=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2420/paperDC7
|storemode=property
|title=Enterprise Process Reuse System (EPReS) - Increasing Process Model Reuse in a Multi-Product / Multi-Channel Services Environment
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2420/paperDC7.pdf
|volume=Vol-2420
|authors=Ross S. Veitch
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/bpm/Veitch19
}}
==Enterprise Process Reuse System (EPReS) - Increasing Process Model Reuse in a Multi-Product / Multi-Channel Services Environment==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2420/paperDC7.pdf
Enterprise Process Reuse System (EPReS)
Increasing process model reuse in a multi-product /
multi-channel services environment
Ross S. Veitch1
1
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
1 Problem Statement
As technology evolves, enterprises are expected to offer their products and services
through an ever-increasing number of channels. The practicalities of this are further
complicated by the number of products and services that need to be offered. Taking a
bank for example, multiple products and services (current accounts, savings accounts
etc.) must be offered through several channels (physical branches, call centers, internet
banking, mobile applications etc.) to multiple client types (business client, retail client
etc.). The internal structure of the organisation also complicates matters as the respon-
sibility for the product design, technical solution and the operational servicing of the
customer is usually the responsibility of different parts of the organisation. However,
many of the processes executed in will likely be shared. Depending on the process
modeling approach, these shared processes may be modelled separately in each area. A
similar situation relating to car components where more than 20 variations of the same
process were found based on product, supplier and the development phase of the com-
ponent also illustrates this problem [1,2].
A client may wish to start in one channel and then switch to a different channel (e.g.
possibly call the call center) [3,4]. Due to the organisational structure issues referred
to earlier, modeling this process flow becomes problematic because of the number of
permutations that emerge. If there are four steps in a process, and two possible channels
for each step, then there are eight possible permutations of process flow available. The
permutations become even worse when there are four or five channels in use. Modeling
business processes across multiple channels and multiple products will be referred to
as the multi-channel / multi-product dilemma in this study. Although this issue is likely
to occur in most large service related organisations, it is particularly prevalent in finan-
cial services where many back-end processes are shared across products, channels,
business units, and customer segments.
This dilemma has not been addressed in the business process modeling literature.
Furthermore, the mapping of business processes in a multi-channel environment is of-
ten carried out by different employees, in different parts of the organisation, for differ-
ent projects and over an extended period of time, which results in multiple models for
the same process [1]. As the number of process models in the repository increases over
2
time, new issues begin to appear [2]. Multiple versions of the same model, similar logic
appearing in multiple models [1,5], difficulties in locating the correct version of a pro-
cess model, and conflicting versions of a process model [1] are some of the issues that
have been documented in the literature [2,6–10]. While these issues could be improved
by reusing complete process models, one study found that only 10.2% of respondents
reused complete process models [11].
Although conceptual models for process model reuse have been proposed [12,13],
the reuse of process models in organisations has received less attention than knowledge
sharing and reuse [11,14]. We believe that this is indicative of a broader issue relating
to the reuse of complete process models in practice. Hence the objective of this research
is to develop a business process modeling method to increase complete process model
reuse by other models in the repository.
A process modeling method that improves process model reuse in this manner would
be of value to organisations that carry out process modeling in an environment with
multiple channels, products / services, and customer types. Therefore, the research
question posed for this research is: How can complete process model reuse by other
models in a multi-channel and multi-product financial services environment be im-
proved?
2 Research Methodology
This research project will adopt a Design Science Research (DSR) methodology and
accordingly a pragmatic philosophy. Design science research is considered an appro-
priate approach because the purpose is to develop an IS artifact (a new method) and it
provides a framework that can be used for applied IS research [15,16]. DSR is con-
cerned with developing or improving artifacts (constructs, methods, models, and in-
stantiations) which are of use to society [16–18]. It is envisaged that the research will
consist of a main DSR cycle (designing the method) and two sub DSR cycles: 1) illus-
trating the consequences of low levels of process model reuse using System Dynamics
and 2) developing a quantitative measure of complete process model reuse in the re-
pository.
