Information-decision model for self-controlling enterprise processes

Abstract

This study demonstrates that integrated management and direct control systems may be organised as integrated enterprise process control (EntPC) systems, which are composed of self-controlling enterprise business processes. A business process has been defined as a control system for business activities, which are considered to be business processes of the lower level, or as base processes that are control systems for control plants in the form of infrastructure operations. An enterprise process also influences its delivery. This definition has been generally compared with definitions used in approaches of BPMN, YAWL, ARIS, DEMO and MERODE. Each enterprise process has its own controlling unit that contains one information unit and one decision unit, as well as memory places of the information-decision state variables that are processed by the business transitions that belong to these units. The i-d state variables are attributes of business objects, i.e. business units, business roles, business activities, business accounts and business products. Their values are transferred between business transitions that belong to the same or different controlling units. Relationships between business objects, business transitions and i-d state variables, as well as the other most important concepts of the EntPC system framework (EntPCF), are presented in this paper as the class diagrams of the enterprise process control language (EntPCL).