Cost Analysis of Collaboration Interfaces in an Interdisciplinary Engineering Workflow: A Model Based Approach Using BPMN+I

In multi-team engineering projects with multi-team collaborations and frequent changes, decision-makers can hardly keep an overview of cost. Standard decision support in industry focuses either solely on workflow cost or the performance of multi-team labor, leaving out a holistic view. This paper proposes an approach to analyze cost at multi-team work interfaces using the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). Such interfaces are crucial for the success of an interdisciplinary engineering effort, representing frequent interactions of different teams (multi-team systems) during one working tasks like the interaction of mechanical and electrical engineering teams choosing sensors fulfilling both the mechanical and electrical requirements. The approach is evaluated using an industrial use case with two different multi-team interface alternatives: a human expert versus an IT-based assistance system. To support decision-making whether the IT-based solution with its software license costs is beneficial the interface cost of both alternatives are assessed exemplarily.