose transitions between activities are controlled by an information system (workflow management system). WfMC (1995) A workflow is defined as the automation of a business process, in whole or part, during which documents, information or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action, according to a set of procedural rules. ...
Chapter
Although it has been more than a decade since the emergence of the concept of business processes, there is still a lack of common ground and agreement about their nature and context, their contribution and benefits to the contemporary business environment. This chapter ‘rediscovers' business processes in the sense that provides a critical review of the multiple definitions by different authors and constructs a schema with the main structural elements that constitute a business process. It also reviews the main modelling approaches and classifies them into three primary groups according to their diagrammatic, formal and execution capabilities. Lastly, the main business process patterns are identified and the main business process modelling techniques are compared based on their pattern support capabilities. The work presented rediscovers business processes by providing a holistic understanding that will lead to their standardisation and further development.
... Automation, a concept linked to the robotization process, is one that refers to a workflow, in which information or task (concrete action) passes from one point to the next according to a procedure established and controlled by an information system, using automatic equipment (Stohr & Zhao, 2001). Dictionary defines automation as "the technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operate automatically" and the International Society of Automation describes it as "the creation and application of UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI HOW EMPLOYEES ACCEPT ROBOTS AT WORK Juan Andres Montero Vilela technology to monitor and control the production and delivery of products and services" ...
... However, the concept associated with the administrative or office environment increasingly present in our days, comes from 1970 when it referred to the reduction of paper and elimination of repetitive tasks (Stohr & Zhao, 2001), and linked to corporate social responsibility, such as the decrease in the consumption of natural resources (Ng et al., 2021), costs, in addition to removing repetitive tasks and reducing waiting times (Olmstead & Rhode, 2001). In that sense, as an additional positive aspect, mentioning that long-term exposure to monotonous or low-value tasks can lead to employee fatigue and dissatisfaction (O'Hanlon, 1981). ...
Thesis
Full-text available
This research analyzes the acceptance of robotics at work by employees. Robotization represents an opportunity for companies to improve their overall performance. However, this automation process may represent a challenge if it is not properly integrated within the organization and if potential risks are not minimized. In relation to the general trend towards automation, there are external and internal conditions that organizations need to manage simultaneously in accordance with their stakeholders’ expectations. This research considers employees both as users of these robots at work and as key stakeholders to shed light on how to manage robotization most effectively, from an organizational perspective. Based on the CAN Model, this research provides additional input about the acceptance of robots at work. For this purpose, data from 422 participants from different geographies, wide range of profiles and from numerous industries have been collected. The findings from this research confirmed elements of the CAN model, showing that employee’s attitude has a positive relationship with the intention to work with robots, and that attitude is positively influenced by the Performance Expectancy, Perceived Risk and Positive Emotions of employees. Based on these findings, in addition, it has been addressed an analysis, to determine implications on innovation, workplace and performance management. According to these findings, some high-level recommendations for managers, researchers and other stakeholders are shared in an attempt to illustrate that organizations should address specific managerial strategies to gain greater acceptance by employees regarding the implementation of robotization, which should be translated into employee’s attraction, retention, and engagement.
... To expand the automation capabilities, Workflow Management Systems (WFMS) were developed. As stated by Stohr and Zhao (2001), WFMS automates work processes, rather than isolated tasks. The first WFMS were inspired by the manufacturing and financial industry using "Straight-Through Processing" (STP). ...
... WFMS was not only provided as a standalone workflow product (IBM, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard) but also as a component implementation for other existing IS systems like SAP ERP. To this day, modern Cloud Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, for example the SAP Cloud for Customer, incorporate functionality reduced workflow component based on WFMS called "Workflow" (Stohr and Zhao, 2001;Aalst, La Rosa and Santoro, 2016;van der Aalst, Bichler and Heinzl, 2018;SAP Help Portal, 2022). ...
Thesis
Full-text available
Automation is revolutionizing business processes. The usage of rule-based technologies with the combination of artificial intelligence transforms operating efficiency, productivity and creates value for corporations. A new technological trend called “Hyperautomation” is depicted as the next evolutionary step in process automation. Despite leading Gartner´s top 10 technological trends for the past 3 years, there is only a limited number of scientific research conducted on it and even less practical research can be found on the subject. To fill that research gap, this paper attempts - with the primary scientific method of prototyping - to achieve a proof of concept for hyperautomation. In the developed prototype the business process of invoice processing was hyperautomated with only the use of open-source software. Developing the prototype entailed the selection and subsequently the analysis of a business process for automation, definition of software requirements, designing the prototype’s architecture, modeling the automated process, as well as the selection, installation and configuration of open-source software which was used in the final implementation. The prototype proved that the concept of hyperautomation can be realized with open-source software. The prototype was then evaluated on its performance and data quality by comparing it to manual invoice processing. The evaluation showed that the prototype outperformed the manual process in terms of performance and data quality. The depicted development procedure enables the ability to hyperautomate different business processes and enhance them, based on the developed architecture, with additional automation technology. Based on the developed prototype, the best-of-breed approach for hyperautomating business process can be utilized as a starting point for further research.
... The automation of a process comprises numerous approaches and is not limited to the robotic process automation and API automation presented in the introduction. Also, a relatively frequent type of process automation is workflow automation [24]. Workflow automation is usually limited to platforms such as CRM or ERP [9]. ...
... the stability and reliability of automation, the low operation cost of automation the complexity of automation software without prepared API Workflow automation the simplicity of automation, the low operation cost of automation Limited to a particular platform Workflow automation is not suitable for the automation of complex processes due to limitation to a particular platform [9,24]. RPA and API automation are versatile and it is possible to use them for all kinds of automation [9]. ...
Chapter
Robotic process automation has been maturing with significant speed and organizations that started using RPA during the past years now automate the “low hanging fruit” with the best return on investment. The organizations strive to utilize RPA to get a higher value. However, the deployment of RPA on multiple processes is complex and demanding in terms of costs and resources. In this research, we focused on the reduction of the RPA bot duration by using the applications’ API in the RPA automation. We compared the duration of RPA bots on three processes. The three processes were automated with RPA technology via GUI and also via API. The results indisputably show that using API in RPA automation has a positive impact on its duration. RPA bot using API was, in some cases, ten times faster than RPA bot using GUI. The average duration change of using API against GUI was in the interval from 84.01% to 91.87%. This change shows the enormous acceleration of RPA bot and the impactful benefits of the use of API in RPA automation of processes. We may thus conclude that API is a good complement to RPA automation. RPA developers and RPA architects should use API when it is possible for better utilization of RPA robots.KeywordsRobotic process automationApplication programming interfaceRPA standardization
... − Worklist-set of tasks to be performed by a user in a workflow system − Workflow-is the automation of a business process in whole or in part, during which documents, information or tasks are passed through participants following a set of rules [28,29] One way to describe automation level of a system corresponds to the identification of the proportion of automatic actions [19]. They are three different types, full automation, semi-automation or manual. ...
... Figure 4 presents a partial task-model (in the context of a flight software board) developed with HAMSTERS. Task-models might represent a barrier for task automation mainly because the additional effort to the overall development [29,32]. Aiming at reducing the effort required for the development of task models, Machado et al. proposed a tool that constructs CTT task models from the execution of tasks [9]. ...
