this article we describe a Markov method that we developed specifically for process discovery, as well as describe two additional methods that we adopted from other domains and augmented for our purposes. The three methods range from the purely algorithmic to the purely statistical. We compare the methods and discuss their application in an industrial case study.

This paper focuses on the version models underlying both commercial systems and research prototypes. It provides an overview and classification of different versioning paradigms. Furthermore, it defines and relates fundamental concepts such as revisions, variants, configurations, and changes. In particular, we focus on intensional versioning, i.e., construction of versions based on configuration rules. Finally,we provide an overview of systems whichhave had significant impact on the development of the SCM discipline, and classify them according to a detailed taxonomy

Oz Environment Israel Z. Ben-Shaul This dissertation investigates decentralization of software processes and Process Centered Environments (PCEs), and addresses a wide range of issues concerned with supporting interoperability and collaboration among autonomous and heterogeneous processes, both in their definition and in their execution in possibly physically dispersed PCEs. Decentralization is addressed at three distinct levels of abstraction. The first proposes a generic conceptual model that is both language- and PCE-independent. The second level explores the realization of the model in a specific PCE, Oz, and its rule-based process modeling language. The third level addresses architectural issues in interconnecting autonomous PCEs as a basis for process interoperability. Two key concerns guide this research. The first is maximizing local autonomy, so as not to force a priori any global constraints on the definition and execution of local processes, unless explicitly and voluntarily specified by a particular process instance. The second concern is tailorability, dynamicity and fine-grained control over the degree of interoperability. The essence of the interoperability model lies in two abstraction mechanisms-- Treaty and Summit-- for inter-process definition and execution, respectively. Treaties enable to specify shared sub-processes while retaining the privacy of local sub-processes. To promote autonomy, Treaties are established by explicit and active participation of the involved processes. To promote fine granularity, Treaties are defined pairwise between two collaborating processes and formed over a possibly small sub-process unit, although multisite Treaties over large shared sub-processes can be constructed, if desired. Finally, Treaties are superimposed on top of pre-existing instantiated processes, enabling their dynamic and incremental establishment and supporting a decentralized bottom-up approach.

We present an architecture for multi-user software development environments, covering general, processcentered and rule-based MUSDEs. Our architecture is founded on componentization, with particular concern for the capability to replace the synchronization component- to allow experimentation with novel concurrency control mechanisms- with minimal effects on other components while still supporting integration. The architecture has been implemented for the Marvel SDE.

Process languages remain a vital area of software process research. Among the important issue for process languages are semantic richness, ease of use, appropriate abstractions, process composability, visualization, and support for multiple paradigms. The need to balance semantic richness with ease of use is particularly critical. JIL addresses these issues in a number of innovative ways. It models processes in terms of steps with a rich variety ofsemantic attributes. The JIL control model combines proactive and reactive control, conditional control, and more simple means of controlow modeling via step composition and execution constraints. JIL facilitates ease of use through semantic factoring, the accommodation of incomplete step specifications, the fostering of simple sub-languages, and the ability to support visualizations. This approach allows processes to be programmed in a variety of terms, and to a variety of levels of detail, according to the needs of particular processes, projects, and programmers.

This paper discusses the importance of process support for business activities. A reference framework for process concepts and technology support is sought. The general requirements and properties of the process domain are rst discussed. Then, four process sub-models are presented to describe activities, products, tools and organisations, respectively. Five process model phases are also introduced, as well as meta-processes and related human roles to handle process models and their transformations. The process concepts are applied to a bank example.

Software process models are meant to describe software engineering activities around evolving software products. Process models will need modifications due to gained experience, changed policies or projectspecific requirements, and a set of versions of the original models must be maintained. Thus, software process models are evolving products and should be under control of a configuration management system. EPOS models Software Processes in an objectoriented data model. Both Process models and running instances are stored in a versioned database. EPOS Software Process Models may be evolved and reused by the same CM techniques as used for software systems. 1 Introduction Configuration Management (CM) is the discipline of managing the evolution of complex systems. Software CM is needed to assist in designing and engineering software products. CM assumes a shared and versioned repository to store software products, consisting of general software components and their dependencies. A soft...

. A Process Support System provides the tools and mechanisms necessary to define, implement and control processes, i.e., complex sequences of program invocations and data exchanges. Due to the generality of the notion of process and the high demand for the functionality they provide, process support systems are starting to be used in a variety of application areas, from business re-engineering to experiment management. In particular, recent results have shown the advantages of using such systems in scientific applications and the work reported in this paper is to be interpreted as one more step in that direction. The paper describes Geo-Opera, a process support system tailored to spatial modeling and GIS engineering. Geo-Opera facilitates the task of coordinating and managing the development and execution of large, computer-based geographic models. It provides a flexible environment for experiment management, incorporating many characteristics of workflow management systems as well as ...

Process modeling is a rather young and very active research area. During the last few years, new languages and methods have been proposed to describe software processes. In this paper we try to clarify the issues involved in software process modeling and identify the main approaches. We start by motivating the use of process modeling and its main objectives. We then propose a list of desirable features for process languages. The features are grouped as either already provided by languages from other fields or as specific features of the process domain. Finally, we review the main existing approaches and propose a classification scheme.

Software process is how an organization goes about developing or maintaining a software system. It is the methodology employed when people use machines, tools, and artifacts to create a product. Recent work has applied formal modeling to software process, with the hope of reaping the benefits of unambiguous and analyzable formalisms. Yet industry has been slow to adopt formal model technologies. Two reasons are that it is costly to develop a formal model and, once developed, there are no methods to ensure that the model indeed reflects reality. This thesis develops techniques for process event data analysis that help solve these two problems, which are termed process discovery and process validation. For process discovery, event data captured from an on-going process is used to generate a formal model of process behavior. To do this, results from the field of grammar inference are applied, and a new method is also developed. The methods are shown to be efficient and practical to use in...