bpmn 2.0 reference

BPMN Reference

Date Printed: 18 July 2013 © Chris Moloney of 25 http://au.linkedin.com/in/chrismoloney/

BPMN Reference

Enterprise Business Architecture Group

_________________________________________________________________________

July 2013

Version: v1.0

Document details

Document Purpose: The purpose of the BPMN Reference document is to outline conventions and guidelines for modelling business processes in a standard way across the organisation.

Enquiries and

Proposed Changes:

If you have any questions regarding this document or proposed changes please contact:

Chris Moloney, Business Architect

Web: http://au.linkedin.com/in/chrismoloney/

Email: [email protected]

Document Information

Author: Chris Moloney Status: Final

Location: Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/chrismoloney

Revision History

Version

Date

Author

CR/Review No.

Description

0.1 17/01/2012 Chris Moloney Draft

http://au.linkedin.com/in/chrismoloney/

http://www.slideshare.net/chrismoloney

BPMN Reference


Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 4

1.1 Purpose ...................................................................................................................................... 4

1.2 Intended Audience .................................................................................................................... 4

2 BUSINESS PROCESS MODELLING ................................................................. 5

2.1 What is Business Process Modelling? ................................................................................... 5

2.2 BPMN in Context ....................................................................................................................... 5

3 ABOUT BPMN .................................................................................................... 6

3.1 What is BPMN? .......................................................................................................................... 6

3.2 Objectives and Benefits ........................................................................................................... 6

4 BPMN ELEMENTS .............................................................................................. 7

4.1 Basic BPMN Modelling Elements ............................................................................................ 8

4.2 Extended BPMN Modelling Elements ................................................................................... 10 4.2.1 Event Type Dimension ...................................................................................................... 14 4.2.2 Activity Markers ................................................................................................................. 16 4.2.3 Task Types ........................................................................................................................ 17

5 BPMN STYLE GUIDE ....................................................................................... 19

5.1 Page Layout ............................................................................................................................. 19 5.1.1 Header ............................................................................................................................... 19 5.1.2 Orientation ......................................................................................................................... 19

5.2 Use of Text, Colour, Size and Lines ...................................................................................... 19 5.2.1 Labels ................................................................................................................................ 19 5.2.2 Colour Fill .......................................................................................................................... 19 5.2.3 Size ................................................................................................................................... 20 5.2.4 Line Colour ........................................................................................................................ 20 5.2.5 Line Style ........................................................................................................................... 20

5.3 Start and End Event Rules ..................................................................................................... 20

5.4 Swimlane Rules ....................................................................................................................... 20

5.5 Flow Connection Rules .......................................................................................................... 20 5.5.1 Sequence Flows ................................................................................................................ 20 5.5.2 Message Flows ................................................................................................................. 21

5.6 Naming Conventions .............................................................................................................. 21 5.6.1 Activity Names ................................................................................................................... 21 5.6.2 Pool and Swim Lane Names ............................................................................................. 22

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5.6.3 Event Names ..................................................................................................................... 22

6 BPMN EXAMPLES ........................................................................................... 23

6.1 Hardware Shipment ................................................................................................................ 23

6.2 Pizza Ordering ......................................................................................................................... 24

7 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ........................................................................... 25

7.1 Object Management Group (OMG) BPMN Standard ............................................................ 25

7.2 Examples .................................................................................................................................. 25

7.3 Guidelines and Cheat Sheets................................................................................................. 25

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1 Introduction

1.1 Purpose

The purpose of the BPMN Reference document is to outline conventions and guidelines for modelling business processes in a standard way across the organisation.

Standardised modelling will provide guidance to the producers of business process models.. It will also assist the readers of the business process models in their understanding of the models.

This document assumes an understanding of business process modelling and is not intended to be a complete training or instruction manual but to provide guidelines for business process modellers within the organisation.

1.2 Intended Audience

This document is primarily intended for staff wishing to document the business processes of the organisation, including:

Business Analysts;

Systems Analysts;

Business Process Owners; and

IT Staff.

