Tracing the process of process modeling with modeling phase diagrams

Abstract. The quality of a business process model is presumably highly dependent upon the modeling process that was followed to create it. Still, there is a lack of concepts to investigate this connection empirically. This paper introduces the formal concept of a phase diagram through which the modeling process can be analyzed, and a corresponding implementa-tion to study a modeler’s sequence of actions. In an experiment building on these assets, we observed a group of modelers engaging in the act of modeling. The collected data is used to demonstrate our approach for analyzing the process of process modeling. Additionally, we are present-ing first insights and sketch requirements for future experiments. Key words: business process modeling, modeling phase diagrams, pro-cess model quality, empirical research, modeling process