Metrics for BPEL Process Reusability Analysis in a Workflow System

TL;DR

This paper introduces a quantitative metric based on mismatch probabilities to predict the reusability of BPEL processes, aiding architects in early detection of design flaws and decision-making.

Contribution

It proposes a novel metric for BPEL process reusability analysis that correlates with expert judgments, enabling better design evaluation.

Findings

The metric correlates significantly with expert assessments.

It effectively predicts potential reusability of BPEL processes.

Initial empirical evaluation supports its predictive validity.

Abstract

This work proposes a quantitative metric to analyze potential reusability of a BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) Process. The approach is based on Description and Logic Mismatch Probability of a BPEL Process that will be reused within potential contexts. The mismatch probabilities have been consolidated to a metric formula for quantifying the probability of potential reuse of BPEL processes. An initial empirical evaluation suggests that the proposed metric properly predict potential reusability of BPEL processes. According to the experiment, there exists a significant statistical correlation between results of the metric and the experts judgements. This indicates a predictive dependency between the proposed metric and potential reusability of BPEL processes as a measuring stick for this phenomena. If future studies ascertain these findings by replicating this experiment, the practical implications of such a metric are early detection of the design flaws and aiding architects to judge various design alternatives.