Exploring the representation of complex processes in information-intensive services

It is well known that Information-Intensive Services (IIS), such as financial services, information technology services, healthcare, telecommunications and broadcasting, and education have shown some of the highest growth rates in the service sector of the US economy. In such services, the business processes are often complex, involving a number of different parties. For example, multiple people from both the service supplier and the customer participate to co-produce a desired service outcome. Through a few case studies, we observe a set of common characteristics of such complex service processes. To obtain a systematic understanding of such processes, we explore the possibility of applying existing modelling or representation frameworks and evaluate them based on how well they address the characteristics of complex processes in IIS as well as other analysis requirements. Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.