A low-code approach for simulation-based analysis of process collaborations

The simulation-based analysis of process collaborations introduces significant challenges, such as the ability to focus on the interchange of information and data without disclosing any internal details of collaboration participants' processes. The use of distributed simulation (DS) provides good opportunities to face these challenges. However, properly using DS standards and technologies requires significant technical know-how and effort. This paper introduces a largely automated approach to carry out distributed simulations of process collaborations. The DS standard addressed by the paper is the High Level Architecture (HLA), which is used to analyze process collaborations specified by using the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). The degree of automation is obtained by using a low-code development paradigm based on automated model transformations that reduce the amount of manual effort required to code the HLA-based simulation. An example application is also discussed to underline the pros and cons of the proposed approach.