Towards Real-Scale Business Transaction Workflow Modelling * A.P. Barros 1 , A.H.M. ter Hofstede 1 , H.A. Proper 2 1 Department of Computer Science 2 Faculty of Information Technology The University of Queensland Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Qld 4072 GPO Box 2434, Brisbane 4001 Australia Australia e-mail: E.Proper@acm.org PUBLISHED AS: A.P. Barros, A.H.M. ter Hofstede, and H.A. Proper. Towards Real-Scale Business Trans- action Workflow Modelling. In A. Oliv´ e and J.A. Pastor, editors, Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference CAiSE’97 on Advanced Information Systems Engineering, vol- ume 1250 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 437–450, Barcelona, Spain, EU, June 1997. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany, EU. ISBN 3540631070 Abstract While the specification languages of workflow management systems focus on process execu- tion semantics, the successful development of workflows relies on a fuller conceptualisation of business processing, including process semantics. For this, a wellspring of modelling techniques, paradigms and informal-formal method extensions which address the analysis of organisational processing structures (enterprise modelling) and communication (based on speech-act theory), is available. However, the characterisations - indeed the cognition - of workflows still appears coarse. In this paper, we provide the complementary, empirical insight of a real-scale business transaction workflow. The development of the workflow model follows a set of principles which we believe address workflow modelling suitability. Through the principles, advanced considerations including asynchronous as well as synchronous messaging, temporal constraints and a service-oriented per- spective are motivated. By illustrating the suitability principles and with it the inherent complexity of business transaction domains, we offer timely insights into workflow specification extension, and workflow reuse and deployment. 1 Introduction The workflow concept, proliferated through the recently emergent workflow management systems (WFMS) (see surveys in [FYW94, WW93, Rod91, GHS95]), advances information systems (IS) im- plementation models by incorporating aspects of collaboration and coordination in business processes. * Part of this work has been supported by CITEC, a business unit of the Queensland Government’s Department of Public Works and Housing (formerly the Administrative Services Department). 1