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14 Papers

Behaviour and Execution Semantics of Extended Sequence Edges in Business Processes

Topic: Business Modeling and Business Process Management

Author: Thomas Bauer

Affiliation: Hochschule Neu-Ulm, University of Applied Sciences, Wileystr. 1, 89231 Neu-Ulm, Germany

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0013272200003929

Proceedings of ICEIS 2025, ISBN: 978-989-758-749-8

Quick Abstract

At business processes (BP), activities are usually considered as atomic units. This results in unnecessary restrictions, e.g. when modelling sequences of activities. Here, flexibility can be increased by allowing that a sequence edge refers to the start and to the end events of their source and target activity arbitrarily. This allows additional execution orders at the runtime of the BP, i.e. the end users have more flexibility at BP execution. Nevertheless, we respect all modelled control flow conditions, as well as time constraints defined between activities (e.g. minimum time intervals). A process engine requires a formal execution semantics, to be able to control such a BP automatically. Therefore, in this paper, we develop corresponding execution rules. Furthermore, we present measures that enable the process engine to delay and to speed up the start and the completion of activities in order to respect the modelled time constraints.

Extending BPMN to Enable the Pre-Modelling of Flexibility for the Control Flow of Business Processes

Topic: Business Modeling and Business Process Management

Author: Thomas Bauer

Affiliation: Hochschule Neu-Ulm, University of Applied Sciences, Wileystr. 1, 89231 Neu-Ulm, Germany

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0013134800003929

Proceedings of ICEIS 2025, ISBN: 978-989-758-749-8

Quick Abstract

Pre-modelling of already known flexibility requirements of business processes (BP) already at build-time has the advantage that the resulting run-time deviations can be reviewed and approved. Furthermore, this results in less effort for the end users compared to completely dynamic changes at run-time. Corresponding concepts have been developed in previous work. In this paper we present an extension of the BPMN standard. It allows to model corresponding BP with existing BP modelling tools. Scientific literature is analysed in order to identify suitable methods for BPMN extensions. Then, they are used to develop a BPMN extension that allows the creation of BP models that contain the mentioned pre-modelled flexibility aspects.

A Formal Execution Semantics for Sophisticated Dynamic Jumps Within Business Processes

Topic: Business Modeling and Business Process Management

Author: Thomas Bauer

Affiliation: Hochschule Neu-Ulm, University of Applied Sciences, Wileystr. 1, 89231 Neu-Ulm, Germany

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0012520200003690

Proceedings of ICEIS 2024, ISBN: 978-989-758-692-7

Quick Abstract

At business processes (BP) execution, in exceptional cases (e.g. to save time or to correct errors), users must have the possibility to jump forward and backward in the BP. Currently, this topic is hardly respected in scientific literature and only insufficiently realized by commercial BP engines. This paper develops a formal execution semantics for dynamic jumps. It does not only respect simple forward and backward jumps within sequences of activities, but comprehensive requirements as jumps into and out of parallel branches or within loops. Furthermore, the intended behaviour of concerned activities can be modelled, i.e., they may be caught up later or their results (output data) may be preserved and reused at their later repeated execution after a backward jump.

Modelling of Advanced Dependencies Between the Start and the End of Activities in Business Processes

Topic: Business Modeling and Business Process Management

Author: Thomas Bauer

Affiliation: Hochschule Neu-Ulm, University of Applied Sciences, Wileystr. 1, 89231 Neu-Ulm, Germany

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0011705500003467

Proceedings of ICEIS 2023, ISBN: 978-989-758-648-4

Quick Abstract

The control-flow of a business process (BP) defines the allowed execution orders of its activities. Until now, only whole activities can be used to define such orders. This shall be extended: Additional execution orders are enabled by allowing to use the start and the end events of activities at control flow modelling. For example, defining that the end of Act. A must happen before the end of Act. B, increases the flexibility since Act. B can be started earlier as with a classic sequence edge. This paper presents corresponding examples from practice and derives the resulting requirements for BP modelling. Furthermore, possibilities for a BP modelling tool are discussed, to visualize such dependencies graphically.

