Dagstuhl Workshop on Fresh Approaches for Business Process Modeling Working group on: KiP meets CWA Achim Brucker, Alexander Herwix, Rick Hull, Hamid Motawari, Flavia Santoro, William Wong 12 May 2016

Overview On Tues/Wed we created a framework to understand Knowledge-Intensive Processes (KiP’s) On Wed/Thur we asked: --- Does our KiP framework work well with CWA ??? ------ Three ways that KiP’s interact with “knowledge” Create a knowledge artifact, e.g., a CWA model Maintain a knowledge artifact Use a knowledge artifact This lead to 3 general observations We need to understand how practitioners perform Knowledge-Intensive Work There are different kinds of knowledge, which will affect the shape of KiP’s Low hanging fruit: Annotate nodes in models with semantically related documents, images, etc Can we make intricate models, e.g., CWA models, “living”?

Many different kinds of “knowledge” that KiP’s might focus on Spectrum, kind of Lots and lots of data – e.g., Intricate, structured models, e.g., CWA, ITOM, BPMN schemas, … Info/knowledge gathered during an accident investigation Amorphous knowledge a CEO thinks about when making a big decision Some “knowledge” is being captured in a machine-readable format Often based on abstractions and abstraction hierarchies Often with visualizations and tools Often these are fairly mature, with a fairly mature & active community Other “knowledge” may never be capture in machine-readable format In that case, the role of KiP is to enable the humans as much as possible The boundary of “machine-readable” is shifting, as new text analytics capabilities are being developed, e.g., “cognitive computing”

Knowledge-enriched models

Making models “alive” (using CWA as example) In general, including CWA, the model is created and used by one group… … but the actual operations are being performed by other groups As a result, the CWA model gets out of date There are few incentives to keep it up to date How can we set up processes, incentives, fresh approaches so that these kinds of models can be kept up to date Examples of success from other fields Entity-Relationship data modeling – tools arose for mapping from ER diagrams into Relational DDL … Empowerment of the end-user – eg, spreadsheets designed by, and then used by, same person Example: shifting spreadsheet users to using GoogleDoc spreadsheets

Directions to explore for keeping models alive Some general principles Give to all users the “knowledge-enhanced” CWA model If the see value, they will help maintain accuracy Change detection in procedures, conditions/rules and instructions that impacts the correctness or the logic of a model Instrument the operational model so that it sends update to CWA model And, at the highest level, change recommendation techniques for keeping the models in sync with the latest changes in enterprise/environment guidelines, actors, rules/regulations, etc. Incentivize the operations-level users to maintain accuracy of the CWA model

Directions to explore for keeping models alive An example we might try to imitate . . .

Visibility work led by Prabir Nandi (IBM) Business Artifacts for “Visibility” across silos Business Entity paradigm provides end-to-end view of multiple silos and their interactions Business Artifact Type: Lifecycle Model . . . Engineering Change Eng. WO . . . Part Info Model Business Artifacts (with Lifecycles) Provide an end-to-end view of operations Cut across operational and infrastructure silo’s Unify data and process Provide structure for other BPM aspects Can “wrap” app’s to bring them into model Provide skeleton for specifying variations Eng. Purch. Manu. ... Visibility work led by Prabir Nandi (IBM)

Is there an analog of Business Artifacts that would work similarly for hierarchical models?

Increase environmental sustainability CEO/strategy Increase Profit Increase environmental sustainability Increase Manu Productivity Reduce air pollution Priorities/Values Supply Chain Assembly Line Physical Plant Operational Functions Ordering Inventory Mgmt Ware- housing Shipping Object Processes

Increase environmental sustainability CEO/strategy Increase Profit Increase environmental sustainability Increase Manu Productivity Reduce air pollution Priorities/Values Supply Chain Assembly Line Physical Plant Operational Functions Ordering Inventory Mgmt Ware- housing Shipping Object Processes Text doc Process Descrips BPMN spce Ad hoc, spreadsheet based CMMN based Process Specs

Creation and Maintenance of CWA diagrams This activity has probably been studied heavily by the Enterprise Architecture community ?? Historically these diagrams have been static – can we make them “alive”, and thereby give them a bigger purpose and life, so that they

Fundamental characteristics and “centricities” Workforce Pyramid Design & Strategy Support Judgement- Intensive Processes Transaction- Intensive Processes Characteristics Centricity Coordination/Collaboration Decisions on Knowledge Very ad hoc, intuitive Knowledge-centric Long-running Many kinds of activities Best practices hidden Spreadsheets Goals-centric Care & feeding of ERP Variation, Evolution Spreadsheets Text-based process descriptions Data-centric However, all three aspects are relevant to all three levels

Fundamental characteristics and “centricities” Workforce Pyramid Design & Strategy Support Judgement- Intensive Processes Transaction- Intensive Processes Characteristics Centricity Coordination/Collaboration Decisions on Knowledge Very ad hoc, intuitive Knowledge-centric Long-running Many kinds of activities Best practices hidden Spreadsheets Goals-centric Care & feeding of ERP Variation, Evolution Spreadsheets Text-based process descriptions Data-centric However, all three aspects are relevant to all three levels

