Business Process Modeling Notation. Bruce Silver Principal, BPMessentials

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Business Process Modeling Notation

Bruce Silver

Principal, BPMessentials

[email protected]

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About Me

 Founder/principal BPMessentials (2007)

 The leading provider of

BPMN training and certification

 Now expanded into full BPM training and certification (www.bpmessentials.com)

 Member of BPMN 2.0 technical committee in OMG

 Author of BPMN Method and Style 2

^nd

ed.

(www.bpmnstyle.com)

 BPMS Watch, commentary on BPMN and BPM Suites (www.brsilver.com)

 Developer of tools to support the “Method

and Style” approach

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Agenda

 What is BPMN?

 A Quick Tutorial

 Method and Style and “Good BPMN”

 Achieving Consistently Good BPMN

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What is BPMN?

1. A diagramming notation for business process models

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What is BPMN?

1. A diagramming notation for business process models 2. An OMG standard



Meaning of the diagram is independent of the tool

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What is BPMN?

1. A diagramming notation for business process models 2. An OMG standard

3. Flowchart-based – familiar to business

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What is BPMN?

1. A diagramming notation for business process models 2. An OMG standard

3. Flowchart-based

4. Conceptually simple - just 3 primary flow objects!

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What is BPMN?

1. A diagramming notation for business process models 2. An OMG standard

3. Flowchart-based 4. Conceptually simple

5. Expressive – visualize fine details

of process logic

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What is BPMN?

1. A diagramming notation for business process models 2. An OMG standard

3. Flowchart-based 4. Conceptually simple 5. Expressive

6. Shareable between business and IT

Business analyst

IT architect/

Developer

Business User Process Owner

BPMN

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How BPMN Differs from Flowcharts

1. Built-in semantics and rules

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How BPMN Differs from Flowcharts

1. Built-in semantics and rules 2. Hierarchical view



Drilldown to any level of detail…while retaining integrity of a single model end-to-end

Collapsed

Hierarchical expansion

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How BPMN Differs from Flowcharts

1. Built-in semantics and rules 2. Hierarchical view

3. Visualize inter-process

communications (“collaboration”)

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How BPMN Differs from Flowcharts

1. Built-in semantics and rules 2. Hierarchical view

3. Visualize inter-process “collaboration”

4. Rich support for exception handling through events



Event can start a process, resume a paused process, abort an activity, redirect

to exception flow, start a new parallel thread…

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BPMN and Process Automation

 BPM Suite: process automation platforms from major middleware vendors

 Model-driven automation = build for change

 BPMN describes the “process logic”

• Same language used for modeling and execution

Common process “language”

Business

IT

Process Model (BPMN)

Executable Details

Process Engine

User User User

ERP

Legacy

External Services

Rules

Rule FrameworkIntegration Framework Human Task

Framework

SOA Middleware

Performance Data

BAM

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What’s NOT Standardized by BPMN

 BPMN describes just the process logic (activity flow)



Start and end, order of the steps

 Does NOT define…



Task logic - how steps are performed



Process data



Organizational structure, roles, and details of human task assignment



Business rules



Performance objectives and KPIs



Average activity times and costs

 Many BPMN tools provide those things, but not part of the standard

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Agenda

 What is BPMN?

 A Quick Tutorial

 Method and Style and “Good BPMN”

 Achieving Consistently Good BPMN

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BPMN in One Slide

 Just 3 primary flow objects



Sequence flow can only connect to these 3 shapes

1. Activity - rounded rectangle



Work performed in the process



Either task (atomic) or subprocess (compound)

2. Gateway - diamond



Routing logic, does not make decision

3. Event - circle



Marks start/end of a process or subprocess



Handler for a signal that “something happened”

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 Process model shows all activity flow paths from start to end



Represent each distinct process end state as a separate end event



A gateway following an activity tests its end state

• Each gate corresponds to an activity end state

Process Model

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 They are just routing conditions

 Use an activity…



To make a human decision



To invoke a decision service (e.g. in a rule engine)

 Then test the decision with a gateway

 Instead of these…

Gateways Do Not Make Decisions

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Gateways Do Not Make Decisions

 They are just routing conditions

 Use an activity…



To make a human decision



To invoke a decision service (e.g. in a rule engine)

 Then test the decision with a gateway

 Do this…

 Assume “yes/no” gateway tests the end state of the preceding activity



A “method and style” convention

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Pool, Lane, Activity Type

User task (human task)

Service task (automated)

Subprocess (collapsed) Pool = process

(or external participant)

Lanes = actors in process

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Subprocess

 A compound (decomposable) activity

 Simultaneously an activity and a “process”

 Defined once in the model…

 …but may be visualized on multiple pages

 “Collapsed” as an opaque activity in parent level page

 Expanded as a process in child-level page – Hierarchical expansion

 Parent and child levels may be displayed on same page using “expanded subprocess” shape (Inline expansion)

 Collapsed subprocesses allow end-to-end process to be visualized on single page

 Understand it as a “single thing”

Inline expansion Hierarchical

expansion (child level) Collapsed (parent level)

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Child-Level Expansion

 On child level page, model the expanded Fulfill Order subprocess

 Note end state label match with gateway at parent level (“Fulfilled ok”)



Gateway asks, “Did the subprocess end in the end state ‘Fulfilled ok’?”



