Controlled flexibility in healthcare processes: A BPMN-Extension approach

Abstract

The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is increasingly being used to model and execute healthcare processes. BPMN, as prescriptive modelling language, does not provide enough support to handle with expected or unexpected exceptions. However total flexibility is not the answer. Indeed, in the everyday practice, people do not wish for total flexibility. Instead, designers would like to define which changes can be applied, as well as performers would like to follow advices previously modelled on which and how they can change the elements that compose business processes. In this paper, the authors detail CF4BPMN, a BPMN extension to allow for the modeling and execution of controlled flexibility. In addition, they apply it to a healthcare process, defining how a certain process element can or cannot be changed. This way, process participants can visually learn and follow the advised changes onto the process in a controlled manner