Редактирование: Событийная цепочка процессов

[[File:EPK komplexes Beispiel.png|thumb|240px|Пример более сложной EPC диаграммы (на немецком).]] 
'''Событийная цепочка процессов''' (Event-driven Process Chain, EPC) - тип [[Блок-схема|блок-схемы]], используемой для [[Бизнес-моделирование|бизнес-моделирования]]. EPC может быть использована для настройки системы [[ERP|планирования ресурсов предприятия]] (ERP),<ref>Bart-Jan Hommes (2004). ''The Evaluation of Business Process Modeling Techniques''. TU Delft. p.137.</ref> и для улучщений [[Бизнес-процесс|бизнес-процессов]].

== Описание ==
Предприятия используют EPC диаграммы для планирования потоков работ бизнес-процессов, первоначально в сочетании с моделированием в [[SAP R/3]], однако теперь они используются более широко. Существует ряд инструментов для создания EPC диаграмм, набор инструментов [[ARIS]] от компании IDS Scheer AG,<ref>[http://www.ids-scheer.com/ IDS Scheer AG]</ref>, бесплатный инструмент моделирования [[ARIS Express]], IDS Scheer AG , ADONIS от BOC Group,<ref>[http://www.boc-group.ru/ BOC Group]</ref> Mavim Rules от Mavim BV,<ref>[http://www.mavim.com Mavim BV]</ref> Business Process Visual ARCHITECT от Visual Paradigm, Visio от Microsoft Corp., Semtalk от Semtation GmbH, или Bonapart от Pikos GmbH. Некоторые из этих средств поддерживают инструментонезависимый EPC (Язык Разметки EPML) формат обмена данными. EPC диаграммы используют символы нескольких видов, чтобы показать структуру потока управления (последовательность решений, функции, события и другие элементы) бизнес-процесса.

The EPC method was developed within the framework of [[Architecture of Integrated Information Systems|ARIS]] by Prof. Wilhelm-August Scheer at the Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik at the Universität des Saarlandes in the early 1990s.<ref>A.-W. Scheer (2002). ''ARIS. Vom Geschäftsprozess zum Anwendungssystem''. Springer. p.20.</ref>  It is used by many companies for modeling, analyzing, and redesigning business processes. As such it forms the core technique for modeling in ARIS, which serves to link the different views in the so-called control view.

To quote from a publication on EPCs:<ref>Anni Tsai et al. (2006). "EPC Workflow Model to WIFA Model Conversion". In: ''2006 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Taipei, Taiwan'', pp. 2758-2763]</ref> "An EPC is an [[ordered graph]] of events and functions. It provides various connectors that allow alternative and parallel execution of processes. Furthermore it is specified by the usages of logical operators, such as OR, AND, and XOR. A major strength of EPC is claimed to be its simplicity and easy-to-understand notation. This makes EPC a widely acceptable technique to denote business processes."

The statement that EPCs are ordered graphs is also found in other literature, but is probably a misformulation: an ordered graph is a(n undirected) graph with an explicitly provided total node ordering, while EPCs are [[directed graph]]s for which no explicit node ordering is provided.  No restrictions actually appear to exist on the possible structure of EPCs, but nontrivial structures involving parallelism have ill-defined execution semantics; in this respect they resemble UML [[activity diagram]]s.  Several scientific articles are devoted to providing well-defined execution semantics for general EPCs.<ref>[[Wil van der Aalst]] (1999). [http://is.tm.tue.nl/staff/wvdaalst/publications/p74.pdf ''Formalization and Verification of Event-driven Process Chains'']. In ''Information & Software Technology 41(10)'', pp. 639-650</ref><ref>Kees van Hee et al. (2006). [http://www.win.tue.nl/~ooanea/papers/HOSCoopIS05.pdf "Colored Petri Nets to Verify Extended Event-Driven Process Chains"]. In ''Proc. of the 4th Workshop on Modelling, Simulation, Verification and Validation of Enterprise Information Systems (MSVVEIS06)'', May 23–24, 2006 Paphos, Cyprus, pp. 76-85.</ref>  One particular issue is that EPCs require non-local semantics,<ref>Ekkart Kindler (2006). 
[http://www.upb.de/cs/kindler/Publikationen/copies/tr-ri03.pdf ''On the Semantics of EPCs: A Framework for Resolving the Vicious Circle'']. Technical Report. Computer Science Department, University of Paderborn, Germany.</ref> i.e., the execution behavior of a particular node within an EPC may depend on the state of other parts of the EPC, arbitrarily far away.

In the following the elements used in EPC diagram will be described:

==Elements of an event-driven process chain==
[[Image:Elements of an Event-driven Process Chain.svg|350px|right]]

; Event : Events are passive elements in EPC. They describe under what circumstances a function or a process works or which state a function or a process results in. Examples of events are "requirement captured", "material on stock", etc. In the EPC graph an event is represented as hexagon. In general, an EPC diagram must start with an event and end with an event.

