Business Process Management

We have established the following project goals with the AFTRS with regard to further development and application of YAWL4Film:

• Deployment of YAWL4Film as part of the AFTRS curriculum system
• Application of YAWL4Film to industry-scaled film productions through collaboration with independent Australian producers
• Extending YAWL4Film to support the preparation and pre-production phases of fi lmmaking
• A school-wide evaluation of the confi gurable reference process model approach in the AFTRS in mid-2008.

During 2008, we will develop and evaluate flexible workflow support, and investigate the relation between BPM and knowledge management, as well as further refining domain-specific methods for the screen business.

Specific topics include applying BPM and knowledge management-related methods and tools to support creative decision-making in the screen business and the use of exception-handling techniques to deal with supporting deviations from plans as they occur in the film-making process.

We will also pursue workflow design and adaptation for screen business production within mobile and disconnected environments.

In December 2007, we gave a presentation on applying BPM to the screen business to a delegation from Central China Normal University, and discussed possible collaboration on the project.

In November 2007, Stefan Seidel from the European Centre for Information Systems (ERCIS) of the University of Muenster, Germany, visited our research group. ERCIS became become an Affiliated Partner of the Centre of Excellence in early 2008, and a collaboration agreement has been signed by CCI and the University of Muenster.

In May 2007, we ran a two-day course on Business Process Management for the AFTRS in Sydney and in April we conducted a two-day workshop/interview with Digital Pictures, the largest member of the OmniLab Media Group. A progress report was submitted in May leading to a request for ongoing collaboration with Digital Pictures.

In January 2007, we submitted a detailed proposal for a 10-day BPM training course to Sunchime Cartoon Group Corporation, China’s largest animation company. This developed from the Memorandum of Understanding with Sunchime signed in December 2006. While progress has slowed, we remain confident that this work will move forward in 2008.