Value-Based and Automated Process Design

The main objective of this doctoral thesis is to contribute to the field of business process management (BPM) by focusing in particular on the design phase of the BPM lifecycle from (i) a business perspective as well as from (ii) an IT perspective. The design phase of the BPM lifecycle needs a clear business perspective in order for processes to be in line with the business model of a company and, thus, to support the value creation goal of a company. Therefore, the principles of value-based management are introduced into BPM, considering cash flows, risk and a long term view, for example via the net present value of processes. This shows great potential to better connect the business model of a company with its processes. Moreover, the design phase of the BPM lifecycle is typically performed in a rather manual way, although there is information technology (IT) that supports the design phase. However, this potential for IT support is not fully tapped yet. In particular for the modeling of processes, there is the potential of IT to enable a more automated process modeling, as shown within this doctoral thesis. This introduces more IT into the design phase of BPM. Thus, at the interface of the business model and processes, this doctoral thesis (i) extends the body of knowledge in the area of BPM by providing a valuation calculus for processes in order to design and improve processes in line with the value creation goal of a company. At the interface of processes and IT, this doctoral thesis (ii) extends the body of knowledge regarding the automated construction of process models.