What is building on/coming after Data Science? “Cognitive Computing” – combining Big Data Analytics with Text/Image Processing, Learning, … A cognitive system has the following capabilities Monitor/Alert: Discovers patterns in data even if they are weak signals (“whispers”) Analyze: Assesses relative value of alternative paths, using statistical evaluations Decide/act: Advises on the optimal action to take Adapts and learns from training and experiences Important Cognitive System attributes Ability to incorporate relevant contextual information, including new data Deep natural language analysis, for info ingestion and human interaction Learning in real time as data arrives Can identify similar/related past experiences and learn from them Explain/justify recommendations to humans IPSoft’s Amelia “The world’s first neural automation system for the enterprise” Tata Consultancy

Opportunities for “Cognitive Computing” Workforce Pyramid Design & Strategy Support Judgement- Intensive Processes Transaction- Intensive Processes Rapid exploration/ingestion of broad corpora of relevant (unstructured) information Decision-making based on learned knowledge Goals-based dynamic planning (Enable guided collaboration of numerous autonomous agents) Govt Reg’s Corp. Policies “Read” regulations and policies … … and map into processes Define Processes Capture “Digital Exhaust” … … and learn processes Care & Feeding of ERP System Move from Spreadsheets to Case Mgmt and Business Rules … … so that humans can examine and tune auto-learned process ERP System

Three (approximate) Levels of Business Operations & Processes Examples Workforce Pyramid Design & Strategy Support Judgement- Intensive Processes Transaction- Intensive Processes Build vs. Buy decisions Merger & Acquisition decisions Launch of a new kind of product Large IBM deals that transform a company Fraud investigations in a Bank Execution of Data Center Outsourcing deals Back-office processing (e.g., payroll, F&A, …) Supply Chain Management Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), e.g., IBM GPS

Characteristics of the different levels Workforce Pyramid Design & Strategy Support Judgement- Intensive Processes Transaction- Intensive Processes Characteristics Characteristics Coordination/Collaboration Decisions on Knowledge Very ad hoc, intuitive Long-running Many kinds of activities Best practices hidden Spreadsheets Care & feeding of ERP Variation, Evolution Spreadsheets Text-based process descriptions

Opportunities for “Cognitive Computing” Workforce Pyramid Design & Strategy Support Judgement- Intensive Processes Transaction- Intensive Processes Rapid exploration/ingestion of broad corpora of relevant (unstructured) information Decision-making based on learned knowledge Goals-based dynamic planning (Enable guided collaboration of numerous autonomous agents) Govt Reg’s Corp. Policies “Read” regulations and policies … … and map into processes Define Processes Capture “Digital Exhaust” … … and learn & enact processes Care & Feeding of ERP System Move from Spreadsheets to Case Mgmt and Business Rules … … so that humans can examine and tune auto-learned process ERP System

Opportunities for “Cognitive Computing” Cognitive Computing is …. Characteristics Centricity Workforce Pyramid Design & Strategy Support Judgement- Intensive Processes Transaction- Intensive Processes Coordination/Collaboration Decisions on Knowledge Very ad hoc, intuitive Knowledge-centric Long-running Many kinds of activities Best practices hidden Spreadsheets Goals-centric Care & feeding of ERP Variation, Evolution Spreadsheets Text-based process descriptions Data-centric

Opportunities for “Cognitive Computing” Cognitive Computing is …. Workforce Pyramid Design & Strategy Support Judgement- Intensive Processes Transaction- Intensive Processes

Challenges of the different levels Workforce Pyramid Design & Strategy Support Judgement- Intensive Processes Transaction- Intensive Processes Characteristics Coordinating open-ended, highly collaborative processes Both humans and “cognitive agents” Decisions made over time, based on extensive acquisition of knowledge Some best practices but lots of intuition guiding activity Long-running activity (weeks to months to years) Many kinds of activity that MAY be relevant Best practices & patterns available, but buried Mainly based on ERP systems, but … … many manual processes surrounding them Lots of variation, evolution over time In many companies – ad hoc, spreadsheet based

Opportunities for “Cognitive Computing” Workforce Pyramid Design & Strategy Support Judgement- Intensive Processes Transaction- Intensive Processes Characteristics Challenge Problems Coordination/Collaboration Decisions on Knowledge Very ad hoc, intuitive Long-running Many kinds of activities Best practices hidden Spreadsheets Care & feeding of ERP Variation, Evolution Spreadsheets Text-based process descriptions

Automating the Pipeline from Knowledge Harvesting to Executable Logic in an Agile, Incremental Fashion Current Mode of Operation Near-term focus of “Ops Accelerator” Long-term focus of “Ops Accelerator” Client policies, Govt. regulations Client policies, Govt. regulations Client policies, Govt. regulations + Automatic Knowledge Harvesting Coarse-grained English process descriptions Coarse-grained English process descriptions Coarse-grained English process descriptions “Crowd Sourcing” + Desktop Procedures Executable Logic Executable Logic SAP code SAP code SAP code Coordination by hand: Monthly runs Ancillary processes (new hire, …) Coordination by machine: Monthly runs Ancillary processes (new hire, …) Coordination by machine: Monthly runs Ancillary processes (new hire, …)

Backup

Power of a Good Model << animated slide >> Good models go beyond description – they support action Selecting the right model for the job matters Example: “Game of 15” Winner: First one to reach exactly 15 with any 3 chips 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 First model – A is and B is – what is B’s move? Second model – – B’s move is 6!