Evolvability of Business Process Models Student: Bc
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ASSIGNMENT OF MASTER’S THESIS Title: Evolvability of Business Process Models Student: Bc. Stanislav Mikeš Supervisor: Ing. Marek Skotnica Study Programme: Informatics Study Branch: Web and Software Engineering Department: Department of Software Engineering Validity: Until the end of winter semester 2019/20 Instructions Majority of state-of-the art enterprises are using business process management systems (BPMS) to bridge the gap between the business needs and IT implementations. But as enterprises do change over time due to government regulations and market requirements, these systems need to change over time. A goal of this thesis to investigate what types of changes usually occur and what is their impact on enterprise information systems based on BPMS. Steps to take: 1. Explore state-of-the-art BPMS 2. Explore how BPMS handle versioning 3. Create a proof-of-concept case study with minor and major changes 4. Propose best practices how to handle these changes References Will be provided by the supervisor. Ing. Michal Valenta, Ph.D. doc. RNDr. Ing. Marcel Jiřina, Ph.D. Head of Department Dean Prague June 2, 2018 Master’s thesis Evolvability of Business Process Models Bc. Stanislav Mikeˇs Department of Software Engineering Supervisor: Ing. Marek Skotnica January 9, 2019 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Marek Skotnica, for his valuable advice and guidance throughout the process of writing and searching for re- sources. I would also like to thank my parents for their continuous support. Declaration I hereby declare that the presented thesis is my own work and that I have cited all sources of information in accordance with the Guideline for adhering to ethical principles when elaborating an academic final thesis. I acknowledge that my thesis is subject to the rights and obligations stip- ulated by the Act No. 121/2000 Coll., the Copyright Act, as amended, in particular that the Czech Technical University in Prague has the right to con- clude a license agreement on the utilization of this thesis as school work under the provisions of Article 60(1) of the Act. In Prague on January 9, 2019 . Czech Technical University in Prague Faculty of Information Technology c 2019 Stanislav Mikeˇs.All rights reserved. This thesis is school work as defined by Copyright Act of the Czech Republic. It has been submitted at Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Information Technology. The thesis is protected by the Copyright Act and its usage without author’s permission is prohibited (with exceptions defined by the Copyright Act). Citation of this thesis Mikeˇs,Stanislav. Evolvability of Business Process Models. Master’s thesis. Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Information Technology, 2019. Abstrakt Podnikov´eprocesy jsou z´asadn´ısouˇc´ast´ıkaˇzd´espoleˇcnosti.Vzhledem k tomu, ˇzespoleˇcnostirostou, procesy se st´avaj´ıst´alesloˇzitˇejˇs´ımia n´akladyspojen´es jejich zmˇenamirostou. Podle nˇekter´ych publikac´ıje aˇz6 % obratu spoleˇcnosti vynaloˇzenopouze na dodrˇzov´an´ıregulac´ıa pˇredpis˚u. Abychom se vypoˇr´adalis tˇemitost´alese mˇen´ıc´ımiprocesy, pouˇz´ıvaj´ıse syst´emy pro spr´avubusiness proces˚u(BPMS). Tyto syst´emy umoˇzˇnuj´ıspoleˇcnostem pˇreklenoutpropast mezi implementac´ısoftwaru a obchodn´ımipotˇrebami. Hlavn´ımc´ılemt´etopr´aceje analyzovat, jak efektivnˇeBPM syst´emy ˇreˇs´ı mˇen´ıc´ıse podnikov´eprocesy. Prvn´ıkapitola poskytuje pˇrehledo tom, jak se st´avaj´ıc´ıBPM syst´emy ˇreˇs´ı tyto zmˇeny a porovn´av´aje s jin´ymipˇr´ıstupy, jako jsou napˇr´ıkladLow-code platformy. Druh´aˇc´astanalyzuje, jak´ezmˇeny nast´avaj´ıv podnikov´ych procesech, a vysvˇetlujena pˇr´ıkladu,jak s nimi pracovat. Nakonec jsou pops´any postupy a doporuˇcen´ıpro ˇr´ızen´ızmˇenv podnikov´ych procesech. Kl´ıˇcov´a slova BPMN, evolvabilita, migrace, procesn´ıˇr´ızen´ı,zmˇenov´eˇr´ızen´ı, BPR vii Abstract Business processes are an essential part of every company. As the companies grow, the processes are becoming more complex and cost a lot of money to maintain. According to some reports, 6 % of company turnover is spent only on compliance processes alone. To deal with these ever-changing processes, a Business Process Manage- ment Systems (BPMS’) are being used. The BPMS’ allow companies to bridge the gap between software implementation and business needs. The main goal of this thesis is to analyze how effectively the BPMS’ deal with the changing business processes. The first chapter provides an overview of how existing BPMS’ are dealing with the changes and compares them to other approaches such as Low-code platforms. The second part analyzes what kind of changes occur in business processes, and explains on an example of how to deal with them. Finally, best practices to deal with changes in business processes are de- scribed. Keywords BPMN, evolvability, migration, business process management, change management, BPR viii Contents Introduction 1 Motivation . 