Chapter 3
Business Process Documentation and Models
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Learning Objectives
• Understand the importance of business process documentation.
• Recognize the value of business models.
• Articulate the characteristics of activity models.
– Understand and apply the building blocks for BPMN (activity) diagrams.
– Use pools and lanes to identify process participants.
– Apply message flows to show interactions between pools.
– Understand and apply flow object types.
– Recognize and model repeating activities.
– Understand and apply data objects and stores to model data created, updated, transferred
and deleted in a process.
• Understand and apply a structure process of business process model development.
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Definitions
• Business Process: a defined sequence of business activities that use
resources to transform specific inputs into specific outputs to achieve
a business goal.
• Business Analysis: the process of defining business process
requirements and evaluating potential improvements.
• Business Model: a simple abstract representation of one or more
business processes.
• Documentation: explains how business processes and business
systems work; a tool for information transmission and communication.
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Importance of Business Process Documentation 1
Documentation supports the following:
• Employee training.
• Internal and external audit requirements.
• Accountability.
• Standardized communication within the enterprise.
• Standardized communication between the enterprise and its
customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders.
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Importance of Business Process Documentation 2
Facilitates process improvement.
• Effectiveness—are the outputs obtained as expected?
• Efficiency—can outputs be produced with fewer inputs?
• Internal control—are controls working?
• Compliance—does the process comply with constantly changing
local, state, federal, and international laws and regulations?
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Value of Business Models 1
• How many words would it take to provide the same
information as a map of South Korea?
• Similarly, business processes and systems can also be difficult
to describe concisely using words alone.
• Business models, such as a map, allow us to depict the
important features of business processes and systems clearly
and concisely.
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Value of Business Models 2
• Organizational changes, including mergers, acquisitions, outsourcing, offshoring,
product innovation, and continuous process improvement, and other business
transformations are common.
• Change, however, can be expensive and risky. Careful planning is necessary to
implement change in a way that minimizes those costs and risks.
• Business models create value by providing communication, training, analysis and
persuasion tools.
» Presenting information more concisely and clearly than a written description.
» Managing complexity by incorporating only the essential elements.
» Eliciting requirements when used to interview involved parties.
» Reconciling viewpoints by providing an integrated view.
» Simulating potential changes.
» Specifying requirements for the actual business process.
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Types of Business Models
Think of Activity Models as directions from point A to point B; Structure Models
are like the map of the area. Both are business process models. Business Rules
implement policy and constrain process operation.
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Activity Models 1
• Used to analyze business processes and design changes for
over 100 years.
• Describe the sequence of workflow in a business process.
• Represent the sequential flow and control logic of a set of
related activities.
• Tools for planning, documenting, discussing, and implementing
systems.
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Activity Models 2
Variety of activity models—changing as technology changes.
• Flowcharts.
• Data flow diagrams.
• Business process maps.
• IDEF0 (Integrated Definition for Process Modeling) functional models.
• Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN).
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Activity Models – Must Be Able to Describe
1. Events that start, change, or stop flow in the process.
2. Activities and tasks within the process.
3. The sequence of flow between tasks.
4. Decision points that affect the flow.
5. Division of activity depending on organizational roles.
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BPMN for Activity Diagrams
• BPMN stands for business process model and notation.
• The Object Management Group (https://www.omg.org/) maintains the
BPMN specification.
• First specification issued in 2004 widely adopted.
• Specifically designed for process modeling.
• Designed to be understood by businesspeople.
• Software available to support modeling and subsequent process
simulation.
https://bpmn.io/
https://www.draw.io/
https://app.diagrams.net/
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“Good” BPMN Models
• They are correct; they do not violate BPMN standards.
• They are clear; they describe the logic of the business
process.
• They are complete; they show all the important elements of
the process.
• They are consistent; the process logic should always result in
a similar model.
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BPMN Basic Building Blocks - Events
• Events include start, intermediate, and end events.
Intermediate events affect the flow of a process, but do not
start or end the process.
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BPMN Building Blocks - Activities
• Activities represent specific steps in the business process.
Basic activities are modeled as rounded rectangles.
• Each activity is described with a short verb phrase reflecting
the action to be taken.
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BPMN Building Blocks – Sequence Flows
• Represented by arrows to indicate the progression of
activity within the process.
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BPMN Building Blocks – Gateways
• Show process branching and merging as the result of decisions.
• Gateways often appear in pairs on the diagram. The first gateway
shows the branching, and the second gateway shows merging of the
process branches.
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BPMN Example
Note that events and gateways do not contain text, but you can add annotation.
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BPMN Pools and Lanes
• Identify participants in a business process.
• Pools identify organizations.