It may also be used as a reference for other staff to assist them in reading and understanding business process models.

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2 Business Process Modelling

2.1 What is Business Process Modelling?

Business process modelling provides a way of visually representing the activities of the business. The purpose is to generate a graphical representation of business processes that describe business activities and their interdependencies. The resulting diagram then describes the process and can assist in analysing and understanding processes and revealing inefficiencies and areas for improvement.

2.2 BPMN in Context

Business processes describe how the business performs its work and is an essential view of the overall business architecture which in turn is an essential component of the overall enterprise architecture.

Fig 1: Enterprise Business Architecture Views.

.

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3 About BPMN In order to provide consistency in the documentation of business processes across the organisation, business process modellers should adhere to the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard.

3.1 What is BPMN?

Prior to the development of BPMN there was no industry standard way to map business processes. The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard was developed to address this and provide an industry standard notation for business process modeling.

The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard was developed by the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI), and is currently maintained by the Object Management Group after the two organizations merged in 2005. As of March 2011, the current version of BPMN is 2.0. (See http://www.bpmn.org for further information)

3.2 Objectives and Benefits

The primary objective of BPMN is to provide a standard notation that is readily understandable by all business stakeholders. BPMN follows the tradition of flowcharting notations for readability and flexibility and is intended to serve as common language to bridge the communication gap that frequently occurs between business process design and implementation.

BPMN provides businesses with a method of understanding their internal business procedures in a graphical notation and gives organizations the ability to communicate these procedures in a standard manner.

It is likely that business process modelers will need to understand multiple and potentially different representations of the same process as it moves through its lifecycle of development, implementation, execution, monitoring, and analysis. A standard graphical notation facilitates the understanding of the business transactions within and between organizations. This assists businesses in understanding their processes and the participants in their business and will enables organizations to adjust to new internal and Business to Business (B2B) circumstances quickly.

http://www.bpmn.org/

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4 BPMN Elements The BPMN 2.0 standard defines both a basic and extended element set. The basic set provides a small set of notation categories so that BPMN users may easily recognise the basic types of elements and understand the diagram. Within the basic categories of elements, variations and additional information can be added to support the requirements for complexity without dramatically changing the basic look and feel of the diagram. The five basic categories of elements are:1

1. Flow Objects

2. Data

3. Connecting Objects

4. Swimlanes

5. Artefacts

1. Flow objects are the main graphical elements to define the behaviour of a Business Process. There are three Flow Objects:

1.1. Events

1.2. Activities

1.3. Gateways

2. Data is represented with four elements:

2.1. Data Objects

2.2. Data Inputs

2.3. Data Outputs

2.4. Data Stores

3. There are four Connecting Objects used to connect the Flow Objects to each other or other information.

3.1. Sequence Flows

3.2. Message Flows

3.3. Associations

3.4. Data Associations

4. There are two ways of grouping the primary modelling elements through “Swimlanes”:

4.1. Pools

4.2. Lanes

1 Business Process Model and Notation, v0.2 p.27 http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0

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5. Artefacts are used to provide additional information about the Process. There are two standard Artefacts, but the standard allows modellers to add as many of their own Artefacts as necessary.

5.1. Group

5.2. Text Annotation

4.1 Basic BPMN Modelling Elements

The following table displays a list of the basic modelling elements.

Event An Event is something that “happens” during the course of a Process. These Events affect the flow of the model and usually have a cause (trigger) or an impact (result). Events are circles with open centres to allow internal markers to differentiate different triggers or results.

There are three types of Events, based on when they affect the flow:

Start,

Intermediate, and

End.

Activity An Activity is a generic term for work that company performs in a Process. An Activity can be atomic or non-atomic (compound). The types of Activities that are a part of a Process Model are: Sub-Process and Task, which are rounded rectangles.

Gateway A Gateway is used to control the divergence and convergence of Sequence Flows in a Process. Thus, it will determine branching, forking, merging, and joining of paths. Internal markers will indicate the type of behaviour control.

Sequence Flow A Sequence Flow is used to show the order that Activities will be performed in a Process.