Article
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Usability is very important however, it is still difficult to develop interactive computing systems that meet all user’s specificities. Help systems should be a way of bridging this gap. This paper presents a general survey on recent works (building upon previous surveys) related to improving applications’ help through demonstration and automation and, identifies which technologies are acting as enablers. The main contributions are, identifying (i) which are the recent existing solutions; (ii) which aspects must be investigated further; and (iii) which are the main difficulties that are preventing a faster progress.
... For this reason, workflow verification should be a fundamental part of workflow design. However, the lack of formal methodologies for workflow verification remains a major concern [8,15]. ...
... These two anomalies are corrected as follows: (1) add activities a 21 through a 25 and change the AND-Join among a 10 , a 11 , a 12 , and a 13 into XOR-Joins and OR-Join among a 10 through a 13 and a 21 through a 25 , and (2) add activity a 26 and change the XOR-Join between a 19 and a 20 into an AND-Join. The new model is shown in figure 12, and its logical formulas are given in table 15. ...
Article
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The increasing complexity of business processes in the era of e-business has heightened the need for workflow verification tools. However, workflow verification remains an open and challenging research area. As an indication, most of commercial workflow management systems do not yet provide workflow designers with formal workflow verification tools. We propose a logic-based verification method that is based on a well-known formalism, i.e., propositional logic. Our logic-based workflow verification approach has distinct advantages such as its rigorous yet simplistic logical formalism and its ability to handle generic activity-based process models. In this paper, we present the theoretical framework for applying propositional logic to workflow verification and demonstrate that logic-based workflow verification is capable of detecting process anomalies in workflow models.
... Human-AI configuration. Information systems researchers have rich experiences in the analysis and design of business processes in the past, leading to various models of process and workflow design (Stohr & Zhao, 2001). In the era of GenAI, process modeling will need to consider the increasing use of AI agents in place of humans, referred to as human-AI configuration (Berente et al., 2021). ...
Article
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The continuing, explosive developments in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), built on large language models and related algorithms, has led to much excitement and speculation about the potential impact of this new technology. Claims include AI being poised to revolutionize business and society and dramatically change personal life. However, it remains unclear exactly how this technology, with its significantly distinct features from past AI technologies, has transformative potential. Nor is it clear how researchers in information systems (IS) should respond. In this paper, we consider the evolving and emerging trends of AI in order to examine its present and predict its future impacts. Many existing papers on GenAI are either too technical for most IS researchers or lack the depth needed to appreciate the potential impacts of GenAI. We, therefore, attempt to bridge the technical and organizational communities of GenAI from a system-oriented sociotechnical perspective. Specifically, we explore the unique features of GenAI, which are rooted in the continued change from symbolism to connectionism, and the deep systemic and inherent properties of human-AI ecosystems. We retrace the evolution of AI that proceeded the level of adoption, adaption, and use found today, in order to propose future research on various impacts of GenAI in both business and society within the context of information systems research. Our efforts are intended to contribute to the creation of a well-structured research agenda in the IS community to support innovative strategies and operations enabled by this new wave of AI.
... Workflow automation has been a cornerstone of enterprise efficiency (3), enabling businesses to streamline repetitive tasks and enhance operational productivity. Traditional automation systems, however, are limited by rigid rules and need to be more adaptable to dynamic business environments (4). ...
Article
Full-text available
This paper introduces a novel application of generative AI models to enterprise workflow automation, emphasizing adaptive process design and continuous improvement. By utilizing transformer-based models like GPT for real-time decision-making, the framework empowers workflows to self-optimize based on operational data and evolving business needs. The proposed system integrates Robotic Process Automation (RPA) with generative AI to dynamically suggest process improvements, reducing design time and human intervention. A case study in the e-commerce sector showcases the system's ability to adapt order fulfillment workflows, achieving a 35% reduction in processing time while enhancing customer satisfaction. This research establishes generative AI as a transformative tool for intelligent and adaptive workflow automation, offering unprecedented flexibility and efficiency in enterprise environments.
... Central to this approach is the identification of repetitive tasks, manual interventions, and dependencies within organizational workflows. By mapping out these processes and analyzing their underlying components, organizations can identify opportunities for automation and optimization [2]. Key concepts such as process modeling, workflow orchestration, and task automation serve as the building blocks for implementing effective workflow automation solutions. ...
Article
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This white paper delves into the significance of workflow automation and pipeline management in modern business environments. With the increasing complexity of operations across industries, organizations are turning to automation to streamline processes, enhance efficiency, and reduce costs. By implementing robust workflow automation systems and effective pipeline management strategies, businesses can optimize resource utilization, accelerate time-to-market, and improve overall productivity. This paper explores key concepts, latest advancements, and emerging trends in workflow automation and pipeline management, providing insights into how organizations can leverage technology to drive operational excellence and achieve strategic objectives.
... As business process choreographies are composed of multiple business network participants, it is unlikely a centralized business process management system exists to coordinate these business process choreographies (Qiming, 2001). The coordinating function becomes more complicated when creating business process choreographies since different business network participants are involved in executing them without a centralised process management system (Stohr & Zhao, 2001). Instead, to execute business process choreographies individual business process management systems need to be used, which reside within business network participants. ...
Thesis
Full-text available
A business network is a group of firms connected through business relationships. The conventional features of business network have long prohibited it from gaining competitive advantage in an ever-changing business environment. For instance, such inherent characteristic of business network as tight integration of business relationships is believed to inhibit rapid changes to be made. In a dynamic business environment business networks need to be adaptive so that competitive advantage could be achieved. To understand the adaptability within the context of business networks; strategic, processes and information systems considerations need to be made. Those business networks that would exhibit the characteristic of adaptability will most likely possess the features of agility, learning and co-evolution capable of brining value and ensuring competitive advantage. Apart from these features, successful business networks need to possess co-optive and co-innovative features. These salient and novel concepts of co-opetition and co-innovation stem from the application of such seminal paradigms as Business Process Innovation Framework (Moore, 2005) and Five Force Framework (Porter, 1980b). Yet little research has been done to support the design of adaptive business networks, providing an opportunity for the researchers to investigate this uncharted terrain by integrating ideas from different disciplines. In this study these ideas have been mainly borrowed from supply chain management (adaptive supply chain framework). Based on the aforementioned frameworks and concepts garnered from major theories the intention of this study is to identify gaps within these frameworks and provide necessary requirements in the context of adaptive business networks. Apart from requirements, problems that are currently faced by business networks in their attempt to become adaptive will also be addressed. These problems range from the ‘Red Queen’ effects (Voelpel, Leibold, Tekie, & von Krogh, 2005) to the problems pertaining to heterogeneous information systems. For the purposes of this study, these problems will be grouped into overarching issues related to integration and ABN governance. Requirements for those networks existing on the edge of chaos and open information systems will be considered. Additionally, new information technological paradigms such as Cloud Computing will be discussed to support the adaptability of business networks.
... Biazzo and Bernardi, (2003) suggested that ISO 9000:2000 definition should be broadened to describe a process as a system of subjectively identified activities to transform inputs into outputs using resources in a holistic and systematic manner. The authors Stohr and Zhao, (2001) ;Isaksson, (2006) and Kubiak and Benbow, (2009) defined a business process as a series of interrelated steps consisting of required resources and activities that convert inputs into outputs to serve a meaningful purpose within an organization. ...
