Process-Aware Task Management Support for Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes: Findings, Challenges, Requirements

Process-Aware Task Management Support for Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes: Findings, Challenges, Requirements
Presentation at the 3rd Int’l Workshop on Adaptive Case Management and other non-workflow approaches to BPM (AdaptiveCM'14), EDOC’14, Ulm, Germany.
Nicolas Mundbrod& Manfred Reichert, Institute of Databases and Information Systems (DBIS), Ulm University

Nicolas Mundbrod, nicolas.mundbrod@uni-ulm.deInstitute of Databases and Information Systems (DBIS)
http://www.uni-ulm.de/dbis
© All rights reserved.

Process-Aware Task Management Support for Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes | AdaptiveCMWorkshop 2014
Agenda
1.Problems
2.Methodology
3.Case Studies
4.Findings
5.Challenges
6.Requirements
7.Conclusion
September 9, 2014 Nicolas Mundbrod 3

Knowledge-intensive Business Processes(KiBPs)
Knowledge-intensive processes (KiBPs) are processes whose conduct and execution are heavily dependent on knowledge workersperforming various interconnected knowledge intensive decision making tasks.
KiBPsare genuinely knowledge, information and data centric and require substantial flexibility at design-and run-time.
cf. R. Vaculinet al, 2011

Real world example of KiBPs
Design and realization of a new car
–Many different phases in a period of years
–Thousands of stakeholders
–Millions of tasks
–And usually much trouble…

Recap: Characteristics of KiBPs
C2: Goal Orientation
-Integrative factor of KiBPs
-Goals resp. subgoals/milestones
C3: Emergence of work
-Continuous planning & performance of actions
-Proximity of time
C4: Growing knowledge base
-Common information base
-Individual knowledge growth
C1: Uncertainty
-Influencing factors
-characteristic per definition
cf. Mundbrodet al, 2013

Recap: IntendedLifecycleSupport
cf. Mundbrodet al, 2013

Agenda
1.Problems
2.Methodology
3.Case Studies
4.Findings
5.Challenges
6.Requirements
7.Conclusion

Methodology
cf. Pefferset al, 2006

…
Methodology
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Case studies and analysis of existing literature
Deduction of key Findings F1-F14
Deduction of key Challenges C1-C8
Deduction of key Requirements R1-R25
…
Objectives of a solution

Objective: Coordinative Support for knowledge workers (proCollab)
How do knowledge workers …
–cope with the constant uncertainty induced by intertwined influencing factors?
–deal with goals?
–accomplish the frequent change between planning and working?
–manage the process-related knowledge?

Agenda
1.Problems
2.Methodology
3.Case Studies
4.Findings
5.Challenges
6.Requirements
7.Conclusion

Case Studies
&
Automotive E/E Development Processes
Patient Treatment Processes
cf. Tiedekenet al, 2013
cf. Prysset al, 2014

Goal: develop a new E/E car component
Duration:unpredictable, usually 3-4 year
Participants: static project management + dynamically involved stakeholders
Resources:abundance of digital information + hardware prototypes
Process:V model, hierarchically and concurrently applied

Agenda
1.Problems
2.Methodology
3.Case Studies
4.Findings
5.Challenges
6.Requirements
7.Conclusion

Findings
No.
FindingName
KeyContent
F1
Goals
Integratingfactor; static vs. dynamic; explicit vs. implicit
F2
Methodologies
Coarse-grained overall process; quality assurance; explicitvs. implicit
F3
Tasks
Most central objects;aligned to goals; granularity; differently managed
F4
Events
Driving planning (tasks) and actual work; internal vs. external
F5
To-do Lists
Activecoordination; personal, organizational, dynamic tool; prospective
F6
Checklists
Quality assurance; organizational, standardized, static tool; retrospective
F7
Compliance
Regulative constraints like laws or even best practices; limitsactions
F8
Communication
Indispensable part of task managementin KiBPs; determines direction
F9
Documentation
Essential for effective task management, but neglected and error-prone
F10
Dynamic Teams
Integrationof stakeholders on demand; problematic context switches
F11
Awareness
Crucial to knowwhere information reside and whether an event occurs
F12
Supporting Processes
Interwoven standardized and knowledge-intensiveprocesses
F13
Existing IT-Support
Abundance of standard software manuallyinterconnected
F14
Reutilization
No analysissince lack of integrated task management (distributed)

Findings

Agenda
1.Problems
2.Methodology
3.Case Studies
4.Findings
5.Challenges
6.Requirements
7.Conclusion

Challenges
No.
Challenge Name
RelatedFindings
C1
Meta-Model Design
Goals (F1), Methodologies (F2), Tasks (F3), To-do lists (F5), Checklists (F6), Compliance (F7)
C2
Lifecycle Support
Existing IT Support (F13), Reutilization (F14)
C3
Variability Support
Tasks (F3), Existing IT Support (F13), Reutilization (F14)
C4
Context Support
Tasks (F3), Compliance (F7), Dynamic Teams (F10), Awareness (F11), Existing IT Support (F13)
C5
View Support
Tasks (F3), To-do lists (F5), Checklists (F6), Existing IT Support (F13)
C6
Authorization Support
Tasks (F3), To-do lists (F5), Checklists (F6), Dynamic Teams (F10)
C7
Synchronization Support
Tasks (F3), Events (F4), To-do lists (F5), Checklists (F6), Communication (F8), Documentation (F9), Awareness (F11)
C8
Integration Support
Communication (F8), Documentation (F9), Awareness (F11), Supporting Process (F12), Existing IT Support (F13)

