On generating ⁎-sound nets with substitution

•A method for hierarchically generating sound workflow nets by substitution of nets with multiple inputs and outputs.•A new notion of soundness which is better suited than ⁎-soundness for use with the presented type of generalized substitution.•Proofs of correctness for the method and optimality for the notion of soundness.

We present a method for hierarchically generating sound workflow nets by substitution of nets with multiple inputs and outputs. We show that this method is correct and generalizes the class of nets generated by other hierarchical approaches. The method involves a new notion of soundness which is preserved by the generalized type of substitution that is presented in this paper. We show that this notion is better suited than ⁎-soundness for use with the presented type of generalized substitution, since ⁎-soundness is not preserved by it. It is moreover shown that it is in some sense the optimal notion of soundness for the purpose of generating sound nets by the presented type of substitution.