Grouping of business processes models based on an incremental clustering algorithm using fuzzy similarity and multimodal search

Nowadays, many companies standardize their operations through Business Process (BP), which are stored in repositories and reused when new functionalities are required. However, finding specific processes may become a cumbersome task due to the large size of these repositories. This paper presents MulTimodalGroup, a model for grouping and searching business processes. The grouping mechanism is built upon a clustering algorithm that uses a similarity function based on fuzzy logic; this grouping is performed using the results of each user request. By its part, the search is based on a multimodal representation that integrates textual and structural information of BP. The assessment of the proposed model was carried out in two phases: 1) internal quality assessment of groups and 2) external assessment of the created groups compared with an ideal set of groups. The assessment was performed using a closed BP collection designed collaboratively by 59 experts. The experimental results in each phase are promising and evidence the validity of the proposed model.