Process modeling

Process modeling - theory

Definition

What is process modeling?

The description of the sequence of activities executed in a

process from start to end.

Representation: graphical and/or textual

Existing process (AS IS) or new process (TO BE)

Applicable on all kind of environments (production, administrative, )

Terminology:

Procedure = extensive description of a process.

Flow chart = graphical representation of a process.

= Procesdiagram = flowdiagram = stroomschema =

Work instruction (werkinstructie) = textual description of an

activity.
= SOP: Standard Operating Procedure.

Process modeling - theory

Modeling levels

Level 0-1

Level 2

Level 3

Goal

Overview

Overview - Analysis

Analysis - Manual

Type

Strategical

Tactical

Operational

Board of directors

Head of department;
process owner

Employees

Low

Average

High

Target group
Level of
detail

Level

Terminology

Description

Level 0

Process Map (Enterprise Process Map, Macro

Process Map)

View of the company as a

collection of process domains

FRA: Carte des processus (Carte des macroprocessus)

BEL/HOL: Procesmap

Level 1

Process Domain (Process Area, Main Process)

FRA: Domaine de processus (Zone de processus)
BEL/HOL: Procesdomein

Level 2

Process (Business Process)

FRA: Processus (Processus mtier)
BEL/HOL: Proces, Bedrijfsproces

Level 3

Activity bloc (Sub-process)

FRA: Bloc d'activits (Sous-processus)
BEL/HOL: Activiteitenblok

Level 4

Work instruction
FRA: Instruction de travail
BEL/HOL: Werkinstructie

View of a process domain as a

collection of processes within a
certain area
View of a process as a succession
of activity blocs
View of activity blocs as a
succession of activities
Elaborated description of an
activity as a group of tasks

Process modeling - theory

Modeling levels
Level 1

Level 2

Level 4

Level 3

Process A
Activity bloc 1
Activity bloc 2
Activity bloc 3

Activity bloc n
Process B

Process C
Aggregated

Detail

Process modeling in practice

Level 3: activity blocks and activities

1. Define the borders of the process (start and end)
Who is the customer?
What is the input/output?
What are the activity blocs?

2. When elaborating activity blocs into activities, keep the unity of

time-person-place principle in mind.
When a group of tasks is always executed within the same timeframe
(successively, not interrupted), by the same person (or same
function) and in the same place (same work spot), we group those in
one activity.
If one of these three conditions is not fulfilled, we split the steps/tasks
in 2 or more activities.

3. A process model should be visual and shows sequence and

dependency: flow lines go out from the right, in from the left.

. Draw the happy flow (main flow) on one line.

Business process modeling

notation

BPMN

Introduction

Definition:

Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)

graphical notation to visualize and model processes.

is

History:

Has been developed by BPMI (Business Process Management

Initiative) as a standard in process modeling.

Start of development: 2002

The BPMN 1.1 OMG Specification, February, 2008.

Business process modeling is used to communicate a

wide variety of information to different audiences. BPMN
is designed to cover many types of modeling and allows
the creation of process segments as well as end-to-end
business processes, at different levels of fidelity.

BPMN

Use

Full BPMN is best suited for drawing specification level or

technical workflow models in preparation for configuring
an automated workflow facility or business process
management system

A subset of BPMN can be used for business modeling,

this subset is however not yet formally identified!
Used for workflow modeling (level 3)
Level

Also called

Description

Level
0

Process Map, Enterprise

Process Map, Macro Process
Map

View of the company as a collection of

process domains

Level
1

Process Area, Process

Domain, Main Process

View of a process domain as a

collection of processes within a certain
area

Level
2

Business Process, Process

View of a process as a succession of

activity blocs

Level
3

Sub-process, Activity blocs

View of activity blocs as a succession

of activities

Level
4

Work instruction

Elaborated description of an activity

BPMN

Flowchart versus BPMN

Differences/advantages
flowchart notations:

of

BPMN

versus

other

BPMN has several extra symbols which allow to fulfill

easier the customers needs in process modeling.

BPMN allows to represent simple as well as complex

processes and sub-processes in a clear and
unambiguous way, close to reality.

Thanks to the clear symbols, process schemes in BPMN

are easy to read and interpret in a correct way as a
layman in flowcharting.

BPMN

Flowchart versus BPMN

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Modeling of the recruiting of temporary employees:

flowchart

Extra symbols

BPMN

BPMN: easy
modeling of
underlying
processes

BPMN: easy to
understand

Modeling of repeated
activities (loops) is
less complex in
BPMN than the
branching in classic
flowcharting

BPMN

Core set of BPMN elements

The four basic categories of elements are:

Flow objects

Connecting objects

Swimlanes

Artifacts

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Flow object - Events

Overview

An event is something that happens during the course of a

business process. These events affect the flow of the process and
usually have a cause (trigger) or an impact (result).