Message Flow A Message Flow is used to show the flow of Messages between two Participants that are prepared to send and receive them. In BPMN, two separate Pools in a Collaboration Diagram will represent the two Participants.

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Association An Association is used to link information and Artefacts with BPMN graphical elements. Text Annotations and other Artefacts can be Associated with the graphical elements. An arrowhead on the Association indicates a direction of flow (e.g., data), when appropriate.

Pool A Pool is the graphical representation of a Participant in a Collaboration. It also acts as a “swimlane” and a graphical container for partitioning a set of Activities from other Pools, usually in the context of B2B situations. A Pool MAY have internal details, in the form of the Process that will be executed. Or a Pool MAY have no internal details, i.e., it can be a "black box."

Lane A Lane is a sub-partition within a Process, sometimes within a Pool, and will extend the entire length of the Process, either vertically or horizontally. Lanes are used to organize and categorize Activities.

Data Object Data Objects provide information about what Activities require to be performed and/or what they produce, Data Objects can represent a singular object or a collection of objects. Data Input and Data Output provide the same information for Processes.

Message A Message is used to depict the contents of a communication between two Participants.

(Letter, Email, Phone Call)

Group (a box around a group of objects in the same category)

A Group is a grouping of graphical elements that are within the same Category. This type of grouping does not affect the Sequence Flows within the Group. The Category name appears on the diagram as the group label. Categories can be used for documentation or analysis purposes. Groups are one way in which Categories of objects can be visually displayed on the diagram.

Text Annotation Text Annotations are a mechanism for a modeller to provide additional text information for the reader of a BPMN Diagram.

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4.2 Extended BPMN Modelling Elements

In addition to the basic BPMN Modelling Elements outlined in section 4.1 the following extended modelling elements are able to be used in BPMN.

Event Flow Dimension

(start, intermediate, end)

As the name implies, the Start Event indicates where a particular Process will start.

Intermediate Events occur between a Start Event and an End Event. They will affect the flow of the Process, but will not start or (directly) terminate the Process.

As the name implies, the End Event indicates where a Process will end.

Start

Intermediate

End

Event Type Dimension

See section 4.2.1 See section 4.2.1

Process / Sub-Process (non-atomic)

A Sub-Process is a compound Activity that is included within a Process. It is compound in that it can be broken down into a finer level of detail through a set of sub-Activities.

See next two figures

Collapsed Sub-Process

The details of the Sub-Process are not visible in the Diagram. A “plus” sign in the lower-centre of the shape indicates that the Activity is a Sub-Process and has a lower level of detail.

Expanded Sub-Process

The boundary of the Sub-Process is expanded and the details (a Process) are visible within its boundary. Note that Sequence Flows cannot cross the boundary of a Sub-Process.

Gateway Control Types

Icons within the diamond shape of the Gateway will indicate the type of flow control behaviour. The types of control include:

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• Exclusive decision and merging. Both Exclusive and Event-Based perform exclusive decisions and merging Exclusive can be shown with or without the “X” marker.

• Event-Based and Parallel Event-based gateways can start a new instance of the Process.

• Inclusive Gateway decision and merging.

• Complex Gateway – complex conditions and situations.

• Parallel Gateway forking and joining.

Each type of control affects both the incoming and outgoing flow.

Normal Flow

Uncontrolled Flow

Normal flow refers to paths of Sequence Flow that do not start from an Intermediate Event attached to the boundary of an Activity.

Uncontrolled flow refers to flow that is not affected by any conditions or does not pass through a Gateway. The simplest example of this is a single Sequence Flow connecting two Activities. This can also apply to multiple Sequence Flows that converge to or diverge from an Activity.

Conditional Flow A Sequence Flow can have a condition that is evaluated to determine whether or not the Sequence Flow will be used. If the conditional flow is outgoing from an Activity, then the Sequence Flow will have a mini diamond at the beginning of the connector. If the conditional flow is outgoing from a Gateway, then the line will not have a mini-diamond (see Uncontrolled Flow).

