@conference {Antonacci2016124, title = {A BPMN-based automated approach for the analysis of healthcare processes}, booktitle = {Proceedings - 25th IEEE International Conference on Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises, WETICE 2016}, year = {2016}, note = {cited By 0}, pages = {124-129}, publisher = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.}, organization = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.}, abstract = {

Healthcare organizations are increasingly pushed to improve the quality of care service taking into account the increasing complexity in patient treatment and the continuous reduction of available resources. The adoption of Business Process Management (BPM) practices is thus becoming a key enabler for the improvement of healthcare processes (HPs). Accordingly, methods and tools are required to address behavioral and performance aspects from the early phases of the process lifecycle in order to improve the quality of healthcare, reduce costly reworks and increase the effectiveness of BPM approaches. This paper specifically addresses the specification and analysis phases of the process lifecycle and introduces a model-driven method for healthcare process simulation. The proposed method is based on a model transformation approach that takes as input the process specification in BPMN, appropriately extended to include the performance properties of the process, and yields as output the corresponding process simulation code, ready to be executed. In order to illustrate the method and its effectiveness, the paper describes an example application to a process dealing with the hip fracture for elderly patients. {\textcopyright} 2016 IEEE.

}, keywords = {Administrative data processing, BPMN, Business process management, Enterprise resource management, Health care, Healthcare process, Life cycle, Model transformation, Patient treatment, Process simulations, Specifications}, isbn = {9781509016631}, doi = {10.1109/WETICE.2016.35}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84983805389\&partnerID=40\&md5=524846f6fc6c8c3f937421168f86515c}, author = {Antonacci, G. and Calabrese, A. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Giglio, A. and Intrigila, B. and Ghiron, N.L.}, editor = {Reddy S.M., Gaaloul W.} } @conference {D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio2016, title = {Towards performance-oriented perfective evolution of BPMN models}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2016 Spring Simulation Multiconference - TMS/DEVS Symposium on Theory of Modeling and Simulation, TMS/DEVS 2016}, year = {2016}, note = {cited By 0}, publisher = {The Society for Modeling and Simulation International}, organization = {The Society for Modeling and Simulation International}, abstract = {

Simulation techniques are successfully applied to analyze and validate the performance of a business process (BP) since the early phases of its lifecycle, when the BP representation is commonly specified in BPMN. The BP simulation model is first to be built from the BPMN model, then implemented and finally executed to yield the performance indices of interest. The model building activity includes a parameterization task that is carried out either by use of tool-specific facilities or through standardized languages for specifying simulation model parameters. In both cases, the parameters have to be externally linked to the BPMN model. A similar reasoning applies to the simulation results. This paper introduces a BPMN extension to annotate BPMN models with both the input parameters and the results provided by the BP analysis, so as to include in a single BPMN model all the data associated to the simulation-based analysis of a given BP. The paper also outlines an architecture that exploits the proposed extension to realize the performance-oriented perfective evolution of BPMN models, or the ability to introduce a feedback chain that makes use of simulation results to automatically refactor a BP model in order to better meet the BP performance objectives. {\textcopyright}2016 Society for Modeling \& Simulation International (SCS).

