Empowering Business Users to Model and Execute Business Processes

Existing process modelling languages and especially executable process modelling languages are not designed for business users without programming knowledge. We therefore propose a novel Lightweight Process Modelling seeking to lower the entrance barrier for modelling executable processes. In this sense lightweight applies to the user interaction and means easy to understand in the context of the modelling language and easy to deploy, implement, and execute processes in a tooling context. Hence business users get advanced guidance during their modelling activities. This paper will provide a specification of a Lightweight Process Modelling process and the Language for Lightweight Process Modelling (LLPM). The LLPM formal semantic core is fairly rich, but it is designed to be rendered in a simple graphical form without undue loss of semantics. To achieve this we followed three design principles of lightweight modelling when supporting a business user: abstracting from executable process details, using semantic annotations, and reusing process parts through patterns and templates. In order to realize these design principles we have created new elements for the LLPM that are not yet implemented in existing process modelling languages. Selected concepts of existing process modelling languages like BPMN and BPEL complement the LLPM. In this paper we present a coherent metamodel of the elements, properties, and relationships. Further a design process is defined revealing the steps of enhancing the abstract graphical process models with execution details.