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Challenges for Business Process and Task Management
Uwe V. Riss, Alan Rickayzen
(SAP AG, Walldorf , Germany
{uwe.riss|alan.rickayzen}@sap.com)
Heiko Maus
(German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI GmbH), Kaiserslautern, Germany
Heiko.Maus@dfki.de)
Wil M. P. van der Aalst
(Department of Technology Management, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven,
The Netherlands
w.m.p.v.d.aalst@tm.tue.nl)
Abstract: Requirements resulting from knowledge intensive work go beyond what is provided
by classical workflow management regarding process flexibility and integration into the
personal task management. This is demonstrated considering the example of Engineering
Change Requests (ECR), handled by an integrated workflow as provided by SAP’s Product
Lifecycle Management (PLM) with its specific problems. Only a Process-Aware Information
System (PAIS) based on a completely new paradigm seems to be able to cope with these
problems. Such a new paradigm is introduced and discussed in this paper on the basis of the
additional requirements that occur in the described ECR process. Starting point for the
approach is a bottom-up scheme that builds process and task related information of case
handling as provided through personal task management. It is compared to previous approaches
as provided by projects at the DFKI and others. Central components such as personal task
management and pattern mining are discussed in more detail. The approach makes more
extensive use of knowledge management methods like retrieval and semantic technologies.
Advantages for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are considered.
Keywords: Knowledge Work, Process-Aware Information Systems, Task Management
Categories: H.1, H.4.1, H.5.3, I.2.6
1 Introduction
Over the last decade there has been a shift from "data-aware" information systems to
"process-aware" information systems (PAIS) such as Workflow Management
Systems (WfMS). Although it is generally accepted that PAIS have made a significant
contribution to increase the productivity of employees, it is also known that their
rigidity restricts their applicability. This is especially true for knowledge intensive and
agile processes [Schwarz et al. 01] (also referred to as knowledge work) such as
consulting and design processes. Contemporary PAIS provide excellent support for
routing and distributing work using a top-down approach from process engineering to
execution. Unfortunately, these systems - but also the models considered in literature
- do not incorporate a user-centric view, i.e., they do not try to learn from the way that
people really execute their work. This particularly affects knowledge work with its
Journal of Universal Knowledge Management, vol. 0, no. 2 (2005), 77-100
submitted: 2005-10-14, accepted: 2005-11-14, appeared: 2005-11-28 © J.UKM
complexity and need for extensive expertise on the side of the process executers with
their inherent demands for flexibility, negotiation, and collaboration. Such knowledge
intensive processes are extremely difficult to be modelled within traditional PAIS. On
the other hand knowledge workers often concentrate on their tasks, forgetting the
organizational needs of streamlining processes, and therefore evade the usage of PAIS
whenever possible. This clearly illustrates the different needs and perspectives of the
individual knowledge worker and the knowledge intensive organization: While the
knowledge worker strives for as much flexibility and autonomy as possible, the
organization aims at standardization and control.
Similar conditions can be found within networks of small and medium-sized
enterprises (SME) and cooperating business units of large corporations. In a network
of SME each SME collaborates with various partners and has closely entwined
processes with these. On the one hand the SME needs to preserve enough room for
flexible execution of the individual tasks assigned; on the other hand the execution
needs to be coordinated within inter-organizational business processes (value chains).
In a network of business units the business unites need to preserve flexibility while
the overall corporation is interested in standardizing interfaces between the units.
The organizational perspective has manifested itself in the field of PAIS. These
have fostered productivity by promoting standardization and transparency, enabling
traceability of past process executions, allowing effective controlling and monitoring
mechanisms, and permitting easier synchronization and coordination of networked
and interdependent activities. Here the process is in focus and dictates the way of
execution down to details. Consequently PAIS do not allow for much flexibility and
can even hamper process execution when the execution context does not fit the
underlying process model. Meanwhile several attempts to improve the flexibility have
lead to various adaptive workflow research projects that extended the structured
automated workflow by different ad hoc capabilities [Aalst et al. 00]. However, these
more flexible model-based workflows require explicit model adaptations causing
considerable costs. The individual perspective on the other hand is mainly represented
by the field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). CSCW supports
knowledge workers in coordinating and negotiating work tasks, in the exchange of
information within a specific work context, and collaboratively coming up with
solutions to common problems. This approach focuses on tasks (the unit of work a
knowledge worker is concerned with at one time) but is mainly unstructured
concerning processes. Thus CSCW approaches are characterised by lacking process
transparency, traceability, standardization and control.
The goal of the present paper is to propose an approach that resolves this dilemma
by supporting the bottom-up development and evolution of flexible process support
and services on the basis of existing cases without relinquishing the needed
organizational control. This approach turns to innovative applications of knowledge
management (KM) methods and technologies such as business knowledge discovery,
semantic systems, and knowledge flow analysis to replace classical workflow. Doing
so, we expect to cope with the particular demands of knowledge work, regarding its
growing importance and its particular complexity, which leads to larger requirements
concerning expertise and swiftness [Wiig 04].
Beside process flexibility, process conformance has become an important issue.
Reasons are multifaceted, e.g., new rules and regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley
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Act (SOX) in the USA and the Contra-G law in Germany force companies to ensure
that their business processes are standardised, transparent, traceable, and well
controlled. In order to comply (and to prove compliance!) to these regulations
organisations have to limit the autonomy of their knowledge workers significantly by
imposing standardised work processes on them and by enforcing those by the
application of PAIS. What makes the situation even worse is that it has become
apparent that classical PAIS are too restrictive for agile processes that characterise
knowledge intensive work [Schwarz et al. 01]. Although there seems to be a trade-off
between the degree of support and control on the one hand and flexibility on the
other, there may be ways to resolve this. The concept of case handling [Aalst et al. 04]
attempts to address this issue by distinguishing between what can be done and what
should be done. Moreover, regulations such as SOX do not need to lead to more
restrictions at run-time. Using process mining techniques [Aalst et al. 04], it is
possible to analyse compliance afterwards rather than restrict people a priori.
