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How to use BPMN* for modelling business processes

Description

Reduced version of a webinar

Transcript

WEBINAR (SHORT VERSION) HOW TO USE BPMN* FOR MODELLING BUSINESS PROCESSES Dr Alexander Samarin www.samarin.biz * Business Process Modeling Notation

• BPM reference model

• BPMN basic elements

• Modelling methodology

• BPMN diagramming style

• BPMN practical patterns

• BPMN-based modelling procedure

• Evolution of BPMN

• BPMN advanced use

Agenda 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Ideally, one formal description of business processes

• model in design

• input for project planning and execution

• executable program for coordination of work

• documentation for all staff members

• Explicit expression of coordination

• Express relationships between BPM artefacts

• Understandable by all staff members

• A tool for communication

• A tool for joint work of the business and the IT

Context for BPMN 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• An original development by Business Process Management Initiative to align modelling notations since 2000

• The primary goal – understanding by business stakeholders

• OMG standard since 2005

• Current version 1.2 since Jan 2009

• Version 2 is under development (to be discussed at the end of this webinar)

BPMN standard 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• This is based on the experience that the direct use of some standards does not guarantee interoperability

• Development “by committee” leads to exotic features

• Bottom-up approach leads to yet another attempt to solve all problems with the current tool

• BPM industry is vendor-driven and not customer-driven

• BPMN has no solid execution semantic model – each tool executes BPM diagrams differently

It is important to follow a critical approach to BPMN 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• BPM reference model

• BPMN basic elements

• Modelling methodology

• BPMN diagramming style

• BPMN practical patterns

• BPMN-based modelling procedure

• Evolution of BPMN

• BPMN advanced use

Agenda 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• 3 kinds of flow objects

• Activity

• Gateway

• Event

• 3 ways of connecting

• Sequence flow

• Message flow

• Association

• Two types of container

• Pools

• Lanes (swimlanes)

BPMN basic set shapes 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Template-based

• static connection of “flow objects” or sequence relationship (predecessor and successor)

• similar to a river (upstream and downstream)

• process template is an abstract description of a process

Three types of coordination logic (1) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Token-based

• token marks elements which active at a particular time

• dynamic connection of “flow objects” or synchronisation (wait for) / chronologic relationship

• similar to a “flock” of ducks (split and join)

• several tokens may co-exist

Three types of coordination logic (2) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Instance-based

• process instance is an enactment of a process template

• each instance may have different behaviour of tokens

• a process instance is completed when all tokens have been consumed

• a process instance may start several instances of another process (although the latter is mentioned only once in the former)

Three types of coordination logic (3) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Start event produces a token

• End (or finish) event consumes a token

• Intermediate token means that something happened within a business process engine

Event types 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Too many events details

• Recommendations to use:

• Mainly “message”

• Sometimes “empty”, “error” and “timer”

Event details 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes Throw message Catch message Start message End message

• It has at least one activity!

Simplest useful process 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Activity02, Activity03 and Activity04 will be executed in parallel; the process will only be continued when each of them is completed

• Logic of tokens is used

Parallel gateway 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• A single activity Activity02 or Activity03 or Activity04 will be executed. The choice is based on the logic defined within the gateway G01

• Logic of tokens is used

Exclusive gateway 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Several activities can be executed in parallel

• It covers functionality of parallel and exclusive gateways

• Logic of tokens is used

Inclusive gateway 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Many tokens can pass the same activity

Logic of templates vs. logic of tokens 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Process fragment is a compound activity

• Also called “sub-process”

Process fragments 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Repeating conditions may be different in different systems

Repeatable process fragments (1) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Be explicit within fragments; the exclusive gateway G01 which is used to specify two branches – one to continue the loop and one to exit it

Repeatable process fragments (2) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Catching errors and time-outs

Process fragment as logical grouping 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• A pool is a container for activities carried out by a particular participant in a process

• Typically, a participant is

• a role for a human activity

• a service (or a process) for an automated activity

Pool 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Flow connector represents the sequence of activities within the same pool

• Message connection represents the communication between activities in separate pools

Connectors 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes Handling of messages (1) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes Handling of messages (2) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes The full set of elements 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• BPM reference model

• BPMN basic elements

• Modelling methodology

• BPMN diagramming style

• BPMN practical patterns

• BPMN-based modelling procedure

• Evolution of BPMN

• BPMN advanced use

Agenda 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes Example of unstructured BPMN 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Horizontal vs. vertical timeline

