What Is A Comparative Of Business Process Modelling Techniques?

A comparative of business process modeling techniques analyzes various methodologies to identify the best fit for specific organizational needs, providing valuable insights and structured approaches. COMPARE.EDU.VN offers comprehensive comparisons of different techniques to help businesses optimize their processes. This involves Business Process Management (BPM), Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), Unified Modeling Language (UML), Event-driven Process Chain (EPC), and Integration Definition (IDEF).

1. Introduction

Since the 1990s, organizations have seen significant changes in their structures and technologies, bringing new perspectives to knowledge and operational shifts (Silva, 2015). This has necessitated a renewed focus on both personal and managerial approaches to adapt to an emerging and evolving reality. Modern companies are increasingly organizing themselves around the processes that define them, rather than adhering strictly to departmental structures (Malamut, 2005).

Today’s organizational landscape is highly competitive, driving businesses to implement mechanisms that quickly and effectively develop and optimize their information systems. Agility is now a critical differentiator, allowing companies to proactively respond to market pressures, needs, and opportunities.

Companies are increasingly focusing on their business processes to maintain competitiveness, recognizing these processes as key to organizational success. Business Process Management (BPM), through organized activities, ensures greater control, flexibility, and alignment with organizational strategy (van der Aalst, 2013). Business process modeling, a core component of this approach, allows organizations to define and change their processes in a logical and structured manner (Silva, 2015).

However, the availability of numerous process modeling methodologies can make it challenging for project modelers to select the most appropriate one. Silva (2015) conducted a study to support the analysis of business process modeling notations, aiming to simplify the methodology selection process.

This article analyzes the main business modeling methodologies through a systematic review of literature. It presents a comparative discussion based on Silva (2015), to serve as a guide for choosing the best methodology for BPM project applications. These findings also provide a theoretical foundation for academic papers, dissertations, and theses.

The article is structured as follows: Section 2 discusses the theoretical framework for Business Process Management and Business Process Modeling. Section 3 outlines the research method. Section 4 presents the results of the bibliometric analysis, highlighting the main methodologies used in BPM. Section 5 offers a comparative analysis of these methodologies based on Silva (2015), and Section 6 concludes with final thoughts.

2. Theoretical Reference

2.1 Business Process Management (BPM)

BPM is a comprehensive management approach (Draghici et al., 2012) that heavily relies on Information Technology (IT) (vom Brocke & Sinnl, 2011). It employs methodologies, techniques, and tools to design, approve, control, and analyze business processes involving the organization, its people, applications, documents, and various other information sources (Pyon et al., 2011). This approach is increasingly adopted by organizations to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their operations (Huang et al., 2011). Additionally, it strives for innovation, flexibility, and technology integration, all focused on aligning the organization with customer needs (Toor & Dhir, 2011).

BPM can also be seen as a continuous, structured, analytical, and multisectoral process improvement initiative, with several critical success factors (Trkman, 2010). These factors are linked to various methods that enable companies to build a strong business process orientation (Skrinjar & Trkman, 2013). The understanding and involvement of top management, the recognition of information systems, well-defined responsibilities, and a receptive culture are all crucial (Draghici et al., 2012).

Siriram (2012) suggests that BPM requires a systemic and balanced view, as business processes bind the organization together, harmonizing resources such as processes, people, and systems. Effective BPM requires focusing on critical processes aligned with the organization’s strategic objectives.

According to the Association of Business Process Management Professionals, BPM is a structured management discipline for identifying, executing, measuring, monitoring, and controlling business processes, whether automated or not. It aligns business processes with strategic goals, creating value and enabling the organization to achieve its objectives more efficiently (ABPMP, 2015).

Repa & Bruckner (2015) define BPM as a well-established management model for handling the business process lifecycle, including design, execution, and analysis. Haddar et al. (2014) add that BPM relies on designing a model that meets a set of quality criteria, a complex task given the nature of current business processes. The heterogeneity of these projects has driven the search for approaches that assist in designing high-quality models at reduced costs.

Arevolo’s (2006) considers BPM as a method to map and improve a company’s business processes through a lifecycle that includes definition, modeling, testing, distribution, execution, monitoring, analysis, and optimization, as illustrated in Figure 1.

Studies in the BPM area view this organizational model as a global business perspective, highlighting the transition from functional to process-oriented management. This suggests applying BPM from a systemic approach, emphasizing the interconnectedness of processes within their contexts. Unnecessary steps are eliminated or improved by leveraging available resources in core processes (Segatto et al., 2013).