• Lanes identify departments or individuals within the
organizations.
• Tasks/activities are placed in lanes to show responsibility.
• Each pool must include one start and at least one end.
• The sequence flow must not break between the start and
end; it can flow across lanes but not between pools.
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BPMN Pools and Lanes - Example
Pools show organizations and lanes show departments or functional areas within
organizations; sequence flows can cross lanes but must be continuous within a pool.
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BPMN Pools and Message Flows
• Exchanges between two participants (pools) in the same
process are represented as message flows.
• Message flows are shown as dashed lines with an arrow on
the destination end and a small circle on the source end.
• Message flow content should be described with text.
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BPMN Pools and Message Flows Example 1
Message flows are labeled to show the content of the message.
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BPMN Pools and Message Flows Example 2
Usually, we are not very interested in activities in the external pool. Yet, we remain concerned
about the message flows between the pools. So, we can make the patient’s pool opaque, hiding
the activities, but still showing the message flows. Note that the message flows now attach to the
edge of the patient pool. 1-23
The Token Concept
• A start event generates a token.
• That theoretical token must be able to flow through the
process—along every potential path—until it reaches an end
event.
• Tokens only travel along sequence flows and pass through
process flow objects.
• Tokens do not traverse message flows.
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Flow Object Types
• Flow objects include events, activities, and gateways.
• Sequence flows only connect to flow objects.
• Each flow object can be further characterized by type by adding
a type icon to the specific flow object symbol.
• For example, a “timer” event would show the event with a
clock face icon inside, and a “message” event would show the
event with an envelope icon inside.
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Gateway Types
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Exclusive Gateway
The trip involves either flights or a rental car but not both.
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Inclusive Gateway
The trip involve either flights or a rental car or both.
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Parallel Gateway
The trip will require reservations for all three: flights, rental car, and hotel
accommodations.
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Event Types
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Message Events Example
The process starts with a start message events that receives (catches) the “Request” message from the external
participant. The process proceeds to the “Evaluate Request” task, and then the intermediate message event sends
(throws) the “Evaluation” message flow to the external participant. The process flow continues to the next intermediate
message event where it waits (the token stops) until the external participant responds with the “Confirm” message flow.
When the event catches the message, the sequence flow continues to the “Do Something” task and then the process
ends. The end message event throws a message to the external participant that the process is done. (Note that if there
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is only one lane, you don’t need the pool symbol.)
Timer and Boundary Events
The start timer begins the process two weeks before the birthday to be celebrated. The “Plan Party”
task has an intermediate error event attached to its boundary (a boundary event). Specifically, this is
an example of an interrupting boundary event that affects process flow when an error occurs in the
Plan Party task. If an error occurs, then the process flows to the “Cancel Party” task and then ends.
However, if the Plan Party task completes successfully, the process flows to the intermediate timer
event and then waits two weeks (the token waits to proceed). After two weeks, the process 1-32
continues to the “Hold Party” task and then ends.
Subprocesses and Repeating Activities
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Data Objects, Data Stores, and Associations
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Data Objects Example
The process starts and the actor buys concert tickets. The tickets data object is created. Time
passes until the date of the concert and then the actor attends the concert where the tickets data
object is used. Note that the “tickets” data object can be repeated, if necessary, as shown in the
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lower diagram.
Steps to Prepare Business Process Models
• Identify the purpose of the model. Who is the model for, why is it needed, how
will it be used?
• Define the model context. Who are the external actors, what exchanges take
place between the process and the external actors, and what are the
boundaries?
• Outline basic process flows. What are the inputs to, and expected outcomes, of
the process?
• Define activities in the process. What takes place at each step, who performs that
step, what outcomes are reasonable?
• Refine and decompose activities as necessary. What additional detail is
necessary?
• Validate with stakeholders.
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Allowable Sequence Flow Connections
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Allowable Message Flow Connections
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Chapter End Exercise
• The purpose of this exercise is to describe the passenger check-in process
at the airport using automated kiosks.
• The process takes place as follows:
1. The passenger approaches the kiosk. The kiosk screen requests the customer to identify
themselves.
2. The passenger scans the required identification.
3. The kiosk uses the passenger identification to find and display the passenger's flight information.
4. The passenger confirms the flight information.
5. The kiosk asks how many bags to be checked.
6. The passenger responds with the count of bags to be checked.
7. The kiosk prints the requested number of tags. No tags if there are no bags.
8. The passenger affixes the tags to the bags.
9. The kiosk prints the boarding pass(es).
Draw a BPMN diagram for the passenger. Add the external pool (kiosk) and the message
flows between the passenger and kiosk.
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Chapter End Exercise Solution
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