Integration of legal constraints into business process models
Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy
ISSN: 1750-6166
Article publication date: 1 June 2007
Abstract
Purpose
To demonstrate the value of formal process modelling languages for the description of legal constraints and their verification in public and private business processes.
Design/methodology/approach
A highly regulated governmental process in Germany – applying for premium rate service numbers at the German Federal Network Agency – is taken as an example to demonstrate that laws and rules define processes for those who want to use them. A novel formal process language is used to verify whether applicants' processes fulfil these constraints or not.
Findings
With the presented approach, contradictions between business processes of private organisations and the given laws could precisely be identified.
Research limitations/implications
The results are currently restricted to the use of formal process languages as the one suggested in the paper. It would be helpful to extend the work on conceptual process models.
Practical implications
The paper motivates a process‐oriented analysis of laws and rules. The approach can be used for both, verification after the event and as a normative guideline for the development of new workflows.
Originality/value
This paper identifies a need for formal process definitions as a medium to understand legal constraints and to behave in accordance with them.
Keywords
Citation
Olbrich, S. and Simon, C. (2007), "Integration of legal constraints into business process models", Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 194-210. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506160710752002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited