Controlling business process instance flexibility via rules of planning

When an organization decides on the level of flexibility in handling business process instances, it needs to impose this level in operational practice. The way of imposing a given level of flexibility depends on the means employed for controlling business processes. When a Business Process Support (BPS) system is used, the flexibility limits can be incorporated in it. Achieving flexibility when workflow management systems are used for support of business processes is widely discussed in the literature. The ways of achieving flexibility for other types of business process support is a much less studied topic. The paper discusses how a given level of flexibility can be imposed by a BPS system built based on the state-flow view on business processes. The flexibility is achieved by combining different kinds of rules of planning: obligations, prohibitions, recommendations, and negative recommendations. Changing the status of a rule from obligation to recommendation, or from prohibition to negative recommendation gives more flexibility, and vice versa. Additional flexibility is achieved by defining rules on the level of a single process instance. The discussion is illustrated with the help of a simplified example already implemented in a BPS system called ProBis.