Visual analytics for soundness verification of process models

Soundness validation of process models is a complex task for process modelers due to all the factors that must be taken into account. Although there are tools to verify this property, they do not provide users with easy information on where soundness starts breaking and under which conditions. Providing insights such as states in which problems occur, involved activities, or paths leading to those states, is crucial for process modelers to better understand why the model is not sound. In this paper we address the problem of validating the soundness property of a process model by using a novel visual approach and a new tool called PSVis (Petri net Soundness Visualization) supporting this approach. The PSVis tool aims to guide expert users through the process models in order to get insights into the problems that cause the process to be unsound