MTAT.03.

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Business Process Management

Lecture 3 – Process Modeling I

Marlon Dumas

marlon.dumas ät ut . ee

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Business Process
Lifecycle
1. Introduction
2. Process Identification
3. Essential Process Modeling
4. Advanced Process Modeling
5. Process Discovery
6. Qualitative Process Analysis
7. Quantitative Process Analysis
8. Process Redesign
9. Process Automation
10.Process Intelligence
 Purposes of process modeling
• Communication
• Documentation
• Analysis (e.g. simulation) Conceptual

Executable

• Automation
• Testing
Conceptual 4
Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN)
• OMG standard (nowadays BPMN 2.0)
• Both for conceptual and executable models
• Supported by numerous tools: bpmn.org lists over 70 tools, incl.
• Signavio (we’ll use the academic edition – academic.signavio.com)
• Bizagi Process Modeler
• Cameo Business Analyst
 BPMN from 10,000 miles…

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

An order-to-cash process is triggered by the receipt of a

purchase order from a customer. Upon receipt, the purchase
order has to be checked against the stock to determine if the
the requested item(s) are available. 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.
Let’s start modeling – break it down
Order-to-cash

• An order-to-cash process is triggered by the receipt of a

purchase order from a customer.
• Upon receipt, the purchase order has to be checked against
the stock to determine if the the requested item(s) are
available.
• 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.
Let’s start modeling – break it down
Order-to-cash

• An order-to-cash process is triggered by the receipt of a

purchase order from a customer.
• Upon receipt, the purchase order has to be checked against
the stock to determine if the the requested item(s) are
available.
 BPMN Model
Order-to-cash

Check stock
availability
Purchase
order
received

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Let’s start modeling – break it down
Order-to-cash

• An order-to-cash process is triggered by the receipt of a

purchase order from a customer.
• Upon receipt, the purchase order has to be checked against
the stock to determine if the the requested item(s) are
available.
• 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.
 BPMN Model
Order-to-cash

end
Reject order
activity Items not in
Order
event
stock
rejected
Check stock
availability
split gateway end
Purchase
order Items in event
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: verb + noun (e.g. assess credit risk)

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 Execution of a process model
The “token 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

by generating a token that traverses the event
sequence flow (“tokens source”)

An end event signals that a process instance has end

completed with a given outcome by consuming event
a token (“tokens sink”)

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 Order-to-cash example revisited…
[…] If the purchase order is confirmed, an invoice is emitted
and the goods requested are shipped (in any order). 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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 First try
Order-to-cash

Reject order
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

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Example: XOR Gateway
Invoice checking process

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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
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Example: AND Gateway
Airport security check

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 Revised order-to-cash process model

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

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Between XOR and AND
Order distribution process
A company has two warehouses that store different products:
Amsterdam and Hamburg. 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.

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Solution 1
Order distribution process

XOR-split XOR-join

AND-split AND-join

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Solution 2
Order distribution process

AND-split AND-join

XOR-split XOR-join

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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 depending

condn
on conditions

OR-join  proceeds when all active incoming

branches have completed
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Solution using OR Gateway
Order distribution process

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What join type do we need here?

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Beware: Beginner’s Mistake…
Guidelines: Naming Conventions

1. Give a name to every event and task

2. For tasks: verb followed by business object name and
possibly complement
• Issue Driver Licence, Renew Licence via Agency
3. For message events: object + past participle
• Invoice received, Claim settled
4. Avoid generic verbs such as Handle, Record…
5. Label each XOR-split with a condition
• Policy is invalid, Claim is inadmissible
Poll: Which model do you prefer?
One more guideline…

• Model in blocks
• Pair up each AND-split with an AND-join and each XOR-split with a XOR-
join, whenever possible
• Exception: sometimes a XOR-split leads to two end events – different
outcomes (cf. order management example)
Rework and repetition
Address ministerial correspondence
In the minister’s office, when a ministerial inquiry has been received, it is
registered into the system. Then the inquiry is investigated so that a
ministerial response can be prepared.
The finalization of a response includes the preparation of the response itself
by the cabinet officer and the review of the response by the principal
registrar. If the registrar does not approve the response, the latter needs to
be prepared again by the cabinet officer for review. The process finishes only
once the response has been approved.

XOR-join: entry point XOR-split: exit point

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Quick Note: Implicit vs. explicit gateways

B B

A
= A

C C

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 How this process starts? How it ends?

Collect Sort
mail mail
New mail Document
arrived requisition
Not compiled
Check acceptable Compile
Register
mail for document
mail
compliance requisition
Document
New email Acceptable response
arrived
prepared
Prepare
Capture
document
matter details
response

Physical
file
printed
Capture party Print
Pay fee
details physical file

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What’s wrong with this model? How to fix it?

X
 Process Modelling Viewpoints
Organization
Who?
Lanes &
Pools
What?
Tasks When?
Events
Flows
Gateways

Which?
Data Objects,
Data / Materials Stores
Organizational Elements in BPMN – Pools & Lanes
Pool
Captures a resource class. Generally used to model a business party
(e.g. a whole company)

Lane
A resource sub-class within a pool. Generally used to model
departments (e.g. shipping, finance), internal roles (e.g.
Manager, Associate), software systems (e.g. ERP, CRM)
Pool

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Order-to-cash process with lanes
Message Flow
A Message Flow represents a flow of information between
two process parties (Pools)
Message

A Message Flow can connect:

• directly to the boundary of a Pool  captures an informative 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

Send Receive Pool 1

Send

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Order-to-cash process with a black-box customer pool

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Pools, Lanes and Flows: syntactic rules
1. A Sequence Flow cannot cross the boundaries of a Pool
(message flows can)
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
One more guideline…

• Start modeling with one single “white-box” pool

• Initially, put the events and tasks in only one pool – the pool of the
party who is running the process
• Leave all other pools “black-boxed”
• Once you have modeled this way, and once the process diagram
inside the white-box pool is complete, you can model the details
(events and tasks) in the other pools if that is useful.
• In this course we will only model processes with one single white-
box pool – all other pools are black-box
Process Modelling Viewpoints

Which?
Data Objects,
Data / Materials Stores
 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. 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.

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 Model with information artifacts

Purchase Invoice
Order
Purchase
Purchase Purchase Send Order
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 Purchase Shipment
Order notice
Warehouse DB

Purchase Purchase
Order Order
[rejected] [approved]

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 BPMN Information Artifacts

A Data Object captures an artifact required

Purchase
order
Invoice
(input) or produced (output) by an activity.
• Can be physical or electronic
Emit
invoice

A Data Store is a place containing data objects

Oracle CRM Client info
that must be persisted beyond the duration of
a process instance.
Retrieve client It is used by an activity to store (as output) or
information
retrieve (as input) data objects.

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Quick Note: BPMN Text Annotations
A Text Annotation is a mechanism to provide additional text
information to the model reader
• Doesn’t affect the flow of tokens through the process

Includes packaging For blocked invoices

Clear vendor
Ship goods
line items

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BPMN Poster (link in “Readings” page)

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