Round-trip Business Process Driven SOA modelling between ARIS and Cordys

151 Pages·2010·4.64 MB·English

Round-trip
Business Process Driven SOA
modelling between ARIS and Cordys
Master’s thesis, 13 January 2010

Melissa Cheung BSc.

Round-trip
Business Process Driven SOA modelling
between ARIS and Cordys

THESIS

submitted in partial fulfilment of
the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE
in
COMPUTER SCIENCE
TRACK INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

by

Melissa Yuen Shan Cheung
born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Web Information Systems Group
Department of Software Technology IDS Scheer Nederland BV
Faculty EEMCS, Delft University of Technology Loire 162, gebouw B
Delft, The Netherlands 2491 AL Den Haag
http://eemcs.tudelft.nl http://www.ids-scheer.nl

Round-trip
Business Process Driven SOA modelling
between ARIS and Cordys

Author: Melissa Yuen Shan Cheung
Student id: 1228161
Email: [email protected]

Abstract
Business process modelling is the core activity in Business Process Driven SOA. ARIS is a Business Process
Analysis (BPA) tool adequate for analyzing and designing business processes, while the execution and
monitoring of these processes is empowered by Cordys as Business Process Management Suite (BPMS). The
challenge is to enable iterative round-trip modelling across these two tools. Event-driven Process Chains
(EPC) and Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) have established themselves as the most used
modelling languages in the industry. Coupling ARIS and Cordys involves 1) transforming the high-level
business process models in EPC developed in ARIS into executable process models in Cordys BPMN, and 2)
ensuring round-trip development by means of interoperability.
A conceptual framework is proposed to couple a BPA and BPMS tool for round-trip business process
modelling. The framework utilizes concepts from the Model Driven Architecture for structural addressing
interoperability and model transformations. Business process models are developed and assessed from
high-level business, operational and technical viewpoints. Depending on the level of interoperability wished
for, different types of model transformations within and between these viewpoints apply. A combination of
methods from state-of-the-art literature will present how to achieve model transformations between
business process models. By ensuring interoperability with traceability enables managing the perception on
the real world with different viewpoints.
The framework is used for the ARIS and Cordys case. Analyzing and comparing the tools have given insight
into types of models, the information for exchange, and where possible coupling points are. Model
transformations are defined for EPC and Cordys BPMN models. The results of the framework provide a
theoretical base for achieving interoperability between ARIS and Cordys.

Keywords: business processes, BPM, SOA, model transformations, MDA, workflow patterns, ontology

Graduation Committee:
Prof. dr. ir. G.J. Houben, Faculty EEMCS, TU Delft
Dr.ir. A.J.H. Hidders, Faculty EEMCS, TU Delft
Ir. G.H.J. Van Gent, Manager, IDS Scheer
Dr.ir. J. van den Berg, Faculty TPM, TU Delft

Acknowledgements
During my Master Computer Science Information Architecture I was introduced to the paradigm of enterprise
agility. This master is a collaboration between the faculty EEMCS and TPM at Delft University of Technology. I have
gained a lot of knowledge by learning from two different faculties with different expertises.

My thesis is executed at IDS Scheer on this topic from April 2009 - January 2010. I am very thankful that I had the
opportunity to gain some practical experience, at a company with much expert knowledge in the area of
supporting enterprises in achieving agility.

There are many people who I would like to thank for educating and supporting me throughout this thesis.

First, I would like to thank the members of the University. I thank my daily supervisor, Jan Hidders. He provided
feedback and guided me on scientific grounds during my thesis. His support and valuable advice were of great help
during the execution of the thesis. Also thanks to Geert-Jan Houben, for his feedback, advice and encouragements.
His evaluation of my preliminary research has provided me with direction and foundation for this thesis. And
thanks to Jan van den Berg, for the advice he has given during the last project in my masters (the preparation
project for the thesis), and for providing feedback on my thesis project.

I would like to thank IDS Scheer, the company who has presented me with the opportunity to do my thesis.
Although he is not employed at IDS Scheer anymore, I would like to thank Marcel Heijnen, who was my supervisor
and had guided me during the first part of my thesis project. I am very grateful to his successor, Gerard van Gent,
for guiding and supporting me during the latter half of my thesis project. I appreciate the time and effort he has
invested in evaluating my thesis report, the discussions we’ve held, and the advice he has given. I would also like to
express my gratitude to Eric Roovers and Jeroen Havenaar for sharing their expert knowledge and experience on
this topic and their feedback. Eric had helped me by critically evaluating my thesis report, and supported and
educated me in meetings with regard to content. Jeroen had explained service oriented process modelling in detail
to me, and commented on example transformations. Many thanks also to all the other employees at IDS Scheer
who have shared their knowledge and provided tool trainings.

The thesis was executed at IDS Scheer, but would not be possible without cooperation of Cordys. I would like to
thank Henk Rietveld and Erwin Nooteboom for their willingness to participate in this project and their investments.
I am particularly thankful for Erwin’s support and feedback. Thanks for evaluating the thesis report, evaluating
model transformations, facilitating interviews with other Cordys employees and support during training of the
Cordys tool. Many thanks also to the other Cordys employees for sharing their knowledge.