Events are circles with open centers 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.

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Events

Overview

Start and most Intermediate events have Triggers that define

the cause for the event. There are multiple ways that these
events can be triggered. End events may define a result.

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Events

Start Events

There are many ways that a business process can be started

(instantiated). The Trigger for a Start event is designed to show
the general mechanism that will instantiate that particular
Process. There are six types of Start Events in BPMN: None,
Message, Timer, Rule (Signal and Multiple).

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Events

Intermediate Events

These Event types indicate the different ways that a process

may be interrupted or delayed after it has started. Each type
of Intermediate event will have a different icon placed in the
center of the Intermediate event shape to distinguish one from
another.

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Events

End Events

A BPMN modeler can define the consequence of reaching an End

event. This will be referred to as the End event result.

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Events

In practice

Events can be used in the normal process flow:

They represent things that happen during the process.

Events can also be attached to the boundary of an activity:

They indicate that the activity should be interrupted when the

Event is triggered.

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Events

In practice

Link Events can be used for Off-Page connectors.

Link Events can be used as Go-To objects.

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Activities

Overview

This symbol can be atomic or non-atomic (compound).

Atomic: Activities

Atomic
Non-atomic & expanded)
Non-atomic:
Sub-processes (collapsed

Both are represented by rounded rectangles.

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Activities

Markers for an activity or sub-process

BPMN specifies three types of markers for Activities:

An activity may have one or two of these markers.

BPMN specifies four types of standard markers for Subprocesses:

The Sub-process marker can be combined with four other

markers: Loop - Multiple Instance Compensation - Ad Hoc.

A Sub-process may have one to three of these other markers.

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Markers

Loops

If the loop condition is evaluated before the activity, this is

generally referred to as a while loop. This means that the
activities will be repeated as long as the condition is true.
The activities may not be performed at all (if the condition is
false the first time) or performed many times.

If the loop condition is evaluated after the activity, this is

generally referred to as an until loop. This means that the
activities will be repeated until a condition becomes true.
The activities will be performed at least once, but may be
performed many times.

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Markers

Loops

Until loop in Sub-process:

While loop in Sub-process

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Markers

In practice

Position of the marker:

In the collapsed sub-process the marker is placed next to the +symbol.

In the expanded sub-process the marker is repeated.

The symbol for a collapsed sub-process and also the loop-marker are
frequently used, the other markers are not widespread in use and can be
avoided.

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Gateways

Overview

A Gateway is used to control the divergence and convergence

of Sequence flow. Thus, it will determine branching, forking,
merging, and joining of paths. Internal markers will indicate the
type of behavior control.

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Gateways

Exclusive gateways (XOR)

Exclusive gateways (Decisions) are locations within a business process

where the Sequence flow can take two or more alternative paths.
The Exclusive decision has two or more outgoing Sequence flow, but
only one of them may be taken during the performance of the
Process. There are two types of Exclusive decisions:

Data-based:

Event-based:

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Gateways

Inclusive gateways (OR)

This Decision represents a branching point where alternatives are

based on conditional expressions contained within outgoing
Sequence flow. However, in this case, the true evaluation of one
condition expression does not exclude the evaluation of other
condition expressions. 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.

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Gateways

Parallel gateways (AND)

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Parallel gateways provide a mechanism to synchronize parallel

flow and to create parallel flow. These Gateways are not
required to create parallel flow, but they can be used to clarify
the behavior of complex situations where a string of Gateways
are used and parallel flow is required.

In this case you have to

wait for both Activity C and
D to be finished, before
you can start Activity F.

Gateways

In practice

To be clear and understandable, it is recommended to limit the

use of Gateways to these three:

A Gateway controls the process flow, thus if the flow does not
need to be controlled, a Gateway is not needed.

A Gateway splits the process into different flows. It can be

recommended to repeat the Gateway when the different flows
merge, if it is necessary for the understanding.

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Connecting objects

Sequence flows

A Sequence flow is used to show the order that

activities will be performed in a Process.

Regular Sequence Flow:

Default Sequence Flow:

Conditional Sequence Flow: The diamond shape is used

to relate the behavior to a Gateway (also a diamond)
that controls the flow within a Process.

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Connecting objects

Sequence flows: in practice

1.

Sequence Flows only connect Activities, Events and

Gateways.

2.

A Sequence Flow cannot cross a Pool boundary or a

Sub-Process boundary.

3.

Avoid using the Conditional Sequence Flow, but use

one of the 3 frequently used Gateways in
combination with Regular Sequence Flows.

