Characterizing process variation (NIER track)

Abstract

A process model, namely a formal definition of the coordination of agents performing activities using resources and artifacts, can aid understanding of the real-world process it models. Moreover, analysis of the model can suggest improvements to the real-world process. Complex real-world processes, however, exhibit considerable amounts of variation that can be difficult or impossible to represent with a single process model. Such processes can often be modeled better, within the restrictions of a given modeling notation, by a family of models. This paper presents an approach to the formal characterization of some of these process families. A variety of needs for process variation are identified, and suggestions are made about how to meet some of these needs using different approaches. Some mappings of different needs for variability to approaches for meeting them are presented as case studies.

Generation, composition, and verification of families of human-intensive systems

“…In previous work, we have discussed how some problem-level variation requirements are nicely addressed by solution-level variation approaches that exploit hierarchy by building upon a common core [29]. We have also described some suggested mappings [27] that make it easier to identify what solution-level techniques can meet different problemlevel needs. In this paper, we focus on solution-level support for functional detail variation and service variation, as they have been found to successfully address a multitude of needs for problemlevel variation that arise in the election process domain, as well as in the domains of online dispute resolution and healthcare.…”

“…We have previously described process families based on the need to achieve different levels of robustness [27,29], which we defined as variation in the extent to which different variants are able to recover from different kinds and different degrees of incorrect or abusive use. Although we do not discuss robustness variation in detail here, we note that robustness variation at the implementation level can often be effected by varying the exception management of a process, especially if that is possible to achieve without disturbing the nominal control flow of the process.…”

“…We refer to requirements specifications that mandate these various kinds of variation in HISs as problem-level variation. In previous work we have identified several kinds of problem-level variation [29] and suggested how each might be addressed and implemented by different kinds of solution-level variation techniques [27]. We continue to study this dichotomy, but in this paper, we focus only on solution-level variation.…”