Business Process Modelling Notation A tutorial

Sam Mancarella Chief Technology Officer Sparx Systems OMG SOA in Healthcare January 14, 2011 [email protected]

Tutorial Objectives
This tutorial will cover BPMN Timeline What BPMN is, Process Modelling BPMN Essentials Orchestration, Choreography Examples Wrap Up, Future Directions

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

References
BPMN Official Page
http://www.bpmn.org/

BPMN Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Modeling_Notation

BPMN Specification (v2.0 Beta 2)

http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/Current/

BPMN Specification (v1.2 Formal)

http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/1.2/

BPMN Examples (v2.0 Beta 2)

http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/examples/PDF

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Timeline
Business Process Management Initiative developed BPML (BPMI now part of OMG)
Proposed graphical language for BPM, combined with execution semantics

Implementation difficulties, semantic requirements BPML replaced with:

BPEL (or BPEL4WS) for target execution language BPMN for graphical notation

History
August 2001 Notation working group formed (35 companies) May 2004 BPMN 1.0 published under BPMI 2005 BPMI becomes part of OMG Feb 2006 BPMN 1.0 formalised as an OMG specification Jan 2008 BPMN 1.1 released Jan 2009 BPMN 1.2 released Aug 2009 BPMN 2.0 Beta 1 released May 2010 BPMN 2.0 Beta 2 released Finalisation & Adoption
www.sparxsystems.com/resources

What Is BPMN?
BPMN is
A Graphical modelling language, with symbols, relationships and attributes for the purpose of process modelling Expression of processes generated into executable processes (BPEL) Expression of processes for general execution (Human, human-operated) Simple, palatable language flowchart-like non-IT practitioner consumption

BPMN is not
A methodology, process, framework Complex, usable in subsets *Metamodel *Serialization specification

* Exists in BPMN 2.0 (was-not, until recently)

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN & Process Modelling

Process Modelling - capture of ordered sequences of business activities & info Business Processes description of how a business pursues its objectives
Process Maps: simple flow charts of high-level activities Process Descriptions: flow charts with more information (not enough for full realisation) Process Model: flow charts with enough information for analysis, simulation, execution BPMN is flexible to handle all variants of BP

to understand the business processes of the organisation to innovate

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials
Activities Events
Receive Credit Report Approval Yes Include Standard Text No Include Transaction History

Events

Approve?

Gateway

Sequence Flows

Logical process flow, finite start and end points Diamond decision point? yes/no paths for an extra step Rounded boxes must therefore do stuff
www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials
Flow Objects Connectors Artifacts Events Pool Sequence Flow Activities Data Object

Message Flow Text Annotation Lane Association Gateways Group Pool

Lane

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Activities

Task

BPMN Activity
Work performed within a business process Atomic or composite Used to model Tasks, Sub-processes Can iterate (loop)

Sub-Process

Looped Task

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Activities

Sub-Processes
Sub-Process

Hierarchical process development Have an inner working model Collapse/expand to show and hide finer level of detail

No

Include Transaction History

Receive Credit Report

Approval

Yes

Include Standard Text

Approve?

Embedded, independent, reusable

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Events

Events
Start

Something that happens in a process Affect the flow of a process

Intermediate

Have a trigger or result Boundary determines the type of event

End

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Events

Start Event
Beginning of a process Different triggers that start the process None Start Event
Undefined trigger to start of process Entry point to a Sub Process
None

Message

Timer

Error

Rule

Link

Terminate

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Events

Intermediate Event
Occur after a process has started, but before it ends Placed in the normal process flow or attached to boundary of an activity
None

Message

Timer

Error

Rule

Link

Terminate

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Events

End Event
End of a process Results denote the final step in the process
None

Message

Timer

Error

Rule

Link

Terminate

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Gateways

Gateways
Exclusive (Data)

Exclusive (Event)

Inclusive

Controls sequence flow within a process at a point of divergence or convergence Gateways split and merge flows

Complex

Parallel

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Gateways

No Send Payment Problem

Exclusive Gateway
A Decision control point Only one outgoing path selected Decision mechanisms:
Data using condition expressions (first affirmative) Event receiving alternate messages (first received)

Payment ok? Activity1 No, Exceeded Retry

Cancel Order

Yes

Send Confirmation

Send Cancel

No

Activity1

Payment ok?