Towards a Pattern-based Approach for Transforming Legacy COBOL Applications Into RESTful Web Services

Topics: Web Services and Web Engineering; Web based Integration Technologies, Web Services, REST and CRUD services; Application, Research project and Service Based IS; Technical Infrastructure for Services

Authors: Christoph Gaudl ¹ and Philipp Brune ^{1

;

2}

Affiliations: ¹ SQ Solutions GmbH, Platz der Einheit 2, 60327 Frankfurt / Main, Germany , ² Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences, Wileystraße 1, 89231 Neu-Ulm, Germany

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0011575300003318

Proceedings of WEBIST 2022, ISBN: 978-989-758-613-2

Quick Abstract

Many aspects of modern life still depend on large-scale, monolithic legacy applications, e.g. in financial services, transport or public administration. Typically, these applications are written in ancient programming languages such as COBOL and use proprietary transaction processing monitors like CICS. While the modernization or replacement of these legacy application has been discusses in literature and practice for decades, still no universal solution exists. In many cases, an evolutionary modernization strategy has shown to be successful in practice, allowing to modernize the software architecture as well, not only the program code. Therefore, in this paper an analysis pattern is derived for transforming stateful, transactional COBOL programs into stateless RESTful web services. This pattern is evaluated by analyzing and transforming an example COBOL application to Java. While the approach shows to be useful in case of the example application, it needs to be further investigated in a broader range of real-world scenarios.

Business Processes with Pre-designed Flexibility for the Control-flow

Topic: Business Modeling and Business Process Management

Author: Thomas Bauer

Affiliation: Hochschule Neu-Ulm, University of Applied Sciences, Wileystr. 1, 89231 Neu-Ulm, Germany

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0009161606310642

Proceedings of ICEIS 2020, ISBN: 978-989-758-423-7

Quick Abstract

In order to avoid limitations for end users, run-time deviations from the pre-defined business process have to be allowed at process-aware information systems (PAIS). Predictable flexibility shall be pre-designed already at build-time. The advantage, compared to completely dynamic modifications at run-time, is that this significantly reduces the effort for the end users necessary to trigger a deviation. Furthermore, this increases process safety since, for instance, it can be pre-defined which users are allowed to perform which modifications. In this paper we present the corresponding requirements for the control-flow perspective. Thereby, the main focus is to discuss which information has to be pre-designed at build-time in each case. Furthermore, examples from practice are presented in order to illustrate the necessity of the requirements.

Future CMS for e-Business: Will Microservices and Containerization Change the Game?

Topics: Web Services and Web Engineering; Web based Integration Technologies, Web Services, REST and CRUD services; Web Interfaces and Applications; Architectural Patterns for Services; Methodologies for Services and Architecture

Authors: Carina Landerer and Philipp Brune

Affiliation: Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences, Wileystraße 1, Neu-Ulm and Germany

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0008065002100217

Proceedings of WEBIST 2019, ISBN: 978-989-758-386-5

Quick Abstract

Content Management Systems (CMS) are widely adopted commodity applications today. Well-established implementations exist since many years, both commercial and Open Source, e.g. WordPress or Drupal. In consequence, research on CMS has strongly declined since its peak more than a decade ago. However, in recent years new trends for building and running large-scale web applications emerged, such as Node.js, microservice architectures and containerization, while most established CMS still use a traditional monolithic architecture. This rises the question how these emerging new technologies will challenge those established CMS implementations. Therefore, in this paper a microservice architecture for an examplified e-business CMS is proposed, and a Proof-of-Concept implementation is described. The approach is evaluated with respect to its feasibility using a qualitative empirical study. Results indicate that the approach is well-suited for building more state-of-the-art CMS in the near future, which are likely to challenge the position of the traditional monolithic implementations.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (3)

