Towards a Process Patterns based Approach for Promoting
Adaptability in Configurable Process Models
Hanae Sbai, Mounia Fredj and Laila Kjiri
ALQualsadi research team, ENSIAS, Mohammed V – Souissi University, Rabat, Morocco
Keywords: Business Process Management, Configurable Process Model, Variability, Evolution, Process Pattern.
Abstract: Reference process modeling approach has been proposed in order to provide a generic solution for reuse in
business process management. These models are intended to be adapted by different organizations to
respond to new requirements. As a result of this adaptation, a set of variants of the reference process model
must be managed. In this context, configurable solutions have been developed to manage variability by
integrating all possible configurations. However, enterprises are involved in competitive and complex
environments which impose them to often adapt their configurable process models to deal with the
increasing globalisation. Therefore, configurable process models should evolve over time in terms of
activities, resources and data to meet new needs. In this paper, we propose a process patterns based
approach to guide designers in evolving configurable process models at design time as a first step of our
contribution to provide an automated support for evolving configurable process models. The presentation of
our process patterns system is limited in this paper to the Activity Insertion Process Pattern.
1 INTRODUCTION
Today, enterprises should adapt their business
process models to meet new needs, imposed by
rapidly changing technologies and business models.
For this, research on "Business Process
Management" (BPM) stresses the importance of
business process reuse. BPM is an approach which
suggests the alignment of information systems
through a process-oriented approach, driven by a
Process Aware Information System (PAIS), PAIS
provides a separation between the layer application
and layer process (Weber, 2008). Moreover, BPM
proposes a generic system through an explicit design
process using the concept of process model (Aalst,
2003). Thus, the main goal of BPM is reducing the
cost and time of process design and application
development. However, the PAIS system introduced
by this approach does not provide sufficient
mechanisms to reuse business process models.
Therefore, the reference process model appeared to
allow the reuse of business process models. This
model identifies common practices and activities of
organizations and offers a generic solution for
business process execution. As a result, this solution
can be adapted by multiple users to meet different
needs. In this context, the configurable process
model has been proposed to manage all variants of
the process (Rosemann, 2008); (Gottschalk, 2009);
(La Rosa, 2009); (Hallerback, 2009); (Ayora, 2011).
This kind of model allows reusing different process
variants, if all the variation options have been
integrated within the model beforehand (Gottschalk,
2009).
When there is a need to integrate information
systems of enterprises, configurable process models
must be adapted to meet new requirements of the
new information system. In this case, process model
configuration has to be enhanced with adaptation
mechanisms, to add new behaviour of the
configurable process model. This adaptation can be
made with a basic technique (addition/substitution
and deletion of the process elements) or with other
techniques namely aggregation, specialization or
instantiation of configurable process models.
Generic adaptation of configurable process models
can be found in (Becker, 2007). Hence, it is essential
to dispose of a process which guides designers to
manage evolution of configurable process models in
terms of simple or advanced adaptation mechanisms.
In this paper, we propose a solution for reuse
process, in using process patterns system to guide
designers in evolving configurable process models at
382
Sbai H., Fredj M. and Kjiri L..
Towards a Process Patterns based Approach for Promoting Adaptability in Configurable Process Models.
DOI: 10.5220/0004565503820387
In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS-2013), pages 382-387
ISBN: 978-989-8565-61-7
Copyright
c
 2013 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

design time. As the first step of our contribution, we
focus on the basic adaptation mechanisms. This
work is an extension of our previous work (Sbai,
2012).
The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 is
devoted to presenting related works. Our approach
for managing evolution of configurable process
models is introduced in Section 3, with an example
of application. Finally, some research perspectives
are developed in the conclusion.
2 RELATED WORK
Some research has dealt with reuse in business
process modeling and this under two aspects : i)
managing business process variability which focuses
on modeling variability, and controlling process
configuration, ii) managing business process
evolution which determines mechanisms for
managing evolution at design time and runtime.
