Method for automatic consistency checking after manual intervention in bpmn based workflow execution

A method for automatic consistency checking after manual intervention in business process modeling and notation (BPMN) based workflow execution in a production environment, which method comprises the steps of:

• a) providing a BPMN based workflow for the production environment in terms of a BPMN based workflow graph of tasks, the production environment having a plurality of production resources;
• b) operating the plurality of production resources according to the tasks defined in the BPMN based workflow graph;
• c) displaying a status of the BPMN based workflow execution on a graphical user interface by tokens which represent at a respective current location in the BPMN based workflow graph a status of the BPMN based workflow execution;
• d) providing a touch sensitive screen within the graphical user interface for the manual intervention in the BPMN based workflow execution;
• e) changing the status of the BPMN based workflow execution by the manual intervention in terms of:
• e1) moving an existing token to a new position within the BPMN based workflow graph;
• and/or
• e2) removing the existing token from the BPMN based workflow;
• and/or
• e3) creating a new token and inserting the new token at a distinct position in the BPMN based workflow graph;
• f) applying an algorithm for checking whether the manual intervention has properly observed certain logical criteria taking into account a topology of the BPMN based workflow graph, wherein the algorithm is enabled to analyze a token configuration after the manual intervention for the following logical criteria:
• f1) potentially unwanted interactions between the tasks;
• and/or
• f2) excessive number of new tokens created being incompatible with any possible workflow during resumed automatic BPMN based workflow execution;
• and/or
• f3) missing values for required input variables of the tasks;
• and
• g) indicating by warning messages whether the algorithm has identified a violation of the logical criteria.