User-centric Process Modeling and Enactment: The Clavii BPM Platform [original]

User-centric Process Modeling and Enactment:

The Clavii BPM Platform

Klaus Kammerer, Jens Kolb, Kevin Andrews, Stefan Bueringer, Britta Meyer,

and Manfred Reichert

Institute of Databases and Information Systems

Ulm University, Germany

{klaus.kammerer,jens.kolb,kevin.andrews,stefan.bueringer,britta.meyer,

manfred.reichert}@uni-ulm.de

http://www.uni-ulm.de/dbis

Abstract. The increasing adoption of process-aware information sys-

tems (PAISs) has resulted in large process model collections involving dif-

ferent process participants. We present the Clavii BPM platform, which

enables end users to participate not only in process model execution, but

model creation as well. Clavii offers a modern user interface with a strong

focus on ease of use, unifying different aspects of the BPM lifecycle in

one tool, i.e., process model editor and process engine. As a result, end

users are supported in managing and executing process models.

Keywords: Process Modeling; Process Execution; Process Change; Pro-

cess Model Abstraction; User-centered Process Management

1 Introduction

Process-aware information systems (PAISs) provide support for business pro-

cesses at the operational level [9]. Usually, a PAIS separates process logic from

application code, relying on explicit process models. This enables a separation

of concerns, which is a well established principle in computer science to increase

maintainability and reduce costs of change [6]. The increasing adoption of PAISs

has resulted in large process model collections involving different domains, orga-

nizational units, and user roles as well as dozens of activities [12]. Participating

in the BPM lifecycle requires that each user role is able to create, evolve or

execute such process models [13]. Additionally, customizable visualizations and

abstractions of process models improve their management by enabling person-

alized views for end users [10, 11].

Usually, the creation of business process models is fragmented. To be more

precise, process models are created with different tools compared to the ones

used for model execution. Enabling end users to participate in the entire BPM

2015 for this paper by its authors. Copying permitted for private and

academic purposes.

lifecycle, however, requires integrated tooling and ease of use. The Clavii BPM

platform addresses these challenges by supporting users with numerous functions

integrated in an intuitive and uniform user interface.

Figure 1 gives an overview of the Clavii BPM platform. Clavii enables users

to create (Step 1

), change (Step 2

), and abstract process models (Step 3

) in-

tuitively. Created process models can be shared across registered users (Step 4

)

in order to document (Step 5

), change, and execute them collaboratively. Users

are enabled to execute process models at any time (Step 6

). Finally, a dashboard

allows monitoring executed processes (Step 7

).

Execute Monitor

Create Change Abstract

Document Collaboration

Process Build-time

Process Run-time

Clavii BPM Platform

12 3

Fig. 1. The Clavii BPM Platform

Section 2 introduces the application scenario we use for the demonstration.

Section 3 presents the Clavii BPM platform. Section 4 then describes how the

application scenario can be supported with the Clavii BPM platform. Finally,

Section 5 concludes the paper.

2 Application Scenario

Figure 2 shows the running example–a simple process that handles PDF forms

modeled in BPMN. A PDF form may be first loaded. Then, its form fields can

be filled out by the user. Afterwards, the filled out PDF form is sent to an e-mail

address or to a web service (e.g., Dropbox). The process involves one human task

referring to a user role as well as a set of service tasks. The process is started by

the user selecting an empty PDF form (Step 1

). Afterwards, the Clavii platform

determines the empty PDF form fields and then fills them with data (Step 2

).

Following this, the PDF form is checked for correctness by another user (Step

). After completing task ”Review PDF”, the PDF form is uploaded to the

web service, i.e., Dropbox (Step 4

). In parallel, the PDF form is sent by e-mail.

Therefore, the user first specifies the subject, the body, and the recipient’s e-

mail address (Step 5

). Afterwards, he is asked whether or not the PDF form

shall be compressed (Step 6

). If he chooses the former option, the PDF form is

zip-compressed by a service task. Finally, the PDF is sent by e-mail (Step 7

).

In particular, the following requirements should be met to properly support

this scenario:

– R1: It should be possible to create BPMN 2.0 process models.

– R2: Visual appearance of process models should be adaptable for each user

(role) according to his BPM knowledge. In particular, this necessitates pro-

cess model abstractions; e.g., hiding service tasks from end users.

123

Fig. 2. PDF Form Handling Process

– R3: In order to involve multiple users, process models should be shareable.

