Eliciting Process Knowledge Through Process Stories

Abstract

There are often gaps between the lived experiences of end users and the official version of processes as espoused by the organization. To understand and address these gaps, we propose and evaluate process stories, a method to capture knowledge from end users based on organizational storytelling and visual narrative theories. The method addresses two dimensions related to business processes: 1) coordination knowledge, explaining how activities enfold over time; and 2) contextual knowledge, explaining how coordination depends on other contingency factors. The method is evaluated by comparing process stories against process models officially supported by the participating organizations. The results suggest that process stories identify more activities, events, and actors than official processes, which are supported by a diversity of contextual elements. We then qualitatively analyse these elements to identify the contributions of process stories to process knowledge. Based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis, we draw several implications for business process management.