BPMN Fundamentals

Stephen A. White, IBM

OMG PM ABSIG Meeting

Burlingame – December 8, 2005

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Topics

BPMN Status

Notation

Directions for 2006

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Background

History

Definition of BPMN

Initial Charter

Within the OMG

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 History

Formation of Notation Working Group

August, 2001, the Notation Working Group is formed. Currently, the Notation
Working Group is composed of 58 members representing 35 companies, organizations,
or individuals.
BPMN 0.9 Draft
November, 2002, the BPMN 0.9 draft specification was released to the public
BPMN 1.0 Draft
August, 2003, the BPMN 1.0 draft specification was released to the public
BPMN 1.0
May, 2004, the BPMN 1.0 specification was released to the public.
Currently, there are 28 companies that have implementations of BPMN and there are 5
companies developing implementations.
Merger with OMG
June, 2005, BPMN 1.x was in development. BPMN 1.0 is OMG IP, but an RFC/FTF
process is underway to establish as an OMG specification and to allow continuation of
work.

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 Definition of BPMN

Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)

BPMN provides businesses with the capability of defining and
understanding their internal and external business procedures through
a Business Process Diagram, which will give organizations the ability
to communicate these procedures in a standard manner. BPMN also
is supported with an internal model that will enable the generation of
executable BPEL4WS.
There is a question as to what to do with the mapping to BPEL within
the OMG work.

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 BPMN Initial Charter

Excerpts from the Charter:

The BPMN will:
• Be acceptable and usable by the business community.
• Be constrained to support only the concepts of modeling that are
applicable to business processes.
• Be useful in illuminating a complex executable process.
• The BPMN notation of a business process must be unambiguous.
There should be a mapping from one or more BPMN notation
instances to an execution level instance.

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 BPMN Initial Charter, Cont.

Excerpts from the Charter:

In the course of its work the BPMN Working Group will:
• Seek to minimize the technical constraints placed upon the
business user when modeling business processes. This principle
is paramount.
• Determine the Business Process modeling concepts that are
applicable to the graphical notation.
• Consider issues and opportunities of information sharing and
dissemination in areas of common and related interest with other
working groups and standards bodies.

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 BPMI.org Hourglass

Audiences: Business Environment Purposes:

Strategy Consultants

Business Analysts
BPMN Modeling

Process Designers Focus  BP Scope 

System Architects
BPEL
Execution

Software Engineers

Technology Implementation
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 BPMN Semantics

The BPMN 1.0 Specification did not formally define the

semantics of the Business Process Diagram (i.e., a
metamodel)
However, BPMN is not “just a notation”
The semantics are defined in the text of the specification
A non-public draft of BPMN 1.1 metamodel exists as input into the
BPMN RFP
Moving forward, how are BPMN semantics aligned with other OMG
process work?

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 Within the OMG

Business Modeling Integration (BMI) Domain Task Force (DTF)

BMI is developing a Business Process Definition Metamodel (BDPM)
BPDM could possibly serve as the Metamodel for BPMN
The Metamodel would be used to generate a BPMN schema for exchange of
BPMN Diagram Semantic information
BPMN RFC approved, an FTF to be established this meeting
This will allow the continuation of BPMN development–a future RFP or
consolidate with BPDM?
Other OMG Work
Has developed UML2, which includes an Activity Diagram
The Activity Diagram is often used by IT specialists for process modeling, but
not many business analysts (which use BPMN)
The merging of BPMN and UML Activity Diagrams would bring together the
two modeling audiences
Other Process-related work:
UML Profile for DODAF/MODAF; SPEM; SysML; PSL
Has developed an XML Interchange Format (XMI) for the exchange of diagrams
XMI could be used for the exchange of BPMN Diagram Layout information
(??)

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Topics

BPMN Status

Notation

Directions for 2005-2006

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 Notation

Business Process Diagram Elements

Core Set of Diagram Elements
Complete Set of Diagram Elements
Business Process Diagram Samples
Normal Flow
B2B Modeling
Exception Handling
Compensation Handling
A Complex Process
Mapping to BPEL4WS Sample

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Core Set of Diagram Elements

The core set of modeling

elements enable the easy
development simple Business
Process Diagrams that will
look familiar to most Business
Analysts (a flowchart
diagram)

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Complete Set of Diagram Elements,
Events

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
trigger or a result. They can
start, interrupt, or end the
flow.

