Mapping UML and Business Process Simulation Models for BP and IT Integration

S. de Cesare, M. Themistocleous, and A. Serrano (UK)

Keywords

: IS design, BP design, Simulation, modeling,BP modeling.

Abstract

Business process practitioners agree on the fact that the initial stages of a business process change (BPC) study should include the analysis of the organization needs, the development of business models to portray this information, and the identification of process enablers, amongst which IT is one of the most relevant ones. This paper argues that some of the information required in the initial stages of a BPC study can be derived from the models created during the IS development process. Furthermore, the same can be applied when designing IS. Some of the information depicted in BP models can be used in the initial stages of an IS design process. In addition to this, literature suggests that one of the most dominant techniques used to redesign processes is simulation. Consequently, this paper proposes a mapping framework to use the information depicted in IS models (UML diagrams) to create business process simulation models. The advantages of using this framework can be seen in two different perspectives. First, sharing the information between BP and IS models contributes to foster collaboration between analysts in both domains. Second, aiding the collaboration between analysts help to produce more integrated solutions.

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