Use cases for understanding business process models

Abstract

Process models are used by people for many different purposes. Depending on that purpose, users may look into process models in different ways. However, the current stream of research into process model comprehension does not explicitly consider the type of information that a user is seeking for. By failing to do so, attempts to improve the readability of process models may be lopsided at best. To overcome this situation, we propose a list of 17 so-called process model comprehension use cases. These capture the different types of information-seeking behavior of the users. We validated the list through interview and focus group studies, which included 24 participants from 8 organizations. Based on our findings, we present implications for researchers to re-investigate the comprehension topic. The use cases may also be beneficial for the development of modeling tools and process modelers to better support the user needs.