The paper is organized as follows. In [Section 2] we outline the theoretical frame
for a task management supporting knowledge intensive work that goes beyond the
known restrictions. Such an approach reverts to KM methods supplemented by PAIS
technologies. In [Section 3] the example of Engineering Chance Requests (ECR) is
presented and their present handling by means of SAP NetWeaver™ Business Process
Management (BPM) [Rickayzen 04]. This solution combines business workflow and
ad hoc workflow and serves as a starting point for further considerations. On the basis
of this example, the problematic aspects will be discussed and related to the points
discussed in [Section 2]. In [Section 4] we describe the general challenges that we
have to cope with, based on the insights resulting from the example. [Section 5]
compiles a number of existing approaches and discusses their efficacy regarding the
fundamental requirements of knowledge work. [Section 6] presents an alternative
approach that consequently relies on bottom-up information flow concerning task and
process knowledge. In this section we present the general structure of such a PAIS.
Moreover, we regard details of the central constituents of Personal Task Management
and Pattern Mining. The last issues considered in this section deal with the
organizational aspects and their handling in this approach as well as a general
discussion of the approach. [Section 7] concludes with a summary of the article and a
discussion of the proposed task-oriented process management and its relevance for
today’s business.
2 Theoretical Approach
Core of a task management is to enable actions of individuals in organisations as well
as joint organisational actions. These actions are controlled by knowledge of which
the individuals or the organisation dispose. They are driven by goals, for the
achievement of which several different ways are usually possible. Which of these
ways is to be taken decisively depends on the circumstances under which the action
has to take place. Therefore the underlying knowledge is not a static resource but a
dynamically adapting basis of action [Riss 05]. Consequently the usage of static
models as applied in classical WfMS can only work if the action context remains
identical and the alternative ways of execution are clearly predictable.
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For almost all kinds of knowledge intensive work these preconditions are not
fulfilled. They are either characterised by a high degree of context variability or a
high action complexity that prevent complete planning [Riss and Wagland 05]. [Table
1] describes the different cases that are to be considered. In the case of high context
variability it might be possible to describe coarse process structures or fragments but
no task details. On the other hand, high action complexity prevents a complete
process depiction but might allow the description of task details. Only if context
variability and action complexity are low, traditional model-based process
management can be applied.
Low Context Variability High Context Variability
Low Action
Complexity
Realm of Model-based
Process Management
Process Pattern
Management
High Action
Complexity
Task Information
Management Minimal Planning
Opportunities
Table 1: Complexity and Context Variability
Traditional WfMS only work with complete processes on the basis of process
models. Therefore they fail to support a large class of knowledge intensive business
processes, e.g., search processes, in which a global process structure does not exist.
Search processes are an example for processes of high action complexity. However,
even search processes can be supported, e.g., offering most frequently accessed
information. Very individual kinds of work belong to the second kind of processes
that cannot be handled by traditional WfMS, e.g., adapting computer systems to the
particular conditions at the customer site. Here best practices and descriptions of
general process steps are available but not in a way that allows direct execution.
To realise an efficient process pattern and task information management, which
also covers high action complexity and context variability, it is necessary to handle
process knowledge in a more modularised and open way than this is done by
traditional methodologies. We need PAIS that can deal with independent instances of
information to support the execution of tasks that only show partial regularity
according to [Table 1]. Consequently the approach requires the separation of work
knowledge into independent Task Information Units (TIUs). TIUs can describe data
aspects, e.g., concrete customer data, but also process aspects, e.g., steps required to
file a patent. The former is related to specifics of the object whereas the latter
describes examples to be followed. Both can be used to support users in executing
knowledge intensive tasks. However, existing systems mainly focus on one of these
aspects, i.e., they are mainly data or process centric.
Another important dimension of a PAIS is its learning capability. [Figure 1]
shows the PAIS spectrum to illustrate this. One dimension shows whether the
functionality of the system is data centric (emphasis on information/data) or process
centric (driven by process models). The other dimension shows the degree of
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structuredness. Note that structuredness is closely related to the memory lifetime, i.e.,
systems supporting unstructured activities have no memory used to support future
activities, while systems supporting structured activities typically have a long-lasting
memory in the form of standards and procedures. So far there are mainly systems,
which either only support current activities, i.e., they are without any memory, or
systems with rather long-lasting memory, which is mainly updated on the basis
external initiative. However, possessing learning capabilities requires regular and
situation-aware memory updates. Both types of systems show only a minimal learning
attitude.
To make the PAIS fully adaptive it is necessary that the system learns from actual
execution of tasks, i.e., from cases, comprising both task related data and task related
processes. Here the underlying idea is that knowledge executers are the first who
recognize changes in the business environment that affect processes. Consequently
these changes influence the way in which tasks are executed, leading to adapted cases.
From these the information directly enters the PAIS built in a bottom-up way.
Figure 1: PAIS Spectrum
Finally, we have to consider the aspect that influences organisational KM. It
concerns the balance of individual and organisational interests. This problem concerns
the motivation for knowledge sharing as the basis for a PAIS built on individual work
experience. [Allee 03] states several factors that influence this aspect:
People must not be too busy and overloaded in order to find the time to take
part in knowledge sharing activities. Knowledge sharing always consumes
time;
If people have time for knowledge sharing, they require certain capability of
communication to make this knowledge comprehensible for others;
Finally people need an appropriate infrastructure that allows them to share
what they know. Many people mainly exchange experience only within their
immediate work groups but for globally active organisation this is not
sufficient (social distance [Ruggles 97]).
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Fundamental precondition for a successful approach is that these intrinsic barriers
are removed. That means, (1) the time consumption caused by the PAIS must be
reduced as much as possible, e.g., by context evaluations that rid knowledge workers
from providing already available information (2) knowledge workers must directly
benefit in their everyday work by using the PAIS, e.g., by proactively providing
relevant information based on the current context. (3) User must be supported by
templates and other forms wherever feasible to ensure that their process knowledge is
provided in a form that can be efficiently exploited by the system and other users
resp. sophisticated information mining must be applied to exploit semi- or
unstructured information. (4) Work experience must be made globally available under
consideration of the individual privacy needs, i.e., it must be beneficial for knowledge
workers to use the PAIS both in contributing to KM-activities in the organization as
well as by using this work experience in their everyday work. Summing up, we can
observe that motivation of knowledge workers is a crucial point for a case based
PAIS. We will come back to these issues regarding personal task management.
