MTAT.03.231 Business Process Management (BPM)

(for Masters of IT)

Lecture 2: Introduction to BPMN

Marlon Dumas

marlon.dumas ät ut . ee

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Recap: BPMN Lifecycle

•  Goal definition •  Process modelling (as-is) •  Process analysis •  Process re-design (to-be) •  Process implementation •  Process execution •  Process monitoring/controlling

Process Modeling Tools

Process Management Systems

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Process Modeling: Why?

Process Documentation

Workflow Management

Enterprise Architecture

Document Management

Knowledge Management

Process Improvement

Process Cost Analysis/Simulation

Enterprise Systems

Compliance / Risk Management

Software Evaluation/ Selection

© Michael Rosemann

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Popular Process Modelling Purposes

Recker et al. (2005)

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Process Modeling Languages •  For business analysts

–  Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) –  Event-driven Process Chains (EPC) –  IDEF0, IDEF3 –  Flowcharts, data-flow diagrams (system analysis) –  UML Activity Diagrams (system analysis)

•  For business programmers –  Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) –  Yet Another Workflow Language (YAWL) –  State machines and variants

And many, many more…

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Process Modeling: Purpose vs. Language

Abstract Models

EPC, BPMN

Communication, simulation, activity-

based costing…

Detailed Models

BPEL, State Machines…

Data types, conditions, data mappings, fault handling…

Integration, testing, deployment…

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BPMN

•  Business Process Modeling Notation •  Inspired by cross-functional flowcharts •  OMG Standard, supported by many tools:

–  TIBCO Business Studio –  IBM Websphere Business Modeler –  ARIS, Oracle BPA –  Oryx (http://bpt.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/Oryx) –  Visual Paradigm, BizAgi, ITP Commerce Process Modeler for

Visio... –  Savvion, Lombardi…

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BPMN from 10 000 miles…

•  A process model in BPMN is called a Business Process Diagram (BPD)

•  A BPD is essentially a graph consisting of four types of elements (among others):

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Example

An Order Management process is triggered by the reception of a purchase order from a customer. The purchase order has to be checked against the stock re the availability of the product(s) requested. Depending on stock availability the purchase order may be confirmed or rejected. If the purchase order is confirmed, the goods requested are shipped and an invoice is sent to the customer.

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Order Management Process in BPMN

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A little bit more on Gateways … •  Exclusive Decision / Merge

–  Indicates locations within a business process where the sequence flow can take two or more alternative paths.

–  Only one of the paths can be taken. –  Depicted by a diamond shape that may contain a marker

that is shaped like an “X”.

•  Parallel Fork / Join –  Provide a mechanism to synchronize parallel flow and to

create parallel flow. –  Depicted by a diamond shape that must contain a

marker that is shaped like a plus sign.

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Revised Order Management Process

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Test your understanding

1. Any mistakes or anything missing in this diagram? 2. Can “Check Completeness” be performed after “Obtain

Additional Information”? 3. Can “Check Credit History” be performed after “Check

Income Sources”?

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Test your understanding…

1.  Any mistakes in this diagram? 2.  Can “Allocate resources” be performed after “Produce item”? 3.  Can “Confirm Order” be performed after “Produce item”?

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Spot the difference…

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What’s wrong with this model?

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When?

Process

Which?

Data / Service / Product

What? Function

Who? Organization

Process Modelling Viewpoints

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Process Modelling Viewpoints

Functional perspective What tasks/function are happening in the process?

Control-flow perspective In what order do they occur?

Resource perspective (also called organisational perspective) Who performs which activity?

Data perspective What data are created/produced by the process?

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Organisational Elements in Process Models

Basic abstractions: •  Resource (participant, actor, user, agent)

A resource can execute certain tasks for certain cases. Human and/or non-human (e.g. printer).

•  Resource class: Set of resources with similar characteristics A resource class is typically either a: •  Role (skill, competence, qualification)

Classification based on what a resource can do or is expected to do

•  Group (department, team, office, organizational unit) Classification based on the organization.

