Coupling Measurement of Interorganizational Processes Based on Petri Nets

Many research works have been done on the formal modeling and correctness analysis of interorganizational processes. But the coupling measurement of interorganizational processes is neglected. The coupling situation represents the adaptability and flexibility of interorganizational processes to the changing market environment. And it is one of the most important factors in the agility analysis of interorganizational processes. This paper discusses the coupling measurement technique of interorganizational business processes based on Petri nets. The formal definition of collaborative mesh is proposed. And the coupling intensity is presented to evaluate the coupling degree between process tasks and the process structure. It is calculated based on the relation between the related elements of the task and the whole process structure. Furthermore, the importance level of each business partner in the interorganizational process is analyzed