A study into the impact of the use of modularity in business process modeling on understandability

Abstract

Process models are used for communication about processes to various stakeholders. An important group of stakeholders are the employees involved in these processes, as the models present an overview of their activities. Since not all stakeholders are experts in the field of process modeling, the models should not only accurately represent reality, but also be easy to understand.
Especially if models are large, they become more difficult to understand. That is the reason why modularization is applied in large and/or complex processes. Several modularization strategies have been developed to increase the understandability of process models. One of those techniques is vertical modularization, which requires a user to navigate through the main process and sub-processes in order to read the process model.
This study has focused on the vertical modularization technique, using two different strategies, the so-called ‘overview+detail’ and ‘focus+context’ strategies. The purpose of the study was to determine if there would be a significant difference, with respect to understandability, between those two interface strategies. This significant difference was not established.
Follow-up studies could include other modularization techniques to see whether a significant difference in understandability of models can yet be established.

Date of Award	3 Jul 2021
Original language	English
Supervisor	Irene Vanderfeesten (Examiner) & Ben Roelens (Co-assessor)