Requirements-based development of BPMN extensions: The case of clinical pathways

In recent years, the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) has evolved to one of the most applied modelling General Purpose Languages in the Business Process Management discipline. Due to its application in different domains, it becomes frequently necessary to extend the BPMN by domain-specific concepts. Extending the BPMN fosters an adequate communication between system engineers and domain experts and enhances the semantically correct representation of the domain. Therefore, the BPMN meta-model provides an extension mechanism. However, there is a remarkable lack in procedure models for the design of such extensions. This research article outlines an extension method that focuses on domain analysis, extension requirements and the derivation of domain-specific extension concepts within BPMN. Therefore, the method of STROPPI ET AL. (2011) is extended in regard to domain analysis. The approach is motivated and demonstrated by the case of Clinical Pathways (CPs).