An approach to cooperation-oriented business processes

Abstract

This paper stresses the cooperative nature of business processes (BPs) and proposes an outside-in approach (called BPcoach) to their development. BPs are seen as the central players in collective actions carried out with a number of other participants including (human) users and automated services. BPs are assumed to act as the mediators among the various parties and, for this reason, binary collaboration models are first defined, which establish the interactions between the other participants (subdivided in roles) and the intended BP. The initial models of the BP and the associated information system can be automatically derived from such collaboration models, and then they are enriched until the requirements are completely met. The approach is exemplified with a case study. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.