A hierarchical approach for configuring business processes

Business Process models in the case of real life systems are often very complex. Hierarchization allows for managing model complexity by “hiding” process details into sub-levels. This helps to avoid inconsistencies and fosters reuse of similar parts of models. Configuration, in turn, gives the opportunity to keep different models in one configurable model. In the paper, we propose an approach for configuring Business Processes that relies on hierarchization for more expressive power and simplicity. Our goal is achieved by allowing arbitrary n-to-m relationships between tasks in the merged processes. The approach preserves similar abstraction level of subprocesses in a hierarchy and allows a user to grasp the high-level flow of the merged processes.