Optimizing a Business Process Model by Using Simulation

Abstract

Abstract-In this paper we present the problem of optimizing a business process model with the objective of finding the most beneficial assignment of tasks to agents, without modifying the structure of the process itself. The task assignment problem for four types of processes are distinguished and algorithms for finding optimal solutions to them are presented: 1) a business process with a predetermined workflow, for which the optimal solution is conveniently found using the well-known Hungarian algorithm. 2) a Markovian process, for which we present an analytical method that reduces it to the first type. 3) a nonMarkovian process, for which we employ a simulation method to obtain the optimal solution. 4) the most general case, i.e. a nonMarkovian process containing critical tasks. In such processes, depending on the agents that perform critical tasks the workflow of the process may change. We introduce two algorithms for this type of processes. One that finds the optimal solution, but is feasible only when the number of critical tasks is few. The second algorithm is even applicable to large number of critical tasks but provides a near-optimal solution. In the second algorithm a hill-climbing heuristic method is combined with Hungarian algorithm and simulation to find an overall near-optimal solution for assignments of tasks to agents. The results of a series of tests that demonstrate the feasibility of the algorithms are included.

A model-driven method for building distributed simulation systems from business process models

“…Concerning the use of simulation-based techniques for conducting BPs analysis, two relevant contributions are (Kamrani et al 2010) and (Yang et al 2010). In (Kamrani et al 2010), a BPMN extension to enable the association of performance information to task and activity constructs is introduced.…”

“…Concerning the use of simulation-based techniques for conducting BPs analysis, two relevant contributions are (Kamrani et al 2010) and (Yang et al 2010). In (Kamrani et al 2010), a BPMN extension to enable the association of performance information to task and activity constructs is introduced. Then, the proposed approach exploits such extension to estimate an overall measure of the BP performance by simulating a model of human agent's performance.…”

Resource-based Modeling and Simulation of Business Processes

“…On the other hand, the concrete use of simulation-based analysis of BPs is still limited, mainly due to the fact that building simulation models require a non-negligible effort and significant skills [4,5,6].…”

Simulation-based performance and reliability analysis of business processes

“…On the other hand, the concrete use of simulation-based analysis of Business Processes (BPs) is still limited, mainly due to the fact that the specification, implementation and execution of simulation models require a non-negligible effort and significant skills (Hook 2011;Kamrani, Ayani, and Karimson 2010;van der Aalst et al 2010).…”