... Web services messages are communicated via the SOAP protocol as illustrated in [41]. Business Process Execution Language - [42], provides a language for specifying business processes. It extends the web services interaction model by enabling support for business transactions. ...
Article
Full-text available
In recent times, Organizations are moving toward broader workflow automation across business operations and IT processes, particularly in this era of cloud services. This helps to speed up processes and improve communication. Workflow automation optimizes processes by replacing manual tasks with software that executes all or part of a process. Today, this is usually done through workflow automation software that consists of low-code, drag-and-drop features and adoption-friendly User interfaces. Nevertheless, the fundamental workflow models and principles are not undermined to achieve organizational objectives, specifically for business startups hence the focus of this paper.
... Workflows are typically a sequence of steps that a "user" is required to perform, to achieve a required outcome [23,24]. ...
Presentation
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Fig. 1. Changes in human roles related to AI-based workflow systems. Alt-text: During the Research phase, the Data Scientist is likely to be most influential, followed by Designer and perhaps Configurator (customizer) During Development, Emphasis shifts to the Engineer and the Designer. During Distribution and Sales, the Configurator's concerns become more important, to show how Customers can control the system. Finally, during Organizational Usage, the Configurator can tune the AI-based workflow to meet the changing needs of the customer. Many decisions are made indirectly by Executives (VPs). The end-users of workflows typically have little influence in policies, designs, or the actual flow of work. AI-powered workflows present us with vexing problems. They can be very powerful. They both enable and constrain human actions. They record our activities, and they report on our activities. The precepts of Human Centered AI (HCAI) urge us to reduce harms by maintaining human control over the AI. However, commercial workflows are often created by a provider that includes people in multiple roles; are often sold to business consumers who also employ people in multiple roles; and are then used with end-users who may be employees, end-customers, or the general public. In the language of Value Sensitive Design, there are many stakeholders who are implicated in any workflow system. If we believe that humans should be in control, then we need to ask which humans? and what kind of control? and who should control what? In this brief position paper, we take a few steps toward answers to those questions.
... Knowledge work tends to be multidimensional and complex. It requires workers to use their knowledge and expertise to complete a task (Kelloway & Barling, 2000;Stohr & Zhao, 2001). Although performing cognitive work is the primary focus of their jobs, MoCA score scale (0-30); Exercise scale (0-10); Games played scale (1-5). ...
Article
In recent decades, automation has become increasingly integrated into knowledge work environments, i.e., jobs that require specialized skills for task completion. Some research has shown that automation may reduce cognitive workload. However, other work reports that increasing automation does not always lower cognitive workload. These conflicting results suggest that further investigation is needed to identify factors that influence the relationship between automation use and cognitive workload. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate how two potential moderators, task complexity and age, influence that relationship. A total of 24 younger and 24 middle-aged adults performed an object identification task that resembled a baggage scanning procedure conducted by airport security personnel. The task was manipulated by varying the level of automation (4 increasing levels) that provided support in identifying objects of interest as well as the complexity of task (two types: component and coordinative). In addition, participants completed a pattern identification and sorting memory task, which helped emulate a knowledge work environment. Performance (i.e., object identification accuracy, average completion time, pattern identification accuracy, and sorting memory task accuracy) and subjective workload (NASA-RTLX score) measures were recorded. Participants also rated the usability of the automation. Overall, results showed that while the use of automation was associated with reduced cognitive workload, both types of task complexity negatively affected this relationship such that increased complexity was associated with a decrease in accuracy. Age did not moderate the relationship between automation and cognitive workload, but there were qualitative differences in terms of how the two age groups perceived the utility and usability of the automated systems. Knowledge generated from this research has implications for the design of future human-automation systems and can be used to inform interface design that is tailored to the needs and preferences of different users and use cases.
... One challenge in workflow design is facilitating coordination within the distributed workforce. This has been studied by a number of researchers like Kittur et al. (2008Kittur et al. ( , 2009 some of whom have applied traditional techniques from computing such as van Der Aalst et al. (2003) and organisational literature such as Stohr and Zhao (2001). Other techniques that can constitute a form of workflow design include crowdsourcing contests (Cavallo and Jain, 2012;Dechenaux et al., 2014) or adopting some form of collaboration (Kittur, 2010) -although these would be addressed in details in future chapters. ...
Thesis
Crowdsourcing has the potential to revolutionise the way organisations carry out tasks that need to scale out quickly – and indeed this revolution has begun. However, crowdsourcing today, and especially paid microtasks, face several technical and socio-economic challenges that can hamper the realisation of this vision. This work addresses four of such challenges: workflow design; real-time crowd work; motivation and rewards; and synchronous collaboration. The thesis describes the use of a bespoke gamified crowdsourcing platform Wordsmith, and studies the use of furtherance incentives to tackle issues at the heart of microtasks that feature monetary payments as the primary source of incentivisation. Furtherance incentives represent a timely and appropriate reward to improve task continuance presented when a worker is about to quit a task. As such, the keys to effectively deploying furtherance incentives lie in: the timely ability to detect waning worker interest in a task, and, knowledge of the appropriate incentive to offer the particular worker at that stage of the task. In understanding how to improve crowdsourcing workflow designs, the thesis presents an approach that leverages on insights into task features and worker interaction preferences. The findings illustrate how workers interact with tasks in the presence of choice – thus offering us an idea into the types of furtherance incentive to offer workers. In the study on real-time crowd work, microtask contests are introduced as a medium to engage workers to complete tasks featuring tight time constraints. The results give us a rich model that we use to predict when workers are likely to exit a task at different stages. The research into motivation and rewards combines the two components of furtherance incentives by using gamification elements as an additional source of incentives. This leads to more tasks carried out and at a higher quality when compare with baseline paid microtasks. Finally our study on synchronous collaboration offers an additional case study on the effectiveness of furtherance incentives. Here we use sociality-based features of social pressure and social flow between interacting workers as furtherance incentives resulting in improved qualitative and quantitative results.
... information technology of process automation, workflow systems have become a standard solution for managing complex business process models, such as loan approval management [2], supply chain management [3], and knowledge management [4]. In other words, workflow systems can be used to automate, manage, and optimize different kinds of business processes. ...
Article
Full-text available
Workflow system has become a standard solution for managing a complex business process. How to guarantee its correctness is a key requirement. Many methods only focus on the control-flow verification, while they neglect the modeling and checking of data-flows. Although some studies are presented to repair the data-flow errors, they do not consider the effect of delete operations or weak circulation relations on the repairing results. What's more, repairing some data-flow errors may bring in new errors. In order to solve these problems, we use workflow net with data (WFD-net) systems to model and analyze a workflow system. Based on weak behavioral relations and order relations in a WFD-net system, we formalize four kinds of data-flow errors. After then, we reveal the relations between these errors and organize them into a hierarchy. Furthermore, we propose some new methods to repair data-flow errors in a WFD-net system based on system requirements and repair strategies. Finally, a case study of campus-card recharging shows the applicability of our methods, and a group of experiments show their advantages and effectiveness.
