Interactive Coupling of Process Models: A Distributed Tabletop Approach to Collaborative Modeling

Abstract

Organization-oriented approaches for the representation of business processes allow for role-separated modeling by means of distributed tabletop systems. Acts of communication, as for instance the exchange of messages, conflate relevant model parts as they enable to specify the corresponding coupling points. In this paper, two interaction approaches -- knob-based and tray-based -- are proposed that promise to support the interactive coupling of process models using tabletop systems. The findings of qualitative studies carried out during this research indicate the applicability of either approach, however, show differences related to their utilization in the course of modeling.