Titulo Estágio
Smart Port BPMN: Modeling Smart and Green Logistics Operations
Áreas de especialidade
Sistemas de Informação
Local do Estágio
DEI-FCTUC
Enquadramento
Port management companies operate in a highly regulated sector, which provides them with unique characteristics that distinguish them from other industrial scenarios. These companies operate in an inter-organizational environment involving the participation of shipping companies, logistics agents, ship operators, technology suppliers, marine engineering consultants, and telecommunication companies, among many other public and private stakeholders, collaborating in port management processes and operations. Smart ports are integrating state-of-the-art technologies, including solutions that combine advanced data analytics, cloud operations, artificial intelligence (AI) systems, machine learning (ML) models, Internet-of-Things (IoT), and Blockchain.
How to model the governance of their business processes, considering the IT resources and data assets that play a key role in their outcome? Business process management is nowadays well established in organizations, defined as “a structured approach to analyse and continually improve fundamental activities such as manufacturing, marketing, communications and other major elements of a company’s operation” (Zairi, 1997).
Business processes are at the core of digital transformations, justifying extensions in popular modeling languages (Zarour et al., 2019), for example, BPM 2.0 (https://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/PDF/). The work of Ribeiro et al., (2021) proposes BPMN extensions for industry 4.0 scenarios, considering the modeling of smart manufacturing operations, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and the multiple partners that are involved in inter-organizational operations. Complementing this perspective, Cardoso et al., (2021) propose a modeling approach that incorporates risk assessment operations of the several process tasks. Additional research is necessary to develop and evaluate BPMN extensions that could be adapted or improved to the context of smart ports and test them in real situations.
References:
Cardoso, P., Respício, A., & Domingos, D. (2021). RiskaBPMN - A BPMN extension for risk assessment. Procedia Computer Science, 181, 1247–1254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2021.01.324
Ribeiro, V., Barata, J., & Cunha, P. R. (2021). A BPMN Extension to Model Inter-Organizational Processes in Industry 4.0. International Conference on Information Systems Development.
Zairi, M. (1997). Business process management: a boundaryless approach to modern competitiveness. Business Process Management Journal, 3(1), 64–80.
Zarour, K., Benmerzoug, D., Guermouche, N., & Drira, K. (2019). A systematic literature review on BPMN extensions. Business Process Management Journal, 26(6), 1473–1503. https://doi.org/10.1108/BPMJ-01-2019-0040
Objetivo
The main objectives of this work are:
• Proposal of a BPMN extension to model smart and green logistics business processes associated with port management operations.
• Demonstrate and evaluate the proposed BPMN extension with a real case.
This project is integrated into a wider research line focusing on developing smart and green logistics operations in ports (Agenda Nexus: https://nexuslab.pt/).
Plano de Trabalhos - Semestre 1
The main phases for the first semester are presented as follows (may overlap):
1) Research the state-of-the-art: green logistics, smart ports, smart logistics, BPM, inter-organizational business processes.
Start: September 2024
Duration: 2 months
2) Study BPM 2.0 specification and the development of BPMN Extensions. (https://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/PDF).
Start: November 2024
Duration: 1 month
3) Initial draft of the BPMN extension, focusing on the identification of modelling attributes, modeling requirements, and domain ontology.
Start: December 2024
Duration: 1 month
Work results of the semester:
• Literature review about the most relevant concepts and the method to develop BPMN extensions.
• Modeling attributes, modeling requirements, and domain ontology for green and smart port logistics.
• Intermediate report.
Plano de Trabalhos - Semestre 2
The main phases for the second semester are presented as follows (may overlap):
4) Development of an approach to model smart and green logistics operations using BPMN 2.0 extensions.
Start: January 2024
Duration: 3 months
5) Tests with pilot companies involved with smart and green logistics operations.
Start: April 2024
Duration: 1 months
6) Writing of the thesis and a scientific paper
Start: May 2024
Duration: 2 months
Results of the 2nd semester:
• Scientific publication
• Final report
Condições
The student will be integrated in the Information Systems group (ISG) of CISUC, Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Coimbra. A workplace and the required resources will be provided.
The student will have the opportunity to travel to the selected companies and to present the papers that are accepted at conferences, with expenses paid.
Scholarship (3 month) opportunity for the second semester, in the scope of the Nexus Agenda (https://nexuslab.pt/).
Observações
The student will be engaged with the activities of ISG in a topic with major relevance for industries worldwide. Therefore, this work offers an opportunity to strengthen the skills of IT consultancy and IS design for digital transformation.
Orientador
João Barata, Paulo Rupino da Cunha, Vitor Ribeiro
barata@dei.uc.pt 📩