On the Formal Semantics of Change Patterns in Process-Aware Information Systems

Due to a turbulent market enterprises should be able to adapt their business processes in a quick and flexible way. This requires adaptive process-aware information systems (PAISs) which are able to support changes at different levels and of different process aspects. As for process modeling languages, a multitude of approaches, paradigms, and systems for realizing adaptive processes have emerged. This variety makes it difficult for PAIS engineers to choose the adequate technology. Therefore we introduced a set of commonly used process change patterns which facilitate the comparison between different approaches and tools. In this paper, we provide the formal semantics of these change patterns to ground pattern implementation and pattern-based analysis of PAISs on a solid basis. As challenge, we want to describe the formal semantics of change patterns independent of a certain process meta model. Altogether, our formalization will enable unambiguous and systematic comparison of adaptive PAISs.