Among the work reviewed in the perspective of
managing reference process model variability, we
find configuration mechanisms such as the
behavioural model solution (Gottschalk, 2009), (La
Rosa, 2009); (Lu, 2009); (Aalst, 2009) and the
structural model solution (Schnieders, 2006);
(Hallerback, 2009); (Groner, 2010); (Rolland, 2010).
We find work on variability modeling namely Rich-
variant (Puhlman, 2005), Hierarchical method
(Razavian, 2008) which proposes representing
variability of BPMN models at the activity and
control flow level, and Configurable nodes
(Rosemann, 2008) which propose C-EPC and C-
iEPC configurable process model languages.
Moreover, BVL/CVL approach proposes a separate
model for modeling variability at the control flow
and task related elements level (Ayora, 2012). In the
perspective of managing evolution in BPM, we
mention change patterns and change support features
work (Weber, 2008), frameworks for an automatic
adaptation during the execution of business process
such as AristaFlow (Muller, 2008) and Adept2
(Dadam, 2009). We find also several studies on
maintaining configurable process model changes,
namely the work of (Becker, 2007) which defines a
set of generic adaptation concepts for adapting EPC
reference process models. The work of (Li, 2010)
proposes a heuristic approach to design a new
reference process model by measuring the distance
between the new reference process model and
existing variants. Lately, extending adaptability of C-
EPC reference process models by specialization has
been supported by the ADOM-EPC formalism
(Berger, 2011).
Solving process model evolution can be
summarized in the following questions (Jaccheri, 93):
which process model fragments should be changed,
how and when? How to analyze and guide change?
According to this survey, we find that there is a lack
of a guide which assists designers to evolve
configurable process models at design time. For this,
a process patterns system which contains a set of
process patterns for guiding evolution of activity,
data and resource (as variation point or variant), is
introduced in this paper.
3 A PROCESS PATTERNS BASED
APPROACH FOR MANAGING
EVOLUTION
The aim of the proposed process patterns system is
to guide designers when evolving configurable
process models in terms of activity, resource and
data. Each configurable process model elements
(activity, resource, and data) may be a variation
point with a set of variants. So, if a need to build a
new configurable process model occurs, we can
have the following basic evolution types for each
process elements (activity, data and resource):
 Insertion/ Substitution/ Deletion of a variation
point
 Insertion/ Substitution/ Deletion of a variant in a
variation point
In order to represent the proposed process patterns,
we use the P-Sigma formalism (Conte, 2002) which
is composed of three parts: the Interface part, the
Realization part, and the Relation part.
The Interface part contains all elements allowing
the patterns selection:
 Identification: defines the couple (problem,
solution) that references the pattern.
 Classification: defines the pattern function
through a collection of domain keywords
 Context: describes the pre-condition of pattern
application.
 Problem: defines the problem solved by the
pattern.
 Force: defines the pattern contributions through
a collection of quality criteria.
The Realization part gives the solution in terms of
Model Solution and Process Solution.
The Relation part allows organizing
relationships between process patterns with three
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specific relations:
 Uses: if a pattern P1 uses a pattern P2, P1’s
Process Solution must be expressed using P2.
 Refines: if a pattern P1 refines a pattern P2, P1’s
Problem must be a specialization of P2’s one.
 Requires: if a pattern P1 requires a pattern P2,
P2 must have been executed before executing P1.
We present in the following figure the proposed
process pattern system.
Figure1: The process patterns system.
For each evolution type (insertion, substitution,
deletion), a set of process patterns collaborate using
defined relations (uses and refine) in order to lead
evolution of configurable process model. In the next
section, we present in detail the Activity insertion
process pattern.
3.1 The Activity Insertion Process
Pattern
In order to manage evolution of the configurable
process models when adding new activity element
(the activity may be a variant or a variation point), a
set of process patterns must collaborate to lead this
evolution. The Activity process pattern is refined by
the variant activity process pattern and Variation
point Activity process pattern. It represents the
generic process that decides which insertion process
pattern has to be applied. The application of the
Variation point Activity insertion can invoke
insertion of a new data (variation point/variant), or a
new resource (variation point/variant).
