Business process assignment and execution from cloud to mobile

Abstract

Connected to cloud, mobile devices enable workers to manage the business processes hosted on remote process engines. However, traditional business process execution is not tailored for mobile devices. Typically the business logic remains in the cloud, making the process execution on mobile devices vulnerable to unreliable network connection. In this paper, we propose a framework that assigns, deploys business process from cloud onto mobile devices and executes them in disconnected environments. To model the process assignment and execution on mobile devices, we extend BPMN with context constraints such as location and hardware resources. The proposed framework benefits from centralized process model management and the distributed process execution on mobile devices, regardless of the constant access to cloud. We implemented a prototype of mobile process engine with an application for blood pressure examination used by nurses in rural areas. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.