Conception and Realisation of the Backend for a Data-Centric and Object- Aware Process Modeling Tool

Ulm University

MA Abschlussvortrag, Florian Schultz, Ort: Online, Datum: 24.04.2023, Zeit: 16:00 Uhr

In business process management, companies increasingly value the use of process management systems (PrMS) for the collaborative creation as well as the execution of business process models. Additionally, a trend to offer applications as cloud or SaaS (Software as a Service) products can be observed in recent years. This trend also applies to PrMS which are nowadays offered as scalable, multi-tenant and multi-user applications. These products benefit clients through distributed access, concurrent usage of the applications and more.

Due to the multiple application providers, a plethora of different approaches for modelling and executing business processes are supported by a plethora of respective PrMS. In this context PHILharmonicFlows constitutes a particular framework for data-centric process management, supported by a specific PrMS called "PHILharmonicFlows Modeling Tool". However, web-based modeling and the support of multiple users has not been a required capability during the development of the PHILharmonicFlows Modeling Tool. Hence, the necessity of a web application with such capabilities, that is also compatible to the PHILharmonicFlows framework, still exists. This is further underlined by the fact, that a distributed modeling tool is, for example, easily accessible for multiple users, can be used as a playground for testing the data-centric paradigm and does not need the full, heavyweight capabilities of a local tool.

This thesis presents 27 fundamental requirements for realising a web-based, data-centric, multi-user modeling tool, including the requirements ensuring the compatibility with the PHILharmonicFlows framework. The main contribution of this thesis constitutes a web application which was developed based on these requirements. The web application is showcased by an explanation of the application's architecture and the modeling process of an exemplary business process model. To demonstrate the validity of the development process, the resulting web application is evaluated based on the previously identified requirements. After the validation, it can be concluded that the web application comprises all necessary functionalities and fulfils all requirements for modeling business processes with the PHILharmonicFlows framework.