I am grateful that both IDS Scheer and Cordys facilitated interviews with clients who have given me a very
enlightening impression of how the tools are deployed in the company. And of course, thanks to these clients for
sharing their experiences.

Last but not least, I thank my parents, brother, and friends for encouraging me during this thesis.

Melissa Cheung,
13 January 2010, Delft

Contents
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................................... iii
Contents ........................................................................................................................................................... v
List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................................... vii
List of Tables .......................................................................................................................................................... ix
Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2
1.1 Problem description ................................................................................................................................... 2
1.2 Research strategy ...................................................................................................................................... 4
1.3 Deliverables ............................................................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Outline ....................................................................................................................................................... 5
Part I. Introduction to Business Process Driven SOA ............................................................................................. 6
Chapter 2 Business Process Driven SOA ........................................................................................................................ 7
2.1 A theoretical BPD SOA life cycle ................................................................................................................. 7
2.2 Perspectives and roles................................................................................................................................ 8
2.3 Strategies for BPD SOA adoption ............................................................................................................... 9
2.4 Tooling for BPD SOA ................................................................................................................................. 11
Chapter 3 Process modelling for BPD SOA .................................................................................................................. 13
3.1 Event-driven Process Chain ...................................................................................................................... 13
3.2 Business Process Modeling Notation ....................................................................................................... 14
3.3 Views on Business Process Modelling ...................................................................................................... 16
Part II. Conceptual Framework for BPD SOA round-trip modelling ...................................................................... 18
Chapter 4 Conceptual Framework for BPD SOA round-trip modelling across two tools ........................................... 19
4.1 Preliminary: process governance and qualitative modelling .................................................................. 19
4.2 Context analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 21
4.3 Dimensions ............................................................................................................................................... 22
4.4 Model transformation.............................................................................................................................. 24
4.5 Maintaining interoperability: traceability ................................................................................................ 27
4.6 Overview of the framework ..................................................................................................................... 29
Chapter 5 Approaches for model transformations ..................................................................................................... 31
5.1 Ontologies and meta-models ................................................................................................................... 31
5.2 Patterns in business processes ................................................................................................................. 33
5.3 Related work ............................................................................................................................................ 35
5.4 Horizontal transformation ....................................................................................................................... 37
5.5 Vertical transformation ........................................................................................................................... 38
Part III. Using the framework for ARIS and Cordys .............................................................................................. 42
Chapter 6 BPD SOA modelling coupling for ARIS and Cordys ...................................................................................... 43
6.1 Context analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 43
6.2 Dimensions ............................................................................................................................................... 46
Chapter 7 Model transformations and Traceability for ARIS and Cordys ................................................................... 48
7.1 Horizontal transformation ....................................................................................................................... 48
7.2 Exchange formats .................................................................................................................................... 58
7.3 Vertical transformation ........................................................................................................................... 58
7.4 Traceability for ARIS and Cordys .............................................................................................................. 62
7.5 Validation ................................................................................................................................................. 65
Contents | v
Chapter 8 Interoperability between ARIS and Cordys ................................................................................................. 66
8.1 Current tool support in model exchange ................................................................................................. 66
8.2 Design-time versus run-time .................................................................................................................... 66
8.3 Step to step ARIS EPC to Cordys BPMN .................................................................................................... 67
8.4 Design considerations for IDS Scheer and Cordys .................................................................................... 69
Part IV. Conclusions & Recommendations .......................................................................................................... 72
Chapter 9 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................. 73
9.1 Design-time in ARIS and Run-time in Cordys............................................................................................ 73
9.2 Round-trip between ARIS EPC and Cordys BPMN process models ........................................................... 74
9.3 Ensuring iterative modelling between ARIS and Cordys .......................................................................... 74
9.4 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................................................. 75
9.5 Contributions ........................................................................................................................................... 75
Chapter 10 Recommendations .................................................................................................................................... 76
10.1 Limitations & Future Work ....................................................................................................................... 76
Bibliography ......................................................................................................................................................... 78
List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................................................... 86
Reflection ......................................................................................................................................................... 88
Appendices .......................................................................................................................................................... 90
Appendix A. ARIS Business-Driven SOA by IDS Scheer ............................................................................................. 91
Appendix B. Cordys Business Process Management Suite ....................................................................................... 98
Appendix C. Roles in BPD SOA ................................................................................................................................ 103
Appendix D. Meta-model analysis EPC & BPMN..................................................................................................... 105
Appendix E. Evaluation of BPMN and EPC as modelling languages ....................................................................... 110
Appendix F. Assessment of non-main EPC and C-BPMN objects ........................................................................... 113
Appendix G. Structural Design Patterns for EPC and BPMN ................................................................................... 115
Appendix H. ARIS EPC to BPMN transformation support ....................................................................................... 127
Appendix I. Parameterized patterns Domain Example ......................................................................................... 129

vi | Contents