1 Objectives . 2 1 Business Process Management Platforms 3 1.1 Key Factors . 3 1.2 Comparison of BPMS and Low-code Approaches . 4 1.3 BPM Solutions . 7 1.4 Low-code Platforms . 10 1.5 Open-source . 13 1.6 Vendor Lock-in . 14 2 Handeling of Business Process Changes 17 2.1 Business Process Reengineering . 17 2.2 Low-code Versioning . 18 2.3 BPM Versioning . 22 2.4 Camunda Analysis . 25 3 Process Model Evolvability 37 3.1 BPMN Elements . 38 3.2 Basic Definition . 39 3.3 DMN . 47 3.4 Rules of Migration . 48 4 Evolvability Strategy 59 4.1 Logical Blocks . 59 4.2 Awarness of Variables . 59 4.3 Compatible Elements . 60 4.4 Subprocesses . 62 4.5 Awarness of Tokens . 62 ix 4.6 Third-party Systems . 63 Conclusion 65 Meeting the Goals . 65 Further Research . 66 Bibliography 67 A Acronyms 71 B Process models 73 C Decision tables 77 D Process forms 79 E Contents of enclosed CD 81 x List of Figures 1.1 Example of creating and managing business processes in Camunda BPM platform [1] . 5 1.2 Example of creating app with PowerApps [2] . 7 1.3 Comparison of two leading research graphs about BPM suites . 8 1.4 Comparison of two leading research graphs about low-code platforms 12 2.1 PoweApps - table of versions of an app . 19 2.2 Business process model as a microflow in Mendix Modeler . 20 2.3 History of revisions in Mendix Modeler . 21 2.4 Braching and merging concept in Mendix . 22 2.5 Visualisation of running processes from different definitions . 23 2.6 Process of versioning models and using them for new business pro- cesses in Appian . 24 2.7 Camunda architecture overview [3] . 25 2.8 Camunda administration screens . 27 2.9 Camunda heat map tool . 28 2.10 Process of versioning models and using them to creat new process instances in Camunda . 29 2.11 Option for process instance migration in Camunda Cockpit . 31 2.12 Choise of the source and target versions and highlighted ways of activity mapping in Camunda Chockpit . 32 2.13 Selecting instances which will be migrated in Camunda Cockpit . 32 2.14 Confirmation window with options and summary of the migration in Camunda Cockpit . 33 3.1 Graphical representations of Start Event types . 39 3.2 Graphical representations of general Boundary Event types . 40 3.3 Graphical representations of Intermediate Catch Event types . 40 3.4 Graphical representations of Task types . 41 3.5 Views of subprocesses . 43 xi 3.6 Graphical representations of Subprocess types . 43 3.7 Graphical representations of Multi-instance Tasks . 45 3.8 Graphical representations of Gateway types . 46 3.9 Example of a simple business rule . 47 3.10 Example of a Decision Requirements Diagram . 48 3.11 Payment process model without pools . 49 3.12 Payment process model with pools . 50 3.13 Payment process model with Data Object . 51 3.14 Payment process model with Data Store . 51 3.15 Model of the booking process with highlighted running instances . 56 3.16 Migration of instances to the patched version of the process model 57 3.17 Process model extended by a new feature of booking a hotel room 57 3.18 Migration of instances to the new version of the process model . 58 4.1 Process with two added tasks that uses previously unknown vari- able ’B’ . 60 4.2 Process with multiple tokens and parallel gateway . 61 4.3 Migration of embedded subprocess to transaction subprocess . 62 B.1 Final example of the flight booking process model . 74 B.2 Final example of the flight and hotel booking process model . 75 C.1 Decision table for flight prices . 77 C.2 Decision table for room prices . 77 D.1 Setting parameters for the trip by the user . 79 D.2 Setting parameters for the trip by the user . 79 D.3 Recapitulation form . 80 D.4 Form for input information about a credit card . 80 D.5 Recapitulation of charging a creadit card . 80 xii List of Tables 1.1 Comparison of tools . 6 1.2 Comparison of key features and capabilities . 6 2.1 Weaknesses in processes [4] . 19 2.2 Example of versioning . 23 xiii Introduction Motivation Processes are generally a part of all tasks. They can be found in corporate structures and the public sector but are also used by many individuals. The complexity of processes can increase based on the company growth or contin- uously changing regulations. The main goal of this thesis is to provide recommendations for change management of business processes. It is reflected in the competitiveness of the market. In this case, there is the frequent use of Business Process Man- agement (BPM) that specifies entities and their part that they will engage in the processes. It also specifies the inputs and outputs of a process.