Slides of my presentation at our faculty's PhD Day, 23 May 2014, Gent, B

1. 1/23
www.janclaes.info
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Jan Claes
Teaching assistant : PhD 2009 – 2015
Supervisors : Geert Poels & Frederik Gailly
Why do people struggle with the complexity
of constructing a process model?

2. 2/23
www.janclaes.info
Business Process Modeling (BPM)

3. 3/23
www.janclaes.info
Business Process Modeling (BPM)
Assumptions
 Constructing process models is useful
 Process model quality is important
Business Process Modeling (BPM)
 Process model quality
“what is a good process model?”
 Process of process modeling (PPM)
“how to make a good process model?”

4. 4/23
www.janclaes.info
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
How do people construct such process models?

5. 5/23
www.janclaes.info
Process of Process Modeling (PPM)
Descriptions of real
or intended process
Modeler
Modeling
Process model
Modeling software
Modeling language
Real process Model reader
Process engine

6. 6/23
www.janclaes.info
PPMChart visualization
 CREATE_ACTIVITY
 CREATE_START_EVENT
 CREATE_END_EVENT
 CREATE_AND
 CREATE_XOR
 CREATE_EDGE
 MOVE_ACTIVITY
 MOVE_START_EVENT
 MOVE_END_EVENT
 MOVE_AND
 MOVE_XOR
 DELETE_ACTIVITY
DELETE_START_EVENT
 DELETE-END_EVENT
 DELETE_AND
 DELETE_XOR
 DELETE_EDGE
 NAME_ACTIVITY
 RENAME_ACTIVITY
 NAME_EDGE
 RENAME_EDGE
 Start event
 Edge
 Activity
 Gateway
 Edge
 Activity
 Edge
 Edge
 Activity
 Edge
 Gateway
 Edge
7
29
8
9
32
14
30
31
10
33
56
34
time
modelelements

7. 7/23
www.janclaes.info
Flow-oriented modeling

8. 8/23
www.janclaes.info
Aspect-oriented modeling

9. 9/23
www.janclaes.info
Undirected modeling

10. 10/23
www.janclaes.info
Observations (objective)
Obs. 1. Majority used serialized approach
Obs. 2. 28% flow-oriented modeling
Obs. 3. 9% aspect-oriented modeling
Obs. 4. 10% undirected modeling
Obs. 5. Undirected sessions lasted longer

11. 11/23
www.janclaes.info
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
What about the quality
of the corresponding models?

12. 12/23
www.janclaes.info
Impressions (subjective)
Impr. 1. Modelers need serialization
Impr. 2. Structured serialization helps
Impr. 3. Structuring does not help everyone
Impr. 4. Structuring the modeling process
helps structuring the model

13. 13/23
www.janclaes.info
Effectiveness and efficiency
Flow-oriented
Aspect-oriented
Undirected
 Good structure
 Fast modeling
 Good structure
 Fast modeling
 Poor structure
 Slow modeling

14. 14/23
www.janclaes.info
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Is there a rational for these
observations and impressions?

15. 15/23
www.janclaes.info
Kinds of human memory
input
Sensory
memory
Working
memory
Long term
memory
performance
OBSERVATION SELECTION
ORGANIZATION
RETRIEVALTRANSFER

16. 16/23
www.janclaes.info
Types of cognitive load
Time
Instantaneousload
overall load
intrinsic
load
extraneous
load
germane
load
free
capacity
assumed capacity
instantaneous
load
overload

17. 17/23
www.janclaes.info
PRESAGEPROCESSPRODUCT
Cognitive Load Theory (CLT)
case complexity prior knowledge
input material
representation fit
working memory
capacity
extraneous
cognitive load
germane
cognitive load
schema construction
process model quality
A B The more A, the more B A B The more A, the less B A B The more A, the more B on the long term
overall construction time
cognitive overload
intrinsic
cognitive load
++
+
+
+++
+ +
–
–––
–
–

18. 18/23
www.janclaes.info
Cognitive Fit Theory (CFT)
Hidden Figures Test (HFT)
Need for structure
Learning styleField dependency
Sensory
Visual
Inductive
Active
Sequential
Intuitive
Auditory
Deductive
Reflective
Global
I ♥︎ chaos I #$@&! chaos

19. 19/23
www.janclaes.info
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
What can we do with this knowledge?

20. 20/23
www.janclaes.info
Impressions
Cognitive theoryObservations
Theory building
Structured Process
Modeling Theory
20/32
www.janclaes.info

21. 21/23
www.janclaes.info
Structured Process Modeling Theory (SPMT)
A B A determines BA B The more A, the more B+ A B The more A, the less B– A B A translates into B
learning style
degree of
serialization
adopted serialization
style
need for
structure
field-
dependency
– +
intrinsic cognitive load
for modeling phases
intrinsic cognitive load
for aggregation phases
cognitive overload
intrinsic cognitive load
for strategy building phases
+ + +
serialization style fit
structuredness
of serialization
– –– –
1 2 3

22. 22/23
www.janclaes.info
Future work
SPMT = theory for explaining reality
 Descriptive, not for predicting
Future work = theory for design and action
 Prescriptive, differentiation is key
Future work = design science
 Tool support
• Measure cognitive style
• Suggest appropriate modeling technique
• Adapt tool to support that particular technique

23. 23/23
www.janclaes.info
OVERVIEW COGNITION EXPERIMENT
Thanks for you attention!
> Do you have feedback on my research plans? <
> how do people construct models <
> cognitive support <
> SPMT <
Jan Claes
jan.claes@ugent.be
http://www.janclaes.info
Twitter: @janclaesbelgium