Business process modelling and simulation: hybrid method for concurrency aspect modelling

Abstract

BPMN is successfull y used for business process visualization and it has the ability to represent an aspect of a workflow. A workflow is defined as a set of activities that coordinate people and/or software. Moreover, a workflow is not equal to a business process, as a business process covers more aspects than a workflow. Therefore, the use of BPMN models generates several difficulties in business pr ocess modelling and particularly in simulation, e.g. in task modelling, BPMN does not support a capability to consider limited resources and time perspective that are essential for business process simulation. Consecutively, when a business process has a limitation of resources or a parallel task execution, then an aspect of concurrency must be represented. A concurrency can be found in business process simulation and execution, and appears, when several jobs are executing simultaneously (in concurrency manner), potentially interacting with each other when using the same resources. Concurrencies can be found in business process simulation and execution. The paper discusses workflow and concurrency aspects in business process modelling and simulation, and proposes a hybrid approach for modelling and simulation of business processes with limited resources.