Merge process fragments

This chapter describes the merging of the imported process fragments into process instances. Merged process fragments correspond to business processes, which have actually been run through. They are known as process instances and, in the same way as the fragments, are represented in the EPC notation familiar from ARIS.

When merging, attributes are copied to the process instances and any processor data specific to a particular person is made anonymous.

The merging process takes place in two stages:

In the first step, the process fragments belonging to the same process instance, are identified and copied into a process instance using process keys.

Example: Step 1 of process merge

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In the second step, the unconnected process fragments are linked together by merging the merge events. Merge events are events for which merge keys have been calculated.

Example: Step 2 of process merge

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Any branches arising from the merge process are extended using rules and any unnecessary rules are deleted.

Example: Merge with AND rule

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In the example below, a joining XOR rule is deleted during the merge, as process instances represent actual business transactions and they cannot contain any XOR rules. The XOR rule and the event that has no preceding function are deleted (event 4).

Example: Merge with XOR rule

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As it is not possible to distinguish between the individual source systems when merging the imported data, PPM enables processes to be viewed across systems and across the company.

The way in which process and merge keys are calculated is set individually using rules in the XML configuration for each client.