A process model representation for supporting concurrent engineering

Abstract

The idea of a temporal sequence of phenomena, present in the process concept, is a challenge for the concurrent engineering (CE) development. There, inherent concepts as overlap, interaction, and iteration of activities are not jet enough treated. It misses new methodologies and models leading to concurrent processes. For replacing sequential process models representations, we propose a contextual model expressing actions and interactions of interrelated internal and external agents. A group of social or organizational complementary processes, or a particular process, aiming to specific objectives could be represented as a graph of involved interacting agents connected among them by processes or process's activities. We use business processes of an engineering service firma for illustrating the proposed approach. © Springer-Verlag London 2013.