Modeling Multilevel Business Process Monitoring via BPMN Extension

Business process monitoring involves real-time supervision of a series of activities carried out by an organization to achieve specific objectives. Process event monitoring points (PEMP) are used to pinpoint specific locations within a process model where expected events are anticipated to occur. However, in general business process modeling languages, such as business process model and notation (BPMN), there is a lack of explicit modeling for PEMPs. This article proposes a method for modeling pairwise event monitoring points in business process models to track the execution status of specific activities or process segments via BPMN extension. Specifically, process monitoring points are designed by expanding the modeling element of sequence flow. Moreover, the business process model is decomposed using the refined process structure tree (RPST) to verify the soundness of the designed pairwise monitoring points. The proposed method allows flexible monitoring at the process segment level. And the process monitoring data could be used for a clear understanding of business progress, especially useful in heterogeneous business process model to support decision-making. Through case study from real-world business processes, the effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed process monitoring modeling method is validated.