A mixed method methodology will be used to conduct the research. These methods
will consist of quantitative and qualitative approaches using literature reviews, inter-
views with stakeholders and statistical analysis of process repositories. The methods
vary from being positivist (statistical analysis of historical process repositories) to in-
terpretivist (e.g. interviews being used to develop the SD model and evaluate the artifact
in a real setting). However, the mix between quantitative and qualitative methods will
vary depending on the DSR cycle in question. Table 1 summarizes the research instru-
ments, data and analysis that will be employed in this research project.
3
Table 1. Research instruments, data collection and data analysis
Qualitative Quantitative
Research Instruments Literature survey Statistical analysis of process
Interviews with key stake- repository
holders
Data collection Results of the literature sur- Number of times each model
vey. has been reused (Historically
Interviews with key stake- and as a result of the pro-
holders posed method)
Data analysis Thematic analysis of inter- Calculation of levels of pro-
views with key stakeholders. cess model reuse (historical
and as a result of the pro-
posed method.
3 Intended Solution and Validity
This project will develop a process modeling method (EPReS) which increases the re-
use of complete process models by other models in the repository. The DSR approach
of Peffers has been adopted for this research [19]. EPReS must be shown to meet its
objectives and to be useful [16–18,20], and will be evaluated in a business unit of a
large South African financial services organisation. However, in research conducted so
far, no measure of the level of reuse of process models by other process models has
been found, and accordingly, the development of this measure has been incorporated
into this project. Such a measure is essential for a quantitative evaluation of EPReS.
4 Relation to state of the art in BPM research
Process model reuse has been studied from the perspective of human reuse of process
models, reuse of elements of process models, and even conceptual models of process
model reuse [12,13,21,22]. The reuse of process models when modeling has been
largely focused on how to guide the modeler to create new models based on adapting
existing models, for example: reference models, automated variant creation, identifica-
tion of similar models [23–26]. However, this approach still results in a new process
model being added to the repository and will not solve the problem of multiple redun-
dant models which are caused by the multi-channel / multi-product dilemma.
Process model reuse can be categorized as shown in Fig. 1. Using this approach, we
first consider reuse based on whether the reuse is external (e.g. an employee reusing a
model in the course of their work), or whether the reuse is internal within the process
repository itself. Thereafter, we can classify the reuse into the reuse of partial process
models (or elements thereof) and the reuse of complete process models.
A possible measure of process model reuse is the amount of reuse of models in a
repository by other process models in the same repository. In this study, we are inter-
ested in the reuse of complete process models by other process models internally within
4
the repository. Accordingly, measuring the level of process model reuse by other mod-
els in the process repository would be an important indicator of model reuse. While
process model reuse is a frequent topic of research, no research could be found relating
to the reuse of models within a process repository by other models within the repository.
Process model
reuse
Reuse of process Reuse of process
models by models internally
external entities in repository
Reuse of process Reuse of complete
Reuse of process Reuse of complete
model elements process models by
model elements process models
by other models other models
Fig. 1. Types of process model reuse
5 State of research, problems and threats
The current state of this research project is reflected in Table 2.
Table 2. Research project status, problems and threats
Status
New method devel- Proposed method has been developed and is being evaluated in a
opment real-world situation
Measure of model Proposed measure has been developed and is being evaluated in a
reuse development real-world situation. A paper in this regard has been accepted for the
BPM 2019 Conference Workshops
A Risk Management Framework for DSR has been proposed [27] and this framework
was used to identify the top 3 risks to this research project. These risks are shown in
Table 3.
Table 3. Top Research Project Risks
Risk Conse- Prob- Risk Description
# quence ability
9 4 3 Inappropriate choice of meta-requirements (scoping error)
13 4 3 Ignorance or lack of knowledge of existing relevant natural and
behavioural science research forming kernel theories for under-
standing or solving the problem
19 4 3 Development of a hypothetical (untried) purposeful artefact
which cannot be taught to or understood by those who are in-
tended to use it
5
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