C1 –Meta-Model Design
•Design of an appropriate meta-model most essential challenge
•Findings F3, F5, and F6 (Tasks, To-do lists, Checklists) underline need for a task-centric model
•Support of the well-known presentations as to-do lists and checklists
•A meta-model must comprise
–Modeling language
–Run time semantics of modelled entities
•Domain-specific vs. generic approaches
•Interesting approach:
–Case Management Model and Notation (CMMN)

C2 –Lifecycle Support
A proper lifecycle support comprises various sub-challenges:
1.Definition of beneficial Collaboration Templates
2.Determination of the current state of a Collaboration Instance to provide support
3.Analysis of Collaboration Records and drawing of the rightconclusions
4.Preparation of Collaboration Records to provide insights in the future

Agenda
1.Problems
2.Methodology
3.Case Studies
4.Findings
5.Challenges
6.Requirements
7.Conclusion

Requirements
ID
Challenge Name
Derived Requirements
Related Findings
C1
Meta-Model Design
R1 –R5
F1-F3, F5-F7
C2
Lifecycle Support
R6 –R11
F13, F14
C3
Variability Support
R12 –R15
F3, F13,F14
C4
Context Support
R16 –R17
F3, F7, F10, F11, F13
C5
View Support
R18 –R19
F3, F5, F6, F13
C6
Authorization Support
R20
F3, F5, F6, F10
C7
Synchronization Support
R21 –R23
F3-F6, F8, F9, F11
C8
Integration Support
R24 –R25
F8, F9, F11-F13

Process-Aware Task Management Support for Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes | AdaptiveCM Workshop 2014
Requirements R6-R11 of Challenge C2 – Lifecycle Support
R6: Lifecycle Entities
• Meta-model must comprise Collaboration Templates, Instances and Records
• Functionality to manage the entities must be offered
CCCTTT CCCTIT CCCRTT

R7: Collaboration Instance Archiving
• Powerful concept to archive Collaboration Instances
• Preparation required to let Records be leveraged during design and run time
Tags:
- development
- ECU

R8: Collaboration Schema Evolution
• Migration of Instances must be possible as soon as Collaboration Template has
been changed
change and migrate!
propagate
inform users
cf. Rinderle et al, 2004

R9: Collaboration Instance Generalization
• A generalization of a Collaboration Instance (or collection) into a Collaboration
Template has to be supported
finalize template
generalize
make a template

R10: Run-time Recommendations
• Run-time planning support based the analysis of Collaboration Templates,
Instances, and Records
provide recommendations

R11: Version Control
• Collaboration Templates and Instances have to managed by version control

Agenda
1.Problems
2.Methodology
3.Case Studies
4.Findings
5.Challenges
6.Requirements
7.Conclusion

Conclusion
•The work also unveiled conflicting requirements, e.g.,
–Expressiveness of the meta-model vs. user encouragement (understandability)
•Findings F1-F14 may be compared to other case studies by the community
•Key challenges and the set of 25 core requirements allow for
–The purposeful development of new solutions
–Evaluation of existing solutions regarding their suitability
•Outlook: proCollabprototype in development

Thank you
for your kind attention!
Please feel free to ask questions and give remarks!

References
•R. Vaculinet al, 2011: R. Vaculin, R. Hull, T. Heath, C. Cochran, A. Nigam, and P. Sukaviriya, “Declarative business artifact centric modeling of decision and knowledge intensive business processes,” in 15th IEEE International Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference (EDOC 2011), pp. 151–160.
•Mundbrod et al, 2013: N. Mundbrod, J. Kolb, and M. Reichert, “Towards a system support of collaborative knowledge work,” in Business process management workshops, ser. LNBIP, vol. 132. Springer, 2013.
•Pefferset al, 2006: K. Peffers, T. Tuunanen, M. A. Rothenberger, and S. Chatterjee, “A design science research methodology for information systems research,” Journal of management information systems, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 45– 77, 2007.
•Prysset al, 2014: R. Pryss, N. Mundbrod, D. Langer, and M. Reichert, “Supporting medical ward rounds through mobile task and process management,” Information Systems and e-Business Management, 2014.
•Tiedekenet al, 2013: J. Tiedeken, M. Reichert, and J. Herbst, “On the integration of electrical/ electronic product data in the automotive domain,” Datenbank-Spektrum, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 189–199, 2013.
•Rinderleet al, 2014: S. Rinderle, M. Reichert, and P. Dadam, “Flexible support of team processes by adaptive workflow systems,” Distributed and Parallel Databases, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 91–116, 2004.

Process-Aware Task Management Support for Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes: Findings, Challenges, Requirements

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Process-Aware Task Management Support for Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes: Findings, Challenges, Requirements