JISC

Balbir Barn

This presentation provided delegates with an understanding of process modelling in the context of higher education. The talk focussed on three aspects.

Firstly, it addressed the evolution, nature of business process modelling and provided an explanation of why business process modelling is undertaken. In particular, the distinction between 'As is' and 'To be' modelling was explored.

Secondly - key notations such as UML activity diagrams and Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) were introduced.

Thirdly, the presentation provided guidelines on how to move from 'as is' to 'to be' modelling based on practical experience. The guidelines were contextualised in the so-called 'third wave' of process modelling – business process management. This section also provided a thumbnail sketch of relevant tools, technologies and standards especially within the context of the e-framework.

About the presenter

Prof. Balbir S. Barn, Thames Valley University, bbarn@acm.org

Balbir S. Barn has a research background in methodologies and software application development toolsets – including business process modelling toolsets. Prior to academia, he worked extensively on Component Based Development methods and design of component modelling toolsets at Texas Instruments Research Labs. More recently, Balbir is researching software architecture issues relating to E-Learning systems. Of particular interest is the application of service-oriented architectures for E-Learning and E-admin in the Higher Education sector.

Balbir was the lead investigator on the COVARM project  - a recently completed project funded by JISC to explore the potential automation of elements of the course / programme validation process within the Higher Education sector as part of a larger, overarching strategy to develop a service based framework for e-learning.  The COVARM project researched 4 case study institutions to develop a systematic, model based description of the course validation process. These 4 processes were then synthesized into a single canonical detailed process using UML 1.5 semantics. From this process, a number of services were identified and developed. These services were then subject to composition / choreography using BPEL technology. The project identified the need for robust software development methods to support Model Driven Architecture and provides some initial results of one such method derived from principles established from component based software engineering.