want to learn more about the standard for business process
modeling if so check out this lesson on bpmn
hey Doc Squad Dr White here with the business analysis doctor today I'm
giving you a tutorial on bpmn or business process modeling notation but before we get
started if you want more business analysis training and tips be sure to subscribe to
the page and turn on the notification Bell with that said let's get started
bpmn stands for business process model annotation this modeling method is used across both business
and it domains and is increasingly becoming an industry standard now let's talk about
what you'll learn we'll talk about what bpmn is we'll discuss the main components of bpmn
we'll look at some vpmn rules best practices and then we'll take a look at a bpmn model
so what is bpmn bpmn is a process modeling notation created to standardize the graphical
representation of business procedures transactions and business collaborations bpmn is used to only
specify business processes it's used to define and understand business procedures to facilitate
the understanding amongst all stakeholders it's also used to illustrate internal and
collaborative processes it's also used to clarify internal and external participant roles as well as
facilitate workflow automation there's four main element groups in bpmn this includes flow objects
connecting objects artifacts and participants flow objects include events activities and gateways
the first type of flow object we'll look at is events an event is something that happens during
a process they affect the flow of the process and usually have some Trigger or impact there
are three main types of events start events indicate where a particular process begins
this event will not have any incoming sequence flows start events are presented as circles and
must be drawn with a single Thin Line next we have our intermediate events
an intermediate indicates where something happens between the start and the end of a process
it usually affects the flow of the process but will not start or directly in the process
intermediate events are presented as circles and must be drawn with a double Thin Line
an end event indicates where a particular process ends this event will not have any
outgoing sequence flows as it terminates the process and events are presented as circles
and must be drawn with a single thick line there are several markers that can be used
to represent the different dimension types of events but these are the most common
a message event indicates that a message is sent to or from a participant
a timed event indicates that a specific time date or specific cycle can trigger an event
the era event indicates that some type of exception is interrupting or ending
the process it's represented with the lightning bolt symbol
the cancel event is used when a transactional sub-process is terminated without being completed
this Dimension is represented with an X and cannot be used for a start event
the terminate event indicates that all activities in the process should be immediately ended
this event is represented by a circle with a thick black line and a dot in the middle
this type of Dimension can only be used for end events
now let's look at activities activities represent the work that a company performs within a process
they are presented as rectangles with rounded corners there are two main types of activities
a task is an atomic activity within a process flow it involves work that cannot be broken
down to a finer level of detail a sub-process is an activity whose work can be broken down to
include more details such as subsections phases or layers the internal details of a sub-process
can be modeled using activities gateways events and sequence flows the sub process is an object
within a process but it can also be opened up or exploded to show a lower level process
like the task object the sub process is Illustrated as a rectangle with rounded corners
but it also includes a small box with a plus sign when the plus sign is selected it leads to the
more detailed process activity should be labeled with the verb noun format to indicate the action
that is being taken as well as the object that is involved for example submit order or send email
now let's discuss gateways a Gateway is used to control the splitting and joining of sequence
flows in a process the general icon for a Gateway is a diamond but there are several internal
markers that indicate a particular type of control over the flow here are the most common types of
gateways an exclusive or default gateway is used to create alternative paths within a process flow
this is a decision point for the process for a given decision only one of the paths can be taken
an exclusion is considered to be the default gateway because it's used most commonly
it can be represented as an empty diamond or a diamond with the X marker generally each
outgoing path needs to be labeled to describe the condition that must be met the event base Gateway
represents a branching point in the process where there are alternate paths that follow the Gateway
are based on events that occur so it's similar to the exclusion Gateway except the alternate paths
are determined based on a particular event occurring instead of a particular condition
here the decision is usually made by an external participant in the process there are variations
to the event-based Gateway icon but generally it will include a Gateway diamond with a circle in
the middle that contains a pentagon an inclusion Gateway or or decision can be used to create
alternate or parallel paths within a process unlike the exclusive Gateway the inclusion of
one condition does not exclude the other which means that any combinations of outgoing paths
can be taken the inclusion Gateway is represented as a decision diamond with a circle in the middle
the complex Gateway can be used to model complex and combined Behavior by using specific rules to
enable a process to continue in ways that cannot be achieved with the other gateways for example
if only two of the four decision conditions need to be met in order for the process to continue
then it can be specified in the complex Gateway a parallel Gateway is used to combine paths to
create parallel flows without checking any conditions in a parallel Fork each outgoing
flow is triggered only when one particular task is completed a parallel join Gateway will wait
for the completion of all incoming flows to be completed before the outgoing flow is triggered
the parallel Gateway must use the marker that's in the shape of a plus sign within a Gateway diamond
now let's shift our Focus to connecting objects this includes sequence flow message flow and
associations a sequence flow is used to show the order that activities will be performed
in a process a sequence flow is drawn as a single line with a solid Arrowhead at the end
a message flow shows the flow of messages between two participants that are in separate pools they
