Professor Adams' Lecture Materials

Learning Objective M03A-05: Understand and apply the building blocks for BPMN (activity) diagrams.

BPMN for Activity Diagrams

BPMN stands for business process model and notation.
The Object Management Group (https://www.omg.org/) maintains the BPMN specification.
First specification issued in 2004 widely adopted.
Specifically designed for process modeling.
Designed to be understood by businesspeople.
Software available to support modeling and subsequent process simulation.

Good BPMN Models

They are correct; they do not violate B P M N standards.
They are clear; they describe the logic of the business process.
They are complete; they show all the important elements of the process.
They are consistent; the process logic should always result in a similar model.

BPMN Basic Building Blocks - Events

Events include start, intermediate, and end events. Intermediate events affect the flow of a process, but do not start or end the process.

BPMN Building Blocks - Activities

Activities represent specific steps in the business process. Basic activities are modeled as rounded rectangles.
Each activity is described with a short verb phrase reflecting the action to be taken.

BPMN Building Blocks - Sequence Flows

Represented by arrows to indicate the progression of activity within the process.

BPMN Building Blocks - Gateways

Show process branching and merging as the result of decisions.
Gateways often appear in pairs on the diagram. The first gateway shows the branching, and the second gateway shows merging of the process branches.

BPMN Example

Note that events and gateways do not contain text, but you can add annotation.

BPMN Pools and Lanes

Identify participants in a business process.
Pools identify organizations.
Lanes identify departments or individuals within the organizations.
Tasks/activities are placed in lanes to show responsibility.
Each pool must include one start and at least one end.
The sequence flow must not break between the start and end; it can flow across lanes but not between pools.

Pools show organizations and lanes show departments or functional areas within organizations; sequence flows can cross lanes but must be continuous within a pool.

BPMN Pools and Message Flows

Exchanges between two participants (pools) in the same process are represented as message flows.
Message flows are shown as dashed lines with an arrow on the destination end and a small circle on the source end.

Message flow content should be described with text.

BPMN Pools and Message Flows Example

Message flows are labeled to show the content of the message.

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