Guideline Integration

For the integration of guidelines into a software modeling tool, we define four levels:

1. No integration

Guidelines that are integrated at this level are provided in an extra publication or catalog, to which a link may be provided by a software modeling tool. Thus, it is up to the user to find the respective guideline or rule for a certain modeling problem, and to decide to what extent the guideline is adopted or fulfilled in their own model. With that, level 1 allows the user the greatest possible flexibility in modeling, since no rules are enforced and does not cause any efforts in terms of implementation because guidelines co-exist with the modeling tool. [Moreno-Montes de Oca and Snoeck, 2014], and [Avila et al., 2020] provide guidelines at this integration level.

2. Low integration

For guidelines in low integration, users get constant feedback while modeling. Violations of different severities such as errors and warnings are highlighted as such within the process model. Regarding the coverage of guidelines, a low level of integration fits best since almost all guidelines can be checked with a tool. However, it does not necessarily ensure a high quality model without errors since verification is up to the designer. Such an integration can be seen in rudiments in the verification tool of [Corradini et al., 2018], but is further explored in our approach.

3. Medium integration

Medium integration builds on low integration, and adds suggestions on how to solve the highlighted violations by proposing quick fixes and allowing to automatically apply them. A medium level of integration offers more user support, due to the provided quick-fixes, but increases implementation efforts significantly.

4. Full integration

Guidelines are only fully integrated if the modeling tool allows only one way of modeling so that these guidelines are always fulfilled. With these, the modeler has the least flexibility in modeling, but can be ensured that no errors regarding the guidelines can happen. Modelers such as Signavio or Camunda integrate guidelines defining which elements can be used for modeling.

References

[Avila et al. 2020] Avila, D. T., dos Santos, R. I., Mendling, J., & Thom, L. H. (2020). A systematic literature review of process modeling guidelines and their empirical support. Business Process Management Journal.
[Corradini et al. 2018] Corradini, F., Ferrari, A., Fornari, F., Gnesi, S., Polini, A., Re, B., & Spagnolo, G. O. (2018). A guidelines framework for understandable BPMN models. Data & Knowledge Engineering, 113, 129-154.
[Moreno-Montes de Oca and Snoeck, 2014] Moreno-Montes de Oca, I., & Snoeck, M. (2014). Pragmatic guidelines for business process modeling. Available at SSRN 2592983.