}, keywords = {BPMN, Business Process, Circuit simulation, Performance indices, Performance objective, Performance-oriented, Simulation, Simulation technique, Simulation-based analysis, Software architecture, Software engineering}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84978142027\&partnerID=40\&md5=d9a565c888c8c352dcbe3e6d0a81d2ac}, author = {Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Paglia, E. and Bocciarelli, P. and Giglio, A.}, editor = {Barros F., Hu X., Denil J., Prahofer H.} } @conference {Bocciarelli2014278, title = {Empowering business process simulation through automated model transformations}, booktitle = {Simulation Series}, volume = {46}, number = {4}, year = {2014}, note = {cited By 2}, pages = {278-286}, publisher = {The Society for Modeling and Simulation International}, organization = {The Society for Modeling and Simulation International}, abstract = {Simulation is one of the most relevant techniques that can be used in the business process management domain to effectively enact a continuous enhancement of business processes (BPs). However, the effectiveness of BP simulation is still limited for several reasons (e.g., lack of simulation know-how of BP analysts, simulation model parameters hard to determine, semantic gap between the business process model and the simulation model). To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes a model-driven method that introduces a set of model transformations to automate the generation of executable simulation code of a BP from its abstract definition in BPMN, the standard language for specifying business processes. The simulation code is specified in eBPMN, a Java-based domain-specific language that has been designed and implemented according to the BPMN execution semantics.}, keywords = {Administrative data processing, BPM, BPMN, Computer simulation, Computer simulation languages, EBPMN, Enterprise resource management, Mathematical models, MDA, Model transformation, Problem oriented languages, Semantics, Software architecture, Technology transfer}, isbn = {9781632662156}, issn = {07359276}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84901985241\&partnerID=40\&md5=ebb5d7bb28209e8901e06a4b70f40735}, author = {Bocciarelli, P. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Giglio, A. and Paglia, E. and Gianni, D.} } @conference {Bocciarelli2014325, title = {A language for enabling model-driven analysis of business processes}, booktitle = {MODELSWARD 2014 - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Model-Driven Engineering and Software Development}, year = {2014}, note = {cited By 5}, pages = {325-332}, publisher = {SciTePress}, organization = {SciTePress}, abstract = {

The use of simulation-based approaches for the analysis of business processes enables the design-time prediction of the process behavior and/or the operation-time process reconfiguration. However, the effectiveness of BP simulation is still limited for several reasons (e.g., lack of simulation know-how of BP analysts, simulation model parameters that can be hard to gather, large semantic gap between the business process model and the simulation model). To overcome such limitations, this paper introduces a modeldriven method to automatically build the executable simulation code of a business process from its abstract definition in BPMN, the standard language for specifying business processes. The simulation code is specified in eBPMN, a novel domain-specific language that has been designed and implemented according to the BPMN execution semantics. Copyright {\textcopyright} 2014 SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications. All rights reserved.

}, keywords = {BPMN, Business Process, Computer simulation, Computer simulation languages, Domain specific languages, Model transformation, Performance, Problem oriented languages, Semantics, Simulation, Software design, Technology transfer}, isbn = {9789897580079}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84906910126\&partnerID=40\&md5=d8853e490341214705bedcb2f8ce2260}, author = {Bocciarelli, P. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio and Paglia, E.} } @article {Bocciarelli2014573, title = {A model-driven method for enacting the design-time QoS analysis of business processes}, journal = {Software and Systems Modeling}, volume = {13}, number = {2}, year = {2014}, note = {cited By 6}, pages = {573-598}, publisher = {Springer Verlag}, abstract = {

Business Process Management (BPM) is a holistic approach for describing, analyzing, executing, managing, and improving large enterprise business processes. A business process can be seen as a flow of tasks that are orchestrated to accomplish well-defined goals such as goods production or services delivery. From an IT perspective, BPM is closely related to a business process automation approach carried out by use of IT standards and technologies, such as service-oriented architectures (SOAs) and Web Services. This paper specifically focuses on fully automated business processes that are defined and executed as orchestrations of software services. In a BPM context, the ability to predict at design time the business process behavior assumes a strategic relevance, both to early assess whether or not the business goals are achieved and to gain a competitive advantage. A business process is typically specified by use of Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), the standard language for the high-level description of business processes. Unfortunately, BPMN does not support the characterization of the business process in terms of nonfunctional or QoS properties, such as performance and reliability. To overcome such a limitation, this paper introduces Performability-enabled BPMN (PyBPMN), a lightweight BPMN extension for the specification of performance and reliability properties. PyBPMN enables the design time prediction of the business processes behavior, in terms of performance and reliability properties. Such prediction activity requires the use of models that are to be first built and then evaluated. In this respect, this work introduces a model-driven method that exploits PyBPMN to predict, at design time, the performance and the reliability of a business process, either to select the process configuration that provides the best behavior or to check if a given configuration satisfies the overall requirements. The proposed model-driven method that enacts the automated analysis of a business process behavior embraces the complete business process development cycle, from the specification phase down to the implementation phase. The paper also describes how the proposed model-driven method is implemented. The several model transformations at the core of the method have been implemented by use of QVT, and the standard language for specifying model transformations provided by OMG{\textquoteright}s MDA. The availability of such automated model transformations allows business analysts to predict the process behavior with no extra effort and without being required to own specific skills of performance or reliability theory, as shown by use of an example application. {\textcopyright} 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

