Leveraging the BPMN standard to govern engineering processes in a collaborative environment

We propose the use of Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard to manage the complexity of engineering design workflows. In particular, we show how it is possible to combine manual and automated activities in an easy graphical collaborative tool. The BPMN standard (certified by Object Management Group, OMG) couples an expressive graphical representation with a rigorous XML encoding of processes and the interactions among them. In this paper we present an analysis of the applicability of the BPMN standard to engineering processes together with prototype implementation of a collaborative web-based environment. Complex engineering scenarios involving automated simulation tasks depending on human-based decisions are fully implemented with a few proposed specific extensions (allowed by the BPMN specification). Our prototype mimics a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform and constitutes an Extreme Collaboration environment where users can model their processes, share them with co-workers and launch and monitor their executions. The central role is played by the “user task” through which it is possible to model Collaborative Decision Making sessions integrated in the engineering processes.