Process Invigoration through Model Embellishment

Project Information

PRIME

Grant agreement ID: 660646

DOI

10.3030/660646

Project closed

EC signature date 7 April 2015

Start date 1 September 2015

End date 31 August 2017

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 165 598,80

EU contribution

€ 165 598,80

Coordinated by

STICHTING VU
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PRIME (Process Invigoration through Model Embellishment)

Reporting period: 2015-09-01 to 2017-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The objective of this research project is to enhance business process model comprehension in European organizations through dynamic process invigoration. Analysis and improvement of business processes are key to organizations’ cost efficiency and competitiveness. A growing number of organizations in Europe implement business process management solutions to analyze and automate their processes. Business process models are invaluable to define, control, improve and communicate process knowledge. Business process models abstract a dynamic phenomenon in the form of a static representation, thus they are often difficult to comprehend. In this research, I aim at redefining the BP model comprehension problem and developing innovative solutions through a synergetic usage of process modeling and multimedia disciplines. In this way, I developed approaches to dynamically invigorate process models and present to both business professionals and public in a comprehensible manner. To fulfill the overall objective, related literature is reviewed; process model invigoration techniques are designed; the techniques are evaluated through experiments and field studies; open source process model invigoration tools are developed; and results are disseminated in Europe. I extended the work defined in my project proposal in various ways, all focused on enhancing the analysis and use of process models. Eventually, by using the approaches developed in this process, organizations from various domains in Europe are able to utilize their process models in a better way. Online software tools developed can be used by organizations to invigorate their processes. This creates an opportunity to increase organizational efficiency throughout Europe.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The specific topics worked on throughout this project are as follows:
- Defining use cases for business process model understanding.
- Using process model animation to enhance comprehension of process models.
- Using process model animation and narration to enhance process model comprehension.
- Evaluating and enhancing the use of process models for public.
- Using a 3D virtual world process training environment to enhance process learning.
- Evaluating and comparing process variant modeling methods.
- Semi-automated generation of requirements from process models.

A summary of the outcomes of this project that are visible to research and industrial world are as follows:
- Two published journal papers, two work-in-progress journal papers, four conference papers, and one workshop paper,
- Organization of two workshops,
- Four master theses,
- Four online web applications, one web application for crowdsourcing, and one desktop application,
- Participation and presentations in four international conferences, one national conference, seminars, research visits, company meetings, and trainings.
- Obtaining a faculty position in a Dutch university to pursue research in this area.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

We achieved a high impact through various conference and journal publications. Moreover, we achieved a high engagement with public and professionals from the industry through applications, field studies, and experiments performed to enable the use of process models in citizens' daily lives and in organizations. A high public engagement is also achieved through the availability of a process animation tool, a virtual world process training environment, and the dissemination of the information about the approaches and tools on public and industrial networks. Various social media channels are used for this purpose including Youtube, Twitter, ResearchGate, and web pages.

Screenshot from the 3D Virtual World process training platform

Screenshot of PRIME process invigoration platform