Title: Compiling business processes: untangling unstructured loops in irreducible flow graphs

Authors: Wei Zhao, Rainer Hauser, Kamal Bhattacharya, Barrett R. Bryant, Fei Cao

Addresses: Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294–1170, USA. ' IBM Zurich Research, Saeumerstrasse 4, Rueschlikon 8803, Switzerland. ' IBM T.J. Watson Research, P.O. Box 218, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA. ' Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294–1170, USA. ' Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294–1170, USA

Abstract: This paper presents a systematic study of some major problems involved in the transformation of business process modelling languages to executable business process representations. A business process modelling language usually uses the simple concept of |goto| to describe the operation sequence of a business. If a structured language is chosen as the executable representation, it is difficult to compile the unstructured goto flows into structured statements when the process model is irreducible. This paper discusses a method called Regular Expression Language (REL). REL is a method that can compile a business process model that is irreducible with unstructured loops to statements in structured languages with controlled code complexity. Examples are given for compiling models expressed as UML2 Activity Diagrams into the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS).

Keywords: business process modelling; model driven architecture; MDA; model transformation; unstructured loops; irreducible loops; regular expression; compiler optimisation; Business Process Execution Language for Web Services; BPEL4W; flow graphs; business process representations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWGS.2006.008880

International Journal of Web and Grid Services, 2006 Vol.2 No.1, pp.68 - 91

Published online: 01 Feb 2006 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article