BPMN Process Refinement

An abstract BPMN process is refined into a more specific process which is a more fine-grained representation of the process. There are different kinds of refinement like horizontal or vertical refinements. A specific process model is a valid refinement of the abstract model if no refinement condition is violated.

The refinement is validated using ontologies and DL reasoning. The abstract and specific process is transformed to an OWL DL ontology which is called the refinement ontology. Reasoning service indicates whether the specific process is an valid or invalid refinement of the abstract process.

Valid Process Refinement

As a first example, we demonstrate the validation of a valid process refinement. In the BPMN Model, the refinement relation is represented by the group assignment of the activities in the spcific process.

Abstract BPMN Process Model

Specific BPMN Process Model

Select Abstract and Specific Model

Resulting Ontology

In the resulting ontology, there are no invalid activities.

Invalid Process Refinement

The following process is an invalid refinement of the abstract process.

Specific Incorrect BPMN Process Model

Resulting Status Message

A status message displays which activities are invalid refined, i.e. they have either a predecessor or a successor activity that is not allowed by the restrictions given by the abstract process.

Resulting Ontology

There are activities in the ontology, that are classified as invalid.