A MILLENNIAL MODEL TO SOLVE THE CHALLENGES OF THE DIGITAL WORLD.

The digital world has brought an unprecedented complexity. The standardisation of the processes is no longer the solution to the challenge. As the variety grows, new models are needed.

Artifact-centric is an initiative born in 2003 in IBM laboratories. Currently, is one of the big tendencies in process modelling as a wider approach to the challenges of the complex or unpredictable processes. According to Wikipedia:

Artifact-centric business process model represents an operational model of business processes in which the changes and evolution of business data, or business entities, are considered as the main driver of the processes. The artifact-centric approach, also called activity-centric or process-centric business process modeling, focuses on describing how business data is change/updated, by a particular action or task, throughout the process.

THE ANALOGY OF A BASKETBALL GAME HELPS HIGHLIGHTING THE KEY PRINCIPLES AND BENEFITS OF THE ARTIFACT-CENTRIC MODEL

The sequence of actions in a basketball game can not be predicted. The game can be monitored with strategies, can be managed and followed but you would never try to plan it because the possibilities are just endless. So why not stop trying?

As with a basketball game, and every context-driven experience, you can define the behavioral rules and then see how every case works.

DATA

All the necessary to play a game: the players, the other team, the venue, the date…

The decision context, with all the relevant information.

ACTIONS

While playing, you can only bounce, run or throw. You can also stop playing or swap players.

What can be done: a stable set of actions. Its combination is the key of the management strategy.

LIFECYCLE

Attack is when you have the ball, defense is you don’t but it is on play. If it isn’t, the game is stopped.

The visibility of the lifecycle and the current situation. There are as many visions as actors.

BUSINESS RULES

If the ball goes downwards, it scores. If it goes upwards, it doesn’t score.

The business rules that drive the behavior. They change frequently and the ideal is to test and learn.

Because you stop trying to streamline all possible events, the artifact-centric model delivers:

  • A legible definition: the four pillars of the model are mostly functional. There is no need of high-tech skills to understand how the process works.
  • A fully automated system: As no assumptions are made , there are no exceptions to the forecasted process.
  • A personalized behavior: each case will naturally have a different journey, fully adapted to its data and its context.