3.1.1 The Interface Part
We present in this section, the Interface part of the
following process patterns: the Activity insertion
(table 1), Variant activity insertion (table 2), and
Variation point Activity insertion (table 3).
Table 1: the Interface part of Activity Insertion process
pattern.
Identification Activity Insertion
Classification
Provides a generic process for inserting an
activity as a variation point or a variant in
the configurable process model
Context ---
Problem
Allows evolving the configurable process
model with inserting an activity
Force
helps in the decision of which Activity
Insertion process pattern we have to apply
depending on the type of activity
(variant/variation point)
Table 2: The Interface part of Variant activity Insertion
process pattern.
Identification Variant Activity Insertion
Classification
Provides a process for inserting an activity as
a variant in the configurable process model
Context Refines {Insertion Activity Process Pattern}
Problem
Allows evolving configurable process model
with inserting a variant activity.
Force
Allows verifying a set of constraints before
inserting a variant activity.
Table 3: The Interface part of Variation point Activity
Insertion process pattern.
Identification Variation point Activity Insertion
Classification
Provides a process for inserting an activity as a
variation point in the configurable process
model
Context
Refines {Insertion Activity Process Pattern}
Uses: {Data Insertion, Resource Insertion,
Variant activity Insertion}
Problem
Allows evolving configurable process model
with inserting a variation point activity. This
insertion can invokes insertion of a data,
insertion of resource or assignment of
resource.
Force
Allows verifying a set of constraints before
inserting a variation point activity.
In the Realization part, we present the process
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solution of the Activity Insertion, Variant Activity
insertion, and Variation point Activity Insertion
process patterns.
3.1.2 The Realization Part
The realization part of the activity insertion process
pattern provides a process solution as a set of
algorithms. The proposed process solution suggests
the definition of two main concepts, to optimize the
assignment of a resource to a given activity:
 Functionalities of a resource: represents all
functions ensured by the resource to perform an
activity.
 The required functionalities of an activity:
represents all needed functions of an activity to
be performed by a resource.
For presented algorithms, we need to define the
following variables:
Req_f_AVP: Required functionalities of a variation
point activity
Req_f_AV: Required functionalities of a variant
activity
F_R: Functionalities of resource
C_nbr_A: Current number of activities assigned to a
given resource
Max_nbr_A: Maximum number of activities
assigned to resource
a) Activity Insertion Process Pattern:
Detect change type
If change type=”insertion” then
Check the type of activity change // variant change
or a variation point change
If the activity change is a variant change then
Apply the Variant Activity Insertion process
pattern
Else if the activity change is a variation point
change then
Apply the Variation point Activity Insertion
process pattern
End if
End if
b) Variant activity Insertion Process Pattern:
If the activity is an add variant then
Check the type of the add variant
If the type of the add variant is not an activity then
refuse the insertion
Else check the nature of the add variant activity //
an activity can be a task or a sub-process
If the add variant activity is a sub-process then
list all the tasks
End if
End if
Identify the corresponding Variation point Activity
Check the required functionalities of the add variant
activity
If the Req_f_AV belongs to Req_f_AVP then
modify resource
Apply variant resource insertion process pattern
Insert (variant activity)
Update “Variation point activity“
Else choose an another variation point to insert
the add variant activity
End if
End if
c) Variation point Activity Insertion Process
Pattern:
If the activity is an add variation point then
Determine the position of the insertion in the sequence
flow
Insert the required functionalities of the add variation
point activity
Apply Variant Activity Insertion process pattern//
Insert a default variant activity
Insert the flow sequence condition//The condition
needed to perform the add variation point activity
Apply the Data Insertion process pattern// Insert data
Check resource
If Rq_f_AV belongs to f_R then check resource
availability
If C_nbr_A>Max_nbr_A then
Refuse
Else assign resource
If resource is a variation point then
Apply Variant Activity Insertion process
pattern// the required resource variant
must be added
Else resource becomes a variation point
End if
End if
Else Apply Insertion Resource process pattern
Calculate the number of the variation point
activity and variants
If the current number<initial number then
Refuse // the configurable reference process
model is defined by an initial number of
activities (Variation point/variant)
Else Insert (variation point activity)
End if
End if
3.2 Example for Applying the Activity
Insertion Process Pattern
In this section, we apply the Activity Insertion
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process pattern to ensure the transition from one
version to another of a simplified version of an E-
healthcare configurable process model (cf. figure2)
taken from (PESOA, 2005). The process is modeled
using BPMN language (OMG, 2007) and a rich-
variant technique for modeling variability (PESOA,
2005). The first version of the configurable process
model contains the following possible configurations:
 An optional variation point activity “Perform
examination”: it allows selecting different tests in
parallel depending on the state of the patient.