... Workflow research has been advancing for more than four decades (Cardoso, 2006), [2], (Stohr & Zhao, 2001), (Mohan, 1998), [5] and has encompassed many different product areas [6], [7], [8], [9], [10]. This paper is concerned with the use of modern workflow infrastructure to support manufacturing in SMEs. ...
Conference Paper
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SMEs do not have access to automated and bespoke PLM Workflows or the resources to afford alternative commercial offerings. The problem is associated with a failure to support cross-domain data and information collaboration with PLC stakeholders. This paper is a review of PLM and workflow literature. The aim of the paper is to select a workflow tool that will be used to develop bespoke affordable and scalable Engineering Workflow tools that can support and orchestrate PLM for Manufacturing SMEs.
... This approach records -in all formality-the fact that business processes are a subclass of generic processes and, thus, they inherit characteristics such as structure and flow. In the second level, business processes are placed in parallel with workflows, i.e., specific kind of executable processes, whose transitions between activities are controlled by an information system (Stohr and Zhao, 2001). The third level of the business process schema consists of actors, activities and resources which are the main concepts involved in most business process definitions. ...
... This approach records -in all formality-the fact that business processes are a subclass of generic processes and, thus, they inherit characteristics such as structure and flow. In the second level, business processes are placed in parallel with workflows, i.e., specific kind of executable processes, whose transitions between activities are controlled by an information system (Stohr and Zhao, 2001). The third level of the business process schema consists of actors, activities and resources which are the main concepts involved in most business process definitions. ...
Article
The purpose of this paper is to explore the theoretical foundations of the business process domain and to propose a conceptual unified and agile approach. The authors undertake a systematic examination of literature from a critical perspective on key business process aspects, introduced by the most influential approaches based on their citation impact. The review and interpretation of established business process aspects lead to a conceptual ontological entity with clear boundaries and interrelated components that supports continuous modification of its design. Following, a similar analysis of BPM definitions and life-cycles results in matching the most frequently occurring cycle steps on specific components of the proposed structure, thus, bridging the gap between business process and BPM life-cycle models. Overall, the approach aims to clarify and connect core business process aspects and assist organisations in apprehending the various life-cycle stages towards utilising appropriate and adaptive tools and phases.
... As discussed in Section 1, some of the most prominent causes of uncertainty are the human factor involved in the process, and the intrinsic limitations of legacy information systems. Besides more classical concepts like work ow automation [37] and the deployment of process-aware information systems [19], a recent innovation that aims to mitigate both problems is Robotic Process Automation (RPA) [6], a technology that aids user operations in processes by learning repeated patterns of actions, and subsequently automate them, while interacting with human operators through the same GUIs they are utilizing. Introducing a high level of automation within the process naturally helps towards the accurate recording of process data, especially if such automation assists the human agents involved in the process. ...
Article
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The strong impulse to digitize processes and operations in companies and enterprises have resulted in the creation and automatic recording of an increasingly large amount of process data in information systems. These are made available in the form of event logs. Process mining techniques enable the process-centric analysis of data, including automatically discovering process models and checking if event data conform to a given model. In this paper, we analyze the previously unexplored setting of uncertain event logs. In such event logs uncertainty is recorded explicitly, i.e., the time, activity and case of an event may be unclear or imprecise. In this work, we define a taxonomy of uncertain event logs and models, and we examine the challenges that uncertainty poses on process discovery and conformance checking. Finally, we show how upper and lower bounds for conformance can be obtained by aligning an uncertain trace onto a regular process model.
... The methodology for constructing the distributed knowledge-based systems is to present the semantic descriptions of all existing nodes in the system. The methodology we have developed is as follows 13 : ...
... Furthermore, with the rapid growth of new data sources available to support urban modelling and data-driven decision-making [38][39][40], data cleaning and processing have appeared as more critical tasks requiring improved efficiency. While the concept of workflow tools has been primarily in business automation for the last many decades [41], it has been extensively adopted in the domain of GIS. However, there has been limited development of such workflow tools in the field of PSS. ...
Article
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In an era of smart cities and digitalisation, there has been a noticeable increase in the development and application of planning support systems (PSS). However, a significant challenge in the broader adoption of these PSS can be attributed to the user experience, which includes the efforts required in pre-processing data. It has been observed that typically 80% of the PSS usage time goes into pre-processing, cleaning, and loading data—a significant barrier for new users. This research focuses on improving user experience by developing and evaluating a new workflow tool called EasyUAZ. This workflow tool directly supports the iterative data preparation needs of scenario planning with the Online WhatIf?—a widely used PSS to develop land-use suitability, demand and land-allocation scenarios. A comparative evaluation has been conducted to quantify the time taken for data preparation with ArcGIS, QGIS, and the EasyUAZ. The study found that EasyUAZ offers a time saving of 30%–35% when compared with other options.
... Workflows can be classified in several different ways. The most widely accepted classification, one that has been been used by the trade press and endorsed by the WfMC, divides workflow in four categories: production, administrative, ad hoc, and collaborative (Georgakopoulos et al., 1995;Stohr & Zhao, 2001). Different aspects of these workflows are shown in Figure 1. ...
Chapter
The complexities involved in managing intrafunctional as well as interfunctional activities have triggered many organizations to deploy large information technology (IT) systems such as ERP and CRM. While such systems have focused mainly on providing solutions to problems such as enterprise-wide application integration and customer driven revenue management, one of the prime issues of managing coordination among activities in organizational processes has not gained adequate attention and support. Business process management (BPM) systems have emerged as a key technology primarily in the past two decades with a goal of providing process support to organizations and supporting better decision making. This article focuses on highlighting this role of BPM systems while discussing some of the recent advances and approaches from a decision making standpoint, both for supporting individual and collaborative decision making activities.
... As discussed in Section 1, some of the most prominent causes of uncertainty are the human factor involved in the process, and the intrinsic limitations of legacy information systems. Besides more classical concepts like work ow automation [37] and the deployment of process-aware information systems [19], a recent innovation that aims to mitigate both problems is Robotic Process Automation (RPA) [6], a technology that aids user operations in processes by learning repeated patterns of actions, and subsequently automate them, while interacting with human operators through the same GUIs they are utilizing. Introducing a high level of automation within the process naturally helps towards the accurate recording of process data, especially if such automation assists the human agents involved in the process. ...
Preprint
Full-text available
The strong impulse to digitize processes and operations in companies and enterprises have resulted in the creation and automatic recording of an increasingly large amount of process data in information systems. These are made available in the form of event logs. Process mining techniques enable the process-centric analysis of data, including automatically discovering process models and checking if event data conform to a given model. In this paper, we analyze the previously unexplored setting of uncertain event logs. In such event logs uncertainty is recorded explicitly, i.e., the time, activity and case of an event may be unclear or imprecise. In this work, we define a taxonomy of uncertain event logs and models, and we examine the challenges that uncertainty poses on process discovery and conformance checking. Finally, we show how upper and lower bounds for conformance can be obtained by aligning an uncertain trace onto a regular process model.