From a psychological point of view the situation of the user can be described as a
social dilemma [Cress 04]. Entering information into the PAIS requires time and
effort. To be useful for other users and manageable by automatic analysis this
information must be worked out elaborately. However, individually, a user has no
direct benefit from providing information. Only if all users contribute to the system a
payback can be expected. Therefore it is important to provide users with information
that lets them reasonably expect a sufficient amount of benefits for their input.
Experimental results show that the measures mentioned above might not be sufficient.
For example, Cress and Hesse investigated different strategies to influence the user
behaviour in favour of knowledge sharing [Cress and Hesse 04]:
Providing metaknowledge about the importance of shared information;
Providing rewards for contributing;
Reducing the costs of contribution;
Establishing organisational rules to support information sharing;
Providing feedback about the other users’ sharing behaviour.
Their conclusion from the experimental results is that the possibilities to
influence the user behaviour by structural factors (reduction of cost or provision of
benefits) is more limited than by social factors. This means that the measures
described above must be accompanied by others that concern the latter factors.
Feedback about the degree of other users’ contributions can be one approach,
introductory trainings of the knowledge workers another. Moreover, a strong
commitment from the management also appears as an important factor.
In the next section we will demonstrate the relevance of the sketched aspects on
the basis of an example from industrial engineering.
3 Use Case – Engineering Chance Request (ECR)
Today’s production processes are characterised by the fact that about 25% of the
working time consists in waiting for decisions and searching for information [Goltz
00]. This holds especially if multiple partners are involved and a high amount of
coordination is required. Changes are all along part of today’s business in modern
manufacturing enterprises. They result from changing markets, customer
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requirements, technical innovations, or legal issues. The management of change
requests involves various specific activities. The process is initiated by creating a
change notification that is routed by workflow to the responsible agents. These check
the issue and decide on appropriate follow-up activities. If a decision is made that an
engineering change is necessary, an ECR is created on the basis of the change
notification.
The management of ECRs is also part of SAP’s PLM solution that includes an
engineering workflow for ECRs. As SAP’s central integrative technology platform
SAP NetWeaver™ [Karch and Heilig 05] provides one unified user interface towards
all applications that includes a model-based structured Business Workflow as well as
ad-hoc unstructured activities (collaborative tasks) to allow for process flexibility.
From a user’s point of view both are offered as tasks in the Universal Worklist
(UWL) that is part of the SAP Enterprise Portal. The model-based tasks concern
standard processes, e.g. initial checks or classification of changes, whereas parts that
are not standard, e.g. the soliciting of particular expertise, are treated by collaborative
tasks. The different nature of both types of tasks is concealed from the user who only
sees items in the UWL as her central inbox for task request.
Figure 2: Business Process Management in SAP NetWeaver
™
An example for difficulties that can appear during the handling of ECRs is the
treatment of scrapping costs, e.g., for spare parts or remaining stock that is no longer
needed resulting from the change of the engineering process. Since these costs can be
extremely high today, the decision whether an ECR is accepted can decisively depend
on this detail. As long as standard parts are involved the treatment can be processed in
a structured way. In this case estimates for the scrapping costs can easily be
calculated. The corresponding process can be defined in the Business Workflow
framework without any problems. It offers the opportunity of direct access to relevant
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SAP applications, e.g., to Materials Management or Production Planning. If, however,
precarious chemicals are involved, which require special disposal procedures, the
procedure can become rather complicated and it can be necessary to consult various
experts who must work closely together. These activities are supported by the Ad Hoc
Workflow that is part of the SAP Enterprise Portal.
We see in this case that action complexity is limited but there can appear
situations in which the process cannot be handled any longer in a complete structured
way. Tasks can occur that require an individual treatment, e.g., the treatment of
specific scrapping materials. However, some of these materials might reappear in
other ECRs and it would be advantageous to get an opportunity to revert to this
knowledge, respectively. Cross-Component BPM enables the execution and
monitoring of processes across organisational boundaries using stateful interaction.
Thus it is possible to incorporate external services, e.g., regarding the administrative
operation related to the scrapping of special materials. The general embedding of
these components in SAP NetWeaver™ is depicted in [Figure 2]. Both components,
however, do not yet offer full support for reuse of such process parts.
We see that action complexity is partially high since unpredictable consulting
activities might appear. However, in these cases some information can be reused, e.g.,
the expertise concerning the scrapping procedures of specific materials. Such TIUs
can be used by other knowledge workers. Although the process in its entirety cannot
be completely described, there are large standard parts that reappear in the processing
of all or almost all ECRs. Therefore we find various process patterns that can be used
to handle ECRs.
The integration of structured and unstructured tasks in the UWL already brings
about several advantages. First, compared to expert consultation by email or phone,
the transparency of the process is increased since it is clear who is in charge to deal a
certain problem due to the corresponding task in the UWL. This also holds for the
accountability which is clearly assigned as well. If a problem is assigned to several
experts and one of them solves it, the work item disappears from the UWLs of the
other experts. Thus the process remains up-to-date and double work is avoided. If
questions are assigned to experts via collaborative tasks, it can happen that the same
chemicals appear in different components, which are processed by different
employees. These might then ask the same expert the identical question or, even
worse, they ask different experts and get different answers. Obviously this leads to
additional coordination costs. This example also shows the limits of transparency,
accountability, and actuality of the current solution. Transparency is only given for
task owners not for general users. Examples for the need of process transparency are
indeed manifold.
A task management based on a central work list tool like the UWL centralizes the
process activities in an analogous way as the email client does this for the mail
processing. This is a first step to a user adapted simplification of the personal task
management. However, a mere bundling of tasks in a unique tool is not sufficient to
support the personal task management. Here we find a broad spectrum of possible
improvements that make the task handling easier and thus motivate users to use it.
