Batch Regions: Process Instance Synchronization Based on Data

Business process automation improves organizations´ efficiency to perform work. In existing business process management systems, process instances run independently from each other. However, synchronizing instances carrying similar characteristics, i.e., sharing the same data, can reduce process execution costs. For example, if an online retailer receives two orders from one customer, there is a chance that they can be packed and shipped together to save shipment costs. In this paper, we extend the concept of batch activities to batch regions consisting of a set of connected activities instead of a single activity. Further, we use concepts from the database domain and introduce data views to business processes to distinguish process instances which can be synchronized. We also evaluate the concepts introduced in this paper with a case study comparing costs for normal and batch processing.