Automatic execution of business process models: Exploiting the benefits of Model-driven Engineering approaches

The business goals of an enterprise process are traced to business process models with the aim of being carried out during the execution stage. The automatic translation from these models to fully executable code which can be simulated and round-trip engineered is still an open challenge in the Business Process Management field. Model-driven Engineering has proposed a set of methodologies with which to solve the existing gap between business analysts and software developers, but the expected results have not as yet been achieved. In this paper, a new approach to solve this challenge is proposed. This approach is based on the integration of SOD-M, a model-driven method for the development of service-oriented systems, and DENEB, a platform for the development and execution of flexible business processes. SOD-M provides business analysts with a methodology that can be used to transform their business goals into composition service models, a type of model that represents business processes. The use of the Eclipse Modelling Framework and the ATLAS Transformation Language allows this model to be automatically transformed into a DENEB workflow model, resulting in a business process that is coded by a class of high-level Petri-nets and is directly executable in DENEB. The application of the proposal presented herein is illustrated by means of a real system related to the management of medical images.

► A complete model driven framework for the analysis, design, development and execution of business processes is presented.
► This framework results from the integration of two different BPM approaches: SOD-M and DENEB.
► It provides automatic – without human intervention – code generation, deployment and execution.
► High-level Petri nets are used to program executable processes.
► The framework has been tested in GesIMED, a real Web IS for medical image management and processing.