member of

Business Processes and Knowledge Work

Knut Hinkelmann

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann

 Motivation

■ Knowledge is increasingly used to differentiate

physical goods, to diversify them into product-
related services and to offer smart services.
Knowledge Work
■ Thus, knowledge work and knowledge workers
are key to the success of many enterprises

? ■ Business Process Management, however, is

often regarded as incompatible with the
autonomy and work approaches of knowledge
workers, because it is associated only with
structured processes.

Processes
Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 2
 Work Patterns of Knowledge Workers
Percent of the Day Spent in Different Modes
Most of a knowledge worker’s day is spent working toward an identified outcome, yet
the means for achieving this cannot be predetermined

Demand for agility at run time

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 3
 Some categories of knowledge work

■ Design
■ Decision-Making ♦ construction of an artifact (object
♦ Making a choice between or a system), satisfying a set of
different alternatives. requirements, subject to
constraints
■ Diagnosis
♦ identification of the nature and ■ Configuration
cause of anything; (can be a ♦ special case of design activity,
prerequisite for solving a problem) where the artifact being
configured is assembled from
■ Problem Solving instances of a fixed set of
♦ Finding solutions to a problem component types
satisfying specified goals
■ Planning
♦ organizing activities to achieve a
desired goal

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 5

 Types of Knowledge Work according to (Davenport
2010)

(Davenport 2010)
Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 6
 Process-orientation for Knoweldge Workers
according to (Davenport 2010)
Transaction workers. Need to understand the flow of their work and the
knowledge needed to perform it, but rarely have time to consult
guidelines or knowledge sources. Process flow can be added into IT
applications (workflows) bringing required information to the worker.
Integration workers. It is possible to articulate the process to be
followed, e.g. by "standard operating procedures". Workers typically
have enough time and discretion to consult the description.
Expert workers. High autonomy and discretion in the work. Expert
knowledge work can be improved by providing templates, sample
outputs, and high-level guidelines instead of specifying detailed
process models.
Collaboration workers. If external knowledge and information are
necessary to do the job, they must generally be made available through
repositories and documents (Davenport 2010)
Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 7
 Process Logic vs. Business Logic

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 9

 Process versus Practice in Knowledge Work

■ Davenport distinguishes between process and practice

♦ Process – the design for which work is to be done
● Process Logic
♦ Practice – an understanding of how individual workers respond
to the real world of work and accomplish their assigned tasks
● Business Logic
■ This roughly corresponds to the destinction between "flow" and
"know"
♦ "flow" is the process logic
♦ "know" is the execution of tasks (business logic, practice)

(Davenport 2010, p. 22ff)

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 10

 Knowledge and Processes
Process Logic

knowledge about processes:

• process flow
• roles
• resources
 process logic
used at design time
Business Logic

knowledge in processes:
• supports practice
decision • skills, experiences
expertise
business model regulations lessons • know how
rules learned
 business logic
used at run time
Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 11
 Business Logic in Processes
 The process model contains the
Process Logic process logic
 Business logic can be assigned to
tasks in the process model
KIT KIT
 knowledge-intensive task (KIT)

 The business logic can occur in

different forms
 implicit, e.g
 in mind of people
 unstructured, e.g.
text  as text (e.g. guidelines)
rules
human decision model  structured, e.g.
experts
 rules
Business Logic  decision table
 coded in an application
Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 12
 Decision-Aware Business Processes

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 13

 Processes vs. Decision

■ Decision is a special kind of business task

■ Process modeling is a combination of two ideas
♦ Process: an organized, coordinated flow of activities,
conducted by participants, acting on and deciding with data
and knowledge, to achieve a business goal.
♦ Decision: decisions are made by applying business
knowledge in the form of business rules or other decision
logic to process data. A decision model likewise reflects
how a decision is made.

adapted from (Debevoise & Taylor 2014)

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 15
 Decision-Aware Process Models:
Managing Process Logic and Decision Logic Separately
Process Logic

