Toward a methodology for case modeling

Marcin Hewelt, Luise Pufahl, Sankalita Mandal, Felix Wolff, Mathias Weske

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Case management is increasingly used to capture and enact flexible, knowledge-intensive processes in organizations. None of the existing case management approaches provides a methodology for case model elicitation and modeling. In this contribution, three modeling methods for fragment-based case management are presented: one which focuses on the control-flow view, the process-first method, one which has a data-centric view, the object lifecycle-first method, and one which focuses on the goals of a case, the goals-first method. Following the design science process, each of the three methods was evaluated in two case modeling workshops with two different stakeholder groups (PhD students and secretaries), resulting in a total of six workshops. All participants were novices in case management and most of them as well in process modeling. The results indicate that the process-first method can be quickly learned by novices and it might be useful for scenarios where the focus is on the main process with some degree of flexibility. The object lifecycle-first method yields more flexible and consistent case models, but requires a higher initial modeling effort, as the lifecycle of the main case object has to be designed first. The goals-first method leads to a detailed and consistent case model and additionally provides, by means of the defined goals, a checklist what needs to be done for a case. This method requires in addition to the process modeling notation another model type, the goal hierarchy, and therefore is less suited for novice modelers, as found by the workshop results.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1367-1393
Number of pages27
JournalSoftware and Systems Modeling
Volume19
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Case management
  • Goal modeling
  • Object lifecycle
  • Process elicitation
  • Process modeling
  • t.BPM

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