A Goal-Based Approach for Learning in Business Processes - Intentional Perspectives on Information Systems Engineering - page 233

A Goal-Based Approach for Learning
in Business Processes

Pnina Soffer, Johny Ghattas, and Mor Peleg

Abstract Organizations constantly strive to improve their business performance;
hence they make business process redesign efforts. So far, redesign has mainly been
a human task, which relies on human reasoning and creativity, although various
analysis tools can support it by identifying improvement opportunities. This chap-
ter proposes an automated approach for learning from accumulated experience and
improving business processes over time. The approach ties together three aspects
of business processes: goals, context, and actual paths. It proposes a learning cycle,
including a learning phase, where the relevant context is identified and used for
making improvements in the process model, and a runtime application phase, where
the improved process model is applied at runtime and actual results are stored for
the next learning cycle. According to our approach, a goal-oriented process model
is essential for learning to improve process outcomes.

1 Introduction

Organizations constantly strive to improve their business performance. This has
been reflected in efforts made in the area of business process redesign since the
early 1990s [ 5] . Typically, business process redesign initiatives can be characterized
on a continuum from radical reengineering [ 10] to incremental continuous improve-
ments. Various analysis methods can be used in order to identify weaknesses and
improvement opportunities in existing business processes. However, the actual task
of process redesign still relies exclusively on human reasoning and creativity.
Improving business performance over time is also associated with the concept of
organizational learning, defined as the capacity within an organization to improve
its performance based on experience [ 12] . One of the main ideas of organizational
learning is that while individuals can learn from past experience, this knowledge
has to become shared and applied across the organization to facilitate constant