Diagramming style in BPMN (1) How to use BPMN for modelling business processes 2009-summer Timeline Diagramming style in BPMN (2) How to use BPMN for modelling business processes 2009-summer Participants

• BPM reference model

• BPMN basic elements

• Modelling methodology

• BPMN diagramming style

• BPMN practical patterns

• BPMN-based modelling procedure

• Evolution of BPMN

• BPMN advanced use

Agenda 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Recent research work led by several universities has led to the identification of about 40 workflows patterns; used for comparison of different workflow engines

• Visit http://www.workflowpatterns.com/

• Most of them are complex

Workflow patterns How to use BPMN for modelling business processes 2009-summer Anti-pattern PRF Process Realisation Faked 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• With a process instance we “carry” a package with

• Business objects (by value and by reference)

• Business documents (by value and by reference)

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Audit trails

• Comments

• Local variables

• etc.

Pattern PP Process Package How to use BPMN for modelling business processes 2009-summer

• BPM reference model

• BPMN basic elements

• Modelling methodology

• BPMN diagramming style

• BPMN practical patterns

• BPMN-based modelling procedure

• Evolution of BPMN

• BPMN advanced use

Agenda 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• it treats human and automated activities equally

• it is primarily for capturing the flow of control, and not for optimisation

• it is a tool for both the business and the IT (maybe with coaching by a process architect/engineer)

• it provides validation by simulation

• it provides validation by quick prototyping – real services can be invoked

• it is a visual programming approach

Principles of the modelling procedure 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Its purpose is

• to analyse a building block (what it is supposed to do)

• to synthesise its implementation (how it does this) as the explicit coordination of other building blocks (processes or activities)

• It is iterative – we can apply it until we have left only indivisible building blocks (i.e. activities)

• Artefacts are constructed recursively, like Russian dolls

The modelling procedure 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes Four phases 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• The purpose

• to analyse a building block as a whole

• to discover its functional characteristics and some related artefacts

• The method

• the business story behind this building block should be carefully analysed to determine some of its artefacts

• Recommendations

• at this point, don’t go into excessive detail for each artefact; this should be done later

Blackboxing phase 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• The purpose

• to analyse a building block from within to determine its internal structure and its major artefacts

• The method

• determine the main functional (or logical) steps

• add check-points between steps

• classify artefacts for these steps

• Recommendations

• don’t have more than 7 steps

• avoid loop-back over check-points

Structuring phase (1) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Steps and check points

Structuring phase (2) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Steps, check points and artefacts

Structuring phase (3) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• The purpose

• to synthesize an initial version of the formal coordination: some kind of process skeleton

• The method

• add intra-step logic

• start formalising the business objects involved

• collect test scenarios

• Recommendations

• consider implementation of human activities as interactive forms

Re-construction phase (1) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• The diagram

Re-construction phase (2) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• The purpose

• to enrich the process skeleton by adding more automated activities

• The method

• add pools

• apply different practical patterns

• use a business rule engine if available

• collect test scenarios

• Recommendations

• work iteratively (step-by-step)

Instrumentation phase (1) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• The diagram

Instrumentation phase (2) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• BPM reference model

• BPMN basic elements

• Modelling methodology

• BPMN diagramming style

• BPMN practical patterns

• BPMN-based modelling procedure

• Evolution of BPMN

• BPMN advanced use

Agenda 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Seamless exchange between different modelling tools

• Conformance levels

• Execution semantic promised

• Merging orchestration and choreography

• Driven by vendors

BPMN 2.0 (in development) 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Agreed BPM reference model

• Conformance for standard execution semantic

• BPMN-like model with different levels of detail

• A modelling procedure which guides people

• A coherent set of standards similar to W3C for HTML:

• xHTML for structure and content

• CSS for presentation

• DOM-based API for dynamic modifications

• some other specialized standards

• All vendors benchmark their products against an agreed test (similar to acid3.acidtests.org)

Dreaming about a customer-centric BPM 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• BPM reference model

• BPMN basic elements

• Modelling methodology

• BPMN diagramming style

• BPMN practical patterns

• BPMN-based modelling procedure

• Evolution of BPMN

• BPMN advanced use

Agenda 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes Example: Apply for a position 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes

• Contact information:

• Alexander Samarin

• [email_address]

• www.improving-BPM-systems.com

Thank you 2009-summer How to use BPMN for modelling business processes