Evaluation and Acceptance of Process Modelling Grammars

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Administering Institution:   Queensland University of Technology

Chief Investigators:           Prof Michael Rosemann, PhD and Mr Jan Recker (Queensland University of Technology)

Partner Investigators:        Prof Peter Green, PhD and Dr Marta Indulska, PhD (The University of Queensland)

Category:                         2801 - INFORMATION SYSTEMS

This research project forms part of the activities at QUT's Business Process Management Group at the Faculty of Information Technology. The project comprises a PhD funded by Top-Up Scholarship which contributes in the area of "Evaluating the Prospective Process Modelling Standard BPMN" (Jan Recker).

Recent News

As part of this research project, a web-based survey has been developed to study the user acceptance of, and satisfaction with, leading process modelling grammars. Anyone that uses Event-driven Process Chains to create process models for whatever purpose is welcome and encouraged to participate in the survey. Please click this link to participate.

Project Overview

The increased interest in a more disciplined approach for Business Process Management has motivated many organizations to make significant investments in process modelling initiatives and it has triggered significant related research. One outcome of this development is the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) that has been ratified as a process modelling industry standard by the Object Management Group in 2007. BPMN has become over the last two years a popular process modelling grammar.

However, research to date has yet to examine the factors influencing actual acceptance and continued usage patterns of process modelling grammars. Some related questions in this context include: What constitutes a successful process modelling grammar? What are main drivers and barriers in the uptake of modelling grammars in BPM initiatives? How can you differentiate the capabilities and shortcomings of various alternative process modelling grammars? How relevant are actual capabilities of a grammar to the user acceptance of these grammars? What drives user satisfaction with a process modelling grammar? This project seeks to provide answers to these and other related questions.

Research team

Michael Rosemann, Professor
Jan Recker, Senior Lecturer
Peter Green, Professor (UQ Business School, University of Queensland)
Marta Indulska, Lecturer (UQ Business School, University of Queensland)

Publications (Background IP and Current Publications)

Findings from this research have been presented at various top tier conference outlets in Information Systems, including ICIS, ECIS, AMCIS, ACIS, CAiSE, ER, EMMSAD and others. Presentations about this research have also been given at various research institutes, including the Hasso Plattner-Institute for Software Systems Engineering, Potsdam Germany, the Institute for Information Systems at the University of Saarland, Saarbruecken, Germany and the Howe School of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, United States.

The findings from this research have furthermore led to the following refereed publications, most of which are available through QUT’s ePrint archive.

