A Thing Called "Fluid Process" - Beyond Rigidity in Business Process Support

Abstract

This keynote reports on a new class of processes – so called fluid processes - whose "engineering" and "use" is indistinguishable. Fluid processes are continually being adapted and reformed to fit the actual needs and constraints of the situation in hand and to fulfill the overall goals of the involved actors in the best possible way. We present a detailed review of challenges and techniques that exist for the support of fluid processes. We give insights into their nature, discuss fundamental challenges to be tackled, summarize basic technologies enabling fluid processes at the information system level, and describe advanced applications of fluid processes.