If the treatment of a specific class of chemical becomes routine, it would be very
useful to make the corresponding task pattern generally available. If such a chemical
is mostly treated by the same expert who has proven her expertise in previous cases,
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this information should be made available to all users who have to deal with similar
cases. The same holds for resources since there is no model as a basis for a resource
planning. Let us assume that there is only one expert for the disposal of a certain
chemical but that by a legal change the procedure has become decisively more
complex than before. Whereas previously one person was sufficient now the demand
has multiplied. The problem must be made apparent to all affected employees as soon
as possible. At best the system would even propose alternative experts or report the
lack of appropriate experts. However, this information can only be determined by
analysis of already executed cases that are identified as similar.
This example proves the demand for an automatically adapting system. Some
changes in the business environment have an immediate effect on the process of the
required proceedings. Model updates are rather slow and therefore mostly not
adequate to provide the required velocity of change. A case-based PAIS brings a clear
advantage in this respect.
4 Challenges
Considering this use case in the light of our observations from the preceding sections,
we can state five challenges for business process and task management which pose
research questions to be answered.
4.1 Process-Aware Information Support
One of the main obstacles found in knowledge intensive processes is the lack of
adequate information for the current situation of knowledge workers. To support
exactly these knowledge workers and settle their information needs is our first
challenge. Here, the involvement of knowledge workers in a process will help in
inferring their information need from the process step or task to fulfil. For instance, in
the ECR use case this would be the specific chemical in an expert request which could
be used to query a database or a case repository for similar requests. Approaches in
the area of business process-oriented KM use the availability of processes regarding
workflows to realise new methods and services for KM (cf. [Abecker et al. 02]).
4.2 Acquisition and Reuse of Process Know-How
In order to realise effective PAIS that support knowledge workers in their decision
making, it is essential to consider processes not only as locations where knowledge is
needed but also as locations where knowledge is produced. In the ECR case this
would be the identified disposal procedure and costs for the spare parts respectively
chemicals by the expert. Having the ability to acquire knowledge with relation to the
processes they occur, helps in realising an adequate information support and allowing
to build best practice as well as provide it where it is needed. Therefore, the second
challenge is to realise the acquisition and reuse of process know-how in PAIS.
4.3 Flexibility of Process Execution
As can be observed from the ECR case, knowledge work reveals characteristics such
as spontaneity and communication-orientation, low predictability, and evolvement
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during execution time. These characteristics pose serious problems for the support by
classical PAIS such as workflow systems (cf. [Schwarz et al. 01]). However,
knowledge work has a high business value and if a support by a PAIS is desired,
knowledge workers need flexibility in the support system “to stay” in the environment
which is essential to acquire knowledge by the PAIS. Referring to the ECR case, it
would be ideal to provide an expert with the possibilities to solve a complex disposal
problem within the PAIS by allowing to manage all tasks needed such as consulting
other experts, querying databases, or computations within the system and record the
results and rationales as information objects of the tasks. Therefore, the next
challenge is to develop PAIS which allow upmost flexibility in process and task
execution while still serving as sources for knowledge acquisition.
4.4 Identify and Apply Process Patterns
If the previous challenge of flexibility of process execution is realised by a PAIS to
support knowledge work, we face various problems, e.g., no predefined process
model can be followed throughout the execution as presented in the ECR case.
Instead, we find completely new process steps with respect to tasks, variations of
process models as well as various deviations and modifications to adapt the process
instance to the situation. Although this provides an overwhelming amount of audit
data, it is definitely difficult to exploit this valuable basis for process know-how
reuse. Here, methods of process mining will allow identifying process patterns which
can be provided for further process executions by knowledge workers. This allows
them to iteratively identify and apply best practice in process execution while
preserving the flexibility to choose the most appropriate pattern for the current task.
Therefore, our fourth challenge is to apply process mining in the area of flexible and
knowledge intensive process executions to identify and apply process patterns.
4.5 Make It as Simple and Beneficial as Possible for Knowledge Workers
We formulated four challenges which in the end will allow an organisation to profit
from the expertise of their knowledge workers. However, this sounds just as one more
promise from the KM community which will burden their users with additional work
for the approach to succeed. Many knowledge management projects suffer from the
underlying assumption that knowledge workers are willing to spend effort in KM
activities without having a direct benefit (see [Section 2]). Discussions about
incentive programs in knowledge management show the need for countermeasures.
Therefore, our final challenge is to realise systems which primarily let the knowledge
worker directly benefit from its usage and require minimal additional effort. We think
that in the area of PAIS an integration of processes and a knowledge worker‘s
personal task management is a key to realise such systems.
In the next section we will present some approaches which contribute towards
reaching these challenges.
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5 Existing Approaches
Support for knowledge workers by the workflow paradigm has been in the centre of
interest for quite a time. Therefore the present approach can revert to a variety of
existing approaches to the support of knowledge intensive work processes. Ever since
the advent of workflow management, the deficiency of available workflow solutions
regarding knowledge work has been a hot topic. Researchers used methodologies
such as speech act theory, activity theory, and constraints, applied a simplified user-
oriented process language or enabled collaborative process modelling (for a recent
overview see, e.g., [Jørgensen 04]). The main approaches are compiled in [Table 2]
with their specifics and will be discussed in the following. Many valuable features of
these approaches can be adopted.
Approach Characteristics Reference
KnowMore Predefined information needs for tasks;
context-specific information support during
runtime
[Abecker et al. 00]
PRIME Repository with information needs & support
and characterisation when applicable;
information support during runtime based on
user and task characteristics
[Holz 03]
CBRFlow Context-specific selection and application of
process steps from a case base via
conversational CBR
[Weber and Wild
05]
Adept Workflow system supporting both ad-hoc
changes and evolutionary/structural changes. [Rinderle at al.
04]
FRODO Agile knowledge workflows for knowledge
work; context dependent change suggestions
and provision of information and similar tasks
/ workflows
[Elst et al. 03]
FLOWer Case handling system supporting a mixture of
structured and unstructured processes and data
[Aalst et al. 05]
Table 2: Approaches to knowledge intensive work processes
The KnowMore approach is applicable for well structured processes where
knowledge intensive tasks and their contents are known in advance, thus, allow for
modelling information needs during build-time within a workflow activity. However,
as mentioned, knowledge work bears characteristics that make classical workflows
inappropriate here. The PRIME-system is similar to the previous approach but more
flexible due to the separation of tasks and information needs which allow defining an
information need and relevant information for a broader range of tasks and respective
situations. Therefore, such an approach is also applicable if users are already able to
adapt workflows to their needs. Given that flexibility, the question arises how to
support users in determining appropriate changes.
