BPMN 2.0 (Business Process Model and Notation)
BPMN is the standard flowchart-style notation for business processes, maintained by omg. OMG describes it as meant for the people who design, manage and carry out processes, yet precise enough to be translated into software process components. The current version is BPMN 2.0.2, adopted January 2014 (earlier: 1.2 in 2009, 1.1 in 2008, 1.0 in 2007). BPMN 2.0 is also published as an ISO/IEC standard (19510).
Core elements
| Element | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Events (start, intermediate, end) | Something that happens: a trigger, a timer, a message, a result |
| Activities (task, sub-process) | Work performed |
| Gateways (exclusive, parallel, inclusive, event-based) | Decisions, splits and joins |
| Sequence flow | Order of activities inside one pool |
| Message flow | Communication between separate pools (participants) |
| Pools and lanes | Participants and the roles or systems within them |
| Data objects, artifacts | Documents, data stores, annotations |
Three levels of use
| Level | Audience | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Descriptive | Business people documenting how work is done | A small subset of elements, readable on one page |
| Analytical | Analysts measuring and redesigning | Full event and gateway semantics, exceptions, timings |
| Executable | Developers and engines | Complete, with data, forms and service calls; runs on a bpm-suites-and-workflow-engines |
OMG’s OCEB 2 exam syllabus distinguishes the Descriptive and Analytic conformance classes, which matches this split (bpm-certifications).
Common mistakes
- A task that hides several steps, or labels that are not verb + object (“Invoice” instead of “Send invoice”).
- Gateways without a question, or split gateways with no matching join.
- Sequence flow crossing pool boundaries (use message flow).
- Lanes mixing departments and roles inconsistently.
- Over-using intermediate events and one giant diagram instead of linked sub-processes.
- Several start events with unclear meaning.
When to use it, and when not
Use BPMN when a process has to be understood by several parties, handed to developers or run on an engine. For a quick sketch or a single-actor checklist, a simpler diagram is enough.
Related
BPM hub, dmn-and-cmmn (decisions and cases alongside BPMN), archimate, epc-and-aris (older notation), bpm-modelling-tools, worked-example-order-to-cash-redesign
Open items
- ISO/IEC 19510 number is from memory of the ISO catalogue; confirm at iso.org before citing externally.
Sources
- OMG BPMN specification page: https://www.omg.org/spec/BPMN/
- OMG OCEB 2 certification page: https://www.omg.org/oceb-2/