Involving business users in the design of complex event processing systems

Abstract

Complex Event Processing (CEP) gained more and more attention in research and practical usage during the last years. Several engines and languages have been created and adapted in order to handle complex events. To describe the aggregation of simple events to more complex ones, these engines use technical and formal languages which are difficult to handle for business experts. Hence, business experts are often not properly involved in the definition of complex events. This lack in the area of requirement engineering worsens the result of many CEP projects. Therefore this paper proposes a conceptual modeling language that allows business experts to specify complex events according to actual business needs. The proposed modeling language is demonstrated in a quality management scenario in the automotive manufacturing industry and is defined with OMG's MOF standard.