Effective BPM should not be seen merely as a set of IT tools but as an environment that incorporates a process-oriented view and effective communication across the entire business organization (Cho & Lee, 2011). This requires a well-organized team (Neubauer, 2009), understanding of processes (Seethamraju, 2012), and the selection of critical processes (Cho & Lee, 2011).

To understand the operation of processes and the types that exist, it’s essential to determine how they should be managed to achieve the best results (Siriram, 2012). Reproducing an organizational structure by processes necessitates a defined scenario of the company through mapping activities, rules, and relationships, along with an appropriate business process modeling methodology.

2.2 Business Process Modeling

Process modeling is the activity of representing an organization’s processes to analyze and improve them (Toor & Dhir, 2011). Organizations need to understand their processes (Abu Rub & Issa, 2012) to be able to improve them. Modeling is useful for describing and graphing the critical aspects of a given process, distinguishing between people, departments, and their interconnections (Climent et al., 2009), to accurately portray or represent them, highlighting key aspects that need to be addressed (Vergidis et al., 2008).

Generally, process modeling aims to describe the characteristics of business processes, emphasizing their structure, sequence of activities, relationships, and resources used. It is an important facilitator for understanding and analyzing processes (Abu Rub & Issa, 2012) and is widely used by organizations to document and improve their operations (Smirnov et al., 2012).

Silveira et al. (2016) suggest that process modeling has evolved into a technology for describing processes with greater transparency. Through this modeling, it is possible to plan, create, and document procedures consistently, demonstrating the current state of the company and enabling changes to achieve a desirable future state (Leopold et al., 2016).

According to Pinggera et al. (2015), real process models often face issues related to syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic quality. Syntactic and semantic quality relate to model construction and address the correct use of the modeling language and the extent to which the model represents real-world behavior, respectively. Pragmatic quality addresses the extent to which a model supports its intended uses, such as understanding behavior and system development.

Capturing the various aspects of a business process requires appropriate process modeling methodologies, techniques, and standards (Cull & Eldabi, 2010). These methodologies provide a set of graphical constructs and rules for combining them. The complexity of these languages ranges from simple to extremely sophisticated. According to Georges (2010), the most sophisticated methodologies are designed for developing information systems, including transactional, supervisory, and workflow management systems. Key techniques include Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), Unified Modeling Language (UML), Event-driven Process Chain (EPC), and Integration Definition (IDEF) (Toor & Dhir, 2011).

BPMN is the most widely accepted business process modeling methodology (Pavani & Scucuglia, 2011). It provides graphical conventions for describing business processes, specifically designed to coordinate process sequences and message exchange between processes. Zhang et al. (2012) agree that BPMN represents processes in a standardized way, making it easier for stakeholders and employees to understand the organization’s processes. Rachdi et al. (2016) note that BPMN has received significant interest and support from academia and industry as an open standard for Business Process Modeling. As one of the latest modeling notations standardized by OMG (Object Management Group) and BPMI (Business Process Management Initiative), BPMN is user-friendly for all stakeholders (Kocbek et al., 2015) and allows a business process to be modeled with a single type of Business Process Diagram (BPD). This notation is used to model the current state of processes (AS-IS). The capabilities offered by BPMN allow process simulations that facilitate the automation of activities with control through visual indicators, generating an improved proposed model known as TO-BE (Scheruhn et al., 2015).

UML emerged from the union of the Booch method, the Object Modeling Technique (OMT), and the Object-Oriented Software Engineering (OOSE) method (Torres, 2011). It was developed as a graphical notation for the analysis, specification, construction, and documentation of software development. The main challenge was creating a standardized language with unique semantics to represent systems of varying complexity levels (Geambaşu, 2012). Booch et al. (2006) note that UML is expressive enough to model non-software systems, such as workflow, structure, and behavior of systems and hardware designs. The success of UML has contributed to its adoption in several systems development initiatives, which include requirements approaches that use business process information often represented in adapted UML diagrams (Torres, 2011).

