Representational Deficiency of Process Modelling Languages: Measures and Implications

Abstract

The large number of available process modelling languages has given rise to the need for evaluation and comparison of their representational capabilities. Over the last few years, the research community has risen to the challenge by carrying out a significant amount of work in the area of such analysis. Much of this effort is based on the Bunge-Wand-Weber representation model, a common benchmark used for the analysis of grammars that purport to model the real world and the interactions within it. However, the carried out BWW analyses of various process modelling languages exist largely separately from each other, with no comprehensive effort at the comparative measurement of their representational capability. This paper introduces four measures that, together, reflect the representational capacity and clarity of a process modelling language. These four measures are used in this paper to compare seven popular process modelling languages. The work provides insights into the representational deficiency similarities and differences between process modelling languages and also predicts some of their implications for practice.