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Roles vs. Groups

Helger

Triin

Rainer Jaana

Peeter Ahto

Britt

Sven

Indrek Joel

Secretary

Sales

Sales_clerk

Frank

Jan

Office_worker Manager

Purchase Tartu Tallinn

groups

roles

© Wil van der Aalst

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Resource Modelling in BPMN

In BPMN, resource classes are captured using: •  Pools – independent organisations or

organizational units, e.g. –  Customer, Supplier, Carrier –  East-Tallinn Hospital, Tartu Clinic

•  Lanes – tightly connected roles or groups e.g. •  Roles: Purchase Initiator, Purchasing Officer, Supervisor, … •  Internal departments: Inbound logistics, accounts payable (if

using a common ERP system or workflow management system)

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BPMN Elements – Pools

  Pools represent independent business process participants.

  Golden Rule: Sequence flows cannot cross the boundaries of a Pool.

  Interactions between Pools must be captured by means of Message Flows (dashed lines with an arrow)

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Order Management example (ctd.)

•  The Order Management process now includes the customer as a process participant...

The Order Management process is started when a customer places a purchase order. The purchase order has to be checked against the stock re the availability of the product(s). Depending on stock availability the purchase order may be confirmed or rejected. If the purchase order is confirmed, the goods requested are shipped and an invoice is sent to the customer. The customer makes then makes the payment.

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Order Management BPD with Swimlanes

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BPMN Elements – Swimlanes

  Lanes represent sub-partitions within a pool.   Sequences Flows can cross the boundaries of

Lanes.   Lanes can be nested:

  E.g., an outer set of Lanes for company departments and then an inner set of Lanes for roles within each department.

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Order Management example (ctd.)

•  The process now includes two departments within the supplier organization...

The purchase order received by the Sales & Distribution department has to be checked against the stock. The order details are sent to the Warehouse department that returns an availability notification. If the purchase order is confirmed, the Warehouse department collects the shipping details from the customer and ships the goods. The Sales & Distribution department sends an invoice to the customer who then makes the payment.

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Corresponding BPD

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BPMN Artifacts

•  Data Objects are a mechanism to show how data is required or produced by activities.

–  Are depicted by a rectangle that has its upper-right corner folded over.

–  Represent input and output of a process activity. •  Annotations are a mechanism for the modeller to

provide additional text information to the diagram reader.

–  Are depicted by open-ended rectangles. –  Text annotations do not affect the flow of the process.

•  Groups are a visual mechanism to logically group diagram elements informally.

–  Are depicted by a rounded corner rectangle with a dashed line.

–  The grouping does not affect the sequence flow and does not change the meaning of the elements contained within the group.

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BPMN Connections

•  Associations are used to link artifacts such as text or data objects with flow objects.

–  Are depicted by a dotted line. –  Can be directed or undirected.

•  They can be used to show inputs and outputs of activities.

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Order Management example (ctd.)

•  Let’s have a look at some artifacts... The Purchase Order document serves as an input to the stock availability check. Based on the outcome of this check, the status of document is updated, either to “approved” or “rejected”.

Include the relevant documents in the process model. Also, for visualization purposes, all parts of the processes that use or update the purchase order should be highlighted.

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Order Processing Model with Artifacts

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Sample process models with artifacts

•  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BPMN-E-MailVotingProcess.jpg

•  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BPMN-CollectVotes.jpg

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BPMN Main Elements - Recap

Flow Objects

Connections

Artifacts

Swimlanes

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BPMN Flow Elements – Recap

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Want to know more?

•  Lab session •  BPMN Poster:

http://bpmb.de/index.php/BPMNPoster •  Introduction to BPMN

www.bpmn.org/Documents/Introduction_to_BPMN.pdf •  BPMN Self-Test: http://www.bpmn-selftest.org/ •  BPMN Community:

http://en.bpmn-community.org/