EPC is also one of the most widely used business process modeling languages ​​worldwide (Devillers 2011). It was developed in 1992 by researchers at the University of Saarland in partnership with SAP, a leading provider of integrated management software (Mili et al., 2010). Like most process modeling notations, the EPC also resembles flowcharts for representing the logical and temporal dependencies between activities in business process construction (Keletso et al., 2014). Its primary focus is to provide an intuitive graphical representation of organizational processes that is quick and simple for both process analysts and business people to understand (Van Wel, 2013). EPC is the core business process representation language of the Architecture of Integrated Information Systems (ARIS) methodology, which aggregates business-related resources and organizes them to ensure the development of business sequences and tasks that produce value (Davis & Brabander, 2007. Pavani & Scucuglia (2011) consider EPC a simple and easy-to-understand methodology, similar to flowcharts.

Finally, the IDEF technique originated from a United States Department of Defense initiative to create a method for modeling system requirements. First used in the 1970s, it was later standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. This methodology allows process analysis by building models that reflect their current functionality to project the ideal business operational situation (Almeida, 2009. IDEF consists of 16 techniques for modeling and systems analysis, initially designed for use in Software Engineering. Each technique is used in different application areas, but IDEF0, which focuses on modeling business functions, and IDEF3, which specifically models business processes, are the two most useful notations that can complement each other in process modeling (Costin & Fox, 2004.

3. Methodology

3.1 Bibliometric Analysis

To define the main business process modeling methodologies, the bibliometric review research method proposed by Marasco (2008) was used. Scopus databases were used to compose the bibliographic portfolio. The research was conducted in journals without temporal limits on published studies. The total number of papers found was the result of combinations of keywords searched, titles, and abstracts.

The keywords used for the literature review were “Business Process Modeling” AND “Business Process Management” OR “BPM,” as shown in Table 1.

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Table 1 Keywords of bibliometric research.

The works found using these combinations were primarily journal articles, book chapters, norms, and conference articles, which present the results of the bibliometric review. A total of 243 studies were obtained.

3.2 Comparative Analysis

Business process modeling methodologies have different characteristics, strengths, and limitations. Comparing them is essential to systematize their differences and similarities.

The comparative analysis of business process modeling methodologies involved an extensive review of literature dealing with their characterization. Different authors use varying criteria to evaluate these methodologies, though some criteria tend to be more universal (Silva, 2015):

• Expressiveness: Evaluates the language’s ability to represent, focusing on whether the elements of each notation serve all purposes and needs of models, from simple to complex.
• Formalism: Assesses whether there is a formal description and definition of each notation, including clear rules on their use.
• Usability: Measures how difficult it is to understand and use process modeling notation for analysts and modelers, promoting ease of use.
• Friendliness: Considers the graphical aspect of the notation, seeking notations that are not overly complex in terms of elements and relationships.
• Readability: Refers to the ease of interpreting processes by all stakeholders, including business analysts, technical and non-technical modelers, and organizational management.
• Flexibility: The presence of graphics that allow a high level of flexibility and offer various modeling alternatives is favored by some modelers.
• Support Tools: Verifies that the chosen language has a variety of support solutions for its implementation.
• Universality: Analyzes whether the notation is sufficiently recognized in a broad context, assuming benefits such as greater support from an active community.
• Purpose: Understanding the intended use of the final models is crucial, i.e., whether the language allows for automation and execution or just analysis and manipulation.

4. Main Methodologies in Business Process Modeling

Considering Business Process Management as a fundamental element, we highlight the Business Process Modeling Methodologies most discussed in the papers from the Scopus database, which are BPMN, UML, EPC, and IDEF.

BPMN stands out, present in about 55% of these published works, as shown in Figure 2, followed by UML (21%), EPC (12%), and IDEF (7%), with other methodologies adding up to 5%. A survey by Kocbek et al. (2015) also showed that BPMN is the default language in the process modeling field.

The following sections discuss these methodologies, highlighting works in the scientific literature that apply such notations.

4.1 Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)

Recent works with BPMN applications include publications in health (Onggo et al., 2018), manufacturing (Witsch & Vogel-Heuser, 2012), offshore (Joschko et al., 2015), industrial (Petrasch & Hentschke, 2016), educational (Strȋmbei et al., 2016), e-commerce (Bukhsh et al., 2017), and service sectors (Geiger et al., 2016).

Joschko et al. (2015) described a holistic approach to Operation and Maintenance (O&M) processes in offshore wind farm power generation. Process acquisition and visualization are performed through risk analysis of all relevant processes. A tool was designed to model the processes in BPMN notation and simulate them. The notation was enriched with new elements, representing relevant factors that could only be displayed with significant effort. Figure 3 shows the return travel process modeling by personnel transfer ship.

