Chapter 3

What is a BPMN diagram that features two or more pools called?

A collaboration diagram

What is a global process model?

A process model that is not embedded within any process model, and as such can be invoked by other process models within the same process model collection. --> fx if the same process is used several places in the organization To indicate that the sub-process being invoked is a global process model, we use the collapsed sub-process activity with a thicker border (this activity type is called 'call activity' in BPMN).

There are types of three resources that can be involved in a process - and what are active and passive ressources, what does that mean?

A resource can be: - A process participant, - A software system, - A piece of equipment active - can autonomously perform an activity passive - are merely involved in the performance of an activity For example, a photocopier is used by a participant to make a copy of a document, but it is the participant who performs the photocopying activity. So, the photocopier is a passive resource while the participant is an active resource

What is a sub-process? Why is it useful?

A sub-process represents a self-contained, composite activity that can be broken down into smaller units of work Good to tackle the problem of increasing model complexity To improve understandability, we can simplify the model by hiding certain parts within a sub-process.

Long labels may hamper the readability of the model - what is the rule of thumb?

Avoid labels with more than five words excluding prepositions and conjunctions. Articles (a, an, the) are typically avoided to shorten labels

Why is it good to do Business Process Models (in this course: BPMN)?

Business process models are important at various stages of the BPM lifecycle. Before starting to model a process, it is crucial to understand why we are modeling it - To understand the process and to share our understanding of the process with the people who are involved with it on a daily basis.

What does it mean that a sub-process is embedded within its parent process model?

Can only be invoked from within that process model

Collapsed sub-process vs expanded sub-process?

Collapsed - This activity hides a sub-process (+) By collapsing a sub-process we reduce the total number of activities, thus improving the model readability Expanded sub-processterm-22 - shows its internal steps in the parent process model

Do we always need to model data objects? What is an alternative to data objects?

Data objects help the reader understand the flow of information and material from one activity to the other. However, the price to pay is an increased complexity of the diagram additional information can be provided via text annotations. - An annotation is depicted as an open-ended rectangle encapsulating the text of the annotation, and is linked to a process modeling element via a dotted line A text annotation do not affect the flow of the token

What are resource classes?

Examples are a whole organization, an organizational unit or a role We do not refer to individual project participants but groups (classes)

How do we model that there is a gating mechanism that either allows or disallows the passage of tokens? What 3 types are there?

Gateways 1. exclusive (XOR) split - To model the relation between two or more alternative activities X 2. AND gateway - When two or more activities do not have any order dependencies on each other (i.e. one activity does not need to follow the other, nor excludes the other)? Parallel execution + 3. inclusive OR split gateway - the conditions on its outgoing branches do not need to be mutually exclusive, i.e. more than one of them can be true at the same time. - Once all tokens of active branches have arrived, the OR-join synchronizes these tokens into one (similarly to what an AND-join does) and sends that token to its output arc - If the branch is active, the OR-join will wait for that token, otherwise it will not O

BPMN provides two constructs to model resource aspects: pools and lanes - when are they used?

Pools - are generally used to model resource classes We would typically use a pool to model a business party like a whole organization Customer & Bærnholdt are pools Lanes - are used to partition a pool into sub-classes or single resources to model a department, unit, team, software system, or equipment within that organization the specialized groups are lanes

Send activity vs receive activity?

Send (black) - An activity that is the source of a message—such as "Emit invoice" in the Seller pool - The message is sent upon completion of the activity's execution Receive (white) - An activity that receives a message—such as "Getshipping address"—is a receive activity. The execution of such an activity will not start until the incoming message is available.

Naming conventions in BPMN - activities, events, process model:

We capitalize the first word of activity and event labels For activities: - the label should begin with a verb (to approve) in imperative form (approve!) followed by a noun (an order) referring to a business object - e.g. "Approve order". For events: - the label should begin with a noun (an invoice) and ends with a past participle (to emit, have been emitted), e.g. "Invoice emitted" To name a process model ' use a noun, potentially preceded by an adjective, e.g. "loan origination", "order fulfillment", or "claim handling" process. (for us we could have said 'prototype creation')

What is a white box vs a black box?

White box - It shows how an organization participates in the process in terms of activities, events, gateways and data objects. Black box - It hides how these organizations actually participate in the process

Can multiple start- and end events exist in a BPMN model?

Yes multiple end events: - each capturing a different outcome of the process (e.g. order approved vs. order rejected) multiple start events: - each event capturing a different trigger to start a process instance. For example, we may start our order-to-cash process either when a new purchase order is received or when a revised order is resubmitted

Can an object can go through a number of states?

Yes (however, optional) e.g. "Purchase Order [confirmed]", "Product [packaged]"

What is a default flow in XOR and OR split gateways?

a default flow is taken only when all other conditions evaluate to false.

What is a decision activity?

an activity that leads to different outcomes e.g. an activity results in three possible outcomes

Why can't we use the sequence flow to connect activities that belong to different pools? What can we use instead?

sequence flow (arc) cannot cross the boundary of a pool For this, we need to use a message flow A message flow represents the flow of information between two separate resource classes (pools) It is depicted as a dashed line that starts with an empty circle and ends with an empty arrowhead

How do start and end events look?

start = thin border end = thick border

What is it called when two or more activities are not interdependent?

they are concurrent e.g. can be performed in parallel

Activities and events are not always to be performed sequentially - what is it called when two or more activities are alternative to each other?

they are mutually exclusive