Your representation will incorporate process elements whose behavior is designed in accordance with the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) guidelines. These elements, which are described in detail in Business process elements, help you to recognize the activities within the process and to organize your diagram. This topic outlines the steps for starting a new business process diagram. As you gain experience in process diagramming, you will discover other creative approaches.
For process guidance on creating business process diagrams, select an element in a diagram and click
.If your process involves multiple participants (such as different organizations, customers, or systems), create a business-to-business process and segregate the participants in different pools. Use a pool to represent each participant that controls its own processes. For example, a customer is one pool and a seller is another; each have their own processes, yet they must communicate outside their own organizations (across pools) when an order is placed.
Within a simple process or a single pool in a business-to-business process, there might be multiple roles, each of which is represented by a separate lane in the diagram. For example, customer service, billing, and shipping each have their own lane within one pool.
Identify the tasks and sub-processes that are included in the process. These activities are descriptions of work. The task is a finite (atomic) activity that cannot be subdivided into smaller activities. A sub-process represents a collection of tasks that are treated as one activity in this process diagram. Place each activity in the pool or lane that represents the participant, role, or system that performs the activity.
Activities can share data objects, which are containers for data. Connecting activities to data objects generates data associations, which are used to place data into or retrieve data from a data object.
Place the start and end events in the correct pool and lane, relative to the initial and final activities in the process. Add intermediate events that impact activities within the process.
As you add flow connectors to the diagram, the tool assigns a connector that is appropriate for the context. Sequence flow connectors connect activities in a simple process or within a pool in a business-to-business process. Message flow connectors connect activities across two pools. As you add a connector between two elements, the business process diagram editor determines which type of connector to use based on the selected source and target. Associations connect text annotations with activities and events. A gateway controls the divergence and convergence of sequence flow; the gateway can determine branching, forking, merging, and joining of paths.
Organize related activities by using a group artifact. A group artifact is a device that does not affect the flow of the process, but is useful for understanding the relationship or function of specific parts of the process.
Add a text annotation to clarify a specific activity or event. Use a connector to associate the annotation with other elements.