CBRFlow introduces the additional feature that a user can enter a dialogue and
state facts about the current situation. On this basis similar cases are retrieved from
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the associated case base. The dialogue is continued until the user finds an appropriate
process step which she can introduce in the existing workflow. The system learns new
cases (situation/process step combinations) by explicit annotation when the user
adapts an existing or creates a new process step. To cope with problems of actual
running workflow modifications, Rinderle et al. propose in [Rinderle et al. 05] an
integration of CBRFlow and ADEPT - an adaptive workflow system which supports
consistency preserving (ad-hoc) changes to workflow models and the subsequent
migration of already running workflow instances [Rinderele et al. 04] - to memorize
changes to workflows and their reuse in similar situations while preserving
consistency of the modified workflows.
In FRODO, workflow changes are retained and offered to users in similar
situations based on the current workflow context. The system is first of all designed
for a knowledge worker accomplishing her personal work who is, however, still
embedded in a team’s workflow. Thus, a workflow could start from scratch as a
personal ToDo-list, be refined and attached with information such as memos or
documents. It can also be extended to colleagues using task delegation and in the end
it represents the work accomplished and the knowledge items used and produced. In
this way the workflow integrates previously hidden process know-how. Since the
workflows are embedded in an organisational memory, various services can be
provided such as proactive and context-specific information support, support in
planning work by providing appropriate task instances from colleagues or task
templates from a model repository, capture and disseminate process know-how, and
finally allow for process-oriented knowledge organisation. For a detailed discussion
of this approach from an information assistance point of view see [Holz et al. 2005].
FLOWer of Pallas Athena belongs to the small number of PAIS that follow a case
based approach that can simultaneously deal with data and processes. Case handling
is a new paradigm for supporting flexible and knowledge intensive business
processes. It is strongly based on data as the typical product of these processes.
Unlike workflow management, which uses predefined process control structures to
determine what should be done during a workflow process, case handling focuses on
what can be done to achieve a business goal. In case handling, the knowledge worker
in charge of a particular case actively decides on how the goal of that case is reached,
and the role of a case handling system is assisting rather than guiding her in doing so.
The core features of case handling are: (1) avoid context tunnelling by providing all
information available (i.e., present the case as a whole rather than showing just bits
and pieces), (2) decide which activities are enabled on the basis of the information
available rather than the activities already executed, (3) separate work distribution
from authorization and allow for additional types of roles, not just the execute role,
(4) allow workers to view and add/modify data before or after the corresponding
activities have been executed (e.g., information can be registered the moment it
becomes available). These features have been implemented in FLOWer [Aalst at al.
05].
6 Proposed Approach
Classical WfMS are too restrictive for weakly-structured processes that characterise
knowledge intensive work, although the workflow paradigm is very attractive in
88Riss U.V., Rickayzen A., Maus H., van der Aalst W.M.P.: Challenges ...
terms of provided functionalities such as modelling and coordinating processes (in
teams), supporting environments for executing activities, monitoring the current state
of affairs, and providing rich workflow context [Maus 01], as well as logging
mechanisms providing a process history for later access. However, a tool that is to
meet the needs of knowledge work must support structured and unstructured process
parts in a uniform way. Precondition for an appropriate solution is the recognition of
task patterns based on detailed task descriptions.
From this bottom-up approach we also obtain another requirement. This concerns
the motivation of users to record and share their task knowledge [Davenport et al. 98].
This is not a trivial requirement and necessitates careful investigations on personal
knowledge management (PKM) [Wright 05]. PKM must establish links between the
users’ individual knowledge and task handling and the organisational knowledge
management (OKM).
The described approach is to be realised on the basis of a PAIS which can be only
partially built on existing BPM technology due to the bottom-up approach instead of
the usual top-down proceeding.
Figure 3: Task and Process Lifecycle
Bottom-up approach means that the information originates from the task
executers instead of special process engineers. The general procedure is described in
[Figure 3]. The smaller circle describes the personal task management in which users
provide the information on which the entire task and process support is built.
Knowledge workers define their tasks by specification of a task related process and
assignment of appropriate information for later use. In the course of task execution
this process can be adapted and new information can be included. This personal task
information is managed in a decentralised way for every user in personal case
repositories.
The bigger circle describes the phases of the task support in organisational
context. In the analysis phase, the adapted processes, as provided by the users, are
analyzed regarding reusable patterns and other kinds of information, partially by
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Riss U.V., Rickayzen A., Maus H., van der Aalst W.M.P.: Challenges ...
comparison to original patterns. Task structures and components will be defined in a
way that allows disintegration into independently usable information units. The
information is consolidated and transferred to a central repository.
In the standardisation phase, the repository allows process and service engineers
to monitor the existing processes. Processes can be standardised by the definition of
business rules that are applied to all individual processes. New processes can be
designed and offered to the users. Business rules can even enforce such processes as
standards. This phase also opens the opportunity to service engineers to specify
services that are offered within a network of cooperating partners.
In the retrieval phase, appropriate process patterns and task information are
identified on the basis of user specification and context and offered to the requesting
users who are thus enabled to design their individual task description from the offered
components. The identification of appropriate patterns is not only based on the users’
input but also on information about their contexts. In this way the retrieval will be
made much easier for the users.
