Many factors influence the creation of business process models which are understandable for a target audience. Understandability of process models becomes more critical when size and complexity of the models increase. Using vertical modularization to decompose such models hierarchically into modules is considered to improve their understandability. To investigate this assumption, two experiments were conducted. The experiments involved 2 large-scale real-life business process models that were modeled using BPMN v2.0 (Business Process Model and Notation) in the form of collaboration diagrams. Each process was modeled in 3 modularity forms: fully-flattened, flattened where activities are clustered using BPMN groups, and modularized using separately viewed BPMN sub-processes. The objective was to investigate if and how different forms of modularity representation (used for vertical modularization) in BPMN collaboration diagrams influence the understandability of process models. In addition to the forms of modularity representation, the presentation medium (paper vs. computer) and model reader’s level of business process modeling competency were investigated as factors that potentially influence model comprehension. 60 business practitioners from a large organization and 140 graduate students participated in our experiments. The results indicate that, when these three modularity representations are considered, it is best to present the model in a ‘flattened’ form (with or without the use of groups) and in the ‘paper’ format in order to optimally understand a BPMN model. The results also show that the model reader’s business process modeling competency is an important factor of process model comprehension.

中文翻译：

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使用折叠子流程和组对业务流程模型可理解性的影响

许多因素会影响目标受众可以理解的业务流程模型的创建。当模型的大小和复杂性增加时，过程模型的可理解性变得更加重要。考虑使用垂直模块化将此类模型分层分解为模块，以提高其可理解性。为了研究这个假设，进行了两个实验。实验涉及 2 个大型现实业务流程模型，这些模型使用 BPMN v2.0（业务流程模型和符号）以协作图的形式建模。每个流程都以 3 种模块化形式建模：完全扁平化、扁平化，其中活动使用 BPMN 组进行集群，以及使用单独查看的 BPMN 子流程进行模块化。目的是研究 BPMN 协作图中不同形式的模块化表示（用于垂直模块化）是否以及如何影响流程模型的可理解性。除了模块化表示的形式之外，还对表示媒介（纸张与计算机）和模型读者的业务流程建模能力水平进行了调查，作为可能影响模型理解的因素。来自一个大型组织的 60 名商业从业者和 140 名研究生参加了我们的实验。结果表明，当考虑这三种模块化表示时，最好以“扁平化”形式（使用或不使用组）和“纸”格式呈现模型，以便最佳地理解 BPMN 模型.