Tooling and Practices for Business Process Model Collections

The genesis of process models is a key determinant of the ability of organizations to harvest and reuse the resulting intellectual capital. The creation of these models varies from a deep knowledge-centric and collaborative activity to a rather tactical endeavor. In many projects, processes are neither harvested from past efforts nor intended to be a target for future reuse. In short, not all processes are born equal and thus, adequate practices are an imperative to create useful process model collections.

Tooling is another key factor for harvesting process knowledge into reusable collections. Process-centric tools often control enterprise modeling concepts that belong to broader organizational design concerns whose reach extends beyond behavior. Isolated process functionality detracts from the reusability and general cohesion of the models. In addition, tools seldom capture key “knowledge footprints” left by industry experts intervening in process practices. This paper proposes a workbench that goes beyond traditional process tools. The workbench integrates different functionality for modeling enterprise concerns that matter to behavioral models. Furthermore, it also provides method-centric assistance and collaborative capabilities for highly specialized teams of professionals involved in modeling practices.