... There are a various set of resources associated with a call center ranging from personnel, computers and other telecommunication equipment that enable delivery of service by use of the telephone (Koole & Mandelbaum, 2002). A call center is thus a complex unit which involves queuing system; the system described as the tool model used in the analysis of the telecommunication and computer systems with its particularity (Stohr & Zhao, 2001). The arrival of calls is random through a complicated process, call durations that are not known, calls that abandon after an arbitrary period of waiting, while some agents may fail to come for work for some reasons (Avramidis, chan & L'ecuyer, 2009). ...
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This empirical study investigated the determinant factors for better accuracy of forecast intelligence that measure the nature of call arrival-rate uncertainty with contingency variables (stochastic) and minimizing cost subject to service-level constraints in the call center. The convergence of the Queueing and the Contingency theories generated a hybrid model (stochastic + deterministic) with high predictability for any call center. A model of 6 constructs was developed: Organization Agent Budget, Organization Advertising-Sales, Customer Support to Eventualities, Forecast Intelligence, Parametric Storage Data, and Constrained Dynamic Staffing. A total of 750 customers and three different call centers (telecommunication, sales, and education) were selected as research samples. The research results suggest that to achieve a better prediction in forecast intelligence; it is necessary to measure three contingency factors: Organization Agent Budget, Organization Advertising-Sales, and Customer Support to Eventualities being the most unpredictable factor the Customer Support to Eventualities, with negatively impacting the forecasting intelligence. The accuracy of a typical call center can reach 89% to 91%. However, the performance with contingency factors in this study reached 99.4%. 8.4% higher performance in predicting forecast intelligence compared to the average so far. The availability of a highly predictive model provides the organization and its managers with results that can be used to make accurate decisions to the recruitment of Agents and budget management.
... In information technology, automation focuses on workflow processes. It is a new breed of information technology designed to automate business processes by coordinating and controlling the flow of work and information between participants [5]. Automated workflow is used to enhance everyday business processes because when business workflows, you can concentrate by focusing on the things that matter. ...
Data
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Industrial revolution has changed the history of humanity. It has been the game changer of modern human history. The revolution has also altered our lives and work as well. Digital workplace for instance has becoming a new way of working style in today’s working workforce. With the IR4.0 strategy initiative, advanced technology has accelerated the evolution of the digital workplace environment in the organization.
... In information technology, automation focuses on workflow processes. It is a new breed of information technology designed to automate business processes by coordinating and controlling the flow of work and information between participants [5]. Automated workflow is used to enhance everyday business processes because when business workflows, you can concentrate by focusing on the things that matter. ...
... The area of workflow management systems (WMSs) arose in the 1970s as a way to automate workflows over distributed computing resources and now cover a huge range of different tasks for different types of organisations [32]. Scientific workflows [33,34] have become more and more important as researchers gain access to computer clusters, cloud resources, remote databases, and even local databases that are prohibited access to the compute nodes of a cluster. ...
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Motivation: Computational biology is a rapidly developing field, and in-silico methods are being developed to aid the design of genomes to create cells with optimised phenotypes. Two barriers to progress are that in-silico methods are often only developed on a particular implementation of a specific model (e.g. COBRA metabolic models) and models with longer simulation time inhibit the large-scale in-silico experiments required to search the vast solution space of genome combinations. Results: Here we present the genome design suite (PyGDS) which is a suite of Python tools to aid the development of in-silico genome design methods. PyGDS provides a framework with which to implement phenotype optimisation algorithms on computational models across computer clusters. The framework is abstract allowing it to be adapted to utilise different computer clusters, optimisation algorithms, or design goals. It implements an abstract multi-generation algorithm structure allowing algorithms to avoid maximum simulation times on clusters and enabling iterative learning in the algorithm. The initial case study will be genome reduction algorithms on a whole-cell model of Mycoplasma genitalium for a PBS/Torque cluster and a Slurm cluster. Availability: The genome design suite is written in Python for Linux operating systems and is available from GitHub on a GPL open-source licence.
... The focus on automation in the context of Business Process Management is not a recent development. In particular research on workflow management and automation reaches back over 20 years [4,14,35]. Research on RPA, by contrast, is still relatively scarce. Lacity and Willcocks investigated how organizations apply RPA in practice [21,22,38]. ...
... The focus on automation in the context of Business Process Management is not a recent development. In particular research on workflow management and automation reaches back over 20 years [4,14,35]. Research on RPA, by contrast, is still relatively scarce. Lacity and Willcocks investigated how organizations apply RPA in practice [21,22,38]. ...
Conference Paper
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The continuous digitization requires organizations to improve the automation of their business processes. Among others, this has lead to an increased interest in Robotic Process Automation (RPA). RPA solutions emerge in the form of software that automatically executes repetitive and routine tasks. While the benefits of RPA on cost savings and other relevant performance indicators have been demonstrated in di↵erent contexts, one of the key challenges for RPA endeavors is to effectively identify processes and tasks that are suitable for automation. Textual process descriptions, such as work instructions, provide rich and important insights about this matter. However, organizations often maintain hundreds or even thousands of them, which makes a manual analysis unfeasible for larger organizations. Recognizing the large manual e↵ort required to determine the current degree of automation in an organiza-tion's business processes, we use this paper to propose an approach that is able to automatically do so. More specifically, we leverage supervised machine learning to automatically identify whether a task described in a textual process description is manual, an interaction of a human with an information system or automated. An evaluation with a set of 424 activities from a total of 47 textual process descriptions demonstrates that our approach produces satisfactory results.
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With the development of remote sensing technology and computing science, remote sensing data present typical big data characteristics. The rapid development of remote sensing big data has brought a large number of data processing tasks, which bring huge challenges to computing. Distributed computing is the primary means to process remote sensing big data, and task scheduling plays a key role in this process. This study analyzes the characteristics of batch processing of remote sensing big data. This paper uses the Hungarian algorithm as a basis for proposing a novel strategy for task assignment optimization of remote sensing big data batch workflow, called optimal sequence dynamic assignment algorithm, which is applicable to heterogeneously distributed computing environments. This strategy has two core contents: the improved Hungarian algorithm model and the multi-level optimal assignment task queue mechanism. Moreover, the strategy solves the dependency, mismatch, and computational resource idleness problems in the optimal scheduling of remote sensing batch processing tasks. The proposed strategy likewise effectively improves data processing efficiency without increasing computer hardware resources and without optimizing the computational algorithm. We experimented with the aerosol optical depth retrieval algorithm workflow using this strategy. Compared with the processing before optimization, the makespan of the proposed method was shortened by at least 20%. Compared with popular scheduling algorithm, the proposed method has evident competitiveness in acceleration effect and large-scale task scheduling.
