Evolution of goal-driven pattern families for business process modeling

Abstract

Using patterns is a well-known approach for increasing reusability. A pattern-based framework that lays down a foundation for capturing knowledge about business goals and processes and customizing it for specific organizations in a given domain is hence valuable. However, the problems and solutions within a domain are always changing. Consequently, such framework can be useful only if it can evolve over time. In this paper, we propose and formalize a mechanism for evolving a pattern-based framework for goal-driven business process models. We demonstrate its feasibility with an example from the patient safety domain that illustrates how to evolve a pattern family with our extension algorithm. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.