Approaches combining methods of Operational Research with Business Process Model and Notation: A systematic review Hana Tomaskova 1 and Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber 2,3 1 University of Hradec Kralove, Faculty of Informatics and Management, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic 2 Faculty of Engineering Management, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland 3 Institute of Applied Mathematics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey ABSTRACT Background: Business process modelling is increasingly used not only by the companies’ management but also by scientists dealing with process models. Process modeling is seldom done without decision-making nodes, which is why operational research methods are increasingly included in the process analyses. Objective: This systematic literature review aimed to provide a detailed and comprehensive description of the relevant aspects of used operational research techniques in Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) model. Methods: The Web Of Science of Clarivate Analytics was searched for 128 studies of that used operation research techniques and business process model and notation, published in English between 1 January 2004 and 18 May 2020. The inclusion criteria were as follows: Use of Operational Research methods in conjunction with the BPMN, and is available in full-text format. Articles were not excluded based on methodological quality. The background information of the included studies, as well as specific information on the used approaches, were extracted. Results: In this research, thirty-six studies were included and considered. A total of 11 specific methods falling into the field of Operations Research have been identified, and their use in connection with the process model was described. Conclusion: Operational research methods are a useful complement to BPMN process analysis. It serves not only to analyze the probability of the process, its economic and personnel demands but also for process reengineering. Subjects Data Science, Optimization Theory and Computation, Social Computing Keywords BPMN, Business process model and notation, Operation Research, OR, Decision making, Techniques, Review INTRODUCTION It has been more than 15 years since ‘Business Process Model and Notation’ or ‘Business Process Modelling Notation’ (BPMN) became the official notation for process modelling. During its lifetime, this notation has gained many users and, thanks to its user- friendliness, it is used in many areas. This wide usage has led to the interconnection and use of other technologies and methods. The fundamental problem of any complex process is decision making. Operational Research as a popular scientific approach is so often How to cite this article Tomaskova H, Weber G-W. 2020. Approaches combining methods of Operational Research with Business Process Model and Notation: A systematic review. PeerJ Comput. Sci. 6:e301 DOI 10.7717/peerj-cs.301 Submitted 25 February 2020 Accepted 15 September 2020 Published 9 November 2020 Corresponding author Hana Tomaskova, hana.tomaskova@uhk.cz Academic editor Daniel De Oliveira Additional Information and Declarations can be found on page 23 DOI 10.7717/peerj-cs.301 Copyright 2020 Tomaskova and Weber Distributed under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0