Strȋmbei et al. (2016) provided new insight into corporate modeling in BPMN within the university area. This study revealed a BPMN-specific approach in university information systems, based on a comparative analysis of universities in the United States and Central Europe. The authors presented four realistic and complex systems: curriculum and programs, student admission, student roadmaps, and student exchanges. Figure 4 shows the BPMN modeling for the student exchange process.

4.2 Unified Modeling Language (UML)

Recent publications on UML include work in education (De Lope & Medina-Medina, 2016), health (Ferrante et al., 2013), industry (Latif et al., 2011), services (Zheng et al., 2014), and e-commerce (Maman et al., 2017).

Ferrante et al. (2013) modeled the post-stroke rehabilitation process. Detailed workflow is needed in healthcare organizations providing rehabilitation for stroke patients. The proposed model, implemented in UML, is based on international guidelines and refined according to local clinical paths adopted by a specialized rehabilitation center. This model describes the organization of rehabilitation delivery and facilitates recovery monitoring. Its flexibility ensures easy updates after process evolution. Figure 5 shows the class diagram of the rehabilitation process.

Zheng et al. (2014) developed a library management system based on the UML modeling engine to analyze a simple library management system. The authors state that UML can efficiently convey information among users, developers, designers, and managers, improving collaboration and increasing industrialization in software development projects. The design process indicates that UML, as a software engineering modeling language, has excellent application potential. Figure 6 discusses the UML class diagram of book loan management design.

4.3 Event-Driven Process Chain (EPC)

Among the works that use the EPC methodology, publications with applicability in services (Giviani & Argourd, 2015), supply chain (Mohammadi & Mukhtar, 2012), education (Rostanski, 2013), marketing (Fleacă et al., 2016), and health (Zarabzadeh et al., 2012) stand out.

Giviani & Argourd (2015) mapped the processes of the technical treatment division of the São Carlos Integrated Library System in Brazil, from acquisition to user availability. This included receiving works, classification and indexing, tipping, availability in the collection, and inventory of all bibliographic material. The authors used business process modeling through the EPC methodology. Figure 7 shows the macro-processing of library inventorying activity.

Fleacă et al. (2016) applied the EPC methodology to model the variables of an organization’s marketing research process. The findings highlight the benefits of marketing research workflow that increases the value of market intelligence while reducing costs. The authors also highlight the impact on stakeholder satisfaction. This paper aims to decipher modern trends in business process management and innovation and provides a marketing research process diagram using the BPMN graphical vocabulary EPC tool (Figure 8).

4.4 Integration Definition (IDEF)

Among the publications on the IDEF methodology, the works with applications in manufacturing (Pinarbaşi et al., 2013), industrial (Kuo et al., 2012), supply chain (Kuo et al., 2014), and building construction (Tas et al., 2008) stand out.

Pınarbaşı et al. (2013) studied flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). The authors proposed an FMS design approach using IDEF. A systematic layout scheme and a performance appraisal scheme are presented and detailed using this modeling framework. The proposed approach was carried out with a case study of an aircraft industry to convert an existing traditional production system into FMS. The goal was to find the machine and product mix that achieve maximum utilization while minimizing cycle time. From the IDEF model, it was observed that FMS system performance was greatly improved by determining the most advantageous level of system components. Figure 9 shows the IDEF context diagram layout design and benchmarking.

Ciurana et al. (2008) developed a model applicable after developing an integrated process planning and programming tool using an IDEF methodology to design an activity model, which integrates process planning and production in metal removal processes. An activity model was used to develop a system that allows the user to plan process and production simultaneously in collaborative engineering work. A wide range of parts was evaluated and processed at a real workshop factory to design the business model. Several activities were developed in detail to be tested in real cases. Figure 10 shows the process planning level in the IDEF model.

The following section discusses a comparative analysis of the main business process modeling methodologies, BPMN, UML, EPC, and IDEF, based on the study by Silva (2015).

5. Comparative Analysis of Methodologies

From systematic analytical studies, Silva (2015) listed works in each comparative criterion to highlight the characterization of business process modeling methodologies. Table 2 presents an adapted version from Silva (2015) of the characteristics of each methodology raised from the bibliometric analysis.

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Table 2 Evaluative criteria of business process modeling methodologies.

The “Expressiveness of languages” criterion has received the most attention from the authors surveyed. The capabilities of the methodologies allow representation of diverse organizational situations in behavioral, functional, structural, or informational terms.