; Function : Functions are active elements in EPC. They model the tasks or activities within the company. Functions describe transformations from an initial state to a resulting state. In case different resulting states can occur, the selection of the respective resulting state can be modeled explicitly as a decision function using logical connectors. Functions can be refined into another EPC. In this case it is called hierarchical function. Examples of functions are "capture requirement", "check material on stock", etc. In the EPC graph a function is represented as rounded rectangle.

; Organization unit : Organization units determine which person or organization within the structure of an enterprise is responsible for a specific function. Examples are "sales department", "sales manager", "procurement manager", etc. It is represented as an ellipse with a vertical line.

; Information, material, or resource object : In the EPC, the information, material, or resource objects portray objects in the real world, for example business objects, entities, etc., which can be input data serving as the basis for a function, or output data produced by a function. Examples are "material", "order", etc. In the EPC graph such an object is represented as rectangle.

; Logical connector : In the EPC the logical relationships between elements in the control flow, that is, events and functions are described by logical connectors. With the help of logical connectors it is possible to split the control flow from one flow to two or more flows and to synchronize the control flow from two or more flows to one flow.

{|style="float:right"
|style="vertical-align:top;"|[[Image:EPC XOR branch.png|frame|If function F1 completes, either events E1 or E2 occur]]
|style="vertical-align:top;"|[[Image:EPC XOR merge.png|frame|If either events E1 or E2 occur, function F1 starts]]
|}
;Logical relationships
*There are three kinds of logical relationships defined in EPC:
** Branch/Merge : Branch and merge correspond to making decision of which path to choose among several control flows. A branch may have one incoming control flow and two or more outgoing control flows. When the condition is fulfilled, a branch activates exactly only one of the outgoing control flows and deactivates the others. The counterpart of a branch is a merge. A merge may have two or more incoming flows and one outgoing control flow. A merge synchronizes an activated and the deactivated alternatives. The control will then be passed to the next element after the merge. A branch in the EPC is represented by an opening XOR, whereas a merge is represented as a closing XOR connectors.
<!-- Actually, the branch diagram at the right must show a second operand inputting to the XOR block as XOR is a binary operation. Perhaps it may help to think an operand named "condition" entering the XOR block. Or should it be an XOR block at all? -->
** Fork/Join : Fork and join correspond to activating all paths in the control flow concurrently. A fork may have one incoming control flow and two or more outgoing control flows. When the condition is fulfilled, a fork activates all of the outgoing control flows in parallel. A join may have two or more incoming control flows and one outgoing control flow. A join synchronizes all activated incoming control flows. In the EPC diagram how the concurrency achieved is not a matter. In reality the concurrency can be achieved by true parallelism or by virtual concurrency achieved by interleaving. A fork in the EPC is represented by an opening 'AND', whereas a join is represented as a closing 'AND' connectors.
** OR : An 'OR' relationship corresponds to activating one or more paths among control flows. An opening 'OR' connector may have one incoming control flow and two or more outgoing control flows. When the condition is fulfilled, an opening 'OR' connector activates one or more control flows and deactivates the rest of them. The counterpart of this is the closing 'OR' connector. When at least one of the incoming control flows is activated, the closing 'OR' connector will pass the control to the next element after it.

; Control flow : A control flow connects events with functions, process paths, or logical connectors creating chronological sequence and logical interdependencies between them. A control flow is represented as a dashed arrow.

; Information flow : Information flows show the connection between functions and input or output data, upon which the function reads changes or writes.

; Organization unit assignment : Organization unit assignments show the connection between an organization unit and the function it is responsible for.

; Process path : Process paths serve as navigation aid in the EPC. They show the connection from or to other processes. The process path is represented as a compound symbol composed of a function symbol superimposed upon an event symbol. To employ the process path symbol in an EPC diagram, a symbol is connected to the process path symbol, indicating that the process diagramed incorporates the entirety of a second process which, for diagramatic simplicity, is represented by a single symbol.

==Example==
As shown in the example, customer order received as the initial event, which creates a requirement capture within the company. In order to specify this function, sales is responsible for marketing, currency etc. As a result, event 'requirement captured' leads to another new function: check material on stock, in order to manufacture the productions. All input or output data about material remains in the information resource. After checking material, two events may happen-with or without material on stock. If positive, get material from stock; if not, order material from suppliers. Since the two situations cannot happen at the same time, XOR is the proper connector to link them together.

==Meta-model of EPC==
Although a real process may include a series of stages until it is finished eventually, the main activities remain similar. An event triggers one function; and a function will lead to one event. Meanwhile, an event may involve one or more processes to fulfill but a process is unique for one event, the same goes for Process and Process Path. As for the function, its data may be included in one or more information resources, while Organization Unit is only responsible for one specific function.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Event-Driven Process Chain}}
* [http://dia-installer.de/shapes/edpc/ Symbols for drawing Event-driven process chain diagrams]
* [http://www.tekom.de/index_neu.jsp?url=/servlet/ControllerGUI?action=voll&id=285 Event-driven process chains for better flows]
* [http://www.ariscommunity.com/aris-express free EPC modeling tool by IDS Scheer]

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[[Category:Enterprise modelling]]

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