Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) Poster baefg Check for the latest version at: http://bpmn.itposter.

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Business Process Diagram Graphical Objects Business Process Diagram Connecting Objects
Sequence Flow and Message Flow rules
Events Activities Gateways Graphical connecting objects Only objects that can have an incoming and/or outgoing Sequence Flow / Message
An event is something that »happens« during the process. These events affect the An activity is a generic type of work that a company performs. An Flow are shown in the Tables Below.
A gateway is used to split or merge multiple process There are three ways of connecting Flow objects (Events, Activities,
flow of the process and usually have a cause (trigger) or an impact (result). activity can be atomic (task) or compound (process, sub-process).
flows. Thus it will determine branching, forking, Gateways) with each other or with other information – using sequence To: To:
Examples: 'Email received', '3 o'clock', 'Warehouse empty', 'Critical error',... Examples: 'Send a letter', 'Write a report', 'Calculate the interests',...
merging and joining of paths. Examples: 'Condition true? flows, message flows or associations.
A task is used to represent the – yes/no', 'Choose colour? – red/green/blue',...
Process Expanded

Intermediate
activity on the lowest abstraction Graphical connecting objects
sub-process
Event flow level.
Description Collapsed Normal A Sequence Flow is used to show the order In which the activities in a
sub-process Transaction Gateway control types sequence flow process will be performed.
Start

Event type More information about the

End
Conditional

From:
transaction and compensation A Sequence Flow can have condition expressions which are evaluated

From:
Data based exclusive decision or
Task attribute can be found under XOR merging. Both symbols have equal sequence flow at runtime to determine whether or not the flow will be used.
The Start Event indicates where a particular process will start. Intermediate (DATA) meaning. See also Conditional flow.
»Compensation Association«. Default For Data-Based Exclusive Decisions or Inclusive Decisions, one type
Events occur between a Start Event and an End Event. It will affect the flow of flow is the Default condition flow. This flow will be used only if all
General of the process, but will not start or (directly) terminate the process. The End sequence flow other outgoing conditional flows are NOT true at runtime.
Event indicates where a process will end. XOR Event based exclusive decision only.
A Message Flow is used to show the flow of messages between two
A message arrives from a participant and triggers the Event. This causes Task/Subprocess special attributes (EVENT) Message flow participants that are prepared to send and receive them. In BPMN,
two separate Pools in a Diagram can represent the two participants.
process to {start, continue, end} if it was waiting for a message, or changes
Message the flow if exception happens. End type of message event indicates that a
An Association (directed, non-directed) is used to associate
Looping The task or sub-process is repeated.
Data based inclusive decision or Association information with Flow Objects. Text and graphical non-Flow Objects
message is sent to a participant at the conclusion of the process.
The tasks in the sub-process can not be connected with
OR merging. can be associated with Flow objects.
A specific time or cycle can be set that will trigger the start of the Process Ad Hoc ~ sequence flows at design time.
Timer or continue the process. Intermediate timer can be used to model the time-
based delays. Multiple instances Multiple instances of task or sub-process will be created. COM- Complex condition (a combination of
PLEX basic conditions)

Error
This type of End indicates that a named Error should be generated. This
Error will be caught by an Intermediate Event within the Event Context.
Compensation The symbol represents a compensation task or sub-process.
Sequence flow mechanism Compensation Association
Parallel forking and joining
AND (synchronization). The Sequence Flow mechanisms is divided into types: Normal flow, Exception flow, In case of transactions it is desired that all activities which constitute
This type of Event is used within a Transaction Sub-Process. This type of
Event MUST be attached to the boundary of a Sub-Process. It SHALL be Conditional flow, Link Events and Ad Hoc (no flow). Refer also to specific a transaction are finished successfully. Otherwise the transaction fails
Cancel triggered if a Cancel End Event is reached within the Transaction Sub- »Workflow Patterns«. and rollback (compensation) activities occur which undo done
Process.
This is used for compensation handling--both setting and performing
Artefacts Normal sequence flow Ad Hoc –
activities.
compensation. It calls for compensation if the Event is part of a Normal Artefacts are used to provide additional information about the process. If No flow Task
Compensation Flow. It reacts to a named compensation call when attached to the
boundary of an activity. Very useful for modelling roll-back actions within
required, modellers and modelling tools are free to add new artefacts.
Examples of data objects: 'A letter', 'Email message', 'XML document',
Swimlanes Intermediate
link used as Task A
Compensation activity
the transaction. 'Confirmation',... Pools and lanes are used to represent organizations, ~
This type of event is triggered when the conditions for a rule
roles, systems and responsibilities. Examples: Intermediate link GOTO Transaction boundary
become true. Rules can be very useful to interrupt the loop process, for A
Rule example: 'The number of repeats = N'. Intermediate rule is used only for 'University', 'Sales division', 'Warehouse', 'ERP system',... used as GOTO Exception X Undo task A
Set of standardized artefacts
exception handling. A Pool MUST contain 0 or 1 Until Loop Looped subprocess Start Successfull
A Link is a mechanism for connecting the end (Result) of one Data objects provide information about what activities are required to be business process. transaction transaction

Lane Lane
Process to the start (Trigger) of another. Typically, these are triggered and/or what they produce. They are considered as Artefacts No Expanded sub-process Task B
Link Data object because they do not have any direct effect on the Sequence Flow or A Pool can contain 0 or more Error - compensation