The criteria “Formalism,” “Usability,” “Readability,” and “Purpose” were also related to the functionalities of the four methodologies. BPMN, UML, EPC, and IDEF are business process modeling methodologies that are easily understood and interpreted, mainly focusing on the complexity of language use, reducing ambiguities in model interpretation, and ensuring the relevance of the model’s purpose is easily perceived and understood.

BPMN stood out for meeting the “Friendly” and “Flexibility” criteria. It presents a graphically pleasant notation that helps users, facilitating the identification of the intended elements to meet the expected result. It also allows a high level of flexibility and offers several modeling alternatives.

Finally, the BPMN, UML, and EPC methodologies have the criteria “Supporting Tools” and “Universality.” These three notations offer multiple solutions to support their implementation, with widely used software packages for professional use and testing. They are also recognized in the business and academic communities, and in the market, implying strong support for their use.

6. Final Considerations

This article presented a review of the main business process modeling methodologies, based on theoretical references, from a systematic bibliographic survey and a comparative analysis.

Using a process modeling methodology for business process documentation has numerous advantages, often related to techniques and standards created solely to support business process design, aiming to optimize the process modeling task. For better performance, it’s crucial to use a specific methodology designed for this purpose.

According to bibliometric research, the most prominent methodologies featured in the surveyed papers are BPMN, UML, EPC, and IDEF. BPMN stands out in the papers from the Scopus database, a finding corroborated by Kocbek et al. (2015), who highlighted BPMN as the standard language in the field of process modeling.

Unlike other techniques, BPMN is designed to provide a notation that is easily understood and used by everyone involved in business processes. It’s a comprehensive technique providing modeling capabilities for a wide range of processes, from the most generic to the most specific.

Through a selection of the most important modeling methodologies, it was possible to verify that, although they share the same objective, each methodology has its specific characteristics. A comparative analysis of these methodologies, proposed by Silva (2015), was based on a comprehensive review of relevant literature focusing on the characterization of methodologies through different evaluation criteria.

In conclusion, the main purpose in building a consistent overview is to allow the comparative analysis of process modeling methodologies in the face of a certain organizational context or BPM project. This will help select the best fit for specific needs. This approach will lead to a more informed selection of the notation to serve certain purposes, without requiring a major study of all existing languages. The project team can simply indicate which criteria are most important, giving them corresponding value. These results serve as a theoretical framework for application in papers, dissertations, and theses.

Navigating the complexities of business process modeling can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. At COMPARE.EDU.VN, we understand the difficulties in comparing various options objectively. We offer detailed and unbiased comparisons of business process modeling techniques, highlighting the pros and cons of each to help you make informed decisions.

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FAQ

1. What is Business Process Modeling (BPM)?

   Business Process Modeling (BPM) is a structured approach to identifying, executing, measuring, monitoring, and controlling business processes, whether automated or not, to align them with strategic goals.

2. Why is Business Process Modeling important?

   Business Process Modeling is important because it enables organizations to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and align business processes with strategic goals.

3. What are the main methodologies used in Business Process Modeling?

   The main methodologies used in Business Process Modeling include BPMN, UML, EPC, and IDEF.

4. What is BPMN?

   BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation) is a graphical representation for describing business processes, designed to coordinate process sequences and message exchange between processes.

5. What is UML?

   UML (Unified Modeling Language) is a standardized modeling language used for the analysis, specification, construction, and documentation of software systems.

6. What is EPC?

   EPC (Event-Driven Process Chain) is a business process modeling language used to represent the logical and temporal dependencies between activities in business processes.

7. What is IDEF?

   IDEF (Integration Definition) is a family of modeling languages used to analyze processes by building models that reflect their current functionality and project ideal operational situations.

8. How do I choose the right Business Process Modeling methodology?

   Choosing the right methodology depends on the specific needs of the organization, the complexity of the processes, and the goals of the modeling effort.

9. What are the benefits of using COMPARE.EDU.VN for Business Process Modeling comparisons?

   COMPARE.EDU.VN offers detailed, unbiased comparisons of various Business Process Modeling techniques, highlighting the pros and cons to help you make informed decisions.

10. Where can I find more information and resources about Business Process Modeling?

    You can find more information and resources about Business Process Modeling on compare.edu.vn, which provides expert analysis, user reviews, and comprehensive comparisons.