}, keywords = {Administrative data processing, Automation, Availability, BPMN, Business Process, Competition, Design, Enterprise resource management, Forecasting, High level languages, Information services, LQN, Mathematical models, MDA, Performance, Quality of service, Reliability, Service oriented architecture (SOA), Software architecture, Specifications, Web services}, issn = {16191366}, doi = {10.1007/s10270-013-0345-5}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84899754418\&partnerID=40\&md5=ac7ae348f9d39ccb87a9aedb7d7524bd}, author = {Bocciarelli, P. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio} } @conference {Bocciarelli2012266, title = {Automated performance analysis of business processes}, booktitle = {Simulation Series}, volume = {44}, number = {4 BOOK}, year = {2012}, note = {cited By 7}, pages = {266-274}, abstract = {Business processes (BPs) can be seen as flows of tasks that are orchestrated to accomplish well-defined goals. The ability to predict at design time the BP behavior assumes a strategic relevance, both to early assess whether or not the business goals are achieved and to gain a competitive advantage. This paper focuses on the performance prediction of BPs. Specifically, this work introduces a model-driven method that, starting from a performance-enabled description of a BP, first derives a BP performance model of EQN (Extended Queueing Network) type, and then generates and executes the EQN model implementation, thus enacting a fully automated analysis of the business process behavior. The performance model implementation is carried out by use of jEQN, a java-based domain specific language for specifying and executing EQN models. The paper also describes how the proposed model-driven method has been effectively implemented.}, keywords = {BPMN, Business Process, Competition, Computer simulation, EQN, Java programming language, jEQN, MDA, Performance, Software architecture}, isbn = {9781618397867}, issn = {07359276}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84876469347\&partnerID=40\&md5=1912c0d789945a9c91c8ebe913ccaddf}, author = {Bocciarelli, P. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio} } @conference {Bocciarelli2011160, title = {A BPMN extension for modeling non functional properties of business processes}, booktitle = {Simulation Series}, volume = {43}, number = {1 BOOK 4}, year = {2011}, note = {cited By 27}, pages = {160-168}, abstract = {Business Process Management (BPM) is an holistic approach for describing, analyzing, executing, managing and improving large enterprise business processes, which can be seen as collections of related tasks executed to accomplish well-defined goals. This paper introduces a notation for the description of a business process in terms of both functional and non-functional properties, specifically addressing the performance and reliability characterization of a business process. In the BPM context, the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is the de-facto standard for the high-level description of business processes. Unfortunately BPMN does not support the characterization of the business process in terms of non-functional properties such as performance and reliability. To overcome such limitation, this paper introduces PyBPMN (Performability-enabled BPMN), a lightweight BPMN extension for the specification of properties that address both performance and reliability. The proposed extension is based on an approach that exploits principles and standards introduced by the Model Driven Architecture (MDA), thus obtaining significant advantages in terms of easy customization and improved automation. The paper also presents an example application of the proposed extension to show how it enables the automated transformation of a business process model into a parameterized performance model whose execution gives insights about the process behavior.}, keywords = {Administrative data processing, BPMN, Business Process, Business process management, Business process model, Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), Computer simulation, Enterprise resource management, MDA, Model driven architectures, Performance and reliabilities, Reliability, Software architecture, Systems engineering}, isbn = {9781617828386}, issn = {07359276}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84887029950\&partnerID=40\&md5=286bf26106c501019949590c37d312e2}, author = {Bocciarelli, P. and Andrea D{\textquoteright}Ambrogio} }