Visualization

Some years ago, I was working in academic research on a large research project, with industry and  academic partners. The project added a semantic layer on top of business processes descriptions, where  these enhanced (semantic) descriptions allowed for the automation or simplification of some tasks  during the business process execution.

Challenge: I noticed it was a steep learning curve for the industry partners to learn and use these  semantically annotated descriptions, because they had to learn a new modeling language and these  descriptions quickly became very complex and very difficult to debug in a textual form. For example, a  business process expert had to write a query as shown in “Serialization of Query” in figure 2 below.

Selection: In order to reduce the pain points of the industry partners, I decided to create a visual editor  tool.  The purpose of the visual editor was to simplify creating, updating and understanding semantic  descriptions, without a lot of expertise in the underlying modeling language.

Application: I started with some concept sketches (e.g., fig. 1), to get an initial idea of how a user would  interact with the tool, and, after some refinements, I built the visual editor in fig. 2.

Fig 1. Concept sketches

Fig 2. A screenshot of the tool I built

Insight: The visual editor was very well received by the industry partners. This tool was not in the  original project scope, but it got included in SENTINEL (a monitoring and management tool that was in  the scope of the project). Visual editors reduce the learning curve, as well as the time needed to  produce well formed and bug free content.

Approach: Concept sketches are a great way to do quick initial tests of your ideas, as well as deepen  your understanding of what you need to build and how users will interact with the tool.


Visualization Some years ago , I was working in academic research on a large research project , with industry and academic partners . The project added a semantic layer on top of business processes descriptions , where these enhanced ( semantic ) descriptions allowed for the automation or simplification of some tasks during the business process execution . Challenge : I noticed it was a steep learning curve for the industry partners to learn and use these semantically annotated descriptions , because they had to learn a new modeling language and these descriptions quickly became very complex and very difficult to debug in a textual form . For example , a business process expert had to write a query as shown in “ Serialization of Query ” in figure 2 below . Selection : In order to reduce the pain points of the industry partners , I decided to create a visual editor tool . The purpose of the visual editor was to simplify creating , updating and understanding semantic descriptions , without a lot of expertise in the underlying modeling language . Application : I started with some concept sketches ( e.g. , fig . 1 ) , to get an initial idea of how a user would interact with the tool , and , after some refinements , I built the visual editor in fig . 2 . Fig 1 . Concept sketches Fig 2 . A screenshot of the tool I built Insight : The visual editor was very well received by the industry partners . This tool was not in the original project scope , but it got included in SENTINEL ( a monitoring and management tool that was in the scope of the project ) . Visual editors reduce the learning curve , as well as the time needed to produce well formed and bug free content . Approach : Concept sketches are a great way to do quick initial tests of your ideas , as well as deepen your understanding of what you need to build and how users will interact with the tool .