The application of process management technology is moving beyond the corporate firewall as organizations strive to componentized their processes, outsource process functions, or offer their own processes in form of Web Services.

In the light of the popularity of the Web Services movement, open standards for process interoperability are an essential ingredient for a sustainable infrastructure. Currently a number of alternative standards are being developed in this area, for example Wf-XML, BPEL, BPDM and WS-CDL.

The Process of Standardization

The creation of BPM standards is a process in which people and ideas move across many venues. Some participants engage in design activities, and seek legitimacy for their ideas by establishing or joining working groups within specific standards bodies. Other participants uphold the bylaws and culture of the standard bodies. The encounters between these groups sometimes produce standards, and sometimes produce movement, as participants seek alternative venues for their ideas.

Research in BPM Standards

Our research in the area of standardization addresses two issues.

• At a technical level we are interested in the architectural philosophies behind the alternative standard proposals. We have analyzed the properties of two popular design patterns for process interoperability, and studied the possible motives of those who pushed for either one or the other.
• At an organizational level we are interested in building a theory that explains the movement of participants and ideas across standard venues, and the birth and death of these venues. We have traced the movement of more than 500 standard participants over the past 11 years, and draw from different ecological theories to form a counterpoint to the prevailing economic theories of standardization.

Technical Aspects of BPM Standards

1. Blake, M.B., Sliva, A.L., zur Muehlen, M., and Nickerson, J.V. "Binding Now or Binding Later: The Performance of UDDI Registries," Proceedings of the 40th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-40), IEEE, Waikoloa, HI, USA, 2007. (forthcoming)
2. Mendling, J., zur Muehlen, M., and Pierce, A. "Standards for Workflow Definition and Execution," in: Process-Aware Information Systems. Bridging People and Software Through Process Technology, M. Dumas, W.M.P. van der Aalst and A.H.M. ter Hofstede (eds.), John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2005, pp. 281-316.
3. zur Muehlen, M. "A Framework for XML-based Workflow Interoperability - The AFRICA Project," Sixth Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2000), AIS, Long Beach (CA), 2000.
4. zur Muehlen, M., and Klein, F. "AFRICA: Workflow Interoperability based on XML-messages," CAiSE 2000 International Workshop on Infrastructures for Dynamic Business-to-Business Service Outsourcing, Stockholm, Sweden, 2000.
5. zur Muehlen, M., and Becker, J. "WPDL - State-of-the-Art and Development Perspectives of a Meta-Language," KnowTech Forum '99, Potsdam, 1999.

Organizational Aspects of BPM Standards

1. Nickerson, J.V., and zur Muehlen, M. "The Ecology of Standards Processes: Lessons from Internet Standardization," MIS Quarterly (30:Special Issue) 2006, pp 467-488.
2. zur Muehlen, M., Nickerson, J.V., and Swenson, K.D. "Developing Web Services Choreography Standards - The Case of REST vs. SOAP," Decision Support Systems (40:1) 2005, pp 9-29.
3. Nickerson, J.V., and zur Muehlen, M. "Defending the Spirit of the Web: Conflicts in the Internet Standards Process," Workshop on Standard Making: A Critical Research Frontier for Information Systems, Seattle, WA, 2003, pp. 327-343.