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ProSTEP Symposium 2008 

From Workflow to Worknet: 

Innovation in Business Process Management 

Jürgen Scharpf 

Manager Engineering Change Management 

Daimler AG, Mercedes-Benz Cars 

D-71032 Böblingen 

eMail: juergen.scharpf@daimler.com 

Stefan Brantschen 

Vice President Advanced Technologies 

Whitestein Technologies AG 

CH-8032 Zürich 

eMail: sbr@whitestein.com 

10. April 2008 

09. April 2008 1

Agenda 

1. Initial Situation at Daimler J. Scharpf 

2. Requirements to Business Process Management 

3. Realizing Business and Process Agility S. Brantschen 

4. Goal-oriented Business Process Management 

5. Daimler ACM-Project: Solution Architecture J. Scharpf 

6. Daimler ACM-Project: Business Benefits 

7. Summary & Looking Ahead 

S. Brantschen / J. Scharpf, ProSTEP Symposium 2008 - 2 - 10. April 2008

1. Initial Situation at Daimler 

Starting with the first functional product prototypes along the entire life cycle of a 

product, engineering changes are managed based on one standard process in one 

basic system for all product lines (vehicles and components). 

Process 

one standard process 

for all engineering changes 

Technology 

sequential & document oriented workflow 

based on Lotus Notes Domino 

[2] 

[1] 

[7] 

[6] 

Verteiler 

Experte A 

Experte B 

Experte C 

GSt. Entw. 

Tech. machbar 

Empfehlung 

Baureihen 

Beschluss 

Änderung 

Änderungsbeschreibung, 

Ursache, 

Baureihen ... 

Weitere 

Kosten, 

Termine, 

... 

Baureihenbeschlüsse 

 

Weitere 

Baubarkeit, 

Zertifizierung, 

... 

[3] 

[4] 

[5] 

Weitere 

Tech. machbar 

Empfehlung 

Baureihen 

Weitere 

Kosten, 

Termine 

(pro BR/ 

pro Teil) 

Weitere 

Baubarkeit, 

Zertifizierung, 

... 

Phase[1]: Initiation 

Phase[2]: Detailing 

& Design 

Phase[3]: Evaluation 

Phase[4]: Voting 

[5]: Approval 

[6]: Design Completion 

& Release 

[7]: Productive 

Implementation 

In productive use since: 2001 

Number of Users: ca. 8.100 

S. Brantschen / J. Scharpf, ProSTEP Symposium 2008 - 3 - 10. April 2008 

Teile 

Änderungsart, 

Beschreibung, 

Gewicht, 

Verwendung, 

... 

Erstellung 

Datenübernahme

2. Requirements to Business Process Management 

In future all types of product specific changes along the entire life cycle of MB-Cars 

and MB-Vans product lines have to be managed based on one standard process 

schema. In addition the technology has to support an immediate adaptation to 

business process modifications. 

Process 

Technology 

one standard process schema 

for all product specific changes 

MB-Cars & MB-Vans 

Context Context 1 

1 

flexible & database oriented worknet 

based on new, up-to-date technologies 

Concept „agile process modeling“ 

Context Context 2 

2 

Step 1.1 

Step 1.1 

Step 1.1 

Variant1 

1.1 

Variant1 

Step Step 1.1 

1.1 

Variant2 

Variant2 

Step Step 1.1 

1.1 

Variant3 

Variant3 

Step Step 1.1 

1.1 

Variant4 

Variant4 

Sub-Goal Sub-Goal 1 

1 

Step Step 1.2 

1.2 

Variant1 

Variant1 

Step 1.2 

Step Step 1.2 

Variant2 

1.2 

Variant2 

Step Step 1.2 

1.2 

Variant3 

Variant3 

Goal 

Goal 


2 

Step Step 2.1 

2.1 

Variant1 

Variant1 

Step 2.2 

Step 2.2 

Step 2.1 

Variant2 

2.1 

Variant2 

Step Step 2.3 2.3 & 3.1 

3.1 

Variant3 

Variant3 


3 

Step Step 3.1 

3.1 

Variant1 

Step Variant1 

Step 3.1 

3.1 

Step Step 3.1 

3.1 

Variant2 

Variant2 

Step Step 3.1 

3.1 

Variant3 

Variant3 

DAIMLER R&D: 

agile process 

modelling 

methodology 

GO-BPMN Prototype 

Requirement: 

situation adequate, flexible navigation in ONE 

change management process net 

Requirements: 

fast adaptation to business process modifications 

modeling of process fragments 

flexible task alternatives and sequences 

regard of current goal & context 


3. Realizing Business and Process Agility 

Daimler & Whitestein Technologies: Joint Vision, Joint Forces 

- agile process approach 

Context 2 

Goal 

Context 2 

Goal 

Sub-Goal 1 

Sub-Goal 3 

Sub-Goal 1 

Sub-Goal 2 

Sub-Goal 3 

Context 1 

Sub-Goal 2 

Context 1 

Step 1.1 

Step 2.1 

Step 3.1 

Step Step 1.1 

Variant1 

1.1 

Step 2.1 

Step Step 3.1 

3.1 

Step 1.1 

Variant1 

Step 1.2 

Variant1 

Variant1 

Step 3.1 

Step 1.2 

Variant1 

Variant1 

Variant1 

Step 1.1 

Variant1 

Step 3.1 

Variant2 

Step 1.1 

Variant2 

Step 3.1 

Variant2 

Step 1.2 

Step Variant2 

Step 1.2 

Variant2 

1.2 

Step 1.2 

Step 1.1 

Variant2 

Step 2.2 

Step 3.1 

Variant3 

Step 1.1 

Step Step 2.1 

2.2 

Step 3.1 

Variant3 

Step 1.2 

Variant2 

Variant3 

Step 2.1 

Step 1.2 

Variant2 

Variant3 

Variant3 

Variant3 

Step 1.1 

Step 2.3 & 3.1 

Step 1.1 

Step 2.3 & 3.1 

Variant4 

Variant3 

Variant4 

Variant3 

- demonstrator 

sucessful cooperation 

mutual know-how transfer 

started 2006, on-going 

Standard Product Suite 

- autonomic computing 

- goal-oriented 

technology platform 

- requirements 

- goal-oriented software 

engineering 

… to model, manage, and run agile business processes 

Design-time agility: easy & quick process definition changes to meet reality 

Run-time agility: flexible process navigation, adapted to business goals and contexts 



