What is the BPMN?
Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is
a graphic notation for representing business
process workflows. BPMN shows the
beginning-to-end flow of a business process,
such as an online Order-Entry system. The
primary diagram of BPMN is a Business
Process Diagram (BPD), which is based on
flowcharting techniques customized for
business processes. BPMN is frequently
paired with the Business Process Executable
Language (BPEL) for executable
implementations. (To learn more about BPEL,
click
here.) The BPMN industry standard is
maintained by the
OMG. BACK TO TOP
What is Business Process Modeling (BPM) and
why is it important? Business Process Modeling (BPM; a.k.a.,
business
process modeling) is the representation
of current ("as is") and proposed ("to be")
enterprise processes, so that they may be
compared and contrasted. By comparing and
contrasting current and proposed enterprise
processes business analysts and managers can
identify specific process transformations
that can result in quantifiable improvements
to their businesses.
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When should we expect a BPMN 2.0 major revision?
The OMG has issued a BPMN 2.0 Request for
Proposals, for which revised submissions
have been received. (You can download a
Draft Proposal for BPMN Specification 2.0
from the OMG
web or the
Specifications
page of this web.) However, the OMG
standardization process tends to be highly
political and moves slowly (cf. the UML 2.0
major revision), so it is likely it will be
several years before BPMN 2.0
implementations are available. So make the
best of BPMN 1.x during the interim! BACK TO TOP
Why can't I easily interchange
BPMN models between
BPMN modeling tools?
While the
XMI (XML Metadata Interchange) standard
purports to facilitate the interchange of
OMG models, it has been largely ineffective
in practice. There are at least two technical reasons for
this. First and foremost, XMI attempts to
solve a technical problem far more difficult
than exchanging models for specific modeling
languages, such as BPMN; it attempts to
provide a mechanism for facilitating the
exchange of any arbitrary language defined by the OMG's Metamodel Object Facility
(MOF).
Secondly, the OMG has failed to define
complete diagram interchange
specifications for its visual modeling
languages. Since BPMN
is a visual modeling language, this
shortcoming is a showstopper for many
modelers who don't want to redraw their
diagrams.
Any modeler can empirically verify this
shortcoming by defining a BPMN 1.x model in
one modeling tool, and attempting to import
it into another modeling tool without any
loss of information.
If you are concerned that XMI doesn't work for whatever
BPMN
tools you use or plan to use, you are encouraged to let BPMN
modeling tool vendors and the OMG know about your concerns by
contacting your tool vendor or sending an email to
issues@omg.org. BACK TO TOP
compliance with the
BPMN specification for both notation and
semantics
team development
model simulation
and code-generation
model interchange
with other BPMN tools
tool customization
Once you understand
your modeling requirements you will be
prepared to systematically evaluate modeling
tools to determine how well they meet your
requirements. We recommend that evaluate
BPMN
modeling tools in several phases:
"paper" evaluation:
initially evaluate tools choices via paper
and electronic sources, such as vendor
literature and analyst/expert reviews to
narrow your tool choices into a "short list"
of candidates. During this phase you may
also want to ask preferred vendors for
references of users who have applied the
tools in environments similar to yours.
"hands-on"
evaluation: Perform a hands-on evaluation of
the tools selected in your short list. Make
sure that you use medium-to-large size
models (with hundreds or thousands of
classes) and exercise all the features in
your requirements list. In addition, check
the responsiveness and the quality of the
tool's software support.
final selection: If
you still have more than one viable tool
candidate after the hands-on evaluation, you
may want to consider business issues, such
as pricing and upgrade policies, to make
your final decision. BACK TO TOP
What should I look
for when selecting a business process that uses
BPMN?
You should keep in mind that
BPMN is a
modeling language, and not a process or
method. Since BPMN is a business modeling language
and functional, it is
expected to work with most business analysis methods.
However, you may expect to encounter
problems if the method is based on another
paradigm (e.g., object, component, relational,
rule-based). BACK TO TOP
Unified Modeling Language (UML)
—
The industry-standard
visual
modeling language for specifying
software-intensive systems can also be used to
model business processes. In particular, UML Activity diagrams
provide many of the workflow modeling constructs furnished by
BPMN. The UML industry
standard is maintained by the OMG.
For more information about the UML standard, check out the
UML Forum.
Business Process Executable Language (BPEL)
— An XML-based executable language
for representing business processes. BPEL is an orchestration
language (cf. choreography language, such as WS-CDL), and
consequently focuses on the view of one business participant.
The BPEL industry standard is maintained by
OASIS.
Web Services Choreography Description Language (WS-CDL)
— An XML-based non-executable language that
represents global business processes. WS-CDL is a
choreography language (cf. orchestration language, such as BPEL),
and consequently, describes peer-to-peer collaborations of
multiple business participants working on a common business
goal. The BPEL industry standard is maintained by
W3C. BACK TO TOP
When will the
industry standards for Business Process Modeling
converge? The linguistic divergence of
Business
Process Modeling languages continues to be
problematic. Since the BPMI merged with
the OMG in 2005 there has been some hope
that BPMN and UML Activity diagram notation
may be merged in the near future. However,
given the OMG's track record on modeling
standards, such as UML 2.0, it is unlikely
that this will happen soon. BACK TO TOP
What is the
relationship between BPMN and BPEL? BPMN is a visual notation for business
process modeling, whereas BPEL is a
text-based (XML-based) business process
modeling language which includes precise
execution semantics. BPMN defines a mapping
of its visual notation to BPEL execution
semantics, so the best features of both
these standards can be combined. BACK TO TOP
What is the
relationship between BPMN and UML? UML is a general-purpose modeling language
for software-intensive systems with thirteen
diagram types, whereas BPMN is a
domain-specific modeling language for
business processes with one diagram type
(the Business Process Diagram or BPD).
Although the BPMN BPD shares many concepts
and constructs with UML Activity diagrams,
there are also many significant differences
between the two languages. At least two UML
vendors have defined UML profiles
(customizations) for BPMN, which define
mappings between BPMN notation and UML
notation and semantics.
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How can I learn
more about the BPMN? There aren't many
BPMN
books yet, but as with any emerging technology,
expect the selection to expand as the
language matures. Some of the BPMN
books we have found useful may be found on
the Publications
page of this web. As for training, you can found a selected
listing of tool-independent training
services the Training page of this web. BACK TO TOP
How can I help to
improve the BPMN? Anyone can make submit problems or make
recommendations to improve BPMN by submitting
issues to the
issues@omg.org In addition, you can also
join the OMG and directly participate in one
of the BPMN Revision Task Forces. BACK TO TOP
