Engineering in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence

General Objectives. Major advances in technology have resulted in the widespread implementation of information systems into businesses and organizations. This course introduces languages, principles and methods of process modeling, analysis and innovation as critical factors to the overall success of a business. The course centers around the role of conceptual (sometimes referred as business) process modeling as a means to understand and capture the workflows of interest in information systems of various kind. Students will learn the elements of process models and their precise meaning using the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) international standard. The course will cover processes within organizations (process orchestrations) and also interacting processes involving several organizations (process choreographies), and will look at techniques to analyze and improve such processes from a formal perspective. The course will also provide a basic knowledge and understanding of how to design, test and implement information systems for executable processes. Finally, the course will present methods and tools to properly use process mining techniques, which enable to discover process models (whose structure is unknown at the outset) starting from the logs recording the concrete events executed by the real workflows. Specific Objectives. Knowledge and understanding: At the end of the course, the students: - learn the main methods to carry out a BPM (Business Process Management) project; - are able to model a process with the BPMN standard; - are able to implement and execute a process through a real information system; - understand process mining algorithms and techniques. Applying knowledge and understanding: The students will be able to use suitable methodological and technological solutions for (i) modeling a process in BPMN; (ii) analysing it with quantitative techniques; (iii) executing and monitoring it with an information system. Making judgements: The student acquires autonomy of judgment in proposing the most suitable approach to carry out a BPM project. Communication: The project activities and the lectures of the course allow the students to develop the proper abilities to communicate/share the design choices and development methods for realizing any step of the business process life-cycle. Lifelong learning skills: In addition to the traditional learning skills provided by studying the teaching material, the project activities stimulate the student to deepen her knowledge of the BPM topic, to improve the teamwork, and to the concrete application of the concepts and techniques investigated during the course.