Model Strategy:
Preserving vs.
Transforming
Keith Swenson
Technical Committee Chairman
WfMC
Vice President of R&D
Fujitsu Computer Systems
http://kswenson.wordpress.com/
Copyright 2009

Overview
• Definition of Model Strategy
– Model Preserving Strategy
– Model Transforming Strategy
• Tradeoffs
– Analytics
– Simulation
– Error Correction
– Performance
• Designing for Change
• Process Ecosystem
• Dynamic BPM
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Three Kinds of Change
• Business Process Enactment:
– the business process as it moves from the beginning to the
end of handling a single case. The process definition does not
normally change here, only the process instance or context
that records the state of a particular case changes.
• Business Process Lifecycle:
– these are the changes that a business process goes through
from initial concept, to modeling, to integration, and finally to
deployment into an enactment environment.
• Business Process Improvement:
– the change to a business process that occurs over time
through repeated use of the business process lifecycle
followed by analysis of how well that version of the business
process worked.
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Lifecycle Example – 3 Key Roles
A Business A Systems In the enactment
Process Analyst Engineer environment are
has insight into the performs the work Administrators
business itself, of integrating the and Users who
and also has skills process with the interact with the
being able to other systems in running processes.
model that the organization.
process.
MODEL MODEL MODEL
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Model Transforming Strategy
• Transformed between domains
• optimized for that domain
• can take advantages of specific capabilities
Often is dramatic change without any apparent
correlation between the parts of the different models.
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Model Preserving Strategy
Preserving means that the model remains
substantially the same in all domains.
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Analytics
Analytics provides information
? about how long each
activity takes, how often
branches are taken
in the execution environment
Analytic results on a transformed model
may not be meaningful to the business user.
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Simulation & Optimization
Simulation attempts to
estimate how well a process
will run in real environment.
Optimization attempts to find
the best configuration.
Simulation results on the business model
may not be valid or meaningful if the
execution model is different.
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Round-Trip Difficulties
?
Ability to return to original model with all the extensions of
the system engineer is not always possible.
Transformed model does not always contain all the information
from the previous domain.
With Model Preserving Strategy round-trip is a given.
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Agile Development
Get 100% of business
domain work done…
Get 100% of system Forces a
domain work done. “fast waterfall”
approach.
Business and System work can be done at any time
without any time gap. System engineer can suggest
changes to business model. They work together on
the same model because it is preserved.
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Error Resolution
If a process hits a business
? problem that was not anticipated
by the process, then a person
must get involved to determine
the correct resolution to the problem.
If may be difficult for a business person to
recognize the error situation, or to determine the
correct rule modification, if the executing model is
different from what they originally drew.
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Optimization & Performance – Within Domain
Model leverages Model leverages Model can
business engineering and use special
person programming execution
skills. skills. optimizations
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Tradeoffs
• Model Transforming Strategy
– Preferred by systems engineers and
useful for high performance execution.
• Model Preserving Strategy
– Best if you want the business person to be
in control of the processes.
– Enables better simulation, optimization,
analytics, error correction, round trip, and
agile development of business processes.
– Brings business and process together.
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Process Design Goals Vary
• Facilitators
– someone who diagrams a business process that
uses people to do things that cannot be
automated.
– the facilitator needs a process diagram that
describes what the people do, not what the
computer does.
• Automators
– someone who is taking a manual business
process and is attempting to replace humans with
computer systems.
– focuses on the inputs and outputs of human
activity, and writes software to produce the same
outputs automatically.
– a.k.a. Straight Thru Processing
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Comparison
• Facilitator Diagram
– Good for training participants on what they
have to do, and what others are doing
– Shows Roles and Responsibilities
• Automator Diagram
– Good for programmers / system
administrators to understand what the
system is doing
– Shows what data is flowing where
• Both Diagrams Drawn with BPMN!
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Inescapable Conclusions
• The way that you model a given process in
BPMN depends upon the methodology you
use, and the assumptions you make about
the technology that will support the process.
• A given BPMN diagram can execute only on
a process engine that corresponds to the
assumptions that are built into the diagram.
• Yet, BPMN is still extremely valuable in
giving people a common set of symbols.
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Modeling for a Change
• For change to be easy
– Representation must be “natural”
– Conceptually matching what people do
– Mimicking organizational structure, job
functions, and roles
• Transforming the diagram into a
“reduced” list makes it hard to change
– Can actually reduce Agility
• E.g.: a “map” vs. “directions”
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Process Design Ecosystem
Discovery Ownership/Issue Resources/Time Goals/Strategies
Vendor A Vendor B Vendor C Vendor D
BPMN BPMN BPMN BPMN
Process Discovery Process Modeling Process Simulation Process Optimization
Process Model
Repository
Vendor E Vendor F
Workflow Design SOA Design
Executable Model Executable Model
Repository Repository
(e.g. XPDL) (e.g. BPEL)
Process Execution Process Execution
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Process Design Ecosystem
Discovery Ownership/Issue Resources/Time Goals/Strategies
Vendor A Vendor B Vendor C Vendor D
BPMN BPMN BPMN BPMN
Process Discovery Process Modeling Process Simulation Process Optimization
Process Model
Repository
Vendor E Vendor F
Workflow Design SOA Design
Executable Model Executable Model
Lifecycle (To Execution)
Repository Repository
(e.g. XPDL) (e.g. BPEL)
Process Execution Process Execution
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Trends
Social
Unstructured
Networks
Email
Dynamic BPM
Case Mgmt
Human
Oriented
Flexible
Workflow BPM
BPM Suite
?
BPM
Structured
Enterprise
Integration Orchestration
1990’s Today
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Dynamic BPM Use Case: Fighting Fires
• Challenge for Responders
– Speed
– Information
– Coordination of Teams
• Unpredictable …
– Fixed plan can not
anticipate changing needs
– Plan elaborated as you work
– Composed from fragments
– Respond to situation
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Social Network & Dynamic BPM
• No strong distinction between
“designers” and “users”. Blending of
domains.
• Design at the same time as running.
• Unified, continuously updated, process
Model
Preserving
Strategy
is a
Requirement
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Review
• Definition of Model Strategy
– Model Preserving Strategy
– Model Transforming Strategy
• Tradeoffs
– Analytics
– Simulation
– Error Correction
– Performance
• Designing for Change
• Process Ecosystem
• Dynamic BPM
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

BPM In Practice: A Primer for
BPM & Workflow Standards
• All of this and more is covered
in this new book from Keith
Swenson and Robert Shapiro
available at:
http://www.lulu.com/content/2244958
• See the related blog at:
http://kswenson.wordpress.com/books
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

References & Discussion Sources
• Blog Entries
http://kswenson.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/model-strategy-preserving-vs-transforming/
http://kswenson.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/model-strategy-analytics/
http://kswenson.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/model-strategy-round-trip-agile-development/
http://kswenson.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/model-strategy-performance/
http://kswenson.wordpress.com/2009/02/14/model-strategy-simulation/
• Workflow Handbook 2009
“Two Strategies for Handling Models:
Preserving vs. Transforming” pp197-210
http://www.futstrat.com/books/handbook09.php
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

BPM In Practice: A Primer for
BPM & Workflow Standards
• All of this and more is covered
in this new book from Keith
Swenson and Robert Shapiro
available at:
http://www.lulu.com/content/2244958
• See the related blog at:
http://kswenson.wordpress.com/books
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/

Pro c e s s Tho ug ht
Le ade rs hip
Keith D Swenson http://kswenson.wordpress.com/