In this paper, the authors focus on e-business process modeling issues and knowledge management for
modeling, especially for Japanese firms or companies, or global companies that have subsidiaries in Japan. Ebusiness
process modeling is based on business process modeling methods. Related works on business process
modeling can be classified into hierarchical business process modeling methods (e.g., IDEF [21] and the SCOR
model [22]) and non-hierarchical business process modeling methods (e.g., the Sanno-dai Shiki flowchart [23]
and the Japan Management Association (JMA) flowchart [24]) [25]. Non-hierarchical modeling methods such
as the Sanno-dai Shiki flowchart, the JMA flowchart, and the NOMA flowchart are major business process
modeling methods because they enable people to trace flows from the starting point to the end point with a
finger, and it is easy to share information when discussing it face to face, and they are thus suitable for a
bottom-up-style organization. By this feature, Japanese companies can realize effective bottom-up-based
business process improvement.
However, it is sometimes difficult to maintain business processes effectively because they are not usually
managed as structured components, and this causes difficulty in standardization of the business process. Some
Japanese companies have used widely spread business flowcharts (not containing hierarchical layers) on sheets
of A0 size, for drawing up their business processes. For some Japanese companies, it is difficult to think about
top-down layered business processes, and this situation sometimes makes it difficult to develop e-business
process modeling schemes. Corresponding to this issue, the authors propose a modeling tool to support interorganizational
the interorganizational process flow adjustment described in the following chapters.