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the-art methods for assessing similarity between
process models, e.g. the works of Dongen et al.
(2008), Ehrig et al. (2007), and van der Aalst et al.
(2006). On top of this score, in case the advanced
structure-aware query also allows the user to specify
importance weights on each edge, it is possible to
add an additional score that reflects the weights of
the matched edges. Note that it will not be required
to handle results that were produced based on
relaxation rules differently, since they will naturally
be panelled by the similarity calculation methods.
4.7.2 Sift
At this phase several thresholds should be used to
determine the inclusion of each result candidate in
the final result list. Examples for non-inclusion rules
may be as follows: (a) very short results may be
excluded if most results are much longer; or (b)
exclusion of results in which the action flow does
not match any action sequence in the action
sequence model.
4.7.3 Sort
Eventually, it is required to sort the list of search
results according to their similarity score, as
calculated during the above “Assess” stage. As an
advanced proposition, it will also be recommended
to apply learning capabilities that will opt to
improve the ranking quality for each specific user.
An example of such learning mechanism is
presented in the work of Wasser and Lincoln (2012).
The learning mechanism in that work analyzes, in
real-time, the linguistic relationships between
process ontology models and adjusts them according
to previous human inputs. As part of the search
process it will be possible to collect such inputs from
previous searches and user-specific result selections.
The learning mechanism can increase the
effectiveness of the method.
5 CONCLUSIONS
We presented a framework for searching process
models within the Web. The framework aims to
overcome the shortcomings of existing search
technologies within unstructured repositories. The
proposed framework provides a starting point that
can already be applied in real-life scenarios, yet
several research issues remain open- to be addressed
in future research. We mention three such extensions
here. First, formalizing the framework into a detailed
executable method. Second, extending the models of
process logic for determining the ranking of
extracted results. Third, extending the set of
relaxation rules. It is hoped that by expanding search
and query capabilities of processes within the Web,
users will be able to extract operational knowledge
more simply and efficiently.
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