Default Flow For Data-Based Exclusive Gateways or Inclusive Gateways, one type of flow is the Default condition flow. This flow will be used only if all the other outgoing conditional flows are not true. These Sequence Flows will have a diagonal slash added to the beginning of the connector.

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Exception Flow Exception flow occurs outside the normal flow of the Process and is based upon an Intermediate Event attached to the boundary of an Activity that occurs during the performance of the Process.

Compensation Association

Compensation Association occurs outside the normal flow of the Process and is based upon a Compensation Intermediate Event that is triggered through the failure of a transaction or a throw Compensation Event. The target of the Association MUST be marked as a Compensation Activity.

Data Object Data Objects provide information about what Activities require to be performed and/or what they produce, Data Objects can represent a singular object or a collection of objects. Data Input and Data Output provide the same information for Processes.

Fork BPMN uses the term “fork” to refer to the dividing of a path into two or more parallel paths (also known as an AND-Split). It is a place in the Process where activities can be performed concurrently, rather than sequentially.

Join BPMN uses the term “join” to refer to the combining of two or more parallel paths into one path (also known as an AND-Join or synchronization). A Parallel Gateway is used to show the joining of multiple Sequence Flows.

Decision, Branching Point

Decisions are Gateways within a Process where the flow of control can take one or more alternative paths.

See next four rows.

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Exclusive This Decision represents a branching point where Alternatives are based on conditional expressions contained within the outgoing Sequence Flows. Only one of the Alternatives will be chosen.

Event Based This Decision represents a branching point where Alternatives are based on an Event that occurs at that point in the Process.

The specific Event, usually the receipt of a Message, determines which of the paths will be taken. Other types of Events can be used, such as Timer. Only one of the Alternatives will be chosen.

There are two options for receiving Messages:

• Tasks of Type Receive can be used (see figure top-right).

• Intermediate Events of Type Message can be used (see figure bottom-right).

Inclusive This Decision represents a branching point where Alternatives are based on conditional Expressions contained within the outgoing Sequence Flows. In some sense it is a grouping of related independent Binary (Yes/No) Decisions.

Since each path is independent, all combinations of the paths MAY be taken, from zero to all. However, it should be designed so that at least one path is taken. A Default Condition could be used to ensure that at least one path is taken.

There are two versions of this type of Decision:

• The first uses a collection of conditional Sequence Flows, marked with mini diamonds (see top-right figure).

• The second uses an Inclusive Gateway (see bottom-right picture).

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Merging BPMN uses the term “merge” to refer to the exclusive combining of two or more paths into one path (also known as an OR Join).

A Merging Exclusive Gateway is used to show the merging of multiple Sequence Flows (see upper figure to the right). If all the incoming flow is alternative, then a Gateway is not needed. That is, uncontrolled flow provides the same behaviour (see lower figure to the right).

Sequence Flow Looping

Loops can be created by connecting a Sequence Flow to an “upstream” object. An object is considered to be upstream if that object has an outgoing Sequence Flow that leads to a series of other Sequence Flows, the last of which is an incoming Sequence Flow for the original object.

Process Break

(something out of the control of the process makes the process pause)

A Process Break is a location in the Process that shows where an expected delay will occur within a Process. An Intermediate Event is used to show the actual behaviour (see top-right figure). In addition, a Process Break Artefact, as designed by a modeller or modelling tool, can be associated with the Event to highlight the location of the delay within the flow.

4.2.1 Event Type Dimension

Triggers or Results

Events allow internal markers to differentiate different triggers or results in the business process model. The Start and some Intermediate Events have “triggers” that define the cause for the Event. End Events MAY define a “result” that is a consequence of a Sequence Flow path ending.

Message Receiving and sending messages.

Timer Cyclic timer events, points in time, time spans or timeouts.

Error Catching or throwing named errors.

Escalation Escalation to a higher level of responsibility.

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Cancel Reacting to cancelled transactions or triggering cancellation.

Compensation Handling or triggering compensation.

