The management of business processes is one of the most important issues an enterprise has to deal with. To create value, all stakeholders and involved IT systems of a company have to be carefully aligned and integrated.

In this track, you will learn basic theoretical concepts of abstracting reality by modeling business processes and working with such conceptualizations. You will hands-on implement business processes in a workflow management system and understand the complexity of orchestrating your company's activities and staff. Finally, you will dive into the bigger picture of a company’s architecture.

The lectures

• Information Modeling (Winter Term)

  The lecture Information Modeling provides the theoretical foundation of a core topic of the Information Systems discipline. Central aspects of this topic such as meta modeling, modeling tools, selected modeling frameworks, model configuration, standardization, analysis, merge and mining, always related to the Business Process Management research field, are part of the curriculum.

  Prerequisites:

  • Basic knowledge of data modeling (ERM, UML) / process modeling (EPC, BPMN, Petri Nets) / formal specification (set notation) is recommended.
  • Programming skills are not required.

  Preparatory Resources:

  • Introduction to Entity-Relationship Modelling: Kifer, M.; Bernstein, A. J.; Lewis, P. M.: Database Systems. An Application-oriented Approach. Boston 2006.
  • Introduction to Process Modelling with Event-driven Process Chains (EPC): Scheer, A.-W.: Business Process Modeling. 2nd Edition, Berlin et al. 1999.

• Workflow Management (Summer Term)

  Workflow Management is one of the key elements of Business Automation. In short, Workflow Management Systems (WfMS) support the consistent execution of a company’s relevant Business Processes. It is therefore a very important sub-task of Business Process Management, taking into consideration and integrating the organizational structure, data, and processes, as well as external services.

  The goals of the course are enabling the student to understand the architecture of WfMS, understanding the state-based setting of a WfMS, implementing a WfMS, and developing a real-life scenario, connecting two WfMS instances working together. To understand if this course is for you, please check this webpage about getting started with camunda in general and this webpage about creating and deploying processes in particular, and think about how it resonates with you.

  Prerequisites:

  • Experience in process modelling (specifically BPMN) is highly recommended for the lecture.
  • Programming (Java, Spring) and database skills (SQL) are required.

  Preparatory Resources:

  • Dumas, M., Rosa, M. L., Mendling, J., & Reijers, H. A. (2018). Fundamentals of Business Process Management. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
  • Aalst, W. van der., Hee, K. van. (2004). Workflow Management: Models, Methods and Systems. MIT Press Cambridge MA

• Enterprise Architecture Management (Summer Term)

  This course provides insights into the methods of enterprise architectures giving a holistic view on organizations. The need for architecture is motivated by a wide interpretation of information systems. Architecture supports the effective planning and governance of enterprises. Consistently implemented, it facilitates the understanding of business entities’ interrelationships and helps to explicate their contribution to superior enterprise goals. The concrete architecture realization process is underlined by the study of two well-known and widely used architecture frameworks.

  The students’ ability to plan, develop, and implement an enterprise architecture is the course’s major goal. An understanding of current developments, methods and frameworks in the domain of architecture implementation should be obtained. Furthermore, practical skills in architecture development will be conveyed with work on case studies and presentations of the results.

  Prerequisites:

  • Experience in process modelling is recommended but no key prerequisite for the lecture.
  • Programming skills are not required.

  Preparatory Resources:

  • Lankhorst, Marc (2017): Enterprise Architecture at Work. Modelling, Communication and Analysis. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg (The Enterprise Engineering Series).
  • Op ’t Land, Martin (Ed.) (2009) Enterprise Architecture. Creating Value by Informed Governance. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg  (The Enterprise Engineering Series).