MTAT.03.

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Business Process Management (BPM)

Lecture 3: Advanced Process Modeling

Marlon Dumas

marlon.dumas ät ut . ee
 BPMN Main Elements - Recap

Connections Swimlanes

Pool
Message Association

Lane
Flow

Flow Objects Artifacts

Text Annotation
Activity

Gateway

Event
Data
Object Group

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BPMN Gateways

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Anything wrong with this model?

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Is this better?

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Expanded…

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 Sub-processes

• An activity in a process can “invoke” a separate

(sub-)process
• Use this feature to:
1. Break down large models into smaller ones, making
them easier to understand and maintain
 process hierarchies
2. Share common fragments across multiple processes
 shared subprocesses
3. Identify parts of a process that should be:
• repeated
• executed multiple times in parallel
• cancelled

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 Process hierarchies

Process Receive and

Level 3 Inquity and Validate ...
Quote Order

Receive
Order
Level 4 Enter Order Check Credit ...

Credit
Available? Clear Order
Access Credit
Level 5 Record
Contact
customer
account rep. ...
Fragment of
the SCOR 8
model
 Modeling Guideline
Start with a value chain
• Good practice is that the top-level process
should be simple (no gateways) and should
show the main phases of the process
– Each phase then becomes a sub-process
– This is sometimes called a “value chain”

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 Showing the value chain with sub-
processes
Purchase Purchase Goods Invoice
Approval
Request Order Receipt Verification

Consider re-
submission

Purchase Request process

rejected

Check purchase
request for 1st
approval

approved rejected
Purchase Request

Check purchase
request for 2nd
approval

approved

Send approved
request to requestor

Purchase Order process

Make copy of Forward to purchase

purchase request department

Approved Purchase Request

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Shared sub-process

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Sub-processes and loop marker

equivalent to:

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 Exercise

After a claim is registered, it is examined by a

claims officer. The claims officer then writes a
“settlement recommendation”. This
recommendation is checked by a senior claims
officer who may mark the claim as “OK” or “Not
OK”. If the claim is marked as “Not OK”, it is sent
back to the claims officer and the examination is
repeated. If the claim is marked as “OK”, the
claims officer notifies the settlement to the
customer.

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 Multiple instance marker

• “Multiple instance” marker ~ “parallel repetition”

of an activity/sub-process
• Useful when the same activity should be
executed for multiple entities or data items, e.g.
– Request quotes from multiple suppliers
– Check the availability for each line item in an order
separately
– Send and gather questionnaires for multiple
witnesses in the context of an insurance claim

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Multiple instance activity - example

For each supplier

Select Best
Obtain Quote Send PO
Quote

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 Event types
Start/End Event – Indicates that an instance of the
process is created/terminated when an event occurs
without specifying the cause of this event

Intermediate event – Indicates that an event is

expected to occur during the process, without
indicating the cause of the event

Start Message Event – Indicates that an instance of

the process is created when a message is received

End Message Event – Indicates that the process is

terminated when a message is received

Intermediate Message Event – Indicates that an

event is expected to occur during the process the
event is triggered when a message is received.

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 Event types (cont.)
Start Timer Event – Indicates that an instance of the
process is created at certain date(s)/time(s), e.g. start
process at 6pm every Friday

Intermediate Timer Event – Triggered at certain date(s)/

time(s), or after a time interval has elapsed since the
moment the event is “enabled”
End Link Event – Indicates that the process flow continues
elsewhere (e.g. in a separate diagram)

Start/Intermediate Link Event – Indicates that the process

flow is being picked up from a “previous” diagram”.
Intermediate/End Exception Event – Indicates an error: the
“end” version generates the exception event while the
“intermediate” version consumes it
Intermediate/End Compensate Event – Indicates that the
enclosing process must be compensated: the end version
generates the compensation event while the “intermediate”
version consumes it

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 And more...

• Condition events
• Escalation events
• Signal events, …
• Check the BPMN poster:
– http://www.bpmb.de/images/BPMN2_0_Poster_EN.pdf

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 Modelling with events - Example

A PO handling process starts when a PO is received.

The PO is first registered. If the current date is not a
working day, the process waits until the following
working day before proceeding.
Otherwise, an availability check is performed and a
“PO response” is sent back to the customer.
Anytime during the process, the customer may send a
“PO change request”. When such a request is
received, it is just registered, without further action.

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 Modelling with events - Example

Next working day

weekend/holiday
Receive PO
Check Send PO
Register PO
Availability Response

Receive PO
Change
Register PO
Change

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 Data-based vs. event-based decision
• In an XOR-split gateway, one branch is chosen
based on expressions evaluated over available data
Choice is made immediately when the gateway is reached
• Sometimes, the choice must be delayed until
something happens
Choice is based on a “race between events”
• BPMN distinguishes between:
– Exclusive decision gateway (XOR-split)
– Event-based decision gateway

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Event-driven Decision – Example
Receive PO
Response
Process PO
Response

Receive Error
Message

Notify
After 24 hours Purchasing
Officer

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 Exercise

In the context of a claim handling process, it is

sometimes necessary to send a questionnaire to the
claimant to gather additional information. The claimant is
expected to return the questionnaire within five days. If
no response is received after five days, a reminder is
sent to the claimant. If after another five days there is still
no response, another reminder is sent and so on until
the completed questionnaire is received.

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 Boundary events

• Sometimes during a sub-process execution,

some event may occur that needs some
action…
• Such events are placed at the boundaries of the
sub-process (boundary events)
• Two flavors:
– Interrupting boundary events
– Non-interrupting boundary events

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Boundary Events – Example

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 Event sub-processes

• An event sub-process are processes attached to

a parent process, that are triggered when an
event happens
• Alternative to putting a boundary non-
interrupting event around the parent process

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Event sub-processes – Example

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 Exception handling (error events)
• Exceptions are events that deviate a process from its
“normal” course
• Handling exceptions often involves stopping a sub-
process and performing a special activity
• Achieved using two event nodes:
– An “end error event” that stops the enclosing
subprocess execution
– An “intermediate error event” attached to the enclosing
subprocess – this is where the process execution will
continue after the error

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 Error events – Example

Handle PO Next working day

weekend

Receive Check Send PO

PO Availability Response
Register
PO
Receive PO PO
Change Changed
OK
Check PO
Change
default
PO
Changed
...

Register
Modified PO

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 Exercise

When a claim is received, it is registered. After

registration, the claim is classified leading to two possible
outcomes: simple or complex. If the claim is simple, the
policy is checked. For complex claims, both the policy and
the damage are checked independently.
A possible outcome of the policy check is that the
insurance is invalid. In this case, any processing is
cancelled and a letter is sent to the customer. In the case
of a complex claim, this implies that the damage checking
is cancelled if it has not yet been completed.

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 Summary

• In this lecture we have learned about:

– BPMN sub-processes
– Sub-process markers: loop and multiple-instance
– Events: timer, message and error events
– Event-based choice gateway
– Boundary events (interrupting and non-interrupting)

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And once I’ve got a model, what’s next?

Some process analysis techniques:

– Added-Value Analysis
– Root-Cause Analysis
– Flow Analysis
– Queuing Analysis
– Process Simulation

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