e-VOL BPMN: A Technique to Support the Evolution and Learning of BPMN Diagrams

In the software maintenance, business process models help practitioners understanding of the software, because it represents the organizational process in which software is embedded. BPMN (Business Process Modeling and Notation) is the standard notation for business process modeling. However, it is common for the BPMN diagrams to be outdated, which, among other possibilities, may be caused due to the lack of adequate knowledge of some practitioners about the notation. It is important to provide means to stimulate the evolution of these models and, consequently, to aid in the learning of BPMN notation. With this focus, we proposed and evaluated the e-VOL BPMN, a technique that supports the evolution of BPMN diagrams and on learning BPMN notation. In this evaluation, we compared e-VOL BPMN with the BPMN 2.0 Poster, an artifact used commonly to support BPMN notation in companies. Participants who used the e-VOL BPMN in a scenario of diagrams evolution presented more correct BPMN diagrams and had a higher learning perception of the notation. In addition, in a written exam on BPMN notation, participants who used e-VOL BPMN scored higher. From these results, we notice that e-VOL BPMN support both learning and evolution of BPMN diagrams.

在软件维护场景下，业务流程模型可帮助从业者理解软件系统，因其直观呈现了软件所嵌入的组织业务流程。业务流程模型与标注法（Business Process Modeling and Notation，BPMN）是业务流程建模的标准标注语言。然而，BPMN流程图时常出现过时问题，其诱因包括部分从业者对该标注法缺乏足够的掌握。因此，提供能够推动此类模型迭代更新、同时辅助从业者学习BPMN标注法的解决方案，具有重要现实意义。基于此目标，我们提出并评估了e-VOL BPMN技术，该技术可支持BPMN流程图的迭代更新，同时助力BPMN标注法的学习。本次评估中，我们将e-VOL BPMN与企业中常用于辅助BPMN标注法学习的BPMN 2.0参考海报进行了对比。在流程图迭代更新的实操场景中使用e-VOL BPMN的参与者，所产出的BPMN流程图正确率更高，且对该标注法的学习感知度也更优异。此外，在BPMN标注法笔试考核中，使用e-VOL BPMN的参与者得分显著更高。综上实验结果可知，e-VOL BPMN可同时助力BPMN流程图的迭代更新与标注法的学习掌握。