Send Invoice

Yes

Send Reminder 3 Days

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Gateways

Doc A Prepare Document A

Activity1

Documents Required?

Doc B Prepare Document B

Collate Documents

Doc C

Prepare Document C

Inclusive Gateway
More than one outcome possible Corresponding merge gateway

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Gateways

Post Results to Web

Prepare Results

Email Results

Call Press Conference

SMS Results

Parallel Gateway
Multiple parallel paths are executed No causality on branches Also used as a synchronisation point
www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Gateways

Complex Gateway
Decision with advanced definitions of behaviour
Review Breach Reports Activity1 Sector 2 Report Sector 1 Report

Sector 3 Report

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Artifacts

Artifacts
Convey information beyond the process itself Data Objects, Groups, Annotations Extension Point for BPMN

Data Object

Group

Not part of the process Flow

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Artifacts

Data Object
Used to show use of objects in Process Data Inputs, Outputs Document capturing document state within process

Data Object

Text Annotation
Group

Callout for textual comment

Group
Annotation that highlights key aspects of process

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Swimlanes

Swimlanes
Partition and organise activities Identify participants and roles Pools
Participants, Parties, Business Role Interaction as flow of messages Process fully contained within Pool
Pool

Lanes
Sub partitions within Pool Organisation roles Sequence and Message interaction
Lane Lane Pool

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Essentials - Connectors

BPMN Connectors
Sequence Flow
Order that activities are performed Between Events, Activities, Gateways
Connectors

Sequence Flow

Message Flow
Flow of messages between two entities Between Participants
Message Flow

Association
Associate data, information, artifacts with entities NOT a UML Association

Association

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

Orchestration and Choreography

Orchestration
Defines processes internal to a specific participant, organisation Private processes within pool (and between lanes) Sequence Flows and Message Flows

Choreography
Defines interactions between two or more participants, organisations, B2B, global processes Public exchange of messages between pools in a collaboration Message Flows only
www.sparxsystems.com/resources

Orchestration and Choreography

Pool Customer Pool Loan Broker Pool LoanServ icesOrg ReceiveRequest

CheckAmount

bpel:getVariableData('loanRequestMessage', 'amount')>=10000 AssessLoanRisk

CheckAssessment

bpel:getVariableData('riskAssessmentMessage', 'level')>='low'

AssignYes

ApproveLoan

ReplyResult

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

BPMN Examples

BPMN By Example
http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/examples/PDF

Examples Shipment Process

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

Examples The Pizza Collaboration

Pool Pizza Customer Pool Pizza Vendor

Pizza Pizza whereabouts Query Receipt

Pizza Order

Pizza whereabouts Response Money

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

Examples The Pizza Collaboration

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

Examples The Pizza Collaboration

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

Examples The Pizza Collaboration

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

Wrap Up
BPMN in this tutorial
A graphical modelling language for the purpose of process modelling General execution, Machine execution Events, Activities, Gateways, Connectors, Pools, Lanes Orchestration WITHIN Pool, Choreography BETWEEN Pools Examples

BPMN 2.0
Formal metamodel, concrete syntax XMI interchange specification UML Profile for BPMN (initial submissions due March 2010)

Vendors
73 Registered implementations (4 planned) 9 Service providers http://www.bpmn.org/BPMN_Supporters.htm
www.sparxsystems.com/resources

References
BPMN Official Page
http://www.bpmn.org/

BPMN Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Modeling_Notation

BPMN Specification (v2.0 Beta 2)

http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/Current/

BPMN Specification (v1.2 Formal)

http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/1.2/

BPMN Examples (v2.0 Beta 2)

http://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/2.0/examples/PDF

www.sparxsystems.com/resources

Thank you for your attention!

Questions?

Product Portfolio

UML Modeling Platform

Application Integration UML Integration

Technology Extensions
www.sparxsystems.com/resources

thank you for your attention!