Design-time Agility: Putting Business in the Driver’s Seat 

business goals 

business 

domain 

acvtivities 

users 

process 

analysts 

transform 

transform 

transform 

map 

users 

process 

analysts 

IT experts 

transform 

process model 

IT experts 

IT application 

process engine 

IT infrastructure 

IT infrastructure 

traditional approach 

goal-oriented BPM 



• Business processes represent business goals 

• Process engine “understands” business goals, strives to achieve them 

• Single model approach: common language for business users and IT people 

what to achieve 

how to achieve 

process main goal 

sub-goals A B C 

plans 

3 plans = 3 different ways 

to achieve sub-goal A, 

dependent on business context 

activities 

-… 

-… 

GO-BPMN: 

Goal-Oriented 

Business 

Process 

Modeling 

Notation 


context 

Org. 

Model 

GO-BPMN 

model is 

directly 

executable


Run-time Agility: Process Autonomously Adapts to Context 

Process: Engineering Change Request (ECR) 

Source: PSI/SASIG ECM Recommendation V1.0 

ECR specified & decided 

achieve goals 

supervision 

maintain goals 

ECM efficient 

schedule OK 

ECR initiated ECR created ECR analyzed ECR commented 

ECR decided 

cost OK 

process navigation by context-specific goal & plan activation 



Run-time Agility: Process Autonomously Adapts to Context: Example 

ECR specified & decided 

ECR initiated ECR created ECR analyzed ECR commented ECR decided 

example #1: 

context: field problem 

- skip cost assessment 

- decide “fast track” 

parts assessed 

skip 

cost assessed 

calculate 

cost 

example #2: context: minor part 

- cost estimation 

- normal decision path 

estimate 

cost 

enable 

enable 

decide 

enable 

decide 

“fast track” 



Goal-oriented Process Navigation in Agile Worknets 

goal-oriented process model 

A B C D 

worknet 

B 

A 

business (sub-) goal 

process 

path 


C 

D 

process goal: “visit A, B, C & D”

5. Daimler ACM-Project: Solution Architecture 

expert users 

process analysts 

IT experts 

LS/ABPM 

Process Modeler 

LS/ABPM 

Mgmt Console 

ACM User GUI 

MB-Cars 

… 

more than 

10,000 

end-users 

… 

ACM Web 

Application 

Web Server 

ACM GO-BPMN 

Process Model 

LS/ABPM Process Engine 

J2EE Application Server, DB, … 

libraries 

external systems 

ACM User GUI 

MB-Vans 

Daimler’s ACM-specific components 

Whitestein Technologies’ goal-oriented BPM product 

standard third party products 


6. Daimler ACM-Project: Business Benefits 

Process: 

Common process net for all business units and all types of product related changes: 

Reduction of process complexity, increase of transparency 

Autonomic, goal-context driven process execution control: 

Increase of change management process efficiency and reduction of working time on 

the change requests for all involved roles 

IT-Technology 

Elimination of redundant processes & systems: 

Reduction of interfaces and system operation cost 

Process information separation in goals, context and action plans: 

Reduction of process model complexity, decrease of implementation efforts 

Directly executable process model (during specification & implementation): 

Reduction of IT development cost for specification, test and implementation, faster 

time to production 

Fast adaptation of the business process by the process owner company 

Reduction of development efforts, increase of business process efficiency 

Usage of standards (GO-BPMN, J2EE, SASIG ECM-Recommendation): 

Future-proof IT-Technology 


7. Summary & Looking Ahead 

[2] 

[1] 

[3] 

Based on Whitestein’s LS/ABPM technology, the Daimler ACM-Project will migrate 

the current engineering change management systems AEMA (MB-Vans) and NCM 

(MB-Cars) to one common system within the next 2,5 years. 

[7] 

AEMA 

[4] 

Agile Change Management by 

situation-adapted and context-dependent behavior of change requests 

[5] 

Request: 

Request: 

Request: 

Today 

Process Flow: 

BU-specific processes with 

many predefined variants 

– sequential, often inadequate 

and not transparent. 

[6] 

simplified processing of 

minor changes 

reduced cycle times and 

decision holdup 

light-process for 

change management in 

early phases 

context 

project specific 

•priority: quality 

•priority: timing 

•priority: cost 

MDS specific 

•quality gate 

•maturity level 

ECR specific 

•new parts 

•quality relevant 

•certification relevant 

Engineering 

Change 

Request 

situations specific 

•approved in advance 

•timing critical 

•specific ECR scope 

life cycle specific 

•model year / facelift 

•release package 

•ramp down 


context 

IT-Technology: LS/ABPM 

Tomorrow: 

Process Net: 

common, goal oriented, 

flexible & adaptive processes 

with autonomic execution control: 

„Do the right thing at 

context 

the right time!“ 

the defined process equals the real-life business process

Thank You for Your Attention! 

More Information 

Get in contact, more information 

or a demo of LS/ABPM 

at the exhibition 

Visit http://www.whitestein.com 

Contact Stefan Brantschen at sbr@whitestein.com 

or Juergen Scharpf at juergen.scharpf@daimler.com

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