An Approach Based on Hierarchical Petri Nets for the Verification of Interconnected BPEL Processes

This article describes an MDE approach for transformation from BPEL specifications to WF-nets models for verifying behavioral properties on IOWF (Inter-Organizational Workflow) processes. The authors consider WF processes specified with BPEL and interconnected together according to specific cooperation patterns. They define a specific class of Petri nets called Hierarchical WF-nets (HWN) in order to formally check the “soundness” property on IOWF process models. For that, their verification approach is defined around three main phases: (i) recovery of the BPEL file(s) and generation of process tree(s), (ii) transformation from BPEL to WF-nets (resp. HWN) models using mapping and transformation rules and (iii) verification of the “soundness” property on the models obtained. They particularly define and implement a set of specific transformation rules which are closely linked to the interconnection rules attached to each cooperation pattern. Also, to show the feasibility of their verification method, the authors developed a “WF-Checking” tool which allows the implementation and testing of the proposed approach.