100 Years of Graphical Business Process Modelling

Abstract

In December 1921, Frank B. and Lillian Moller Gilbreth held a presentation entitled “Process Charts” at the Annual Meeting of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. They presented a diagrammatic notation for depicting work processes. This was the reason for initiating a call for papers for a special edition of the EMISA Journal. The aim of this issue is to reflect on the history of graphical business process modelling as well as on current and future challenges. In this editorial, we will shortly introduce the ideas behind the Process Charts method. We realize that some ideas discussed 100 years ago still remain highly relevant while modern work environment raises issues that would be unthinkable a century ago.