Chapter
Robotic process automation (RPA) is a technology that is presented as a universal tool that solves major problems of modern businesses. It aims to reduce costs, improve quality and create customer value. However, the business reality differs from this aspiration. After interviews with managers, we found that implementation of robots does not always lead to the assumed effect and some robots are subsequently withdrawn from companies. In consequence, people take over robotized tasks to perform them manually again, and in practice, replace back robots—what we call ‘re-manualization’. Unfortunately, companies do not seem to be aware of this possibility until they experience it on their own, to the best of our knowledge, no previous research described or analysed this phenomenon so far. This lack of awareness, however, may pose risks and even be harmful for organizations. In this paper, we present an exploratory study. We used individual interviews, group discussions with managers experienced in RPA, and secondary data analysis to elaborate on the re-manualization phenomenon. As a result, we found four types of ‘cause and effect’ narrations that reflect reasons for this to occur: (1) overenthusiasm for RPA, (2) low awareness and fear of robots, (3) legal or supply change and (4) code faults.KeywordsRobotic process automationRPASoftware robotInvestmentInformation systemsWork manualization
Chapter
The main aim of this paper is to present the results of a process-project maturity assessment of large organizations in Poland. The paper consists of two main parts: a theoretical part, which primarily outlines the rationale supporting the prospects and the need for an orientation towards process and project organizations, and an empirical part, presenting an attempt to integrate the MMPM and PMMM maturity models, in order to assess organizational level of process-project maturity. The empirical research carried out on a sample of 90 large organizations shows that vast majority of the organizations surveyed are characterized by low levels of process and project maturity, and 13 of the entities examined can be described, based on the assumptions adopted, as a process-project organization (level 4 of process-project maturity). Further, the research conducted has led to an outline of the factors supporting the recognition of process management as a method fundamental to the designing a process-project organization. Maturity model integration has demonstrated the levels of process and project maturity as well as a statistically positive correlation between the degree of process maturity and project maturity. The original character of this paper primarily concerns the need to fill the literature gap, consisting in the scarcity of publications describing integration of process and project management methods and the deficit of works presenting process-project maturity results.KeywordsProcess-project oriented organizationBPMProcess managementProject managementMaturity
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This study responds to an increasing need for research on Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in external auditing, especially concerning auditors' roles in an RPA-enabled audit workflow. Since more than half of the audit tasks require certain levels of auditors' judgment and cannot be fully automated (Abdolmohammadi 1999), audit automation should include attended automation, in which auditors work alongside and interact with automation routines. This paper adopts the Design Science Research (DSR) approach and proposes an Attended Process Automation (APA) framework that guides the implementation of attended automation in audits. This paper also demonstrates the APA framework by applying it to the planning process for single audits, a government-required external audit for beneficiaries of funding. The APA framework emphasizes auditors' vital role in an automated audit workflow in providing professional judgments currently irreplaceable by automation. JEL Classifications: M420; O310.
Chapter
This chapter describes the overviews of Business Process Management (BPM) and Business Intelligence (BI); the importance of BPM in global business; and the importance of BI in global business. BPM enables organizations to align business functions with customer needs and helps executives determine how to deploy, monitor, and measure the organizational resources. When properly executed, BPM has the ability to enhance productivity, reduce costs, and minimize risk in global business. BI includes the applications, tools, and best practices that enable the analysis of information to improve organizational performance. Companies use BI to detect the significant events and identify the business trends in order to quickly adapt to their changing business environment. The chapter argues that applying BPM and BI has the potential to enhance organizational performance and reach strategic goals in global business.
Chapter
Healthcare delivery is undergoing radical change in an attempt to meet increasing demands in the face of rising costs. Among the most intriguing concepts in this effort is shifting the focus of care management to patients by means of Personal Health Record (PHR) systems which can integrate care delivery across the continuum of services and also coordinate care across all settings. However, a number of organizational and behavioral issues can delay PHR adoption. This chapter presents a general approach to breaking down barriers that exist at the level of individual healthcare professionals and consumers. According to this approach, user participation in PHR system development is considered essential for achieving systems implementation success. Realizing a participative PHR system development, where users are full members of the development team, requires not only choosing an appropriate methodology but also organizing the participation process in a way that is tailored to the particular situation in order to achieve the desired results.
Chapter
Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in business processes and research in distributed computing environments. Applications today can be composed of very heterogeneous components: some involve having the user in the loop; some deal with streaming data; while some require high-performance resources for their execution. This chapter examines the performance of a series of process-based models for the development of e-Business using enterprise software applications. Merging management technology in workflow systems is a critical step to provide service-oriented architecture and on-demand business. The authors propose a value-oriented process technique as a strategic alignment to improve investment value. The framework focuses on the guidelines for traditional users to identify the structural conflicts in integrating web services. A comparative study of workflow models for intra-and inter-organizational process control is presented. This chapter identifies the current progress in the adaptability in the design of process models coupled with structural changes of workflow views. The study provides a resource list of successful implementations for practitioners in organizational management. The research highlights the motivation of market facilitation, expert sharing and collaboration that enable commercial applications to support complex heterogeneous, autonomous and distributed information systems.
Chapter
Although it has been more than a decade since the emergence of the concept of business processes, there is still a lack of common ground and agreement about their nature and context, their contribution and benefits to the contemporary business environment. This chapter ‘rediscovers' business processes in the sense that provides a critical review of the multiple definitions by different authors and constructs a schema with the main structural elements that constitute a business process. It also reviews the main modelling approaches and classifies them into three primary groups according to their diagrammatic, formal and execution capabilities. Lastly, the main business process patterns are identified and the main business process modelling techniques are compared based on their pattern support capabilities. The work presented rediscovers business processes by providing a holistic understanding that will lead to their standardisation and further development.
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Information Systems Frontiers is a leading international journal that publishes research at the interface between information systems and information technology. The journal was launched in 1999. In 2019, the journal celebrates the 20th anniversary. Motivated by this event, this paper aims to review this first twenty years of publication record to uncover trends most influential on ISF. The analysis considers various metics including citation structure of the journal, most-cited papers, the most influential authors, institutions and countries, and citing articles. Importantly, the paper presents a thematic analysis of the publications that appeared in ISF in the past 20 years. The thematic analysis is evidenced by two sources of data: First, a bibliometric analysis highlighting core topics within the past 20 years is presented. Second, a semantic analysis of keywords introduced by the authors themselves is applied.
Chapter
This chapter describes the overviews of Business Process Management (BPM) and Business Intelligence (BI); the importance of BPM in global business; and the importance of BI in global business. BPM enables organizations to align business functions with customer needs and helps executives determine how to deploy, monitor, and measure the organizational resources. When properly executed, BPM has the ability to enhance productivity, reduce costs, and minimize risk in global business. BI includes the applications, tools, and best practices that enable the analysis of information to improve organizational performance. Companies use BI to detect the significant events and identify the business trends in order to quickly adapt to their changing business environment. The chapter argues that applying BPM and BI has the potential to enhance organizational performance and reach strategic goals in global business.
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Data-aware processes play an crucial role in various IT systems, including requirement elicitation, domain analysis, software design, and system execution. Due to frequent changes in business environments and continual internal adjustments of enterprises, data-aware processes are increasingly evolved into multiple process variants. The detection of differences between variants can be related to process mapping, process integration, or process substitution. A critical step of the procedure is to investigate the data-aware process consistency. Unfortunately, existing studies only provide a simple “yes” or “no” answer or look for an answer purely from the control flow perspective. The objective of this paper is to propose a systematic solution for effective measurement of consistency between data-aware processes. First, we identify essential activity constraints which reside in data-aware processes. Then, we introduce a novel concept of activity constraint graph (ACG) and propose an algorithm for constructing ACGs. Finally, we use ACGs to measure the data-aware process consistency on a scale from 0 to 1.0. Our technique has been implemented in a prototype tool, and extensive experiments using both real and synthetic datasets are conducted to evaluate the accuracy, distribution of consistency degrees, and capacity of difference detection of our approach. Results show that our approach is more accurate, generates a finer distribution of consistency degrees, and detects differences more effectively than other state-of-the-art approaches.
