Organizations are always pursuing improvements in how they work in order to increase efficiency and reduce errors. This requires analysis and continuous improvement of their working methods, which may include very structured workflows in predictable situations, as well as protocols to respond to dynamic situations where it is impossible to prescribe a fixed process.
OMG is building new standards to join its family of model and notation languages. Currently there are three powerful and complementary standards, which together can model the range of working methods used across most organizations. This "triple crown" of process improvement standards offers support for process specification (BPMN™), case management (CMMN™) and decision modeling (DMN™).
Pedigree and Provenance Model and Notation (PPMN) – currently in development
In many industries organizations, individuals and other interested parties depend on the ability to assess the trustworthiness or authenticity of the things or entities they use and/or produce. This requires an understanding of the full history of that entity including its lineage, or how it came to be, its ownership history, and its custodial industry: pedigree (lineage) and provenance (ownership and custody), or P&P.
Knowing the ownership history of an entity can determine whether the purchase of that entity from a seller will result in the legitimate transfer of ownership from the seller to the buyer. Custodial history, which refers to the handling of the entity, ensures safety. For example, the temperature, humidity, and other factors of food storage can affect whether and how long the items may be safely consumed. In the healthcare industry, P&P ensures that the calibration of equipment and training of staff is included with patient data. In military application P&P can be applied to how intelligence was gathered and how information can be shared among mutual allies. PPMN will standardize how disparate organizations and industries express their P&P, opening the door for pooling, deep analysis, and learning.
The OMG PPMN specification will provide a solution to the problem of exchanging and displaying lineage, ownership, and custody of information in a standard way to facilitate the interoperability of tooling. Submitted specification proposals were required to include a method to express this information and display it to end users and a standard format for exchange between tools.
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Read more Original RFP Task force Talk OMG
Business Process Model and Notation™
Business Process Model and Notation has become the de-facto standard for business processes diagrams. It is intended to be used directly by the stakeholders who design, manage and realize business processes, but at the same time be precise enough to allow BPMN diagrams to be translated into software process components. BPMN has an easy-to-use flowchart-like notation that's independent of any particular implementation environment.
Case Management Model and Notation™
CMMN is a graphical notation used for capturing work methods that are based on the handling of cases requiring various activities that may be performed in an unpredictable order in response to evolving situations. Using an event-centered approach and the concept of a case file, CMMN expands the boundaries of what can be modeled with BPMN, including less structured work efforts and those driven by knowledge workers. Using a combination of BPMN and CMMN allows users to cover a much broader spectrum of work methods.
Decision Model and Notation™
DMN is a modeling language and notation for the precise specification of business decisions and business rules. DMN is easily readable by the different types of people involved in decision management. These include: business people who specify the rules and monitor their application; business analysts.