Conditional Reacting to changed business conditions or integrating business rules.

Link Off-page connectors. Two corresponding link events equal a sequence flow.

Signal Signalling across different processes. A signal thrown can be caught multiple times.

Terminate Triggering the immediate termination of a process.

Multiple Catching one out of a set of events. Throwing all events defined.

Parallel Multiple Catching all out of a set of parallel events.

Catching and Throwing

Start Events can only react to (“catch”) a trigger. End Events can only create (“throw”) a result. Intermediate Events can catch or throw triggers.

For the Events that “catch”, the markers are unfilled, and for triggers and results that “throw”, the markers are filled.

Additionally, some Events, which were used to interrupt Activities in BPMN 1.1, can now be used in a mode that does not interrupt. The boundary of these Events is dashed.

“Catching” “Throwing”

Message

Timer

Error

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Escalation

Cancel

Compensation

Conditional

Link

Signal

Terminate

Multiple

Parallel Multiple

4.2.2 Activity Markers

Activity markers indicate the execution behaviour of activities. An activity may have one or two of these markers.

Loop Evaluates a true/false condition after each iteration. If true, the activity is performed again.

(May be used in combination with the Compensation marker.)

Parallel Multi-Instance

Activity is performed in parallel for each item in a list.


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Sequential Multi-Instance

Activity is performed in sequentially for each item in a list.


Ad Hoc Activity can be completed in any order.


Compensation Compensation is concerned with undoing steps that were already successfully completed, because their results and possibly side effects are no longer desired and need to be reversed.

If an Activity is still active, it cannot be compensated, but rather needs to be cancelled.

4.2.3 Task Types

Task types specify the nature of the action to be performed.

Send Task sends a message.

Once the message is sent the task is completed.

Receive Task receives (waits for) a message.

Once the message is received the task is completed.

User Task performed by human user with the assistance of a software application or system.

Manual Task performed manually without any software application or system.

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Business Rule Task evaluates a business rule.

Service Task uses some type of service, which could be a web service or an automated application.

Script Task is a script executed by a business process engine.

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5 BPMN Style Guide BPMN diagrams within an organisation should be consistent and follow the same style. This section provides some recommendations on style elements to aid consistency and readability regardless of the tool used to create them.

5.1 Page Layout

5.1.1 Header

Each page should contain a header with the following details:

Company logo

Process Name

Created by

Endorsed by

Created date

Version

Updated date

Page number

5.1.2 Orientation

Pages should be in oriented in Landscape mode (rather than Portrait).

Diagrams should be modelled horizontally from left to right.

5.2 Use of Text, Colour, Size and Lines

5.2.1 Labels

BPMN elements should have labels (e.g., its name and/or other attributes) as follows:

Events: Label below

Activities: Label inside

Gateways: Label below

Data Objects, Inputs, Outputs, Stores: Label below

Flow Objects: No label except below a sequence flow out of a Gateway.

Swimlanes: Label vertically inside swimlane

5.2.2 Colour Fill

The fills that are used for the graphical elements should be white or clear with no shadows or shading.

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5.2.3 Size

Flow objects and markers are to be the standard size as per the tool template / stencil used to create them.

5.2.4 Line Colour

The lines that are used to draw the graphical elements should be black.

5.2.5 Line Style

The line styles are to be the standard as per the tool template used to create them.

5.3 Start and End Event Rules Each BPMN diagram must contain at least one start event.

Each process must contain at least one End event.

Each Sub-process must contain a single Start event.

Each Sub-process must contain a single End event.

Indicate success and failed end states of a process with separate End Events and label them to indicate the end state.

5.4 Swimlane Rules Use empty (Black Box) Pools to represent external participants.

Model internal process participants as Lanes within a single Pool, not as separate Pools.

5.5 Flow Connection Rules

In connecting sequence and message flows the number one priority is to connect the objects in a way that reader of the diagram will find the flow clear and easy to follow. Crossing flow lines should be avoided if possible.

5.5.1 Sequence Flows

Sequence flows can be connected to any location on a flow object (left, right, top or bottom) however the general direction of the sequence flow should be horizontal from left to right.

