MODULE 6 -

BUSINESS
PROCESS
MANAGEMENT
Dr. Tuan Truong

NOTATION
(BPMN)
 PROCESS ANALYSIS AND
DESIGN business process modeling notation

Swim Lanes

Other tools in Business Process Analysis and Design Handout

BPMN FROM 10,000 MILES…
Based on popular graphical flowcharts:
-Core set of notation elements
-Each core element has various subtypes

A BPMN process model is a graph consisting of four types of core

elements:

start end
activity event gateway sequence
flow
LET’S START MODELING
Order-to-cash process
A typical order-to-cash process is triggered by the receipt of a
purchase order from a customer. The purchase order has to be
checked against the stock regarding the availability of the item(s)
requested. Depending on stock availability the purchase order may
be confirmed or rejected.
If the purchase order is confirmed, an invoice is emitted and the
goods requested are shipped. The process completes by archiving
the order or if the order is rejected.
SOLUTION IN BPMN: ORDER-
TO-CASH
end
Reject order event
activity Items not in
Order
stock
rejected
Check stock split gateway end
availability
Purchase event
order Items in
received stock Confirm Emit Archive
Ship goods
start order invoice order
Order
event fulfilled

Naming conventions
• Event: noun + past-participle verb (e.g. insurance claim lodged)
• Activity: imperative verb + noun (e.g. assess credit risk)
BPMN CORE ELEMENTS
Activities capture work performed in a
process
 Different types of activities

activity

Events represent the process’ triggers

(start event) and outcomes (end event).
start end  Different types of events
event event

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BPMN CORE ELEMENTS
Gateways capture forking and joining paths in the
control flow.
 Different types of gateways
gateway

Sequence flows represent the order in which

activities and events will be performed.
sequence They can be assigned a condition to distinguish
flow between alternative branches.
 Different types of flows

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PROCESS MODEL VS PROCESS
INSTANCES: THE TOKENS GAME

Order #1
Order #2
Order #3
Reject order
Items not in
Order
stock
rejected
Check stock
availability
Purchase
order Items in
received stock Confirm Emit Archive
Ship goods
order invoice order
Order
fulfilled

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A LITTLE BIT MORE ON
EVENTS…
A start event triggers a new process instance start
event
by generating a token that traverses the

sequence flow (“tokens source”)

end
An end event signals that a process instance has
event
completed with a given outcome by consuming
a token (“tokens sink”)

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LET’S RECONSIDER OUR
ORDER-TO-CASH EXAMPLE
[…] If the purchase order is confirmed, an invoice
is emitted and the goods requested are
shipped. The process completes by archiving the
order. […]
Reject order
Items not in
Order
stock
rejected
Check stock
availability
Purchase
order Items in
received stock Confirm Emit Archive
Ship goods
order invoice order
Order
fulfilled

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SOLUTION: ORDER-TO-CASH
An
yt wi
th hing
thi wr
s m on
od g
Reject order
el?
Items not in
Order
stock
rejected
Check stock
availability split Emit invoice
Purchase
order Items in
received stock Confirm Emit Archive
Ship goods
order invoice order
Order
split join fulfilled

Ship goods

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A LITTLE MORE ON
GATEWAYS: XOR GATEWAY
An XOR Gateway captures decision points (XOR-
split) and points where alternative flows are merged
(XOR-join)
condition

XOR-split  takes one outgoing branch

¬ condition

XOR-join  proceeds when one incoming

branch has completed
EXAMPLE: XOR GATEWAY

Invoice checking process

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 EXERCISE 6.1
Model the following fragment of a business process for
assessing loan applications (loan origination process).

Once a loan application has been approved by the loan provider, an

acceptance pack is prepared and sent to the customer. The
acceptance pack includes a repayment schedule which the customer
needs to agree upon by sending the signed documents back to the
loan provider. The latter then verifies the repayment agreement: if the
applicant disagreed with the repayment schedule, the loan provider
cancels the application; if the applicant agreed, the loan provider
approves the application. In either case, the process completes with
the loan provider notifying the applicant of the application status.
A LITTLE MORE ON
GATEWAYS: AND GATEWAY
An AND Gateway provides a mechanism to
create and synchronize “parallel” flows.

AND-split  takes all outgoing branches

AND-join  proceeds when all incoming

branches have completed
 EXAMPLE: AND GATEWAY
Airport security check
REVISED SOLUTION
Order-to-cash Reject order
Items not in
stock Order
rejected

Check stock
availability XOR-split Send invoice
Purchase
order Items in
received stock
Archive
Confirm order
order
Order
AND-split AND-join fulfilled

Ship goods
EXERCISE 6.2
Model the following fragment of a business process for
assessing loan applications.

A loan application is approved if it passes two checks: i) the applicant’s

loan risk assessment, done automatically by a system, and ii) the
appraisal of the property for which the loan has been asked, carried
out by a property appraiser. The risk assessment requires a credit
history check on the applicant, which is performed by a financial
officer. Once both the loan risk assessment and the property appraisal
have been performed, a loan officer can assess the applicant’s
eligibility. If the applicant is not eligible, the application is rejected,
otherwise the acceptance pack is prepared and sent to the applicant.
BUSINESS PROCESS
MODELING TOOLS
Pen & Paper

Haptic

Standalone
 E.g. Visio, Camunda Modeler

Repository-based
 E.g. ARIS, Signavio, Apromore

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 XOR / AND ARE NOT ALWAYS
WHAT WE NEED...
Order distribution process
A company has two warehouses, one in Amsterdam, the other
in Hamburg, that store different products. When an order is
received, it is distributed across these warehouses: if some of
the relevant products are maintained in Amsterdam, a sub-
order is sent there; likewise, if some relevant products are
maintained in Hamburg, a sub-order is sent there. Afterwards,
the order is registered and the process completes.
 SOLUTION 1
Order distribution process

XOR-split XOR-join

AND-split AND-join
 SOLUTION 2
Order distribution process

AND-split AND-join

XOR-split XOR-join
OR GATEWAY
An OR Gateway provides a mechanism to
create and synchronize n out of m parallel
flows.
cond1

OR-split  takes one or more branches

condn
depending on conditions

OR-join  proceeds when all active

incoming branches have completed
SOLUTION USING OR
GATEWAY
Order distribution process

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WHAT JOIN TYPE DO WE
NEED HERE?