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Today's business enterprises must deal with global competition, reduce the cost of doing business, and rapidly develop new services and products. To address these requirements enterprises must constantly reconsider and optimize the way they do business and change their information systems and applications to support evolving business processes. Workflow technology facilitates these by providing methodologies and software to support (i) business process modeling to capture business processes as workflow specifications, (ii) business process reengineering to optimize specified processes, and (iii) workflow automation to generate workflow implementations from workflow specifications. This paper provides a high-level overview of the current workflow management methodologies and software products. In addition, we discuss the infrastructure technologies that can address the limitations of current commercial workflow technology and extend the scope and mission of workflow management systems to support increased workflow automation in complex real-world environments involving heterogeneous, autonomous, and distributed information systems. In particular, we discuss how distributed object management and customized transaction management can support further advances in the commercial state of the art in this area.
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This paper discusses the theme of workflow system adaptability in relation to process modeling. Starting from a discussion on the role of formal constructs in cooperation, the main claim is that adaptability involves different dimensions of process modeling. These dimensions concern the possibility to flexibly combine a rich set of basic categories in order to obtain the most suitable language for modeling the target business process and the work practices around it; to take into account various levels of visibility of the contexts of definition and use of a process model; and finally to allow for temporary as well as permanent modifications of the process itself. Ariadne, a notation conceived for the above purpose, is illustrated by means of a working example. Moreover, the paper presents the main design principles governing Ariadne's implementation.
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Many organizations are beginning to discover what workflow vendors already know-namely, that the real value of the Web lies not just in its documents and resources, but also in the activities surrounding them. Collaborative work involves not only handoff and routing of data between humans, but the coordination of activities among them and with automated agents as well. Workflow engines typically ensure that the information ends up on the right desktop along with the tools to accomplish a slated task. It is difficult to synchronize work and activity tracking within a technically diverse organization. Tools and formats typically differ among workgroups, as do skill levels and understanding among individual participants in a process. Browser-based user interfaces offer a mechanism to easily access distributed information and hand off documents and data over the Web, but at the expense of being able to effectively manage and track work activities. Web protocols provide no inherent support for automated change notification, handoff of control, or initiation of human- and computer-executed activities. In essence, there is no standard way for service requests to trigger a workflow process and monitor it across platforms and between organizations
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In traditional business environments, many intercompany processes (such as buying and billing) are performed using paper documents, such as purchase orders and invoices. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) allows companies to exchange these documents in a structured and computer-processable format. This helps to automate and streamline business by eliminating or simplifying clerical tasks, speeding information transfer, reducing data errors, and eliminating business processes. Although EDI has been successfully employed in specific industries (such as retail) and in some large enterprises, it has not been widely adopted. The primary barriers to widespread acceptance of EDI are the costs of implementation and the costs of communication, which is frequently done using Value-Added Networks (VANs). These costs are generally too high for companies that do not conduct large numbers of EDI transactions. In this paper, we introduce a Web-based Internet EDI model that provides valued-added funct...
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AS more organizations undertake business process reengineering (BPR), issues in implementing BPR projects become a major concern. This field research seeks empirically to explore the problems of implementing reengineering projects and how the severity of these problems relates to BPR project success. Based on past theories and research related to the implementation of organizational change as well as field experience of reengineering experts, a comprehensive list of sixty-four BPR implementation problems was identified. The severity of each problem was then rated by those who have participated in reengineering in 105 organizations. Analysis of the results clearly demonstrates the central importance of change management in BPR implementation success. Resolutions of problems in other areas such as technological competence and project planning were also determined to be necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for reengineering success. Further, problems that are more directly related to the conduct of a project such as process delineation, project management, and tactical planning were perceived as less difficult, yet highly related to project success. This situation was also true for human resource problems such as training personnel for the redesigned process. These findings suggest that reengineer-ing project implementation is complex, involving many factors. To succeed, it is essential that change be managed and that balanced attention be paid to all identified factors, including those that are more contextual (e.g., management support and technological competence) as well as factors that pertain directly to the conduct of the project (e.g., project management and process delineation). As one of the first pieces of empirical evidence based on a field study, this research emphasizes the importance of addressing BPR implementation within the broader context of organizational change in a complex sociotechnical environment.
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The Balanced Scorecard was developed to measure both current operating performance and the drivers of future performance. Many managers believe they are using a Balanced Scorecard when they supplement traditional financial measures with generic, non-financial measures about customers, processes, and employees. But the best Balanced Scorecards are more than ad hoc collections of financial and non-financial measures. The objectives and measures on a Balanced Scorecard should be derived from the business unit's strategy. A scorecard should contain outcome measures and the performance drivers of those outcomes, linked together in causeand-effect relationships.
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We present a broad extension of the conventional formalism of state machines and state diagrams, that is relevant to the specification and design of complex discrete-event systems, such as multi-computer real-time systems, communication protocols and digital control units. Our diagrams, which we call statecharts, extend conventional state-transition diagrams with essentially three olements, dealing, respectively, with the notions of hierarchy, concurrency and communication. These transform the language of state diagrams into a highly structured' and economical description language. Statecharts are thus compact and expressive--small diagrams can express complex behavior--as well as compositional and modular. When coupled with the capabilities of computerized graphics, statecharts enable viewing the description at different levels of detail, and make even very large specifications manageable and comprehensible. In fact, we intend to demonstrate here that statecharts counter many of the objections raised against conventional state diagrams, and thus appear to render specification by diagrams an attractive and plausible approach. Statecharts can be used either as a stand-alone behavioral description or as part of a more general design methodology that deals also with the system's other aspects, such as functional decomposition and data-flow specification. We also discuss some practical experience that was gained over the last three years in applying the statechart formalism to the specification of a particularly complex system.
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Recently there has been a hot topic how the information technology impact on the organizational flexibility. Based on the conclusion of various points of view and flexible dimensionality theory, the research focuses on the evolution of flexible dimensionality under different circumstance and information technology related. Analyze, thereby, relatives between information technology and flexible potential, and between flexible potential and organizational flexibility. Meanwhile outputting the factors and preconditions how the information transformed into flexible potential, and flexible potential transformed into flexibility. All in all according to these essentials above, the mechanism module can be constructed regarding to information technology related to influence of organizational flexibility.
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While the different aspects of flexible workflow management are still under discussion, the ability to adapt the structure of running workflow instances to modified workflow schemas is an important property of a flexible workflow management system. In this paper, we present the formal foundation and conceptual design of dynamic adaptations in an object-oriented workflow management system. We describe in some detail how workflow schemas are represented. The system architecture based on the CORBA object-oriented middleware is overviewed, and the implementation of dynamic adaptations is sketched. An example introduces the graphical user interface of the system and shows a dynamic adaptation.
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The exact and timely analysis of automated business processes through the analysis of protocol data is one factor for the use of workflow management systems in organizations. While in the past the automated routing and distribution of work have been prevailing factors in the marketing of workflow applications, the side-effect of having actual and precise business data for analysis yields many opportunities for controlling and managing business operations that have unfortunately been neglected...
