The Relational Process Structure

• Published in: Advanced Information Systems Engineering Vol. 10816; pp. 53 - 67
• Main Authors: Steinau, Sebastian, Andrews, Kevin, Reichert, Manfred
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Springer International Publishing AG 2018; Springer International Publishing
• Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Subjects: Data-centric processes; Many-to-many relationships; Process interactions; Relational process structure
• ISBN: 3319915622; 9783319915623
• ISSN: 0302-9743; 1611-3349
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-91563-0_4

Using data-centric process paradigms, small processes such as artifacts, object lifecycles, or Proclets have become an alternative to large, monolithic models. In these paradigms, a business process arises from the interactions between small processes. However, many-to-many relationships may exist between different process types, requiring careful consideration to ensure that the interactions between processes can be purposefully coordinated. Although several concepts exist for modeling interrelated processes, a concept that considers both many-to-many relationships and cardinality constraints is missing. Furthermore, existing concepts focus on design-time, neglecting the complexity introduced by many-to-many relationships when enacting extensive process structures at run-time. The knowledge which process instances are related to which other process instances is essential. This paper proposes the relational process structure, a concept providing full support for many-to-many-relationships and cardinality constraints at both design- and run-time. The relational process structure represents a cornerstone to the proper coordination of interrelated processes.