Researchers and students of the Institute of Databases and Information Systems (DBIS) have developed, implemented, and validated a core set of gestures for collaboratively modeling business processes on multi-touch devices, including tablets (e.g., Apple iPad) and touch screen collaboration systems (e.g., Microsoft PixelSense).  The developed gesture set is based on experimental results as well as common interaction concepts of multi-touch applications. Altogether, gesture-based interactions with multi-touch systems will foster new ways of collaboratively modeling business processes. The project has been realized by Jens Kolb and Manfred Reichert, together with the students Benjamin Rudner, Adam Just, and Sebastian Ronis.

Background

During the last years, multi-touch devices have been increasingly used for realizing business applications as well as for supporting the daily work of business people. Multi-touch devices used in a business context range from smartphones to tablets to multi-touch tables and walls. Obviously, screen size affects mobility as well as application areas. While smartphones have been primarily used for mobile communication (e.g., e-mailing and messaging), tablets and multi-touch tables have been applied in the context of collaborative tasks (e.g., joint editing of a business document). In particular, multi-touch devices can be applied to business process modeling as well, i.e., to capture and model business processes already during the interviews with stakeholders. In this context, multi-touch devices with large screens (e.g., multi-touch tables), combined with mobile smart devices, can be used to collaboratively model and evolve business processes.

Traditional business process modeling tools, however, have not been designed with multi-touch devices in mind, and hence do not take the specific properties (e.g., small screen size) and interaction capabilities (e.g., gesture-based interaction) of these devices into account. To remedy this drawback, DBIS has been engaged on research that aims to optimize the use of multi-touch devices for business process modeling. In particular, a core gesture set for business process modeling on multi-touch devices was developed, which enables process modelers to define and evolve process models in an intuitive and comprehensible manner. The core gesture set is applicable to all screen sizes independent of the multi-touch device used. Furthermore, it has been extended to enable collaborative business process modeling using large-scale multi-touch devices such as Microsoft PixelSense.

The gesture set was prototypically implemented for Apple iPad and Microsoft Surface tablets as well as for the Microsoft PixelSense touch table in the context of the proView project – proView aims at human-centric business process management. In particular, it provides techniques that enable personalized visualizations of and interactions with process models based on updatable process views. Furthermore, intuitive ways of displaying process models are provided, e.g., diagrams, forms, and trees. Gesture-based process modeling complements these works with sophisticated and intuitive concepts for interacting with process models using multi-touch devices.

References

Kolb, Jens and Rudner, Benjamin and Reichert, Manfred (2013) Gesture-based Process Modeling Using Multi-Touch Devices. International Journal of Information System Modeling and Design, 4(4), pp. 48-69.

Kolb, Jens and Rudner, Benjamin and Reichert, Manfred (2012) Towards Gesture-based Process Modeling on Multi-Touch Devices. In: 1st Int'l Workshop on Human-Centric Process-Aware Information Systems (HC-PAIS'12), Gdansk, Poland, 25th June 2012, LNBIP 112, Springer, pp. 280-293

Kolb, Jens and Manfred Reichert (2013) A Flexible Approach for Abstracting and Personalizing Large Business Process Models. In: Applied Computing Review, 13 (1), pp. 6-17.

Just, Adam (2014) Multi-Touch Gestures for Process Modeling. Master thesis, Ulm University.

Burkhardt, Judith (2013) Collaborative Process Modelling with Multi-Touch Tables. Diploma thesis, Ulm University.

Hess, Hayato (2013) Hand Gesture-based Process Modeling for Updatable Processes. Bachelor thesis, Ulm University.

Dapper, Matthias (2012) Implementation of a Multi-Touch, Gesture-based Process Modeling Component for Apple iPad. Bachelor thesis, Ulm University.

Rudner, Benjamin (2011) Fortgeschrittene Konzepte der Prozessmodellierung durch den Einsatz von Multi-Touch-Gesten. Bachelor thesis, Ulm University.