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Sbrasbez19 edited this page Dec 10, 2018 · 23 revisions

Basic Metrics Extractor

IN PROGRESS

Component 0 ( Basic Metrics Extractor from now on) is used in order to extract the basic information from the input-given BPMN model. For the project's scope, a metric is defined as basic if it simply counts the number of an element - of the specified type - that is present in the model ( e.g. number of parallel gateways splitting the flow, number of tasks, etc. ).

This information is useful to have a preliminary view on the model's composition in terms of the elements used to model a particular business process.

Since there are almost 200 basic metrics, instead of giving a detailed description of each one, they will be presented by their acronyms followed by the acronym's expansion, which should be pretty self-explanatory most of the times.

Therefore, each metric will be of the form: Acronym: expansion.

The metrics will then be divided in macro-categories as defined by the BPMN 2.0 Specification.

  • Flow Objects
  • Data
  • Connecting Objects
  • Swimlanes
  • Artifacts
  • Others

For further information about the BPMN elements, please refer to the BPMN 2.0 Specification

Flow Objects related metrics

Flow Objects define the behavior of a Business Process. There exists three types of Flow Objects:

  1. Activities
  2. Events
  3. Gateways

In the following, flow objects related metrics will be presented.

Activities related metrics

BPMN 2.0 defines an Activity as a generic term for work that a company performs in a Process. An activity may be atomic (e.g. Tasks) or non-atomic (e.g. Sub-Processes).

The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NACT: number of Activities
  • NCAC: number of Call Activities
  • NT: number of Tasks
  • NBRT: number of Business Rule Tasks
  • NMT: number of Manual Tasks
  • NRT: number of Receive Tasks
  • NSCT: number of Script Tasks
  • NSENT: number of Send Tasks
  • NSERT: number of Service Tasks
  • NUT: number of User Tasks
  • NFDT: number of Flow-Dividing Tasks
  • NFJT: number of Flow-Joining Tasks
  • NFJDT: number of Flow-Joining and Flow-Dividing Tasks
  • NSUB: number of Sub-Processes
  • NTR: number of Transactions

Events related metrics

An Event is something that happens during the course of a Process. These events affect the flow of the model and usually have a cause or an impact.

Based on when they affect the flow, the events can be categorized in:

  • Start Events - that indicate where a Process will start
  • Intermediate Events - that may happen between a Start and an End Event, affecting the flow of the Process.
  • End Events - that indicate where a Process will end.

Furthermore, Events can have a type (e.g. Message Start Event indicates a Start Event triggered by the catching of a message). Formally, the type of an Event is known as its Event Definition. An Event that has more than one definition is defined as a Multiple Event.

NEV: number of Events

is the most generic Events related metric, it counts the number of events in the model.

In the following, more specific metrics will be presented, according to the categorization showed before.

Event Definitions related metrics

These metrics are useful to know the number of Events of a particular type in the considered Business Process. The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NEVDEF: number of Event Definitions
  • NCANEV: number of Cancel Events
  • NCOMEV: number of Compensation Events
  • NCONDEV: number of Conditional Events
  • NERREV: number of Error Events
  • NESCEV: number of Escalation Events
  • NLEV: number of Link Events
  • NMESEV: number of Message Events
  • NSIEV: number of Signal Events
  • NTEEV: number of Terminate Events
  • NTEV: number of Timer Events

Start Events related metrics

The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NSTEV: number of Start Events
  • NSTMEV: number of Start Message Events
  • NSTCOEV: number of Start Conditional Events
  • NSTSIGEV: number of Start Signal Events
  • NSTTEV: number of Start Timer Events
  • NSTMUEV: number of Start Multiple Events
  • NSTPMUEV: number of Start Parallel Multiple Events

Intermediate Events related metrics

Intermediate Events happens between a Start and an End Event, affecting the flow of the Process. They can have both a cause - or trigger - (Intermediate Catch Events) or an impact - or result - (Intermediate Throw Events).

Furthermore, Intermediate Events can be attached to the boundary of an Activity, in which case they are known as Boundary Events. Boundary Events are triggered by an Exception in the normal flow of the Process and can be Interrupting or Non-Interrupting, based on whether they interrupt the Activity that triggered them or not.

