Introduction To BPMN 21. © 2012 Clear View Training Limited
IntroductiontoBPMN2
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Introduction to BPMN 2
Dr. Jim Arlow
Clear View Training
www.clearviewtraining.com
SAMPLE
ISBN: 9780957292802
Training course for
2. IntroductiontoBPMN2
© 2012 Clear View Training Limited
About the author…
• Dr Jim Arlow
• Director of Clear View Training Limited
• Consultancy and training in UML, BPMN, Meta Data
Management, Requirements Engineering
• Customers include British Airways, BBC, JP Morgan
Chase, Aviva Investments, Vodafone
• Senior Visiting Research Fellow at Bournemouth
University
• Author of UML, BPMN and other books
• Linked in: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/jimarlow
• Website: www.clearviewtraining.com
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3. IntroductiontoBPMN2
© 2012 Clear View Training Limited
Secrets of Analysis
• If you are interested in
BPMN, UML or just
modeling in general,
then our new book,
“Secrets of Analysis”, is
a must!
• Learn how to model
effectively
• Check out the full table
of contents on the
website
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www.clearviewtraining.com/secrets-of-analysis.html
5. IntroductiontoBPMN2
© 2012 Clear View Training Limited
About the course book...
• This training course is based on “Introduction
to BPMN 2”
Arlow and Neustadt
ISBN:9780957292802
• This is an enhanced ebook with animations,
interactive figures and quizzes
• It is available for the iPad etc. in Apple iBooks
• A non-interactive PDF version is also available
• We are excited about the potential of
interactive textbooks and how this is realised
by the revolutionary iBooks and iBooks
Author from Apple. This is why the enhanced
ebook is the primary edition of this work
• There is a non-interactive version of the
book available on Amazon
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ISBN: 9780957292802
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Our approach to BPMN
• Introduction
• Basic BPMN
• Just enough to get you started modelling
• Core BPMN
• Might be enough for up to 80% of your needs
• Advanced BPMN
• Filling in the gaps!
• Exercises
• An opportunity to use what you have learned as you
go along
• Laboratory Work
7. © 2012 Clear View Training Limited
IntroductiontoBPMN2
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Processes and BPMN 2
Chapter 1 of
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Contents
• What is a business process?
• Why model processes?
• What is BPMN 2?
• History
• Structure
• Complexity
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What is a business process?
• There is no standard definition of a business
process, so we define it as:
A sequence of activities performed by one or
more business participants in order to deliver
value to the business
• This definition emphasises the following points:
• The process can be broken down into a sequence of
simpler activities
• These activities have to be performed by someone or
something (a participant)
• The ultimate goal is to deliver value to the business
whether directly or indirectly
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Types of business process
• Management processes
• Govern the operation of a business
• Operational processes
• Constitute the core business
activities and create the primary
value stream
• Supporting processes
• Support the core operational
processes
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Management
Operational
Supporting
Management
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Why model processes?
• Understand and control current processes
• Measure time, cost, resources
• Improve current processes
• Streamline, identify missing steps, rationalise
• Design new processes
• Realise business requirements with new processes
• Communicate existing and new processes
• Process models are a very effective way to communicate existing and
new processes
• Automate processes
• Apply a process execution engine
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You can’t control what you don’t understand
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What is BPMN 2?
• Business Process Model and Notation v. 2
• Human oriented industry standard graphical notation
for modelling processes
• Based on flow charts (already widely used)
• Has a mapping to BPEL4WS
• Scope:
• Organisational structures and resources
• Functional breakdowns
• Data and information flows
• Business strategy
• Business rules
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BPMN history
• Note the name change from 1.x to 2.x
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2001 2002 2003 2004 20092008 2010
BPMN = Business
Process Modelling
Notation
BPMN = Business
Process Model and
Notation
BPMI.org
starts
developing
BPML
OMG
BPMN 1.0
OMG
BPMN 1.2
OMG
BPMN 2.0
Ongoing BPMN development
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Models, diagrams and pictures
• A true BPMN tool such as Magic Draw is a modelling tool:
• When diagrams are created information is added into an underlying model
• Each model element may be represented by 0..* diagram elements
• Each diagram element must have exactly 1 representation in the underlying model
• The modelling tool enforces BPMN semantics and syntax
• Pictures have no formal syntax or semantics (e.g. PowerPoint, Visio)
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Model elements
have well-
defined
meanings
(semantics)
Diagram
elements
provide a visual
syntax for
representing
model elements
Model Diagram
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Model element attributes
• BPMN model elements may
have attributes. These are
slots that store information
about the element
• Attributes store the
semantic "meat" of the
model
• BPMN tools allow you to
inspect and change
attributes
Double click
Task
Task attributes
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BPMN structure
• BPMN 2 allows you to model 3 different, but
related aspects of business processes:
• Process - a sequence of activities that constitutes a
business process
• Focus: the sequence of activities and events
• Collaboration - a process that has two or more
participants
• Focus: the sequence of activities and events and or the
Messages sent between participants
• Choreography - a sequence of interactions between
participants
• Focus: the participants in the business process and the
sequence in which they interact together
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BPMN structure summary
• BPMN has a relatively simple high-level structure BUT complexity arises
because BPMN has:
• 4 types of event (with many different triggers and throw & catch semantics)
• 4 types of activity (but with many variants)
• 5 types of gateway
• 3 connecting objects
• 2 artifacts
• 4 types of data object
• Conversations, choreographies etc.
