We present a resource of German light verb constructions extracted from textual labels in graphical business process models. Those models depict the activities in processes in an organization in a semi-formal way. From a large range of sources, we compiled a repository of 2,301 business process models. Their textual labels (altogether 52,963 labels) were analyzed. This produced a list of 5,246 occurrences of 846 light verb constructions. We found that the light verb constructions that occur in business process models differ from light verb constructions that have been analyzed in other texts. Hence, we conclude that texts in graphical business process models represent a specific type of texts that is worth to be studied on its own. We think that our work is a step towards better automatic analysis of business process models because understanding the actual meaning of activity labels is a prerequisite for detecting certain types of modelling problems.

The main aim of this study is to investigate human understanding of process models and to develop an improved understanding of its relevant influence factors. Aided by assumptions from cognitive psychology , this article attempts to address specific deductive reasoning difficulties based on process models. The authors developed a research model to capture the influence of two effects on the cognitive difficulty of reasoning tasks: (i) the presence of different control-flow patterns (such as conditional or parallel execution) in a process model and (ii) the interactivity of model elements. Based on solutions to 61 different reasoning tasks by 155 modelers, the results from this study indicate that the presence of certain control-flow patterns influences the cognitive difficulty of reasoning tasks. In particular, sequence is relatively easy, while loops in a model proved difficult. Modelers with higher process modeling knowledge performed better and rated subjective difficulty of loops lower than modelers with lower process modeling knowledge. The findings additionally support the prediction that interactivity between model elements is positively related to the cognitive difficulty of reasoning. Our research contributes to both academic literature on the comprehension of process models and practitioner literature focusing on cognitive difficulties when using process models.

The visual syntax of modelling languages can support (or impede) the intuitive understandability of a model. We observed the process of problem solving with two notation variants of i* diagrams by means of an eye-tracking device. The number of wrongly answered questions was significantly lower when the alternative i* notation suggested by Moody et al. was used. For the eye-tracking metrics “time to solve a task” and “number of eye fixations”, no such significant result can be given. Furthermore, we identified a deficiency for the “dependency” symbol in the alternative notation.

Abstract In this article, we present the prototype of a modeling tool that applies graph‐based rules for identifying problems in business process models. The advantage of our approach is twofold. First, it is unnecessary to compute the complete state space of the model to find errors. Second, our technique can even be applied to incomplete business process models. Thus, the modeler can be supported by direct feedback during the model construction. This feedback not only reports problems, but also identifies their reasons and gives suggestions for improvement. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We present a pattern system for property specification. It extends the existing patterns identified by M.B. Dwyer, G.S. Avrunin, and J.C. Corbett (1998) which allow to reason about occurrence and order of events, but not about time conditions. Introducing time-related patterns allows the specification of real-time requirements.