Process Description, Behavior, and Control

📝 Abstract

Modeling processes are the activities of capturing and representing processes and control of their dynamic behavior. Desired features of the model include capture of relevant aspects of a real phenomenon, understandability, and completeness of static and dynamic specifications. This paper proposes a diagrammatic language for engineering process modeling that provides an integration tool for capturing the static description of processes, framing their behaviors in terms of events, and utilizing the resultant model for controlling processes. Without loss of generality, the focus of the paper is on process modeling in the area of computer engineering, and specifically, on modeling of computer services. To demonstrate the viability of the method, the proposed model is applied to depicting flow of services in the Information Technology department of a government ministry.

💡 Analysis

Modeling processes are the activities of capturing and representing processes and control of their dynamic behavior. Desired features of the model include capture of relevant aspects of a real phenomenon, understandability, and completeness of static and dynamic specifications. This paper proposes a diagrammatic language for engineering process modeling that provides an integration tool for capturing the static description of processes, framing their behaviors in terms of events, and utilizing the resultant model for controlling processes. Without loss of generality, the focus of the paper is on process modeling in the area of computer engineering, and specifically, on modeling of computer services. To demonstrate the viability of the method, the proposed model is applied to depicting flow of services in the Information Technology department of a government ministry.

📄 Content

(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,
Vol. 15, No. 7, Jul 2017 Process Description, Behavior, and Control
Sabah Al-Fedaghi Computer Engineering Department Kuwait University Kuwait sabah.alfedaghi@ku.edu.kw Haya Alahmad Information Technology Department
Ministry of Public Works
Kuwait haya.alahmad@ieee.org

Abstract—Modeling processes are the activities of capturing and representing processes and control of their dynamic behavior. Desired features of the model include capture of relevant aspects of a real phenomenon, understandability, and completeness of static and dynamic specifications. This paper proposes a diagrammatic language for engineering process modeling that provides an integration tool for capturing the static description of processes, framing their behaviors in terms of events, and utilizing the resultant model for controlling processes. Without loss of generality, the focus of the paper is on process modeling in the area of computer engineering, and specifically, on modeling of computer services. To demonstrate the viability of the method, the proposed model is applied to depicting flow of services in the Information Technology department of a government ministry. Keywords-process control; conceptual mode; diagrammatic description; system behavior; process control I. INTRODUCTION A complex enterprise is established upon processes that include coordinated intermediate steps designed to create, change, transfer, and receive products and services. Complex systems rely on modeling (and simulation) methodologies to develop functional specifications, descriptions of flow of things (to be defined later), and system structure definitions [1]. This reliance on models may produce a multiplicity of representations that lead to confusion and difficulty in managing processes, as well as inconsistent usage [1].
Process Modeling (PM) involves [2]:  Capturing and representing processes in the real world system  Formalizing processes in preparation for such operations as automation. Capturing and representing processes and control of their dynamic behavior produces abstract views at various levels of granularity of the system to be modeled. The model shows how a business case should be executed and managed. A conceptualization in this context refers to a depiction of the involved processes for use as a means of communication among stakeholders, like the blueprint of a house [3]. “It provides the basis of the model documentation; guides the development of a computer model; provides guidance for experiments; and is an aid for model verification and validation” [4]. Desired features of such a picture bring together relevant aspects of real phenomena (processes), understandability, and complete static dynamic specifications, and are independent of any implementation paradigm, e.g., software operations. When we think of PM notations, we can identify a plethora of different approaches. This is due to the fact that during the historical development of process modeling notations, different communities have influenced the discipline of process modeling. [5] In general, in business, engineering, and manufacturing processes, the abstract view is based on mathematical representation, or developed based on graphical languages [6]. The languages are tools for building conceptual models representing the static and dynamic aspects of a system that reflects a certain portion of reality. These languages include UML (and SysML) Activity Diagrams (ADs), Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), Event-driven Process Chains (EPC) [7], Specification and Description Language (SDL) [8], and Role-Activity Diagrams (RADs). A. Problem 1: contemporary modeling languages Nevertheless, current process models suffer from various weaknesses. “The first problem of contemporary modeling languages is their convertibility into machine language. This feature is not for free. In different words, they are derived from machine language and modeling a process in them means programming a process” [2]. This paper will not expand on such a broad topic; instead we offer a few examples in the context of BPMN and SysML.
According to Dijkman et al. [9], The mix of constructs found in BPMN makes it possible to obtain models with a range of semantic errors… [and] the static analysis of BPMN models is hindered by ambiguities in the standard specification and the complexity of the language. This weakness has led to define BPMN in terms of Petri nets, for which efficient analysis techniques exist. “Thus, the proposed mapping not only serves the purpose of disambiguating the core constructs of BPMN, but it also provides a foundation to statically check the semantic correctness of BPMN models” [9]. SysML achieves only marginal success as a modeling tool in the development process because a multiplicity of fragment

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