are not used to connect objects within the same pool message flows are drawn with a single dashed
line with an open circle at the start and an open Arrowhead at the end associations link information
and artifacts with the other bpmn objects associations are drawn with a single dotted line
next up are our artifacts which include data objects groups and annotations
data objects represent items that store or convey information during the process they can serve
as inputs or outputs from an activity they could represent a single object or collection of objects
data objects are generally represented as a vertical rectangle with a folded top right
corner which represents a folded sheet of paper a group is a boundary line around a cluster of
objects that are within the same category this group it does not affect the sequence flow
a group is represented by a rounded rectangle outside of the grouped objects creating a
boundary with a solid dashed line the category name appears on the diagram as the group label
text annotations are used to provide additional information for the viewer of the bpmn diagram
a text annotation is an open rectangle drawn with a single solid line it's generally
connected to an object using an association line and finally we have our participants
participants are business entities such as a company company division or customer or a business
role that performs a business process participants are placed within swim lanes and pools a pool is a
container separating participants from different entities that interact during the process
for example when there's an interaction between internal employees and external business partners
if there are three separate organizations involved in a process there will be three separate pools
polls are only applicable in collaborative bpmn diagrams they are drawn as a large
rectangle that surrounds each group of participants that are within the same entity
a swim lane or Lane is a container that separates activities from other
activities performed by other roles but are still within the same entity
lanes are often used for participants with internal roles such as managers or associates also
systems or internal departments lanes are drawn with a rectangle that surrounds all activities
performed by participants in a particular role there can be multiple swim Lanes within one pool
each pool should be labeled according to the entity it represents and each swim Lane should
be labeled with the actor's role to create a boundary around the activities they perform
now let's look at some key bpmn rules first a start event must not have
an incoming sequence flow an end event must not have an outgoing sequence flow
two end events in a process must not have the same name if the activities meet at the same
endpoint then merge them two activities in a process must not have the same name
if the activity occurs multiple times it should be demonstrated through the sequence flow lines
flow objects outside of end events must have an outgoing flow
activities must be labeled with a meaningful verb noun phrase a splitting Gateway must have at least
two outgoing flows these flows need to be labeled to indicate the conditions that determine the flow
a joining Gateway must have at least two input flows
data flow objects must not connect to activities through sequence flow lines
these objects should be floating and connect to the activities with Association lines
message flows must be used for the interaction amongst different pools
all right now let's look at some common best practices for bpmn diagramming
first you start and end events to represent the process start and completion
and to fit the process model on one page
the primary scenario or happy path of the process should be very clear use gateways to
depict splitting or merging sequence flows distinguish each exception to the process
with Gateway decisions use message flows consistently especially with collaborative
diagrams make the process logic clear by labeling the elements consistently
and finally keep formatting simple and consistent now let's take a look at an
example bpmn model using a loan underwriting process in this example we'll be looking at a
collaborative diagram which involves two separate organizations a mortgage company and a broker firm
we can see that the mortgage company has two roles of loan setup rep and underwriter each
in its own lane the broker firm only has one swim Lane for the loan officer role
now we can see that the process has a clear start and a clear end both demonstrated
with the message marker which indicates that a notice both initiates and completes the process
as we can see the first activity is where the setup rep reviews the loan submission
then they're faced with a decision of whether or not the file is complete if not the setup rep adds
preconditions and sends them to the loan officer to review the preconditions and resubmit the loan
notice that message flow lines are used to illustrate the communication between
the loan setup rep and the loan officer this is because they're in different pools and you can't
use sequence flow lines when the participants are not in the same pool now if the file is complete
the setup rep submits the loan to underwriting where the underwriter will underwrite the loan
as you can see the underwrite loan activity is represented as a sub-process this is because
underwriting can be pretty involved and could have a number of different subsections such as checking
credit reviewing the appraisal reviewing financial statements and assets and so on
moving on the underwriter will determine whether or not the underwriting can be completed if no the
underwriter adds underwriting conditions and sends them to the loan officer to review and resubmit
the loan as you can see here the ad underwriting conditions creates an output or a data object the
data object is floating because it is not part of the sequence if the data object is also an input
to a task that follows it can be connected by an association line but you would not connect a data
object to an activity with a sequence or message line now if the underwriter is able to complete
the underwrite then the underwriter will make a final underwriting decision and the decision
notice will get sent to the loan officer and this is where the process ends notice in my annotation
that the decision notice May either be an approval notice or denial notice but because the
determination didn't impact the flow of work there was not a need for an additional decision here
well folks that's what you need for a clear and effective process model with bpmn if you
learned something new be sure to like and share the video and also I'd love to hear
your feedback in the comments and be sure to check out all the business analysis and
Bes certification training and resources we have for you at the vadoc.com now thank
you so much for watching have a productive and prosperous day and I'll see you next time bye now