 An alternative variation point activity
“Treatment processing”: it allows selecting only one
variant depending on the medical report.
BPMN Domain Model
Hospital
Patient
Request for
examination
Receive
medical
report
Receive decision o
f
treatment type
Registe
r
«optional»
Perform
examination
«Variant»
X-Ray test
«Variant»
Sonography
test
Create
medical
report
«Alternative»
Treatment
processing
Operative
treatment
«Default»
Non operative
treatment
Inform
patient
«Default»
Standard test
Figure 2: The e-Healthcare configurable process model
before changes.
To support new requirements, the procedure of
payment should be integrated to the hospitals
system, to allow selection of the kind of the
payment, depending on the type of treatment and
patient. For this, the configurable process model
should evolve by inserting new variation point
“payment” which contains the following variants:
the default variant “payment by cash “,”social office
payment support”, “payment by check”, and
payment by card.
The following figure shows the new version of
the configurable process model:
BPMN Doma in Mode l
«Alternative» Payment System
Hospital
Patient
Request for
examination
Receive
medical
report
Receive decision o
f
treatment type
Registe
r
«optional»
Perform
examination
«Variant»
X-Ray test
«Variant»
Sonography
test
Create
medical
report
«Alternative»
Treatment
processing
Operative
treatment
«Default»
Non operative
treatment
Inform
patient
«Alternative»
Payment
«Default»
Standard test
Payment by card
Payment by check
Payment by cash
«Default»
Social office
payment support
Figure 3: The e-Healthcare configurable process model
after changes.
Table 4: Applying the Activity Insertion process pattern.
Scenario of add a variation point activity
Elements to
check of process
patterns
Application
Detect change
type
Insertion
Check the type of
activity change
-Variation point change
-In this case, we apply the
Variation point Activity insertion
process pattern
Check the nature
of activity
It is a sub process
List related tasks Enter payment information,
check information, validate or
cancel payment.
Determine
the position of
the insertion in
the sequence flow
The variation point activity must
be added after the activity
“receive decision treatment”. The
payment depend on the type of
the treatment (operative or non
operative).
Insert the required
functionalities of
the add
variation
point activity
Identification of patient,
encryption of payment data,
validate/ cancel a transaction.
Insert the flow
sequence
condition
If decision of treatment type is
made.
Apply Variant
Activity Insertion
process pattern
Insert variant activities
Insert data Apply the Data Insertion process
pattern
Check resource we have to apply resource
insertion process pattern to insert
new resource “payment system”
with the following variants
depending on selected
configuration: “bank system”,
“social office system”, “payment
center system”
Insert (add
variation point
activity)
Variation point “payment”
In this section we have presented an overview of
the approach which allows design decision made
before changing configurable process models. At the
end, we have detailed and illustrated by an example,
the activity insertion which invokes resource and
data evolution.
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4 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we have presented a process patterns
based approach, which allows guiding evolution of
configurable process models for a basic evolution.
The proposed process patterns system aims to lead
evolution of activity, data, and resource elements
(variation point/variant). We have presented only
one pattern of the proposed patterns, the Activity
Insertion Process Pattern. Our current work focuses
on the validation of the proposed process patterns
system by developing a prototype which allows
automation of the proposed approach and an
extension of the proposed approach to support other
adaptation techniques (specialization and
aggregation). Moreover, an evolution metamodel
will be integrated to the prototype, in order to
describe and preserve traceability of changes applied
to configurable process models.
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