• Recker, J., Niehaves, B. (forthcoming): Epistemological Perspectives on Ontology-based Theories for Conceptual Modeling. Forthcoming in: Applied Ontology, special issue on "Ontological Foundations for Conceptual Modeling".
• Rosemann, M., Green, P., Indulska, M., Recker, J. (forthcoming): Using Ontology for the Representational Analysis of Process Modeling Techniques. Forthcoming in: International Journal of Business Process Integration and Management, special issue on "Vocabularies, Ontologies and Rules for The Enterprise".
• Indulska, M., Recker, J., Green, P., Rosemann, M. (2008): Representational Deficiency of Process Modelling Languages: Measures and Implications. Accepted for publication at the 16th European Conference on Information Systems. 9-11 June 2008, Galway, Ireland.
• zur Muehlen, M., Recker, J. (2008): How Much Language is Enough? Theoretical and Practical Use of the Business Process Modeling Notation. Accepted for publication at the 20th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering. 18-20 June 2008, Montpellier, France.
• Recker, J., Rosemann, M., Krogstie, J. (2007): Ontology- versus Pattern-based Evaluation of Process Modeling Languages: A Comparison. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 20, Art. 48, pp. 774-799.
• Recker, J. (2007): A Socio-Pragmatic Constructionist Framework for Understanding Quality in Process Modelling. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 14, Iss. 2, pp. 43-63.
• Recker, J., Indulska, M. (2007): An Ontology-Based Evaluation of Process Modeling with Petri Nets. Journal of Interoperability in Business Information Systems, Vol. 2, Iss. 1, pp. 45-64.
• Recker, J., Rosemann, M., Green, P., Indulska, M. (2007): Extending the Scope of Representation Theory: A Review and a Proposed Research Model. In D. Hart and S. Gregor (eds.): Information Systems Foundations: Theory, Representation and Reality. ANU E Press, Canberra, Australia, pp. 93-114.
• Recker, J., Mendling, J. (2007): Lost in Business Process Model Translations: How a Structured Approach helps to Identify Conceptual Mismatch. In K. Siau (ed.): Research Issues in Systems Analysis and Design, Databases and Software Development. IGI Publishing, Hershey, Pennsylvania, pp. 227-259.
• Recker, J., Dreiling, A. (2007): Does it matter which process modelling language we teach or use? An experimental study on understanding process modelling languages without formal education. In M. Toleman, A. Cater-Steel and D. Roberts (eds.): Proceedings of the 18th Australasian Conference on Information Systems 2007. The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia, pp. 356-366.
• Recker, J. (2007): Why Do We Keep Using A Process Modelling Technique? In M. Toleman, A. Cater-Steel and D. Roberts (eds.): Proceedings of the 18th Australasian Conference on Information Systems 2007. The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia, pp. 49-59.
• zur Muehlen, M., Recker, J., Indulska, M. (2007): Sometimes Less is More: Are Process Modeling Languages Overly Complex? In K. Taveter and D. Gasevic (eds.): Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Vocabularies, Ontologies and Rules for The Enterprise. IEEE, Annapolis, Maryland.
• Recker, J., Indulska, M., Green, P. (2007): Extending Representational Analysis: BPMN User and Developer Perspectives. In G. Alonso, P. Dadam and M. Rosemann (eds.): Business Process Management - BPM 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 4714. Springer, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 384-399.
• Recker, J., Rosemann, M. (2007): Integration of Models for Understanding Continuance of Process Modeling Techniques. In: Proceedings of the 13th Americas Conference on Information Systems. Keystone, Colorado 2007.
• Indulska, M., Recker, J., Green, P., Rosemann, M. (2007): Are We There Yet? Seamless Mapping of BPMN to BPEL4WS. In: Proceedings of the 13th Americas Conference on Information Systems. Keystone, Colorado 2007.
• Recker, J. (2007): A Study on the Decision to Continue Using a Modeling Grammar. In: Proceedings of the 13th Americas Conference on Information Systems. Keystone, Colorado 2007.
• Recker, J., Mendling, J. (2007): Adequacy in Process Modeling: A Review of Measures and a Proposed Research Agenda - Position Paper -. In: B. Pernici and J. A. Gulla: CAiSE 2007 Workshop Proceedings Vol. 1. Tapir Academic Press, Trondheim, Norway, pp. 235-244.
• Mendling, J., Recker, J. (2007): Extending the Discussion of Model Quality: Why Clarity and Completeness may not always be enough. In: B. Pernici and J. A. Gulla: CAiSE 2007 Workshop Proceedings Vol. 1. Tapir Academic Press, Trondheim, Norway, pp. 109-121.
• Recker, J., Rosemann, M. (2007): Understanding the Process of Constructing Scales Inventories in the Process Modelling Domain. In: H. Österle, J. Schelp and R. Winter: Proceedings of the 15th European Conference on Information Systems. University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland, pp. 2014-2025.
• Green, P., Rosemann, M., Indulska, M., Recker, J. (2006): Improving Representational Analysis: An Example from the Enterprise Systems Interoperability Domain. In: S. Spencer and A. Jenkins: Proceedings of the 17th Australasian Conference on Information Systems. Australasian Association for Information Systems, Adelaide, Australia.
• Recker, J., Rosemann, M., Green, P., Indulska, M. (2006): Towards a Theory of Modeling Grammar Acceptance. Proceedings of the Journal of AIS sponsored Theory Development Workshop following ICIS2006. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, December 14, 2006.
• Recker, J., Rosemann, M., Green, P., Indulska, M. (2006): Extending the Scope of Representation Theory: A Review and a Proposed Research Model. In: D. Hart and S. Gregor: Information Systems Foundations: Theory, Representation and Reality. Proceedings of the 3rd ANU Information Systems Foundations Workshop. School of Accounting and Business Information Systems, Canberra, Australia, pp. 126-140.
• Recker, J., Wohed, P., Rosemann., M. (2006): Representation Theory versus Workflow Patterns – The Case of BPMN. In: D. W. Embley, A. Olive and S. Ram: Conceptual Modeling - ER2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 4215. Springer, Tucson, Arizona, pp. 68-83.
• Recker, J., Mendling, J. (2006): On the Translation between BPMN and BPEL: Conceptual Mismatch between Process Modeling Languages. In: T. Latour and M. Petit: The 18th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering. Proceedings of Workshops and Doctoral Consortium. Namur University Press, Luxembourg, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, pp. 521-532.
• Recker, J., Indulska, M., Rosemann, M., Green, P. (2006): How Good is BPMN Really? Insights from Theory and Practice. In: J. Ljungberg and M. Andersson: Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Information Systems. Goeteborg, Sweden, pp. 1582-1593.
• Recker, J. (2006): Towards an Understanding of Process Model Quality. Methodological Considerations. In: J. Ljungberg and M. Andersson: Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Information Systems. Goeteborg, Sweden, pp. 434-445.
• Rosemann, M., Recker, J., Indulska, M., Green, P. (2006): A Study of the Evolution of the Representational Capabilities of Process Modeling Grammars. In E. Dubois and K. Pohl: Advanced Information Systems Engineering - CAiSE 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 4001. Springer, Luxembourg, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, pp. 447-461.
• Recker, J., Indulska, M., Rosemann, M., Green, P. (2005): Do Process Modelling Techniques Get Better? A Comparative Ontological Analysis of BPMN. In B. Campbell, J. Underwood, D. Bunker (eds.): Proceedings of the 16th Australasian Conference on Information Systems. Australasian Chapter of the Association for Information Systems, Sydney, Australia. Nominated for Best Paper Award (out of 262 submissions)
• Recker, J. (2005): Developing Ontological Theories for Conceptual Models using Qualitative Research. In: J. Beekhuyzen (ed.): Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Qualitative Research in IT & IT in Qualitative Research. Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
• Recker, J. (2005): Evaluation of Conceptual Modeling Languages. An Epistemological Discussion. In N. C. Romano et al. (eds.): Proceedings of the 2005 Americas Conference on Information Systems. Association for Information Systems, Omaha, Nebraska, pp. 329-337.
• Recker, J. (2005): Conceptual Model Evaluation. Towards more Paradigmatic Rigor. In J. Castro and E. Teniente (eds.): Proceedings of the CAiSE'05 Workshops - Volume I. FEUP, Porto, Portugal, pp. 569-580.