Reversing the sequence flow from right to left should be avoided if possible.

Sequence flows cannot cross a Pool boundary.

If a sub-process has been expanded within a diagram then the objects within the sub-process cannot be connected to objects outside of the sub-process.

A Start event has no incoming sequence flow, however it can have an incoming message flow.

An End event has no outgoing sequence flow.

All Activities, Gateways and Events must be connected via a continuous chain of sequence flows leading from a Start Event to an End Event.

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Sequence flows must not cross a Pool boundary. Use message flows to link Pools.

5.5.2 Message Flows

Message flows can be connected to any location on a flow object (left, right, top or bottom) however the general direction of the message flow should be vertical.

Message flows cannot connect to objects that are within the same Pool.

Message flows cannot connect to a Gateway.

Begin customer facing processes with a Message Start Event receiving a Message Flow from the Customer Pool.

5.6 Naming Conventions This section defines guidelines and naming conventions to be used when creating BPMN diagrams.

5.6.1 Activity Names

An Activity / Sub-Process name:

Should be precise and concise. The name should ideally be two or three words, and never more than five words. The longer the name the more cluttered the diagram, which reduces readability

Must be in title case - each word begins with a capital letter followed by lower case letters for the rest of the word

Should be a present tense active verb followed by an object, and can be qualified with a noun if necessary. For example, bill customer, set up contract, (not customer billing, contract set up), settle monthly invoice

Should try not to contain generic verbs such as process, handle, manage, maintain (see section “confusing verbs”)

Should not include the words to, and, for, from etc in the names

Should specify what is done. Avoid names that indicate who, when, where or how something is done

Should not include the swim lane in the name. For example, use “take order” not “take order from customer”. The name is already visible in the swim lane diagram. If it seems difficult to name the process, carefully consider the objective of the process.

If the activity is performed in a specific IT system then the name of the system should be included in brackets after the activity name.

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Confusing Verbs Good Verbs

Update

Read

Delete

Download

Transmit

Send

Process

Handle

Manage

Maintain

Receive

Input

Enter

Review

Track

Tell

Pass

Fix

Discuss

Code

Get

Act on

Check

Make

Give

Analyse

Ask

Perform

Monitor

Amend

Change

Generate

Produce

Retrieve

Obtain

Remove

Capture

Log

Despatch

Distribute

Schedule

Assign

Revise

Verify

Complete

Plan

Develop

Notify

Provide

Resolve

Clarify

Configure

Transfer

Validate

Create

Execute

Update

Capture

Record

Evaluate

5.6.2 Pool and Swim Lane Names

Must be in title case - each word begins with a capital letter followed by lower case letters for the rest of the word.

5.6.3 Event Names

Should be in the past tense and should clearly reflect the type of event (start, end, and timer).

For example:

o Start event: Urgent Order Received

o End event: Invoice Sent

o Timer event: Invoice Due

Must be in title case - each word begins with a capital letter followed by lower case letters for the rest of the word

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6 BPMN Examples

6.1 Hardware Shipment

Example taken from “BPMN 2.0 By Example Version 1.0” 2

2 “BPMN 2.0 By Example Version 1.0” p.3 http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/examples/PDF

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6.2 Pizza Ordering

Example taken from “BPMN 2.0 By Example Version 1.0”3

3 “BPMN 2.0 By Example Version 1.0” p.4 http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/examples/PDF

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7 Additional Information

7.1 Object Management Group (OMG) BPMN Standard The official standard for BPMN can be found at http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/

o See also http://bpmn.org/ for supporting documents.

7.2 Examples The Object Management Group (OMG) publishes a document containing worked

examples here:

o http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/examples/PDF

7.3 Guidelines and Cheat Sheets BPMN 2.0 Poster

o http://www.bpmb.de/index.php/BPMNPoster

BPMN Method and Style Poster

o http://bpmessentials.com/uploads/media/BPMN_2.0-Poster.pdf

bpmn 2.0 reference

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