Process Instance Query Language and the Process Querying Framework

Abstract

The use of Business Process Management Systems (BPMSs) allows com panies to manage the data that flows through process models (business instances) and to monitor all the information and actions concerning a process execution. In general, the retrieval of this information is used not only to measure whether the pro cess works as expected but also to enable assistance in future process improvements by means of a postmortem analysis. This chapter shows how the measures extracted from the process instances can be employed to adapt business process executions according to other instances or other processes, thereby facilitating the adjustment of the process behavior at run-time to the organization needs. A language, named Process Instance Query Language (PIQL), is introduced. This language allows business users to query the process instance measures at run-time. These measures may be used both inside and outside the business processes. As a consequence, PIQL might be used in various scenarios, such as in the enrichment of the information used in Decision Model and Notation tables, in the determination of the most suitable business process to execute at run-time, and in the query of the instance measures from a dashboard. Finally, an example is introduced to demonstrate PIQL.