Generic recurrent patterns in business processes

Abstract

There doesn't seem to be much commonality among business processes, even not if they belong to the same kind of organization. However, by applying the right kind of abstraction from realization issues and by rooting this abstraction is the CAP-theory, it appears that there is a generic recurrent pattern in all business processes. This pattern, called the transaction, is presented and elaborated in this paper. The part of the underlying CAP-theory (Coordination-Actors-Production) that is necessary for understanding and appreciating it is explained. The focus in this paper is on the Coordination aspect. An outlook is given on the potential benefits of the transaction pattern for the analysis and design of business processes. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.