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 BUSINESS OBJECTS (AKA
ARTIFACTS)
Can be:
Physical or digital information artifacts
(e.g. an order on paper, an invoice on
PDF)
Physical material (e.g. a box
containing the ordered goods)

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OUR ORDER-TO-CASH
PROCESS, AGAIN Send
invoice

Confirm Archive
Items in order order
stock Order
fulfilled
Check stock
Ship goods
availability
Purchase
order Items not in
received stock
Reject order
Order
rejected

The purchase order document serves as an input to the stock availability check against the
Warehouse DB. Based on the outcome of this check, the status of the document is
updated, either to “approved” or “rejected”. If the order is approved, an invoice and a
shipment notice are produced. The order is then archived on the Orders DB.

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BUSINESS OBJECTS IN BPMN
A Data Object captures an artifact
required (input) or produced (output)
Purchase
order
Invoice
by an activity.
 Can be physical or electronic
Emit
invoice

A Data Store is a place containing data

objects that must be persisted beyond the
Oracle CRM Client info
duration of a process instance.

Retrieve client It is used by an activity to store (as output)

information
or retrieve (as input) data objects.
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 SOLUTION Invoice
Purchase
Purchase
Order
Order
[approved]
Purchase Purchase Send [approved]
Order Order invoice
[checked]

Confirm Archive
Items in order order
stock Order
fulfilled
Check stock
Ship goods
availability
Purchase
order Items not in
received stock
Reject order
Order Orders DB
rejected Shipment
notice
Warehouse DB

Purchase
Order
[rejected]

The purchase order document serves as an input to the stock availability check against the Warehouse DB. Based
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on the outcome of this check, the status of the document is updated, either to “approved” or “rejected”. If the order
is approved, an invoice and a shipment notice are produced. The order is then archived on the Orders DB.
EXERCISE 6.3

Is there any missing

data object or data
store in the
example below?
PROCESS RESOURCES

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 PROCESS RESOURCES
Active resources:
 Process participant
 Software system
 Equipment

Resource class:
A group of (active) resources that are interchangeable, e.g. a role, an
organizational unit or the whole organization.

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BPMN ELEMENTS – POOLS &
LANES
Pool
Captures a resource class. Generally used to model a business party (e.g. a
whole company)

Pool

Lane
Captures a resource sub-class within a resource class by partitioning a pool.
Generally used to model departments (e.g. shipping, finance), internal roles (e.g.
Manager, Associate), software systems (e.g. DBMS, CRM) or equipment (e.g.
Manufacturing plant) Lane
Pool

Lane
Lane
Lane
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EXAMPLE: ORDER-TO-CASH

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BPMN ELEMENTS – MESSAGE FLOW
A Message Flow represents a flow of information or materials between
two process parties (Pools)
Message

A Message Flow can connect:

• directly to the boundary of a Pool  captures a message to/from that party
• to a specific activity or event within that Pool  captures a message that triggers a
specific activity/event within that party

Pool 2

Pool 2
Receive
Pool 1

Pool 1
Send Receive
Send

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BPMN ELEMENTS – START MESSAGE EVENT

The start message

event triggers a
process by the
receipt of a
message when an
incoming message
Message
flow is connected
to the event
Message
received

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EXAMPLE:
ORDER-TO-
CASH

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POOLS, LANES AND
MESSAGE FLOWS: SYNTAX
1. The Sequence Flow cannot cross
the boundaries of a Pool
2. Both Sequence Flow and
Message Flow can cross the
boundaries of Lanes
3. A Message Flow cannot connect
two flow elements within the
same pool

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WHEN ARE MESSAGES SENT OR
RECEIVED?
• A Send activity will send the outgoing message upon activity completion
• A Receive activity won’t start until the incoming message has been received

Pool 2

Pool 2
Receive
Pool 1

Pool 1
Send Receive
Send

Note: the order of the message flows w.r.t. an activity is irrelevant, the above
rules always hold
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 WHEN ARE MESSAGES
• Message B is first received
SENT OR RECEIVED?
before Activity can start.
• Message A is sent after,
upon Activity’s completion
• First, message B is
received, before Activity can
start.
• Then, message A is sent,
upon Activity’s completion

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PROCESS (OR
ORCHESTRATION)
Models a single business party and can be:
DIAGRAM
Public view (black box)

Auctioning Service
Private view (white box)
Auctioning Service Conduct auction

Send auction Send auction Send auction

creation creation completion
confirmation confirmation notification
Auction
begins

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 COLLABORATION DIAGRAM
Send delivery
notification

Seller
Send auction Send
Send
creation payment
payment ack.
request details
Private
Auction Auction process
creation Auction completion
request creation notification
confirmation Goods
Payment sent
details Payment notification
Auctioning Service

Conduct auction acknowledgement

Delivery
Send auction Send auction Send auction acknowledgement
creation creation completion
confirmation confirmation notification
Auction
begins

Auction
Bid Bid
completion
acknowledgement
notification
Bidder

Public
process

Models a global business process between at least two business parties (each modelled by a Pool)42
BPMN TOOL
https://demo.bpmn.io/

https://www.bpsimulator.com/run/
QUESTION AND
ANSWER