Process logic traceable from parent to

child level

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“Collaboration”

 … with Customer, service providers, and other processes

Black box (empty) pool - label with entity or role

Message flow Message

start event

Message

end event

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Agenda

 What is BPMN?

 A Quick Tutorial

 Method and Style and “Good BPMN”

 Achieving Consistently Good BPMN

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Good BPMN

 The primary purpose of BPMN is to visually communicate process logic

 “Good BPMN”

1.

Correct per the BPMN specification

2.

Clear, describing the process logic from the diagram alone

3.

Complete, revealing at once…

 How the process starts

 What the instance represents

 Significant end states and exception paths

 Touchpoints with the customer, service providers, other processes 4.

Consistent across the business

 The world is filled with “bad BPMN”



BPMN 2.0 spec addresses only correctness



Good BPMN requires additional conventions: “Method and Style”

 Basis of my book and training

 … but more easily learned/applied with good tool support

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Examples of “Bad BPMN”

 Structural issues

 Lack of instance alignment

• Activity instance = Process instance

 Flat models, not hierarchical

 Exception end states ignored

 Semantic issues (spec errors)

 Violate rules of the spec

 Improper gateway merge

 Clarity issues (style errors)

 End states not identified

 Labels omitted

 Message flows omitted

 Logic not traceable from parent to child level

Method

Style

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Instance Alignment

 A BPMN activity is an action performed repeatedly in the course of business



Each instance has a well-defined start and end



NOT a function performed continuously, e.g. “Manage…”, “Monitor…”, etc.

 A BPMN process is likewise a flow of activities performed repeatedly



Activity instance must correspond 1:1 with the process instance

 What is wrong with this model of Expense Reimbursement process?

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Hierarchical vs Flat Models

 Hierarchical

 Top-level diagram: global view end-to-end on one page

• How process starts, end states, and interactions with external entities

 Subprocesses expanded in child-level diagrams (drill-down detail)

 High-level and detailed views of a single process model

 Allows consistently structured models if applied “top-down”

 Flat

 All activities in one level (sibling pages via Link event pairs)

• No one-page end-to-end view

 High-level and detailed views require separate models

 Follows “bottom-up” factfinding with SMEs

 … but leads to inconsistent model structures

 Hierarchical is better, but …

 Top-down modeling is harder for some users (“method”)

 Need ways to trace the logic from top level down in the printed model (“style”)

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Ignored Exception End States

 Method and style says each end event in a process or subprocess indicates a distinct end state



If more than one, use a gateway to test the end state and route accordingly

 What is wrong with this model?

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Test the End State with a Gateway

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Style Rules

 What is the meaning of this “valid” diagram?

 Diagram clarity is not required by the spec!

 BPMN Style: notation conventions to ensure diagram clarity

 Proper labeling of activities, events, gateways/gates, message flows, data objects and data stores

 Proper use and labeling of end states (end events)

 Showing message flows with all message nodes

 Label matching to ease top-down traceability

 Most successful when supported by style rules that can be validated in the tool

 Built directly into the tool UI (itp commerce, Signavio)

 Web tool that reports on uploaded XML (Visio Premium)

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Style Rule Validation

 Process Modeler for Visio



Itp commerce Visio add-in



BPMN 2.0 spec and style rule validation integrated in the tool

• Click Validate to list all errors

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The Importance of Certification

 Good BPMN can be learned from a book…

 … but most people need training

 … and tool support

 … and some kind of certification that verifies ability to…

 … understand BPMN at Level 2

 … create “good BPMN”

themselves

 BPMessentials has common certification procedure for all BPM training

 Online multiple-choice exam

 Mail-in exercise reviewed by instructor

 Details at bpmessentials.com

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The Bottom Line

 Anyone can learn to create “good BPMN”



Can learn it from a book



… but training, including exercises and post-class certification is better

 Validation makes the rules easier to learn and apply consistently



Style rule validation mostly a solved problem (with the right tool)



Method support (enhanced structured interview) still a work in progress

 If you are interested in the tools or training contact me [email protected]



More info on www.brsilver.com and www.bpmessentials.com

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BPM Training and Certification

1. Starting and Organizing a BPM Project

 Shelley Sweet, I4Process

 Staffing the project team, facilitating the info gathering, process discovery and the high level map, communicating with the sponsor…

2. BPMN Method and Style

 Bruce Silver

 The “gold standard” in BPMN training 3. Process Analysis and Redesign

 Shelley Sweet, I4Process

 A variety of techniques for analyzing process efficiency and effectiveness, and principles of process improvement

4. Decision Modeling Essentials

 Barb von Halle, Knowledge Partners International

 Business rule modeling and maintenance

 All courses include post-class certification

 Exam and mail-in exercise

Live-online classes this fall!

More info on

BPMessentials.com Or contact

[email protected]

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