Reflections on the modularity of business process models

TLDR

The aspect‑oriented (AO) paradigm was originally proposed to address modularity in programming, and while it has been explored in software design, few studies have applied it to business process modeling. This paper proposes applying AO concepts to business process design to enhance the usability and understandability of process models. The authors depart from prior AO analyses by conducting a case study and developing the CrossOryx web‑based editor to illustrate and support the integration of AO into business processes. They find that AO integration introduces crosscutting representation, composition, quantification, and join‑point exposure, and argue that these features improve the usability and understandability of business process models.

Abstract

Purpose The aspect‐oriented (AO) paradigm is first proposed to deal with programing modularity issues, but different researchers have been exploring AO concepts in the designing and definition of software systems. The goal of this paper is to discuss and present a proposal that addresses the application of AO concepts to the design of business processes (BPs) in order to improve usability and understandability of process models. Design/methodology/approach The paper departs from previous work on analyzing the application of AO for software design. The observations were backed by a case study, which was used to illustrate the issues by means of examples. Findings The paper presents findings on important issues related to the integration of AO paradigm and BP modeling, such as crosscutting representation, crosscutting composition, quantification, and join point exposure. Originality/value The paper explores a new frontier: the application of AO concepts to the design of BPs. As of now, few works have explored this new view on process modularity. The paper claims that application of AO concepts to the design of BPs is important in the consideration of usability and understandability. Its contributions are also backed by a prototype process editor, CrossOryx, a web‐based editor for modeling process using AO concepts.