Intermediate Catch Events related metrics

The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NICEV: number of Intermediate Catch Events
  • NICOMCEV: number of Intermediate Compensation Catch Events
  • NICONCEV: number of Intermediate Conditional Catch Events
  • NILCEV: number of Intermediate Link Catch Events
  • NIMCEV: number of Intermediate Message Catch Events
  • NISIGCEV: number of Intermediate Signal Catch Events
  • NIMUCEV: number of Intermediate Multiple Catch Events
  • NIPMUCEV: number of Intermediate Parallel Multiple Catch Events

Intermediate Throw Events related metrics

The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NITEV: number of Intermediate Throw Events
  • NICOMTEV: number of Intermediate Compensation Throw Events
  • NIESCTEV: number of Intermediate Escalation Throw Events
  • NILTEV: number of Intermediate Link Throw Events
  • NIMTEV: number of Intermediate Message Throw Events
  • NISIGTEV: number of Intermediate Signal Throw Events
  • NIMUTEV: number of Intermediate Multiple Throw Events

Boundary Events related metrics

  • NBEV: number of Boundary Events

For greater clarity, the other metrics related to Boundary Events will be presented in relation to their interrupting characteristic.

1. Interrupting Boundary Events related metrics

The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NIBEV: number of Interrupting Boundary Events
  • NIBCANCEV: number of Interrupting Boundary Cancel Events
  • NIBCOMPEV: number of Interrupting Boundary Compensation Events
  • NIBCOEV: number of Interrupting Boundary Conditional Events
  • NIBERREV: number of Interrupting Boundary Error Events
  • NIBESCEV: number of Interrupting Boundary Escalation Events
  • NIBMEV: number of Interrupting Boundary Message Events
  • NIBSIGEV: number of Interrupting Boundary Signal Events
  • NIBTEV: number of Interrupting Boundary Timer Events

2. Non-Interrupting Boundary Events related metrics

The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NBNIEV: number of Non-Interrupting Boundary Events
  • NBNIMEV: number of Non-Interrupting Boundary Message Events
  • NBNITEV: number of Non-Interrupting Boundary Timer Events
  • NBNICONEV: number of Non-Interrupting Boundary Conditional Events
  • NBNISIGEV: number of Non-Interrupting Boundary Signal Events
  • NBNIESCEV: number of Non-Interrupting Boundary Escalation Events
  • NBNIMUEV: number of Non-Interrupting Boundary Multiple Events
  • NBNIPMUEV: number of Non-Interrupting Boundary Parallel Multiple Events

End Events related metrics

The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NENDEV: number of End Events
  • NENDCEV: number of End Cancel Events
  • NENDCOMEV: number of End Compensation Events
  • NENDERREV: number of End Error Events
  • NENDESCEV: number of End Escalation Events
  • NENDMEV: number of End Message Events
  • NENDSIGEV: number of End Signal Events
  • NENDTEREV: number of End Terminate Events
  • NENDMUEV: number of End Multiple Events

Gateways related metrics

Gateways are used to control the divergence and convergence of the sequence flows (Edges connecting the BPMN elements). In general, if a Gateway has more than one outgoing Sequence Flow, it is said to be a split gateway. If a gateway has more than one incoming Sequence Flow instead, it is said to be a join gateway.

This characteristic has been taken into account when implementing the gateways related basic metrics, in order to gather more information about the analyzed model.

There exists five type of gateways:

The generic basic metrics related to gateways are:

  • NGA: number of Gateways
  • NFDG: number of Flow-Dividing Gateways
  • NFJG: number of Flow-Joining Gateways
  • NFJDG: number of Flow-Joining and Dividing Gateways
  • NSFG: number of outgoing sequence flows from Gateways

In the following, the metrics will be presented based on the Gateway's type they refer to.

Exclusive Gateways related metrics

The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NEDDB: number of Exclusive Data-Based Decisions
  • NFDEXG: number of Flow-Dividing Exclusive Gateways
  • NFJEXG: number of Flow-Joining Exclusive Gateways
  • NFJDEXG: number of Flow-Joining and Dividing Exclusive Gateways

Inclusive Gateways related metrics

The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NID: number of Inclusive Decisions
  • NFDIG: number of Flow-Dividing Inclusive Gateways
  • NFJIG: number of Flow-Joining Inclusive Gateways
  • NFJDIG: number of Flow-Joining and Dividing Inclusive Gateways

Parallel Gateways related metrics

The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NPG: number of Parallel Gateways
  • NFDPG: number of Flow-Dividing Parallel Gateways
  • NFJPG: number of Flow-Joining Parallel Gateways
  • NFJDPG: number of Flow-Joining and Dividing Parallel Gateways

Event-Based Gateways related metrics

The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NEDEB: number of Event-Based Decisions
  • NFDEBG: number of Flow-Dividing Event-Based Gateways
  • NFJEBG: number of Flow-Joining Event-Based Gateways
  • NFJDEBG: number of Flow-Joining and Dividing Event-Based Gateways

Complex Gateways related metrics

The basic metrics implemented by the Basic Metrics Extractor for this category are:

  • NCD: number of Complex Decisions
  • NFDCG: number of Flow-Dividing Complex Gateways
  • NFJCG: number of Flow-Joining Complex Gateways
  • NFJDCG: number of Flow-Joining and Dividing Complex Gateways

Data related metrics

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