A study into the factors that influence the understandability of business process models

H.A. Reijers, J. Mendling

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

234 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Business process models are key artifacts in the development of information systems. While one of their main purposes is to facilitate communication among stakeholders, little is known about the factors that influence their comprehension by human agents. On the basis of a sound theoretical foundation, this paper presents a study into these factors. Specifically, the effects of both personal and model factors are investigated. Using a questionnaire, students from three different universities evaluated a set of realistic process models. Our findings are that both types of investigated factors affect model understanding, while personal factors seem to be the more important of the two. The results have been validated in a replication that involves professional modelers.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)449-461
Number of pages14
JournalIEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics. Part A, Systems and Humans
Volume41
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011

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