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Connecting objects

Message flows

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 the Diagram will represent the two
participants (e.g., business entities or business roles).

Example:

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Connecting objects

Message flows: in practice

A message Flow can connect to the boundary of the Pool or to an

object within the pool.

Message Flows are not allowed between object within a single pool.

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Connecting objects

Associations

An Association is used to associate information with Flow Objects. Text

and graphical non-Flow Objects can be associated with the Flow Objects.

An Association can be used to associate Artifacts and Activities.

Associations are used to show how data is input to and output from Activities.

Text Annotations can be Associated with objects.

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Swimlanes

Overview

BPMN uses the swimlanes concept to partition and organize

activities.

The two types of swimlanes are:

Pools represent organizations, e.g. your own company, a supplier or

a shipping partner.

Lanes are organizational sub-structures of pools, representing

departments or roles, for instance.

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Swimlanes

Pools: in practice

Pools represent participants in an interactive Business Process

Diagram.

A participant may be a business role (e.g., buyer or seller) or

may a business entity (e.g., MBIUS)

A Pool may be a black box or may contain a Process.

Interaction between Pools is handled through Message Flow.

Sequence Flow cannot cross the boundary of a Pool

( = a Process is fully contained within a Pool)

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Swimlanes

Lanes: in practice

Lanes are used to organise and categorise activities and

represent sub partitions for the objects within a Pool.

They often represent organization roles (e.g. Manager, Associate)

or departments (e.g. Finance, HR), but can represent any desired
Process characteristic.

Sequence Flow can cross

Lane boundaries.

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Artifacts

Overview

37

Artifacts provide the capability to show information beyond

the basic flow-chart structure of the Process.

There are currently three standard Artifacts in BPMN:

Additional Artifacts may be standardized in later versions.

Modelers and Modeling Tools can add new Artifacts to a diagram.

Specific industries or markets may have their own set of Artifacts.

Their shapes must not conflict with existing shapes.

Artifacts

Text Annotations

Text Annotations are a mechanism for a modeler to provide

additional information for the reader of a Process flow.

Text Annotations can be connected to a specific object on the

flow with an Association.

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Artifacts

Data objects

Data Objects are considered Artifacts because they

do not have any direct effect on the Sequence Flow
or Message Flow of the Process, but they do provide
information about what activities require to be
performed and/or what they produce.

Data Objects are Artifacts that are used

to show how data and documents are
used within a Process.

Data Objects can be used to define

inputs and outputs of activities.

Data Objects can be given a state

that shows how a document may be
changed or updated within the Process.

39

Artifacts

Groups

Groups: a grouping of activities that does not affect the

Process Flow. The grouping can be used for
documentation or analysis purposes. Groups can
also be used to identify the activities of a distributed
transaction that is shown across Pools.

Groups are Artifacts that are used to highlight certain

sections of a Diagram without adding additional
constraints for performance as a Sub-Process would.

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BPMN

In practice

In process modeling there is often more than one best

solution. The most important is:

to model according the agreed conventions.

that the process flow is understandable.

that the process flow represents the actual (or future)

process.

You can model in a horizontal direction as well as in a

vertical. If the client has no preferences, we model in a
horizontal direction (for practical reasons).

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BPMN

In practice

Never change the size of the BPMN-symbols.

Use preferably for the Activity name: font Arial - font

size 10pt.

Chose a title for an activity that fits in the symbol,

preferably on maximum 4 lines.

The margins within a symbol can be adjusted, if

necessary.
(for Visio: Format - Text - Text Block: Margins left
& right)

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BPMN

In practice

43

Do not write anything inside an Event or Gateway

symbol.

See next slide.

Comments and remarks can be added through Text

Annotations - font Arial - font size 8pt.

BPMN

In practice

44

The question/rule/choice/condition linked with a Gateway

can be mentioned:

In the Activity preceding the Gateway.

As Text Annotation associated with the Gateway.

On the Sequence Flow preceding the Gateway.

(preferably)

(to be avoided)

The description of the different outputs of a Gateway are

written on the Sequence Flows resulting from the
Gateway.

BPMN

In practice

When an activity is executed by different functions at

the same time, do not extend the activity over several
lanes, but use the AND-Gateway to split the flow over
the lanes.

When the convention is to put departments or services

as Lanes, you can add the dimension of rolls or
function by coloring the Activities.

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46

BPMN in MS VISIO

Using BPMN with MS Visio

Opening the BPMN-stencil

BPMN-stencil is needed to use elements in MS Visio

Get the BPMN-stencil in the directory you store it

File - Shapes - Open Stencil - select BPMN Stencil

47

Using BPMN with MS Visio

Getting started

Drag and drop the elements on your Visio document

48

Using BPMN with MS Visio

Example

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