User
Task Request
(2) Task Related
Information
INFO
(1) Process Patterns
(3) Process Task
Relation
INFO
Configuration
Adaptation
INFO
INFO
Case Repository
Case
Analysis
INFO
Process Patterns
Case Expertise
Retrieval
Figure 4: Users Handling Tasks and Processes
[Figure 4] shows the way how users deal with task patterns and task related
information. The access to this information is realised via a retrieval process. Users
90Riss U.V., Rickayzen A., Maus H., van der Aalst W.M.P.: Challenges ...
provide information that characterises the task they want to accomplish. On the basis
of this information the PAIS provides different kinds of TIUs: (1) Process Patterns
that can be used to structure the task into suitable sub-tasks; (2) Task Related
Information, which support the execution of task, e.g., regarding experts who can be
consulted or external services on which the user can draw; and finally (3) relations
between these information units and the task or specific sub-tasks of a chosen process
pattern. These relations are not necessarily related to fixed process steps since they
are more closely bound to domain aspects than process patterns, e.g., a report writing
pattern can be more generally used than certain information concerning a possible
state-of-the-art step in the report writing process. The users individually compose the
different TIUs that they get and build their own task support structure on this basis.
These structures are not fixed but can always be adapted to changing conditions or
new experience regarding the process. In particular they can add very specific
information to the task structure that only concerns their case. This might also include
mistakes and predefined process structures that are not suitable for the current case.
After the case is completed the user can review it and decide which parts of it
might be generally relevant. The tolerance regarding such a decision depends on the
organisational policy and the users’ role within the organisation. Those parts that are
released will undergo a pattern and information analysis as described in the next
subsection. The aim of this analysis is a disintegration of the different TIUs that are
entangled in the case description. Due to this entanglement the mere separation of the
case is not sufficient. It is rather necessary to enrich the resulting raw TIU in order to
compensate the omission of context knowledge that is required for an individual reuse
of these TIUs that are then made available to task retrieval.
6.1 Personal Task Management
As mentioned in [Section 4], a central challenge we have to face is to attract
knowledge workers to do their work “within” the system, i.e., we have to provide an
environment that allows knowledge workers to easily organize and accomplish their
work. In case of acceptance, the envisioned PAIS will provide assistance based on
process know-how from knowledge workers as well as use this information for
analysis purposes.
We see two main areas to accomplish this attraction for knowledge workers:
First, supporting the “personal” knowledge management as well as the personal task
management. To focus on the user’s “personal” knowledge management – i.e.,
searching and identifying, classifying and storing, retrieving and applying as well as
distributing information resp. knowledge in a user’s personal knowledge space (PKS)
– is motivated by users’ avoidance of additional work for KM-initiatives without
immediate benefit. The topic has been recently addressed in the project EPOS
1
that
provides such a PKS which is fed by the user’s native structures found, e.g., in file
directories, bookmarks, email folders as well as task structures (ToDo-lists or work
lists from WfMS) together with attached documents, respectively. These structures
reflect the user’s subjective view, e.g., the meaning of a user’s mail folder is
expressed by the set of contained emails. Furthermore, the user also takes part in the
organisation which is reflected by the used organisational structure, project
[1] Evolving Personal to Organizational Knowledge Spaces;
http://www.dfki.de/epos.
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Riss U.V., Rickayzen A., Maus H., van der Aalst W.M.P.: Challenges ...
workspaces, processes, and domain ontologies which also influence the user’s view
and work behaviour. Using this environment, EPOS-services are able to support
knowledge workers in their activities considering their own subjective views. For
instance, an assistant bar provides relevant structures, information (documents,
emails, notes), colleagues, and workflow tasks to support the assumed user goal
which is derived from user observation within the PKS [Schwarz and Roth-Berghofer
03, Schwarz 05]. The more users elaborate their personal knowledge space, the more
they contribute to an organisational knowledge space which is leveraged from the
collection of individual knowledge spaces [Elst and Kiesel 04], thus providing a
bottom-up approach to organisational memories.
In that way, EPOS enables a transition between the personal knowledge
management and a user’s task management, i.e., the EPOS approach consequently
allows learning more about a single (workflow) task fulfilment. This will support
users to explicitly structure their work. So far a main drawback of agile workflow
approaches, such as the weakly-structured workflows in [Elst et al. 03], is the demand
of modelling efforts of users during their work. Capturing domain and process know-
how does not only aim at immediate user support but also at later reuse in similar
cases. Undue efforts only inhibit users from modelling their work in detail. Thus,
there is a trade-off between the necessary effort for organizing the work and providing
as much details as possible for an effective assistance later on. For instance, in our
ECR use case, it should be explained in detail why the decision was taken instead of
simply telling the result and going on with the next tasks as soon as possible. The
approach taken in EPOS is to additionally observe the user’s desktop activities,
interaction with applications (email, browser, text editor, document repository), as
well as information items, to build and leverage a user’s context and try to figure out
the generic task the user is executing. Such a generic task or task pattern is part of an
ontology of task patterns containing part-of and is-a hierarchies, and relations to task
and workflow models as well as current instances realising one or more generic tasks
[Schwarz 03]. In contrast to the top-down approach of weakly-structured workflows –
from the abstract task definition to a refined task – this describes a bottom-up
approach by observing user activities. A similar approach is reported in [Fenster-
macher 05] to realise a process-oriented support for knowledge workers in agile
processes. Once having identified such task patterns, this can be used for supporting
users without requiring detailed workflows. However, it will also semi-automatically
enrich workflows with observed task patterns in order to refine workflow tasks
without (much) user interaction.
The integration aspect in the PKS becomes especially important since a task
management has to compete with email as today’s most favourite structuring tool for
collaborative tasks (see [Bellotti et al. 05]). Compared to phone calls, email brings the
advantage of asynchronous communication, i.e., questions can be issued when they
occur, replies can play the role of reminders, and questions and answers persist and
can be accessed also later. However, if we look at the disadvantages of emails (cf.
[Whittaker and Snider 96]) we observe that they are too unstructured. For example,
they can get lost, stay (unawarely) unanswered, or the relation between different
emails and their topic can get lost. Another problem is that email is inappropriate to
structure personal work since it is designed as communication tool and if it is mixed
up with task management it definitely looses its lightweight character. A successful
92Riss U.V., Rickayzen A., Maus H., van der Aalst W.M.P.: Challenges ...
task management that shall compete with email must decisively reduce effort and
complexity of task handling to convince users. Simplicity is one of the major causes
for the success of email.
