Business processes, antipatterns

1. Detection of Process Antipatterns:
An BPEL Perspective
Francis Palma1,2
Supervisors: Dr. Naouel Moha2 and Dr. Yann-Gaël Guéhéneuc1
April 12, 2013
1Ptidej
Team, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada
2Latece, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada

2. Background
Background
• Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
Motivation
Related Work
• Service-based systems (SBSs)
• Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)
• Business Process Execution Language (BPEL)
Approach
Experiments
• Service orchestration
• Design patterns and Antipatterns
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
2 of 19

3. Outline
Background
Background
Motivation
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective

4. Outline
Background
Background
Motivation
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective

5. Motivation
Background
Motivation
• Antipatterns:
- From wrong design decisions to poor solutions
• Poor solutions:
Related Work
Approach
- bad quality of service (QoS)
- less maintainability, evolvability etc.
• Detect antipatterns within processes
Experiments
• Improve design and QoS
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
3 of 19

6. Why BPEL ?
• BPEL processes are off-the-rack entities
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
• Antipatterns in models (BPMN) already got much attention
in the literature
• Transformation errors:
- business analysts create the processes, technical
developers implement the technology
- translation, adaptation, and–or implementation errors
• Early design errors:
- errors by analysts, eventually transferred to the process
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
4 of 19

7. Outline
Background
Background
Motivation
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective

8. Related Work (1/2)
Background
Motivation
Model Antipatterns:
- Onoda et al. (1999) catalog of five deadlock patterns
- Persson et al. (2006) and Stirna et al. (2009) provided six process patterns
and 13 process antipatterns
- Koehler and Vanhatalo (2007) described 14 structural antipatterns in
process models
- Trcka et al. (2009) formalized 9 process antipatterns using temporal logic
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
5 of 19

9. Related Work (1/2)
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Model Antipatterns:
- Onoda et al. (1999) catalog of five deadlock patterns
- Persson et al. (2006) and Stirna et al. (2009) provided six process patterns
and 13 process antipatterns
- Koehler and Vanhatalo (2007) described 14 structural antipatterns in
process models
- Trcka et al. (2009) formalized 9 process antipatterns using temporal logic
Detection of Model Antipatterns:
- Gruhn and Laue (2010) proposed a heuristic-based approach for
discovering problems in BPMs
- Laue and Awad (2010) visually represented process antipatterns
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
5 of 19

10. Related Work (1/2)
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Model Antipatterns:
- Onoda et al. (1999) catalog of five deadlock patterns
- Persson et al. (2006) and Stirna et al. (2009) provided six process patterns
and 13 process antipatterns
- Koehler and Vanhatalo (2007) described 14 structural antipatterns in
process models
- Trcka et al. (2009) formalized 9 process antipatterns using temporal logic
Detection of Model Antipatterns:
- Gruhn and Laue (2010) proposed a heuristic-based approach for
discovering problems in BPMs
- Laue and Awad (2010) visually represented process antipatterns
Process Patterns:
- Wohed et al. (2002) analyzed BPEL4WS based on workflow and
communication patterns
- Aalst et al. (2003) discussed 26 control flow, branching-synchronization,
and structural patterns
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
5 of 19

11. Related Work (2/2)
Identified gaps from the literature:
Background
Motivation
- Antipatterns and detection approaches were considered
only for BPMN models
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
6 of 19

12. Related Work (2/2)
Identified gaps from the literature:
Background
Motivation
Related Work
- Antipatterns and detection approaches were considered
only for BPMN models
- No other formal specifications for process antipatterns
except the one by Trcka et al. (2009)
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
6 of 19

13. Related Work (2/2)
Identified gaps from the literature:
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
- Antipatterns and detection approaches were considered
only for BPMN models
- No other formal specifications for process antipatterns
except the one by Trcka et al. (2009)
- Various quality aspects (e.g., availability or response time
of Web services) were not considered
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
6 of 19

14. Related Work (2/2)
Identified gaps from the literature:
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
- Antipatterns and detection approaches were considered
only for BPMN models
- No other formal specifications for process antipatterns
except the one by Trcka et al. (2009)
- Various quality aspects (e.g., availability or response time
of Web services) were not considered
- No automatic detection approach for BPEL process
antipatterns until now
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
6 of 19

15. Outline
Background
Background
Motivation
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective

16. Solution towards detection
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
• We propose to:
- specify process antipatterns using classical Rules of
Inference
- define a concrete approach
• We perform a small detection experiment
- two antipatterns, three example BPEL processes
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
7 of 19

17. Approach (1/5)
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Step 1: Rule specification
Step 2: Process transformation
Step 3: Detection of process antipatterns
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
8 of 19

18. Approach (2/5): Specify Rules
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
9 of 19

19. Approach (2/5): Specify Rules
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
9 of 19

20. Approach (3/5): Process Transform
Background
Motivation
• Process transformation (more abstract and simplified)
(a) from the original BPEL to a simplified BPEL
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
(b) from the simplified BPEL to a generic model
• Goal of this transformation is to ease:
- implementation of the rules
- further analysis of the processes
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
10 of 19

21. Approach (4/5): Process Transform
Background
Motivation
(a)
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
11 of 19

22. Approach (4/5): Process Transform
Background
Motivation
(a)
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
(b)
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
11 of 19

23. Approach (5/5): Detection
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
• The implementation of rules
• Applying implemented algorithms on transformed models
• Detection is now semi-automatic
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
12 of 19

24. Outline
Background
Background
Motivation
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective

25. Experiments (1/5): Input
travelProcess
3 Web services
7 I/O Var
auctionProcess
3 Web services
6 I/O Var
salesProcess
2 Web services
4 I/O Var
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
13 of 19

26. Experiments (2/5): Rule Specification
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
14 of 19

27. Experiments (2/5): Rule Specification
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
14 of 19

28. Experiments (3/5): Results
Background
Motivation
auctionProcess
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
15 of 19

29. Experiments (3/5): Results
Background
Motivation
auctionProcess
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
15 of 19

30. Experiments (4/5): Results (cont.)
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
salesProcess
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
16 of 19

31. Experiments (4/5): Results (cont.)
Background
travelProcess
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
salesProcess
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
16 of 19

32. Experiments (5/5): Threats to Validity
Background
External validity: Possibility to generalize the results
Motivation
for other large and realistic business processes
Related Work
Approach
Construct validity: Different engineers might define
rules differently
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
17 of 19

33. Outline
Background
Background
Motivation
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective

34. Conclusion
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
18 of 19

35. Conclusion
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
18 of 19

36. Conclusion
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
18 of 19

37. Conclusion
Background
Motivation
Related Work
Approach
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
18 of 19

38. Future work
Background
Motivation
• Automate the approach
• Detect more process antipatterns
• Perform experiments on other large and complex
Related Work
Approach
business processes
• Analyze the processes dynamically
Experiments
Conclusion
April 12, 2013
Francis Palma | Detection of Process Antipatterns: An BPEL Perspective
19 of 19

39. Thanks for your attention!
Questions?