Configurable IoT-aware allocation in business processes

Abstract

Based on specific requirements, various Internet of Things (IoT) devices participate in multiple cross-organizational business processes. However, to achieve the desired business value, these IoT resources must be managed efficiently. Configurable Process Model (CPM) facilitates flexibility and reuse by sharing a family of process variants, which can be customized based on concrete business requirements. The classical approaches to develop CPMs focus mainly on the control-flow perspective, without providing concepts to tackle the complexity involved in the IoT domain. In this paper, we address this research gap by proposing configuration concepts for modeling IoT resource variability, which arises due to specific resource properties and behavior such as Replication and Shareability, at the CPM level. Furthermore, we validate our approach based on the results of our experimentation and demonstrate its feasibility through an implemented prototype.