A New Approach to Evaluate Correctness in Graph Based Business Process Modeling Languages (case study: BPMN) Majid Aboutalebi, Homayoun Motameni and Najmeh Akbarpour + Department of Computer Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Sari Branch, Sari, Iran Abstract. So far, many studies on measurement and evaluation criteria for software engineering have been done, but few researches have been conducted on the business processes. On the other hand, nowadays many business modeling languages have been designed and introduced. Selecting a proper business process modeling language has a large impact on the design’s result. One of the key criteria in assessing the quality of business process modeling language is their correctness. This criterion has a direct relation with desirability of a business process modeling language. This study provides a new framework for evaluating correctness of business process modeling languages. The suggested framework can be useful in choosing the right modeling languages and also comparing them. Keywords: Business process modelling languages, Graph-Based, formal framework, evaluating Correctness of business process modelling languages, BPMN 1. Introduction Today, process modelling is widely used within organizations as a way of increasing awareness and knowledge of business processes, and to reduce organizational complexity [11]. Business Process Modelling Languages (BPMLs) is the most important tool for modelling. At present, more than 350 languages and tools for modelling and design of business processes have been introduced [1]. Recker in [2] mentioned that: “Process Modelling is like turning a lot of light bulbs on in the minds of managers.” Unfortunately due to the large number of BPMLs, select the appropriate language is very difficult. Also, no detailed assessment and analysis of BPMLs exist. So users can not easily recognize the strengths and weaknesses of modelling languages. So far, many studies have been conducted on the evaluation criteria of programming languages. But very little research has been done on the business processes. In general a good model should have two basic characteristics, Correctness and Usefulness [4]. Correctness is one of the most important criteria in assessing the quality of BPMLs. We can say that BPMLs correctness is a precondition for their usefulness. Recently, several quality frameworks for BPMLs have been proposed, but in most studies [5, 6, 7], according to this criterion is less important. Also in these works, No formal method has not proposed to measure the accuracy of the model. Assessing the accuracy of BPMLs, make them easier to compare. Also provide a formal approach for evaluating BPMLs, can be a great help to improve them. These parameters help business participants to improve the model with less error, easier to understand and have better performance [8]. Measurement is a key to strategic planning. As Lord Kelvin, a noted mathematician once said [9]: “If you can measure something and put a number to it, you can begin to understand it. If you cannot measure it, you have a very sorry ability to understand it...”.Therefore, a comprehensive and formal approach for assessing the correctness of BPMLs is so useful. + Corresponding author. Tel.: + (989354502450). E-mail address: Najmeh.akbarpour@gmail.com. 135 2012 International Conference on Computer Technology and Science (ICCTS 2012) IPCSIT vol. 47 (2012) © (2012) IACSIT Press, Singapore DOI: 10.7763/IPCSIT.2012.V47.26