JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science 15(1): 3-32, doi: 10.3217/jucs-015-01-0003
On Defining the Behavior of OR-joins in Business Process Models
expand article infoEgon Börger‡, Ove Sörensen§, Bernhard Thalheim|
‡ University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy§ University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany| Christian Albrechts University Kiel, Kiel, Germany

Corresponding author: Egon Börger ( boerger@di.unipi.it )

© Egon Börger, Ove Sörensen, Bernhard Thalheim.
This article is freely available under the J.UCS Open Content License.
Citation: Börger E, Sörensen O, Thalheim B (2009) On Defining the Behavior of OR-joins in Business Process Models. JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science 15(1): 3-32. https://doi.org/10.3217/jucs-015-01-0003
Open Access
Abstract
The recent literature on business process modeling notations contains numerous contributions to the so-called OR-join (or inclusive merge gateway) problem. We analyze the problem and present an approach to solve it without compromising any of the two major concerns that are involved: a) a clear semantical definition (design), which also clarifies what has to be implemented to achieve the intended generality of the construct, and b) a comprehensive set of static and dynamic analysis methods (verification of properties of business process models using the construct). We provide a conceptually simple scheme for dynamic OR-join synchronization policies, which can be implemented with low run-time overhead and allows the practitioner to effectively link the design of business process models with OR-joins to an analysis of the intended model properties. The definitions have been experimentally validated by a graph-based simulator.
Keywords
business processes, OR-join problem, BPMN standard