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Managing BPMN complexity
• Divide and conquer!
• We define 3 levels of
BPMN
• Basic - just enough to
create some simple
models (bootstrap!)
• Core - enough for about
80% of your modelling
needs
• Advanced - features that
are rarely needed
Advanced
Core
Basic
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Summary
• BPMN 2 – Business Process Model and Notation
• Model processes so that you can understand and
improve existing processes, and create new processes
• We can categorise processes into management,
operational and support
• BPMN has a simple high-level structure
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Laboratory work
• Consider the organization in which you are
currently working...
• List the key business processes.
• Categorize these processes as management,
operational or support processes.
• Which of these processes do you think could be
improved? Suggest some possible improvements.
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IntroductiontoBPMN2
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Basic BPMN
Chapter 2 of
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Contents
• What is Basic BPMN?
• Process semantics – the token game
• Basic BPMN elements in the process diagram:
• Artifacts
• Swimlanes
• Flow objects
• Connecting objects
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What is Basic BPMN?
• It is the simplest possible subset of BPMN that
we consider to be useable
• The goal of Basic BPMN is to be:
• Just enough BPMN to get you creating very simple
diagrams!
• Easy to learn
• Easy for non-technical stakeholders to understand
• Good enough for rough sketches and informal
diagrams
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The process diagram
• BPMN defines a process as a set of flow elements that comprise
different types of flow node that may be connected by sequence
flows and other connecting objects to form a kind of flowchart
• Flow nodes may be:
• Events – something that happens during the process
• Activities – work performed in the process
• Gateways – control flow through the process
Event
activity
Gateway
Sequence
Flow
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Process semantics - the token game
• Token game – a token is an imaginary focus of control that
you imagine flowing around the process
• Tokens traverse from a source flow object to a target flow
object via a sequence flow
• A flow object executes when it has tokens on one or more of
its input flows
• When a flow object starts to execute it takes tokens off its input flows
• When a flow object has finished executing it offers tokens on one or
more of its output flows
Start event
End event
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Process instances
• Each time a process receives a new start event,
a new instance of that process begins executing
• We say that a process may have many process
instances
Instance 3
Time
Instance 2
Instance 1
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Diagram annotation
• BPMN provides two artifacts, the text annotation and group,
that allow you to add extra information to models
• We use text annotations extensively to document our models
• Text annotations are linked to model elements by the
association connecting object
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Artifacts
Syntax Name Semantics
Text annotation Text annotations allow text to be added to a diagram
to increase its comprehensibility
Group A way to group together diagram elements to show
that they are related
Association
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Using artifacts
• Use groups as a way to organise and highlight parts of the model in order
to increase its comprehensibility
• Groups have no semantics beyond a simple organising role
• In the example below, the groups indicate phases in the process
• Use text annotations connected to flow objects by associations to
document the process
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Flow objects
• A process is defined as a sequence of flow objects:
• Events – something that happens during the process
• Activities – work performed in the process
• Gateways – split/merge flow through the process
• There are many types of flow object!
Event
Activity
Gateway
Sequence
flow
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Connecting objects
• Connect flow nodes together:
• Sequence flows – determine the sequence of activities
• Message flows – messages between process participants
• Associations – associate text or data with modeling elements
Sequence
flow
Message
flow
Association
Pool
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Collaboration diagrams
• A collaboration diagram is like a process diagram but with more than one
participant
• We can organise the collaboration diagram into:
• Pools – represent a participant in the process
• Lanes – group related activities
• N.B. If a diagram has a single pool and no lanes, it is a process diagram and the
pool boundary rectangle may be omitted
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Pools, message flows and messages
• Use pools in conjunction with explicit messages to
show communication between two or more business
participants:
Pool representing
the Sales Department
Pool representing
the Warehouse
Message
A
collaboration
diagram
Message flow
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Summary
• Basic BPMN Elements in the process diagram:
• Artifacts
• Flow objects
• Connecting objects
• Swimlanes
• BPMN semantics – the token game
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