Towards Workflow Pattern Support of Event-Driven Process Chains (EPC)

The 20 workflow patterns proposed by van der Aalst et al. provide a comprehensive benchmark for comparing process modelling languages. In this paper, we present a workflow pattern analysis of Event-Driven Process Chains (EPCs) which is novel in its degree of detailing. Building on this analysis, we propose three extensions to EPCs in order to provide for workflow pattern support. These are the introduction of the so-called empty connector; inclusion of multiple instantiation concepts; and a cancellation construct. The latter two are inspired by YAWL. Furthermore, describe how these extensions can be represented in EPC Markup Language (EPML).