Business process modeling has become a popular method for improv-ing organizational efficiency and quality. Automatic validation of process models is one of the most valuable features of modeling tools, in face of the increasing complexity of enterprise business processes and the richness of modeling lan-guages. This paper proposes a formal language, Event-Condition-Action-Event (ECAE), for integrating Colored Petri Nets (CPN)-based business process with a set of business rules. We automate the integration process for validating the busi-ness process model. The ECAE language has several important features: its rea-soning capabilities, its ability to express complex actions and events, and its de-clarative semantics. By enabling simulation of business process behavior, the rea-soning capabilities facilitate the early detection of flaws

1. A Rule-Based Language for Integrating
Business Processes and Business Rules
PhD Student: Tuan Anh Pham
Supervisor: Prof. Nhan Le Thanh

2. Outline
Introduction
Solution
Evaluation
Conclusion
Q&A
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3. Outline
Introduction
Solution
Evaluation
Conclusion
Q&A
2

4. Motivations43
Business Process Compliance Management
Business Processes Business Rules
• Rule 1
• Rule 2
• Rule 3
• …
Compliance

5. Research Questions
 How to check the compliance of business processes with a set of business rules?
 How to validate a business process model at the design-time and run-time?
 How to ensure the compliance of data in data-flow with a set of predefined rules?
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6. Outline
Introduction
Solution
Evaluation
Conclusion
Q&A
5

7. Solutions
Business Processes
Color Petri Nets
Business Rules
• Rule 1
• Rule 2
• Rule 3
• …Compliance
ECA-based BR languageECA-based BP language
ECA-based
combined rules
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8. Business Process Intermediate Language87
Design Step
• Coloured Petri Nets-based business process (Places, Transitions, Input Arcs, Output Arcs, GuardFunctions,
InputArc Expressions, OutputArcExpressions, Colour sets)
Intepretation
• Event: transition
• Condition: Place, GuardFunction, Colour Set, Input Arc Expression
• Action: Output Arc Expression, Colour Set
• Event: next transition
Execution
• ECAE Execution Engine

9. Business Process Intermediate Language
Business Process Intermediate Language (BPIL) is an extension of
Event-Condition-Action language

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10. Business Process Intermediate Language
Business Process Intermediate Language (BPIL) is an extension of Event-Condition-Action language
Definition 1: Let C, EB, Edef, Aec and Adef be sets of atoms respectively called: condition alphabet, set of basic events, of event
names, of external actions, and of action names. Let c, eb, edef, ax and adef be generic elements of, respectively, C, EB, Edef, Aex
and Adef.
 The set of positive events E over EB, and Edef is the set of atoms ep of the form:
ep ::= eb | e1 Λ e2 | e1 V e2 | A(e1, e2, e3) | edef
 The set of actions A over E, C, AX, Adef is the set of atoms a of the form:
a ::= ab | a1 a2 | a1 a2 | IF(c, a1, a2) | adef where a1 and a2 are arbitrary elements of A and c is any literal over E C.
 A basic action ab over E, L, AX, Adef is any atom of the form:
ab ::= ax | raise(eb) | assert(r) | retract(r) | define(d) where r (resp. d) is any BRIL rule (resp. definition)
 An event definition is any expression of the form edef is e. An action definition is any expression of the form adef is a.

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11. Example: Bank Account Operatons10

12. Sketch of the solution
Business Processes
Color Petri Nets
Business Rules
• Rule 1
• Rule 2
• Rule 3
• …Compliance
ECA-based BR languageECA-based BP language
ECA-based
combined rules
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13. Business Rules
 The different structural categories of business rules are (Wagner 2005):
Type of Rules Action in Control-flow Data in Data-flow
Integrity x x
Derivation x x
Reaction x
Production x x
Transformation x
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14. Business Rule Intermediate Language
 An Business Rule Intermediate Language (BRIL) rule is either an inference, active
or inhibition rule.
 An inference rule is any rule of the form L ← B: derivation, reaction, transformation
 A reactive rule is any rule of the form On e If Cond Do a: reaction
 An inhibition rule is any rule of the form When B Do not a. for production, integrity,
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15. Business Rule Intermediate Language
 Define a set of business rules for bank account operations:
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16. Integration of BP and BR
Business Process Definition
Business Rules
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17. Outline
Introduction
Solution
Evaluation
Conclusion
Q&A
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18. Evaluation
BP+BR Inconsistency Consistency
20 concepts
15 properties
30 reaction rules
30 tasks
1s 2s
20 concepts
15 properties
80 reaction rules
80 tasks
1s 1,2 minutes
20 concepts
15 properties
4OO reaction rules
400 tasks
2s 48 minutes
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Computer: Core i 7, Ram 16GB
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19. Outline
Introduction
Solution
Evaluation
Conclusion
Q&A
18

20. Conclusion
 Proposing an formal language to represent the business processes and the
business rules
 Providing an approach to check the compliance of business Process with a
set of business rules andmatically by the reasoning
 Proposing an approach to check the compliance of data in a data-flow
with the predefined rule in a set of business rules
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21. References
 Herzum, Peter and Sims, Oliver. Business Component Factory. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2000.
 Wagner, G. (2005). Rule Modeling and Markup. Reasoning Web. N. Eisinger and J. Maluszynski.
Msida, Malta, Springer: 251-274
 C. Bussler, S. Jablonski. Implementing Agent Coordination for Business process Management
Systems Using Active Database Systems. Proc. 4 th RIDE-ADS, Houston, February 1994.
 Joonsoo Bae, Hyerim Bae, Suk-Ho Kang, Yeongho Kim: Automatic Control of Business process
Processes Using ECA Rules. IEEE Trans. Knowl. Data Eng. 16(8): 1010-1023 (2004)
 Geppert, A., Tombros, D.: Event-based distributed business process execution with EVE. In:
Proc. of the IFIP Int. Conf. on Distributed Systems Platforms and Open Distributed Processing,
pp. 427–442 (1998).
 George Papamarkos , Ra Poulovassilis , Peter T. Wood : RDFTL : An Event-Condition-Action
Language for RDF. In Proc. 3rd Int. Workshop on Web Dynamics (in conjunction with
WWW(2004), pp.223-248.
 Alexandra Poulovassilis, George Papamarkos, Peter T. Wood: Event-Condition-Action Rule
Languages for the Semantic Web. EDBT Workshops 2006: 855-864
 José Júlio Alferes, Federico Banti, Antonio Brogi: An Event-Condition-Action Logic
Programming Language. JELIA 2006: 29-42.
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22. Thank you for your attention!
Questions and Answers
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