Univ. Hamburg, Fachbereich Informatik, Bericht FBI-HH-B-196/97, 110 pages, 1997. In German.
Abstract: The paper defines the syntax of Event-driven process chains (EPCs). After translation into Petri nets EPCs acquire a formal semantic. The resulting Boolean nets generalize place/transition nets by adding logical rules. They consitute a simple subclass of coloured Petri nets. Boolean nets can be analysed by algorithms from graph theory as well as by methods from commutative algebra. Therefore well behavedness of EPCs can be proven by the reduction algorithm of Genrich-Thiagarajan, there is no need to unfold the case graph. Well behaved EPCs form a tree of bipolar synchronization schemes. They can be reduced to well behaved free-choice nets. Hence Petri nets theory in its classical form provides a well founded base to verify, animate and to simulate EPCs used in the domain of Management Information Systems.