OBM : A Speci cation Method for ModellingOrganisational Process

Recently many process modelling approaches have been developed. However, in most of these approaches, it is often assumed that the processes in an organisation are clearly deened, and therefore the emphasis of process modelling is often put on the nal representation of the organisational process. However, in reality, processes are often not clearly deened. It is important to provide mechanisms to capture the processes. In this paper, we present an approach, called OBM, which provides a means to gradually identify the details of the processes in an organisation and develops the detailled representation of the organisational process by reenement. OBM is a method for developing models of organisational process. In OBM, a process model is developed at diierent levels. Each level may be composed of several components. Each component at level i may be reened in a subsequent level. The consistency between the level i component and its level i+1 reenement is checked. OBM provides constructs which can be used to model abstract behaviour and detailled behaviour including an agent's behaviour and activities. For reenement purposes, OBM also provides composition and hiding facilities. The semantics of the OBM constructs are deened in a linear time temporal logic. In this paper, we will use an example to explain how a process model may be gradually reened in OBM.