In this regard, research on personal task management is an important complement
to task pattern management. It helps to understand how knowledge workers manage
their personal work (see, e.g., [Bellotti et al. 04]) in order to realise a convenient user
environment keeping users in their personal knowledge (work-) space as the basis for
the acquisition of process knowledge, instead of using, e.g., paper notes to manage
their tasks that are out of the reach of automatic analysis.
More details on the realisation of a task-oriented view on a user's PKS is given in
[Holz et al. 05] in this issue.
6.2 Process Mining
A case-base PAIS essentially relies on the analysis of stored cases in order to extract
reusable TIUs. On the one hand, these TIUs must be simple enough to be manageable
by all knowledge workers to organize their personal tasks in a convenient and
integrated way and, on the other hand, they must be rich in content to be actually
helpful. Therefore an efficient process mining, i.e., discovering process knowledge
from existing process data, must be a central part of the PAIS.
A
AND
-split
B
C
AND
-join
D
E
(a) The control-flow structure expressed in terms of a Petri net.
(b) The organizational structure expressed in
terms of a activity-role-performer diagram.
John Sue Mike Carol Pete Clare
role X role Y role Z John Sue
Mike
CarolPete
Clare
(c) A sociogram based on transfer of work.
Figure 5: Process mining example: Based on some event log a process model (a), an
organisational model (b) and a social network (c) are discovered
[Figure 5] shows the basic idea of process mining as it has been implemented in
tools such as ProM (cf. www.processmining.org). Based on an event log (e.g., an
audit trail or a transaction log) models are derived using a variety of techniques. For
example, using the alpha algorithm [Aalst et al. 04] it is possible to construct a
process model in terms of a Petri net (or an EPC, or similar notation). This is not
limited to the process (control-flow) perspective as shown in the figure.
The central idea of process mining is not new. For example attempts have been
carried out to analyze event logs. The idea of applying process mining in the context
of workflow management was first introduced in [Agrawal et al. 98]. Further
approaches addressing this problem can be found in [Cook and Wolf 98]. They
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Riss U.V., Rickayzen A., Maus H., van der Aalst W.M.P.: Challenges ...
describe three approaches one based on neural networks, a purely algorithmic one,
and one Markovian approach. [Schimm 00] describes a mining tool that allows the
discovery of hierarchical workflow processes. Herbst and Karagiannis applied an
inductive approach to the problem [Herbst and Karagiannis 98, Herbst 00]. They
introduced the ADONIS modelling language and used stochastic task graphs as
intermediate representation. [Aalst et al. 2004] concentrated on workflow processes
with concurrent behaviour. To address the problem of noise and incompleteness more
heuristic approaches [Weijters and Aalst 02, Weijters and Aalst 03] have been
developed later. The latter approaches are based on the alpha algorithm.
As mentioned before process mining is not restricted to a mere process
perspective (also referred to as control-flow, describing the causal order of activities)
but also includes organisational and data aspects [Aalst and Song 04]. The
organisational perspective deals with the organisational structure and the people who
are part of this structure. Here the focus is the discovery of social networks in this
structure. For example, there are people who are used to work together informally
because they deal with similar problems. This information can be used to build
communities of practice [Lave and Wenger 91, Wenger et al. 02].
Starting from approaches that are based on the evaluation of event logs the
situation for process mining is rather complicated since the available information is of
extremely fine granularity. To come from this information to process descriptions is a
complicated and error-prone. Starting from a situation as described in [Figure 3]
appears as more promising due to the richness of the available information derived
from direct case recordings. Although the focus of the approach is on task
management rather than process management, emphasis must be placed on events
inside tasks and between tasks. One can think of tasks as mini-workflows and
therefore it makes sense to also search for patterns at the level of events (i.e., the
execution of operations inside task and the exchange of messages/triggers with the
environment). To reach this goal process mining techniques must be extended and
modified to suit this purpose.
6.3 Organisational Aspects
Focussing on the individual task executers’ needs also involves some risks. The most
important one is that organisational requirements like standardization and process
alignment are not sufficiently regarded. In the traditional workflow paradigm
organisational aspects are intrinsically considered. In the case based approach they
must be externally introduced. This must be done in a form that preserves the
fundamental achievements gained by the user centricity. Therefore the organisational
demands can only be introduced as certain constraints on the free composition of
tasks. We will call these constraints business rules.
Business rules were originally introduced to make business applications more
flexible and adaptable [Halle 01]. In a case based approach the focus of business rules
is to be restricted to process structures as basis of an organisational policy. A similar
situation regarding business rules for PAIS frameworks also appears in the context of
mobile agent infrastructures [Meng et al. 05]. The approach is based on web services
and resembles the suggested approach in terms of bottom-up proceeding. However,
their business rules are not mainly applied to determine the task succession and not to
achieve organisational goals.
94Riss U.V., Rickayzen A., Maus H., van der Aalst W.M.P.: Challenges ...
Business rules have to interfere at different stages of the information lifecycle.
First, it must be ensured that the extracted patterns are compliant with them. Second,
the users have the opportunity to adapt processes to their needs, but also here every
change must be compliant with the rules. Nonetheless business rules must not be
considered as static. Business can be rather complex since they do not only have to
control the process but might only be applicable to certain parts of the organisation.
Thus business rules are based on much broader information than plain process
structures.
6.4 Discussion
Although the approaches presented in [Section 5] try to support knowledge work by
increasing flexibility they are still based on static models that have to be adapted
manually if the standard behaviour is to be changed. Generally, the development of
models is expensive and models developed from the scratch are often far from reality
when applied. Often companies develop core processes by activating information that
is available from their Enterprise Resource Planning systems. However, it seems to be
more promising to acquire relevant process information on the basis of execution
experience.
Therefore, a pattern based approach built on executed cases is preferable. It
allows for a continuous adaptation of processes to external changes and offers more
variability for individual needs. Even if we have to face the problem that the offered
process templates might become fluctuant due to the developing case base this should
not be problematic if we turn to really individual task handling. Task patterns require
repositories containing descriptions of cases, which have been executed, including all
relevant task constituents. Context, goal, and planning information must be stored and
can be used to identify appropriate task patterns. Repeated successful execution of
related tasks allows identifying expertise in specific domains. Therefore, the
assignment of agents can be seen as source for expert identification.
