1. Simulating Processes Motivation
Study process executions without implementing the process for validation
When we discuss or review process models, we „simulate“ them

2. Simulating Business Processes
Step-through simulation
Understand process behavior (qualitative simulation)
Single-instance simulation
Associate additional properties to activities and resources and run a single instance to learn about its performance (e.g., cost)
Quantitative evaluation, one instance
Multi-instances simulation
Run many process instances concurrently and get an idea about the runtime and cost of executing these process instances
Detailed representation of resources required
Not covered in this course

3. Step-through Simulation
Usage
Used during process model design to achieve a common understanding of the behavior of a business process
Walk through a process model step by step
Technically
Simulation is done by persons, using a simulation engine
Simulation engine calculates the dependencies of activities and triggers state transitions
During step-through simulation, users trigger
state transitions of activity instances from ready to terminated, and
the selection of conditions

4. Step-through Simulation
The user triggers a state transition from ready to terminated of the register claim activity instance

5. Step-through Simulation
User selects a condition of an XOR split

6. Quantitative Simulation
Quantitative simulation allows estimating the performance of a process before its implementation
How long does a process instance take?
What is the cost of one process instance?
Additional simulation information is required, for instance
Time and cost of conducting activities

7. Simulating Insurance Claim Process
Insurance claim scenario: compare costs to approve or reject a received claim
Activity processing times
register claim: 5 min
decide on claim coverage: 15 min
prepare approval letter: 8 min
prepare rejection letter: 15 min
Cost
Staff member: 40 € ∕ hour, each letter sent: 1.5 €

8. Single Instance Simulation
Cost and time for approving a claim
Cost calculation
register claim: 5 min ∙ 40 € ∕ 60 min = 3.33 €
decide on claim coverage: 15 min ∙ 40 € ∕ 60 min = 10 €
prepare approval letter: 8 min ∙ 40 € ∕ 60 min = 5.33 € €

9. Single Instance Simulation
Cost and time for rejecting a claim
Rejection is more costly, because writing of the letter takes longer
register claim: 5 min ∙ 40 € ∕ 60 min = 3.33€
decide on claim coverage: 15 min ∙ 40 € ∕ 60 min = 10€
prepare letter of rejection: 15 min ∙ 40 € ∕ 60 min = 10€ + 1.5€

10. Data and Processes Motivation for data in processes Modeling data
Data-based process control
Consistency between processes and data
Analysis of data anomalies in business processes
I dropped the case handling and the artifact centric business processes slides
I completed the translation of the text in the slides
What is missing is the translation of some figures
Also, I need to add slides about data anomalies

11. Motivation for data in processes
Traditionally
Focus is on activities and control flow
But data are also recognized
as identifiers of items (activities, events)
Occasionally, as data objects
In this figure, you can see that the terms Order, item, packed are mentioned in the labels of tasks

12. Motivation for data in processes
Executing processes
IT system-supported process execution comes to the foreground
Executable processes require precise information needed to create data objects
What is covered
Modeling data objects
States of a data object within the process execution
Interaction between activities and data
Consistency of processes and object lifecycles

13. Example: Data objects
The „order processing“ process works on a variety of data objects
Read / Write by edge directions

14. Data in Processes: Decisions
Visualization of data objects facilitates understanding of data flow and data dependencies
Decisions at gateways can be based on data, as data-based XOR-Split
Examples
Credit risk is „high“
Total price < 3000 €
See Figure
Decision based on the current
state of a data object

15. Data Modeling in BPMN Data object Data store
„items, physical or information items“
States
Data object with external structure: list
Data store
Data from an external source for the entire process
Data input
Data output
Messages
Can refer to data objects identifiers

16. Data Modeling in BPMN Associations Not considered in BPMN Read Write
Data structures, behavior of objects
Using the corresponding UML diagram types
Expression language
Standard XPath and XQuery

17. Data-based Decisions
Decisions at XOR or OR gateways are based on information from data objects
Transaction amount of the request
Truth value of a specific attribute
Evaluation of the decision parameters in BPMN
"Proposal": XMLSchema (XSD) and XPATH
Translate the figure to English

18. Multi-Instance Simulation
Additional value comes with multi-instance simulation, which requires a more detailed simulation model
Case frequency (arrival times)
Available resources
Organizational structures, i.e., number of employees, equipment
Working times of employees
Start and end of simulation
Number of cases
Time interval
Simulation runs a number of instances and aggregates cost and performance values
Shows bottlenecks, over- and underutilization of resources