Translating RAD Business Process Models into BPMN

Modelling business processes using BPMN has been emerging as the preferred choice for organisations seeking to enact their business processes in service-oriented environments. However, a number of organisations have their business processes modelled using Role Activity Diagramming, RAD. In this research, we introduce a new approach to translating RAD business process models to their respective BPMN ones carried out in two stages starting from identifying the corresponding BPMN notation to RAD modelling constructs, and then introducing a new algorithm to translate a given RAD business process model to its suggested corresponding BPMN model demonstrated by an example from the healthcare domain. This translation revealed that all RAD process elements can be mapped to BMPN. However, there still remains space for the business process modeller to enhance the newly generated BPMN model with the extra rich features of BPMN. Finally, this work makes a further contribution to the emerging trend of bridging the gap between business process models and systems in addition to paving the way for the migration of legacy RAD models to BPMN for their enactment in SOA environments.