A case repository, however, can also suit other purposes than pattern and expert
recognition. Case repositories provide the opportunity to precisely monitor the
execution of task. The state of every task, even if it is separated into a full hierarchy
of subtasks, becomes transparent. They also allow for the identification of negative
patterns, i.e., patterns that did not lead to the planned goal. Therefore, representations
of cases must provide enough information to support other users in planning,
coordinating, and executing processes. Moreover, a task recording is the ideal basis
for archiving cases by tracking the complete executions. This includes ex post
documentation of failures, which is often neglected otherwise. Thus, problems, which
results from decisions in previous tasks, can be identified to avoid further failures.
Some of these features might be known from project management. This
particularly concerns the planning of tasks and their dependencies. However, the
focus of project management is the planning of a process in its individual complexity,
while the present approach concentrates on repetitive aspects of processes. The
tracking of process experience is not an additional external but an internal aspect.
This makes motivation of users, who have to record tasks, a crucial issue. Central
motivation is the offering of direct benefits. One benefit is that processes become
fully transparent. However, this only works if the users do not feel harassed by task
recording, i.e., recording must not become too complex. Here we need a seamless
integration of tasks in the personal task management as developed in the EPOS
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approach. This is a fundamental precondition for treating this kind of knowledge
intensive and weakly-structured processes. Only a task management based on
consequential user centricity will be successful. Consequently, KM technology has to
play a predominant part in such a system reflecting the close relation between
knowledge and user action [Wiig 04]. For example, case knowledge must be
represented and made available to users, existing cases must be analysed for process
knowledge, processes include collaboration and expert identification, and efficient
pattern mining is mandatory.
7 Conclusions
In this article we presented a bottom-up approach for evolving a company’s business
process management based on the execution experience of their knowledge workers
while ensuring the required flexibility as well as providing assistance for knowledge
workers to stay productive, creative, and motivated.
We showed in a use case of Engineering Chance Requests the complexity of
today’s knowledge work, how it is supported by recent SAP software solutions, and
which problems still occur. In the light of requirements for knowledge work we stated
four challenges for business process and task management which can be summarized
as follows:
• Process-aware information support, to realise an intelligent assistance for
knowledge workers;
• Acquisition and reuse of process know-how, to exploit knowledge worker’s
process experience for KM-services;
• Flexibility of process execution, to take account of knowledge work’s
characteristics and ensure the required flexibility;
• Identify and apply process patterns, to evolve organisational processes and
support knowledge workers in applying best practices;
• Make it as simple and beneficial as possible for knowledge workers, to
motivate knowledge workers to “stay” in the system and to use it to
accomplish their everyday work.
The envisioned PAIS which faces these challenges combines state-of-the-art
research, namely, personal and business process-oriented knowledge management,
task management and workflow support for weakly-structured processes, process
mining and pattern management, and finally business rules for compliance.
Looking at the general relevance of the proposed approach we can go back to
Peter Drucker who already proclaimed in 1993 the increase of knowledge worker
productivity (in a magnitude similar to the increase of the manual worker productivity
achieved within the last century) to be the biggest challenge of this century [Drucker
93]. He identified six factors which foremost determine knowledge worker
productivity, two of them directly relating to the realm of our presented approach:
It demands that we impose the responsibility for their productivity on the
individual knowledge workers themselves. Knowledge workers have to
manage themselves. They have to have autonomy.
Continuing innovation has to be part of the work, the task and the
responsibility of knowledge workers.
Contrary to Drucker’s call for knowledge worker autonomy, new rules and
regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the UK and the Contra-G law in
96Riss U.V., Rickayzen A., Maus H., van der Aalst W.M.P.: Challenges ...
Germany force companies to ensure that their business processes are standardised,
transparent, traceable, and well controlled. In order to comply (and to prove
compliance!) to these regulations organisations have to limit the autonomy of their
knowledge workers significantly by imposing standardised work processes on them
and by enforcing those by the application of PAIS. What makes the situation even
worse is that it has become apparent that classical PAIS are too restrictive for agile
processes that characterise knowledge intensive work [Schwarz et al. 01].
In addition to limiting the autonomy of the knowledge workers in an individual
instance, these standard processes and PAIS also prevent knowledge workers from
improving their work processes on the fly, adapting to new situations and new
requirements when needed. This leads to outdated PAIS (and underlying process
models) which obstruct work more than they support it. Considering the immense
amounts which are spent on process modelling, process reengineering, PAIS creation
and the like, the described dilemma is far out of the realm of a theoretical discussion
but affects revenues significantly.
The presented approach will resolve this dilemma by allowing for
Highly autonomous and flexible knowledge work environments supporting
grass-roots development of standardised business tasks, processes, and
services out of everyday work practice while leaving the knowledge worker
in the centre of attention;
Consolidation and reuse of process knowledge by deriving process patterns
from individual cases; and
Integrated compliance checks with business rules.
Moreover, the presented approach is particularly interesting for SME since these
do not apply standardised processes to such a degree as large companies. Therefore
the standard BPM methods are mostly not applicable to them. However, even SME
demand for knowledge reuse as various Knowledge Management initiatives in SME
show. In particular, SME rely on sharing resources within co-operating networks in
order to realise innovation, widen product portfolios, and establish new supplier
relationships [Levy et al. 03]. Joint processes play a decisive role in these co-
operations. Here we see a substantial potential for improvement.
That the presented ideas are not only of theoretical interests can be seen from the
fact that the middle and long term strategy of SAP BPM will aim at a full integration
of structured core processes and unstructured collaborative tasks, closely related to
the presented approach. The primary target is a consistent handling of both task types
and the avoidance of errant processes. A consistent workflow environment (UWL)
will allow users to survey the entire process related to a workflow item, in which they
are involved. Transitions from ad hoc processes to core processes must be smooth.
Process mining will become mandatory. The most challenging step will be the
implementation of a fully pattern based workflow, which will be the focus of our
future research.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Stefanie Lindstaedt, Marielba Zacarias, Artur
Caetano, Felix Nyffenegger, Wolfgang Theilmann and Stefan Scheidl for the
collaboration on the topic of case-based task management that helped to bring
forward this project.
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