 The process model contains

the process logic with the
decision tasks
 procedural
 Decision logic is externalized
from decision tasks and
text
represented in a different kind
rules
decision model of model
 declarative
Business Logic / Decision Logic

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 16

 Example 1: Declarative vs. Procedural Solutions

Procedural

Credit Rating
Person Debt Person Employment History Person Credit Rating
low, high good bad A,B,C
Declarative
1 low good A
2 low bad B
3 high good B
Decision 4 high bad C
Decision
Task Logic

(von Halle & Goldberg 2010, p. 69)

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 17
 Procedural versus Declarative

process
logic

Credit Rating
Person Debt Person Employment History Person Credit Rating
low, high good bad A,B,C
1
2
low
low
good
bad
A
B
business
3
4
high
high
good
bad
"B" B
"B" C
logic
"C"

(von Halle & Goldberg 2010, p. 67)

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 18
 Distinguishing a Procedural Task from a
Declarative Decision

■ A procedural solution specifies how, in a step-by-step

manner, something is to be done.
♦ A business process model is a procedural solution
because it prescribes a set of tasks that are carried out in a
particular sequence.
■ A declarative solution only specifies what needs to be done,
with no details as to how, in a step-by-step manner, it is to be
carried out, because sequence is irrelevant to arriving at the
correct result.
♦ A Decision Table is a declarative solution because it is a
set of unordered business logic, not a set of ordered tasks.
(von Halle & Goldberg 2010, p. 67)
Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 19
 Example 2: Collapsing gateways for a complex
discount decision into one decision task

(Debevoise and Taylor 2014)

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 20
 Decision Tasks vs. Decision Logic

■ Decision tasks are procedural. A decision task does

something; specifically, it makes an operational business
decision.
■ Decision logic indicates only what the outcome for each
possible case should be. It is the set of all decision rules for a
given operational business decision. Decision logic should be
purely declarative.
■ The decision logic cannot actually make the operational
business decision. So there always has to be a task or action
to make an operational business decision.

(Ross 2013, p. 8)
Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 21
 Distinctions between Business Process and
Business Decision

Business Process Business Decision

Procedural in nature Declarative in nature

It’s all about which tasks need to be It is all about what is to be

carried out (step-by-step sequence concluded (rules = logic leading
of tasks) from conditions to conclusions)

Improvements aim for increased Improvements aim for smarter

work efficiency business logic

Represented best in a procedural Represented best in a declarative

business process model decision model

(adapted from von Halle & Goldberg 2010, p.70)

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 22
 Advantages of separating Business Logic from
Business Process Model
■ Allows a much simpler business process model
♦ If a business process is too complicated, a reason might be that business rules
are embedded in the flow
■ Makes changes to business process and business logic easier
♦ Permits changes in the Decision Model without changing the business process
model and vice versa
■ Makes governance of business processes and business logic easier to
manage
■ Decision Model can be reused in several processes
♦ the whole decision model
♦ individual decision tables and rules

+
Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 23
 Integrating the Decision Model with BPMN

■ Execution of a decision described by a Decision Model is a particular type

of task in BPMN.
■ In BPMN 2.0 the corresponding task type is called a business rule task.
■ In the figure below, Validate Order is the decision task. Its logic is
described by a Decision Model. The gateway simply tests the output of the
decision and routes the flow either to A or B based on the result

(Von Halle & Goldberg 2010, p. 425)

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 24

 Literatur

■ Davenport, T. H. (2010). Process Management for Knowledge Work. In J. vom

Brocke & M. Rosemann (Eds.), Handbook on Business Process Management 1
(pp. 17–36). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-00416-2
■ Debevoise, T. and Taylor, J. (2014) The Microguide to Process and Decision
Modeling in BPMN/DMN.
■ Von Halle, B., & Goldberg, L. (2010). The Decision Model: A Business Logic
Framework Linking Business and Technology. CRC Press Auerbach Publications.

Prof. Dr. Knut Hinkelmann Business Processes and Knowledge Work 25