Workflow Simulation for Operational Decision Support Using Design, Historic and State Information

  • Authors:

  • Anne Rozinat;Moe Wynn;Wil Aalst;Arthur Hofstede;Colin Fidge

  • Affiliations:

  • Information Systems Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands NL-5600 MB;Business Process Management Group, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia QLD 4001;Information Systems Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands NL-5600 MB and Business Process Management Group, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia ...;Business Process Management Group, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia QLD 4001;Business Process Management Group, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia QLD 4001

  • Venue:
  • BPM '08 Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Business Process Management
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

Simulation is widely used as a tool for analyzing business processes but is mostly focused on examining rather abstract steady-state situations. Such analyses are helpful for the initial design of a business process but are less suitable for operational decision making and continuous improvement. Here we describe a simulation system for operational decision supportin the context of workflow management. To do this we exploit not only the workflow's design, but also logged data describing the system's observed historicbehavior, and information extracted about the current stateof the workflow. Making use of actual data capturing the current state and historic information allows our simulations to accurately predict potential near-future behaviors for different scenarios. The approach is supported by a practical toolset which combines and extends the workflow management system YAWL and the process mining framework ProM.