Towards a taxonomy of process flexibility (extended version)

Abstract

Effective business processes must be able to accommodate\nchanges to the environment in which they operate, e.g., new laws, changes\nin business strategy. The ability to encompass such changes is termed\nprocess flexibility. In this paper, we take a deeper look into the various\nways in which flexibility can be achieved and propose a comprehensive\ntaxonomy of these methods which identifies both the manner in which\neach of them is facilitated, and also the various configuration options and\nalternatives that exist in each case. This taxonomy is subsequently used\nto evaluate a selection of process-aware information systems and identify\ntheir potential to deploy flexible business processes.