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Businesses around the world are paying more attention to process management and process automation to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness. In this paper, we describe a general framework for implementing dynamic routing and operational control mechanisms in Workflow Management Systems (WMSs). The framework consists of three techniques: workflow control tables, sequence constraints, and event-based workflow management rules. Our approach offers several unique features that are missing in commercial workflow management systems: (1) it provides more flexibility in process modeling and control; (2) it permits rework on an ad hoc basis; (3) it handles exceptions to routing and operational controls; and (4) it exploits parallelism to increase system throughput and response time. Finally, the workflow management techniques are applied to the case of consumer loan management and compared with other approaches based on static routing.
Conference Paper
Today's Workflow Management Systems (WfMS) do not distinguish between an external view of a process that is visible outside the organisation and its internal details. Their interfaces are generally aimed at the internal user. This is a problem if one organisation (provider) wants to perform a process on behalf of another (requester) so that it can be initiated and accessed by the requester through an automated interface and, vice versa, that the results can be reported back.This issue gains importance as WfMS are in widespread use today and the trend to outsource non-core business leads to increased service activity between companies. Organisations do not want to make internal information generally available to business partners nor do they wish to restrict their ability to conduct business internally. If organisations enter a business relationship, they define in an agreement the circumstances in which the requester might initiate a process in the provider and exchange further information during the process's performance.This paper describes the Virtual Enterprise Co-ordinator (VEC), a concept for the setup and management of gateways to WfMS-enacted processes for outside organisations on the basis of simple agreements. Using VEC, organisations can provide external partners with a controlled way of accessing WfMS-enacted processes, while retaining the freedom to change the internal details of those processes.
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Organizations require ways to efficiently distribute information such as news releases, seminar announcements, and memos. While the machinery for information storage, manipulation, and retrieval exists, research dealing directly with its distribution in an organizational context is scarce. In this paper, we address this need by first examining the pros and cons of the conventional "mailing lists" approach and then proposing new workflow mechanisms that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of information distribution through email. The proposed approach is relevant to other information distribution approaches beyond e-mail. The main contributions of this study include: (1) offering a workflow perspective on organizationa l information distribution; (2) analysis of workflows in two new information distribution methods based on dynamic mailing lists and profile matching, respectively; and (3) proposing a new way of matching supply and demand of information that extends existing information filtering algorithms.
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Réimpr. de l'éd. de 1983. Incl. bibl., index.
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479 pages Implemented properly, workflow products enable companies to reengineer and streamline business processes. In Production Workflow: Concepts and Techniques, two of IBM's leading workflow experts demonstrate structures of production workflow systems and solutions that deliver maximum availability, reliability, and scalability. This start-to-finish, vendor-independent guide brings together best practices from these areas.
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A variety of distributed algorithms are presented and proven correct in this book. A (Petri net based) technique to model and to analyze distributed algorithms is coincidently presented. This technique focusses on local states, independent actions, and synchronization of distributed threads of control. This book's scope is modest, as it sticks to a choice of small and medium size distributed algorithms. Compositionality, stepwise refinement, interface specification, abstraction, etc., are not covered. Nevertheless, this book's claims are ambitious: Just as PASCAL-like programming structures and Hoare-style proof techniques appear optimal for a wide class of sequential algorithms, this book's formalism is suggested to be optimal for a wide class of distributed algorithms. Particular preliminary knowledge is not assumed in this text, besides basics in formal concepts and a general intuitive understanding of computer science. The text provides a basis for university courses and can help the practitioner to design distributed algorithms. The hurried reader may just study the pictures.
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Liaison is a workflow management model that supports complex workflows and human resources management. Liaison System is the implementation of the Liaison Model. This paper discusses the architecture of the Liaison Workflow Engine, the core of the Liaison Workflow Management System, which is responsible for controlling workflows. Besides managing and controlling complex workflows and human resources, this Liaison Workflow Engine architecture is designed to have high flexibility so as to cope with heterogeneous distributed systems and different kinds of distributed workflow applications. The Liaison Workflow Engine consists of five major components, namely: Scheduler; Task Manager, Actor Manager, Information Manager and Actor Interface Manager. These components are responsible for workflow management, task management, job assignments, information management and interface management respectively. There are also Exception Handlers associated with Scheduler, Task Manager, Actor Manager and Information Manager to manage and handle exceptions in each of these components
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A number of new technologies aimed at automating office work has been developed over the last 20 years with seemingly little impact on overall office productivity. The authors propose a conceptual model for technology adaptation for business process automation that stresses both technology-organization fit and technology-process fit. The goal of the study is to develop a systematic approach that addresses the needs for the organization to be adaptive and for work to be flexible. The technology adaptation model they developed is useful for technology providers in the workflow management area and for business managers who wish to take advantage of the new work-related technologies
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The new generation of workflow technology is predicated on a new IS application architecture in which workflow logic is managed by workflow systems while task logic is supported by application systems. In this workflow-enabled environment, it is no longer adequate to think of IS development in terms of isolated applications that serve individual business functions (often referred to as islands of automation). Rather, developers need to design information systems that are workflow-aware. Although workflow technology has been adopted by many organizations and in many cases has provided substantial productivity gains, workflow application development projects are still undertaken on an ad hoc basis. To promote better quality and productivity in workflow-enabled system development, we proposed a workflow-aware, IS development methodology, WISDM, to guide developers in creating workflow-aware applications. We describe how Dynamic Workflow Management, a workflow modeling framework, is employed in WISDM to guide the construction of logical models in the analysis phase
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Fault tolerance is a key requirement in process support systems (PSS), a class of distributed computing middleware encompassing applications such as workflow management systems and process centered software engineering environments. A PSS controls the flow of work between programs and users in networked environments based on a “metaprogram” (the process). The resulting applications are characterized by a high degree of distribution and a high degree of heterogeneity (properties that make fault tolerance both highly desirable and difficult to achieve). We present a solution for implementing more reliable processes by using exception handling, as it is used in programming languages, and atomicity, as it is known from the transaction concept in database management systems. We describe the mechanism incorporating both transactions and exceptions and present a validation technique allowing to assess the correctness of process specifications
Interoperability requirements for cooperative workflows in electronic commerce
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Image Processing Project at USAA. Harvard Business School Case Study 9-190-155 Weske M. Formal foundation and conceptual design of dynamic adaptations In a workflow management system
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The Practical Guide to Business Process Reengineer-ing Using IDEF0. Dorset House, 1998. Fischer L. Excellence in Practice: Innovation and Excellence in Workflow and Imaging
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Feldman CG. The Practical Guide to Business Process Reengineer-ing Using IDEF0. Dorset House, 1998. Fischer L. Excellence in Practice: Innovation and Excellence in Workflow and Imaging. Lighthouse Point, Florida: Future Strate-gies Inc., 1997–2000.
ARIS—Business Process Frameworks Processes driving the net-worked economy
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Interoperability requirements for cooperative workflows in electronic commerce Workflow-centric information distribu-tion through email
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Populating the specificity frontier: IT-support for dy-namic organizational processes SWAP: Leveraging the web to manage work-flow
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