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Complete Set of Diagram Elements,
Activities

An activity is work that is

performed within a business
process. An activity can be
atomic or non-atomic
(compound). The types of
activities that are a part of a
Process Model are: Process,
Sub-Process, and Task.

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Complete Set of Diagram Elements,
Activities, Cont.

A Sub-Process can be in an
expanded form that shows the
process details of the a lower-
level set of activities.

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Complete Set of Diagram Elements,
Connections

A Sequence Flow is used to

show the order that activities
will be performed in a
Process.
A Message Flow is used to
show the flow of messages
between two entities that are
prepared to send and receive
them.
An Association is used to
associate information and
artifacts with flow objects.

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Complete Set of Diagram Elements,
Gateways

Gateways are modeling

elements that are used to
control how Sequence Flows
interact as they converge and
diverge within a Process. If
the flow does not need to be
controlled, then a Gateway is
not needed.

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Complete Set of Diagram Elements,
Swimlanes

A Pool is a “swimlane” and a

graphical container for
partitioning a set of activities
from other Pools, usually in
the context of B2B situations.
A Lane is a sub-partition
within a Pool and will extend
the entire length of the Pool,
either vertically or
horizontally.

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Complete Set of Diagram Elements,
Artifacts

Data Objects are not flow objects

(i.e., connected through Sequence
Flow), but they do provide
information about how
documents, data, and other
objects are used and updated
within a Process.
Text Annotations are a
mechanism for a modeler to
provide additional information for
the reader of a BPMN diagram.
Groups provide a mechanism to
visually organize activities

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Normal Flow

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 B2B Modeling

Enhancements are being considered for BPMN 1.x

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Exception Handling

Intermediate Events attached

to the boundary of an activity
represent triggers that can
interrupt the activity. All work
within the activity will be
stopped and flow will proceed
from the Event. Timer,
Exceptions, Messages, etc. can
be Triggers.

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Compensation Handling and
Transactions
A Transaction is an activity that has a double
border. Transactions are supported by a
transaction protocol (e.g., WS-Transaction).
Normal Outgoing Sequence Flow represents
the path to follow a successful completion.
A Cancel Intermediate Event represents the
path to follow a cancelled completion.
An Exception Intermediate Event represents
the path to follow a transaction hazard.
Activities used for compensate (with marker)
are outside normal flow and are Associated
normal activities.

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A Complex Process

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Mapping to BPEL4WS Sample

<process name="EMailVotingProcess">
<!-- The Process data is defined first-->
<sequence>
<receive partnerLink="Internal" portType="tns:processPort"
operation="receiveIssueList“ variable="processData"
createInstance="Yes"/>
<invoke name="ReviewIssueList" partnerLink="Internal"
portType="tns:internalPort" operation="sendIssueList"
inputVariable="processData“ outputVariable="processData"/>
<switch name="Anyissuesready">
<!-- name="Yes" -->
<case condition="bpws:getVariableProperty(ProcessData,NumIssues)>0">
<invoke name=“DiscussionCycle“ partnerLink="Internal"
portType="tns:processPort" operation=“callDiscussionCycle"
inputVariable="processData"/>
<!– Other Activities not shown -->
<!--name="No" -->
</case>
<otherwise>
<empty/>
</otherwise>
</switch>
</sequence>
</process>
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Topics

Status

Notation

Directions for 2005-2006

Copyright © 2005, OMG

 Directions for 2005-2006

BPMN 1.x Specification (Maintenance Release)

Product of the BPMN FTF
Fix specification errors and inconsistencies
Address the minor comments from the RFC and FTF comment period
BPMN 2.0
Align with BPDM concepts, including choreography enhancements
Start new RFP or work within the BPMN RFP
BPMN Serialization
Accept/develop a Metamodel (BPDM?) for BPMN to generate a schema to store and
transport diagram semantic information
Use XMI to store and transport diagram layout information
High-Level BPMN Extensions
Explore how executive and other levels of business modeling extend or are layered on
top of BPMN
See Hourglass on Slide #5
BPMN Conformance Certification (?)

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