Internet Technology

Web Information Systems and Technologies

Web Services and Web Engineering

Pre-Modelled Flexibility for Business Processes

Topic: Business Modeling and Business Process Management

Author: Thomas Bauer

Affiliation: Hochschule Neu-Ulm, University of Applied Sciences, Wileystr. 1, 89231 Neu-Ulm and Germany

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0007524605470555

Proceedings of ICEIS 2019, ISBN: 978-989-758-372-8

Quick Abstract

At process-aware information systems (PAIS), sometimes, a flexible deviation from the rigidly designed process becomes necessary. Otherwise the users would be restricted too much. This paper presents an approach that allows to define the expected flexibility requirements only once already at build-time and apply them at run-time in the PAIS. Compared to dynamic changes during run-time, this has the advantage that the usage of the pre-defined information reduces the effort for the end users at each deviation. In addition, applying flexibility becomes saver; e.g., since user rights can be defined. This paper presents the corresponding requirements, with a special focus on the kind of information that has to be pre-defined at build-time. Thereby, all relevant process aspects were respected and the necessity of the requirements is illustrated with examples from practice.

A Hybrid Approach to Re-Host and Mix Transactional COBOL and Java Code in Java EE Web Applications using Open Source Software

Topics: Web Programming; Web Tools and Languages; Change management, Performance Improvement, Architecture Migration to SOA via Cloud Computing; Information Systems and SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, Cloud Computing; Web Interfaces and Applications; Technical Infrastructures Suporting Web Applications ; Technical Infrastructure for Services

Author: Philipp Brune

Affiliation: Neu-Ulm University of Applied Science, Wileystraße 1, 89231 Neu-Ulm and Germany

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0006943402390246

Proceedings of WEBIST 2018, ISBN: 978-989-758-324-7

Quick Abstract

Despite the common notion of mainframe-based transactional COBOL applications being an outdated technology, in many companies they continue to serve as the IT backbone. Therefore, in the era of big data and cloud services, these applications need to be transformed towards open, service-oriented architectures to preserve their value. This challenge has been tackled by different strategies so far, ranging from adding web service layers to existing mainframe applications to various products providing emulation on non-mainframe platforms. In contrast, in this paper this transformation is considered not as a mere COBOL re-hosting issue, but from the perspective of integrating COBOL in Java EE-based web applications. An open framework is demonstrated for executing existing transactional COBOL programs as part of Java EE application servers. It is build on established Open Source Software (OSS) components and executes on any Un*x-like operating system, in particular also on the mainframe itself.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (3)

Internet Technology

Web Information Systems and Technologies

Web Programming

Simulating User Interactions: A Model and Tool for Semi-realistic Load Testing of Social App Backend Web Services

Topics: Web Services and Web Engineering; Distributed and Parallel Applications; Mobile APIs and Services; Metrics and Performance; Change management, Performance Improvement, Architecture Migration to SOA via Cloud Computing; Application of Mobile Information Systems; Web based Integration Technologies, Web Services, REST and CRUD services; Information Systems and SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, Cloud Computing; Application, Research project and Service Based IS; Social and Mobile Information Systems

Author: Philipp Brune

Affiliation: University of Applied Sciences Neu-Ulm, Germany

Digital Object Identifier: 10.5220/0006248202350242

Proceedings of WEBIST 2017, ISBN: 978-989-758-246-2

Quick Abstract

Many mobile apps today support interactions between their users and/or the provider within the app. Therefore, these apps commonly call a web service backend system hosted by the app provider. For the implementation of such service backends, load tests are required to ensure their performance and scalability. However, existing tools like JMeter are not able to simulate “out of the box” a load distribution with the complex time evolution of heterogeneous, real and interacting users of a social app, which e.g. would be necessary to detect critical performance bottlenecks. Therefore, in this paper a probabilistic model for simulating interacting users of a social app is proposed and evaluated by implementing it in a prototype load testing tool and using it to test a backend of new real-world social app currently under development.

Related Ontology Subjects/Areas/Topics (6)

Distributed and Parallel Applications		Mobile APIs and Services		Web Information Systems and Technologies
Internet Technology		Mobile Information Systems		Web Services and Web Engineering

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