The influence of modularity representation and presentation medium on the understandability of business process models

Download
index.pdf
2016
Dikici, Ahmet
Show full item record
197
views
118
downloads
Many factors influence the creation of understandable business process models for an appropriate audience. Understandability of process models becomes critical particularly when a process is complex and its model is large in structure. Using modularization to represent such models hierarchically (e.g. using sub-processes) is considered to contribute to the understandability of these models. To investigate this assumption, we conducted a family of controlled experiments with participation of 115 practitioners and 140 students. Our experimental material involved 2 large-scale real-life business process models that were modeled using BPMN v2.0 (Business Process Model and Notation). Each process was modeled in 3 modularity forms: fully-flattened, flattened where activities are clustered using BPMN groups, and modularized using separately viewed BPMN sub-processes. The objective is to examine if and how different forms of modularity representation in BPMN collaboration diagrams influence the understandability of process models. In addition to the forms of modularity representation, we also looked into the presentation medium (paper vs. computer) as a factor that potentially influences model comprehension. The results of our experiments indicate that for business practitioners, to optimally understand a BPMN model in the form of a collaboration diagram, it is recommended to present the model in ‘flattened’ forms (with or without the use of groups) in the ‘paper’ format. Results of our study can be used to develop process modeling guidelines based on empirical findings. Moreover, findings of our systematic literature review will provide insights for practitioners who aim to generate understandable process models. 
Management., Operations research., Modularity (Engineering)., Business, Information resources management.
http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12620340/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/26156
Graduate School of Informatics, Thesis

Suggestions

Determining online consumer typologies and their shopping behaviors in B2C e-commerce platforms
Huseynov, Farid; Demirörs, Onur; Türetken, Oktay; Department of Information Systems (2016)
Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce is the service or product exchange from businesses to consumers over the Internet. B2C e-commerce enables customers to easily compare offered products and services, to find cheaper and better ones from many alternatives and to shop from any given store without physically visiting them. Despite those conveniences provided by B2C e-commerce, a large number of customers prefer to stay away from the idea of shopping over internet due to several factors. For better customer ...
A Method and tool support for integrated business process modeling and ontology development
Coşkunçay, Ahmet; Demirörs, Onur; Department of Information Systems (2016)
From knowledge management point of view, business process models and ontologies are two essential knowledge artifacts for organizations that consume similar information sources. In this sense, building and managing the relationships between ontologies and business process models provide benefits such as enhanced semantic quality of both artifacts and effort savings. A method and tool support could guide integrated business process modeling and ontology building, and therefore enhance their semantic quality ...
A Qualitative model of the critical success factors for the effectiveness of information systems outsourcing
Uçar, Erkan; Bilgen, Semih; Yöndem, Meltem Turhan; Department of Information Systems (2012)
The objective of this research is to construct a model of the critical success factors for the effectiveness of Information Systems (IS) outsourcing. “Lack of in-house expertise” and “cost effectiveness” are the widely accepted major factors of motivation for IS outsourcing. Although various decision models and analytical frameworks have been proposed before, the literature is not abundant on a complete qualitative model. In contrast with the decision models which are executed before an outsourcing engageme...
An approach for generating natural language specifications by utilizing business process models
Coşkunçay, Ahmet; Arifoğlu, Ali; Yılal, Elif; Department of Information Systems (2010)
Business process modeling is utilized by organizations for defining and reengineering their business processes. On the other hand, software requirements analysis activities are performed for determining the system boundaries, specifying software requirements using system requirements and resolving conflicts between requirements. From this point of view, these two activities are considered in different disciplines. An organization requiring its business processes to be defined and supported with information ...
Bayrak, Ayşe Hilal. Title Business process definition for technical publication needs : a defense company case
Bayrak, Ayşe Hilal; Çağıltay, Kürşat; Department of Information Systems (2013)
In large scale projects and organizations, standardization requirements in terms of customer documentations to integrate data created by different contractors or departments is a critical issue. Considerable amount of the defense system projects in Turkey are collaboration projects conveyed by leading actors in the industry. In this case, standardizing technical publications in terms of operators’ and maintenance manuals, illustrated parts catalogs and multimedia publications become harder and more complex ...
Citation Formats
A. Dikici, “The influence of modularity representation and presentation medium on the understandability of business process models,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2016.
METU IIS - Integrated Information Service open@metu.edu.tr