Pool
two Sub-Processes within the same parent Process. It can be used, for A
example, when the working area (page) is too small – go to another page. Message Flow of the Process. The state of the data object should also be lanes. events cannot be
[state] set.
Exception flow Exception X Undo task B triggered
This type of event indicates that there are multiple ways of triggering the Two pools can only be connected Try again
Grouping can be used for documentation or analysis purposes. Groups
with message flows. B
Multiple Process. Only one of them will be required to {start, continue, end} the
Group can also be used to identify the activities of a distributed transaction that is
Process. shown across Pools. Grouping of activities does not affect the Sequence A Pool represents a participant in a process. It contains a business
or Message Flow. process and is used in B2B situations. Interrupt
This type of End indicates that all activities in the Process should be Exception X Transaction Handle through
Conditional flow loop rule
Terminate immediately terminated. This includes all instances of Multi-Instances. The
Annotation Description
Text Annotations are a mechanism for a modeller to provide additional A Lane is a sub-partition within a pool used to organize and exception other services
Process is terminated without compensation or event handling. information for the reader of a BPMN Diagram. categorize activities. ~ Failed transaction
B Collapsed adhoc sub-process Cancel - compensation events are triggered.
Wait a few minutes Cancel event can be used only with transaction.

Business Process Diagram Notation - Common Patterns and Antipatterns

Wrong use of flows in/between (Wrong) Use of time events Use of flows within lanes Use of gateways Workflow patterns
There are two common mistakes when using time events. First,
pools starting events are often used instead of intermediate events.
Second, intermediate events are often used as a delay
Lanes are often wrongly used in similar ways as Pools. They Gateways are connected only with sequence flows. Also Avoid
potential deadlocks when using gateways.
Normal sequence flow
Multiple merge, uncontrolled flow

When modelling Pools, sequence flows and start/end events are wrongly contain more business processes or contain message
often missing, because it is wrongly presumed that message mechanism but modelled as an exception mechanism
flows between different lanes.
flows substitute sequence flows. Additionally, sequence flows (representing the duration of a task) and vice-versa (see the
are incorrectly used to connect pools. right use below).
A message flow is not Message flow cannot Exclusive choice with Simple merge,
A Pool can contain only one Parallel split, uncontrolled flow
Model the process in each Pool independently and afterwards allowed within a process influence the gateway decision gateway uncontrolled flow
Here a time event Is used as (1) process
define message flows between Pools.
Missing end event a DELAY mechanism.

Lane A
Task A
Missing sequence flows Task C

Pool B
Decision A conditional flow Is not
... Task A Task B ... Multiple choice

Lane B
information allowed (necessary) here
Task B Task C from Pool X
Delay Task A Discriminator,
Pool A

No output flow from the task Parallel split,

Task A Task B Task C forking gateway Synchronization merging gateway
... exists.
(pararel join)
Exception time
(e.g. »after 2 hours«)
Lane A

Task B Simple merge,

Message Message Sequence flows are not Task A
Here it represents the uncontrolled flow
flow AD flow EB allowed between Pools
Pool A

DURATION of a task. The decision must Alter. 1

Lane B

Task B ... An intermediate event contain at least two

Task B Task C
Pool B

has to be used. Send message to output flows Alter. 2

Task D Task E Task F A message flow cannot be
Pool X
a gateway alternative
Alter. 3
Event based decision Complex decision
Missing start event (gateway)
Task C
Use of message events and Use of the sequence flow
message flows mechanism Task A
Use of tasks and events When using expanded sub-processes, sequence flows should
Analysing
decision
Starting and intermediate events can not be sources of information Multiple choice, inclusive
message flows. be connected to the boundaries of sub-processes. Processes
Analysts often wrongly model events and tasks. For Both examples are wrong - intermediate Task B decision gateway Synchronization merge, Example of a
example: events are wrongly modelled as tasks, task states ... and sub-processes should start and end properly!
merging gateway deadlock
message events can not produce
are modelled as new tasks. message flows. Events can be only Message
A sequence flow cannot cross from Pool X
This task is redundant. triggered by a message flow.
... the boundary of a sub-process Send message
This task is redundant. Document X Task A is automatically Message A to Pool X
Task automatically
starts at input
sequence flow
... finished at output
sequence flow.
Wrong positioning of
Sub-process »P« Message to Pool X About the BPMN Poster C
message event Message B
A Task A Task B Task C This poster is licensed under the
Receiving Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (by-sa) License
Starting Performing Task A
...
task A
document
X
task A finished
...
... Task A Task B ...
The sub-process should The process should have an
Explanation of Poster Symbols
B
Authors:
have a start event end event
Important note, explanation Gregor Polančič & Tomislav Rozman
This task is redundant.The act of receiving Email: info@itposter.net
a document is a task itself.
... ...
Sub-process »P« Warning or error in the BPMN model University of Maribor
... Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
... Task A Task B Task C Institute of Informatics
Recommendation
Message A Message B
Document X Document Y Exception flow Wrong model Poster version: 1.0.10 (6th October 2008)
Event Y Although it is recommended that a process has an explicit start and end
Literature used: BPMN Specification 1.0 @ http://www.bpmi.org
...
Task A
event, this is not a rule. In fact start and end events can be hidden in a sub Right (corrected) model
Normal flow Task A Task B ... process, if needed, or attached to the boundary of the task so as not to
...
interrupt the normal sequence flow between the sub-process and the rest of
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Event X the process.
B