Domain-Specific Language for Context-Aware Mobile Business Processes

The increasing ubiquity of mobile devices and context-aware applications has introduced new challenges in integrating contextual information into business process modeling. Standard modeling languages such as Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and Event-driven Process Chain (EPC) lack the expressiveness to adequately represent context capture, aggregation, and evaluation. This research addresses this gap by developing a domain-specific modeling language (DSML) named SenSoMod, designed to model mobile context-aware business processes. The study follows the design science research approach to iteratively develop and evaluate the DSML and its integration with standard modeling languages. SenSoMod introduces graphical notations for various sensor types—physical, virtual, and computed—and enables detailed modeling of context influences. A minimal extension to BPMN allows seamless linkage between business processes and contextual models. The DSML is supported by a modeling tool built with Obeo Designer, which includes a code generator for Java-based implementations. An empirical evaluation with 29 participants demonstrated that SenSoMod significantly improves learnability and effectiveness in modeling context-aware processes compared to conventional approaches. This research contributes a novel, lightweight, and extensible modeling framework that enhances the visualization and implementation of context-aware mobile applications in business environments.