A Twofold Approach for Evaluating Inter-Organizational Workflow Modeling Formalisms

Abstract

This chapter presents a twofold methodology for the evaluation of inter-organizational workflows modeling formalisms. The first approach is ontological and based on the Bunge-Wand-Weber models. The second is based on prototyping and consists in the development of a WFMS for language evaluation. The dual evaluation methodology is then applied to the UML with a practical example from the aerospace industry. Both convergent and divergent results are found from the two validations. Possible enhancements to the UML formalism are suggested from the convergent results. On the other hand, the divergent results suggest the need for a contextual specification in the BWW models.