Søren Debois, Thomas Hildebrandt, Morten Marquard, Tijs Slaats Hybrid Process Technologies in the Financial Sector – The Case of BRFkredit     Søren Debois, Thomas Hildebrandt, Morten Marquard, Tijs Slaats

INTRODUCTION

Introduction BPM models as communication tools. But: Sales can’t read BPMN. Invents own notation. Different departments have unrecognisably different models of the same process. Different departments have different views on (parts of) the same process. Solution: Abstraction & projection

SITUATION FACED

Situation faced Exformatics wanted to leverage declarative process tools to support the flexible processes found at BRFkredit. However, switching from flow-based notations to declarative ones brought challenges in understandability. We undertook this project to investigate and address these challenges

ACTION TAKEN

Action taken We undertook several full- and half-day meetings to discuss BRFkredit’s requirements. Based on these, we developed a prototype hybrid process-modelling approach: models are defined declaratively, the possible behavior of the model can be viewed and investigated using flow-based notions. The prototype was then presented to BRFkredit for feedback.

Declarative model This is the real unified model.

Processes are maps. Routes are the important information.

RESULTS ACHIEVED

Results achieved We clarified what it takes to make declarative process models understandable to end users at BRFkredit we showed how a hybrid approach could be used to satisfy these requirements. Based on these insights, we developed tools to enhance our existing declarative modelling framework with flow-based visualizations.

Showing only what a stakeholder cares about Projections Showing only what a stakeholder cares about

LESSONS LEARNED

Lessons learned Process models are used as tools for communication. Different stakeholders have different needs and preferred levels of abstraction for that use. One model that seems to fit most situations is a simple no-branches sequential swimlane diagram We extract such automatically from a more detailed declarative model. These observations enabled Exformatics to enhance its declarative modelling framework to make it more attractive to end-users.

No-branches swimlane

Fully detailed DCR process model. (Try it yourself at dcrgraphs.net) Swimlane, single-trace diagram extracts. Everybody understands those.

Projections … all possible because of formal, declarative DCR model.