– R4: Process models need to be enriched with a sophisticated, yet intuitive

data flow perspective to support process execution.

– R5: Service tasks in process models should be connectable with executable

program code. Additionally, user task forms should be generated automati-

cally.

– R6: Created process models should be executable at any time, i.e., while

designing, modeling, monitoring, or evolving them. Furthermore, model-

ing should obey the correctness-by-construction principle. In order to sup-

port process model execution at any lifecycle stage, process models lacking

execution-relevant information, like gateway decisions (cf. Step 5

), should

still be executable.

– R7: Process instances should be monitored in a respective dashboard.

3 Clavii BPM Platform Architecture

Figure 3 gives an overview of the Clavii BPM platform. In particular, Clavii

is implemented as a Java EE application utilizing the Activiti BPM engine for

process execution [8]. Clavii consists of two major components: Clavii Controller

and Clavii Web Interface. Clavii Web Interface is based on the GWT web frame-

work. It interacts with Clavii Controller using remote procedure calls. Clavii

controller, in turn, implements the logic of the Clavii framework and provides

engines for visualization, change, execution, and monitoring. Additionally, vari-

ous managers, such as the TaskManager that executes program code for service

tasks, exist.

Clavii Web Interface

Authentication

Manager

Identity

Monitoring

OrgModel

Manager

Persistence

History

Manager

Plugin

PluginCall

Dispatcher

File Manager

Repository

Manager

Type Manager

Validation

Manager

ProcessModel

Manager

ProcessFilter

Manager

(PQL)

Run-time

Manager

Task

Manager Clavii

Controller Administrative

Service

Process

Build-time

Process

Run-time

Fig. 3. Architecture of Clavii

4 Clavii Demonstration

We revisit the scenario and requirements from Section 2 in the context of Clavii.

– R1: Clavii allows creating an arbitrary number of process models by offering

an intuitive web interface [2, 7]. The modern user interface supports multi-

touch and drag&drop operations in order to conveniently create and modify

process models while preserving their control flow correctness.

– R2: Clavii allows users to interact with process models at different lev-

els of abstraction. For this purpose, well-defined declarative abstraction de-

scriptions (e.g., ”show only tasks assigned to the currently logged-in user”)

can be applied [3, 5]. Further, Clavii enables users to change the visual

appearance of process models, e.g., by switching between various notations.

Further notations may be added to the Clavii framework [2, 4].

– R3: Clavii provides a powerful OrgModelManager that allows for the spec-

ification of organizational units, roles and users for authenticating and as-

signing tasks.

– R4: Modeling data flows in process models is supported by a sophisticated

TypeFramework that allows users to specify hierarchical business objects as

well as their association with tasks [1]. Clavii aims to (semi-)automate the

assignment of business objects to service tasks.

– R5: Clavii offers an extensible plugin architecture for service tasks, e.g., up-

loading files to cloud storage providers, sending e-mails, retrieving and stor-

ing data in databases, or managing web calendars. Plugins are connectable

to tasks using drag & drop operations. Furthermore, user task forms are

automatically generated by analyzing data element types (cf. R4).

– R6: A Clavii process model may be executed in any stage of its lifecycle.

In case information provided by a process model is missing for proper exe-

cution (e.g., conditional gateways lack correct decisions). Users can provide

them during run-time. Additionally, the run-time perspective is seamlessly

integrated into Clavii’s process modeling environment, allowing for the exe-

cution of process models without switching away from the modeling context

of the Clavii Web Interface (cf. Figure 4).

– R7: Process instances can be monitored as well. To this end, the instance is

enriched with additional information, like execution times of tasks (cf. 1

in

Figure 4).

These aspects are illustrated by a screencast on the project’s website:

www.clavii.com/screencast.

5 Conclusion

In the demo, we present the Clavii BPM platform and its key functions as

proof-of-concept to allow for the collaborative creation and execution of process

models. A modern web-based user interface offers an intuitive way to manage

process models.

Fig. 4. Execution of PDF Form Handling Process

The Clavii BPM platform is implemented as a web-based application plat-

form. This allows users to simultaneously change and execute process models.

Furthermore, user experiments are planned in order to systematically analyze

whether the evolution of large process models can be improved by using the

Clavii BPM platform. Overall, we believe that the Clavii BPM platform offers

promising perspectives for small and medium businesses lacking BPM expertise.

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