An in depth comparative analysis of software tools for modelling and simulating business processes

Undoubtedly, Business process modelling is an increasingly popular research area for both organisations and enterprises due to its usefulness in facilitating better planning of resources, business re-engineering and optimized business performance. The understanding of Business Process is an essential approach for an Organization to achieve set objectives and improve its operations. Business Process Modelling is a representation of the processes of the organization. Several modelling techniques have been proposed and used to capture the characteristics of business processes. However, available techniques view business processes from different perspectives and have different features and capabilities. Furthermore, to date limited guidelines exist for selecting appropriate modelling techniques based on the characteristics of the problem and its requirements. Recent development has shown the importance of representing processes to carry out continuous improvement. The modelling and simulation of Business Processes has been able to show Business Analysts, and Managers where bottleneck exists in the system, how to optimise the Business Process to reduce cost of running the organization, and the required resources needed for an organization. This paper presents a comparative analysis of some popular business process modelling techniques. The comparative framework is based on the following major criteria: data flow capability, logical reasoning and understandability, specification of roles, and capability of simulation, flexibility and ease of use, simulation support and scope. The proposed framework can serve as the basis for evaluating further modelling techniques and generating selection procedures focusing on a comparison of existing tools to implement these techniques. This is to enable a potential user/modeller choose the right technique and tool in modelling critical Business Processes in order to analyse and optimise the operations of an organization.