Abstract state machine nets: closing the gap between business process models and their implementation

Abstract

The gap between on the one side the users' understanding of Business Process Models (BPMs) and on the other side the run behavior of model implementations is still with us. We introduce Abstract State Machine Nets (ASM Nets) whose component ASMs can be defined using a simple combination of textual (data-oriented) and intuitive graphical (control-flow oriented) yet semantically rigorously defined descriptive means. This allows the BP experts to design BPMs whose underlying ASM Nets constitute a reliable precise contract---a contract which guarantees the BP domain experts that the application-domain focussed understanding of the BPMs they design is also a correct understanding of the code behavior provided by the implementation of the models by software experts. This paves the way for the development of certifiably correct BPMs and their implementations. To illustrate one practical and one conceptual application of the concept we a) instantiate ASM Nets to model the behavioral meaning of the graphical and textual notations used in the commercial S-BPM tool suite with its focus on communication (service interaction) and b) show that applying the rigorous ASM refinement concept to ASM Nets supports IBM's Guard-Stage-Milestone approach to adaptive case management by an accurate conceptual foundation.