XPDL 2.0 Tutorial

Mike Marin WfMC Technical Committee Vice Chairman (Americas)

Software Architect, FileNet Corporation

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Agenda

• XPDL Definition

• Process Interchange

• BPMN Definition

• XPDL 2.0 Description

• Future

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XPDL Definition

• XML Process Definition Language (XPDL)

• A modeling language for Process Definition

• A Process Definition Meta-model

• WfMC Reference Model Interface 1 – Process definition

• Goals

• Process Definition Model interchange between tool

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The Process Definition

• Activity Network – Nodes & Transitions

• Sequential, Parallele, Conditional, and Message paths

• Activity Definitions

• Resource Requirement

• Work Assignment

• Applications and Services

• Data Definitions

• Arbitrarily complex graphs

• Sequential Activities

• Parallel Activities

• Loops / Cycles

• Conditional Paths

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Process Definition Interchange

• Common meta-model

• Allow tools to exchange models

• Type of tools

• Simulation tools

• Monitoring tools

• Execution tools

• Modelling tools

• Repository tools

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Meta-Model

Framew orkBPMN XPDL

Common Objects, Attributes, Semantics, and Usage

XPDL

Vendor Internal

Import / Export Layer

Vendor Internal

Import / Export Layer

Vendor Internal

Import / Export Layer

Simulation Engine Execution Engine Monitoring Engine

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An Example of Standards Utilization

Process

Execution

Performance

Management

Analytics

OLAP

Simulation Controller

Animator

Engine

Process

Modeling Sketchpad

BPMN

Analysis,

Reporting and

Monitoring

Work

Processing XPDL

XML Log

Events

XPDL

Process

Designer

XPDL

• Today more than 24 products support XPDL

• See www.wfmc.org for details

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XPDL 2.0 Purpose

• A persistent format for BPMN

• XPDL provides an XML file format

• BPMN provides a graphical notation

• Back compatible with XPDL 1.0

• XPDL and BPMN address the same modeling space

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BPMN

• Graphical Business Notation to

• Describe processes

• Describe interaction between processes

• Business Process Modeling notation (BPMN)

• Object Management Group (OMG)

• Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI) group

• Design to be used by business analysts

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Core Set of Diagram Elements

The core set of modeling

elements enable the easy

development simple

Business Process

Diagrams that will look

familiar to most Business

Analysts (a flowchart

diagram)

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Swimlanes

A Pool is a “swimlane” and

a graphical container for

partitioning a set of

activities from other Pools,

usually in the context of

B2B situations.

A Lane is a sub-partition

within a Pool and will extend

the entire length of the Pool,

either vertically or

horizontally.

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Events

An Event is something that

“happens” during the course

of a business process. These

Events affect the flow of the

Process and usually have a

trigger or a result. They can

start, interrupt, or end the

flow.

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Activities

An activity is work that is

performed within a

business process. An

activity can be atomic or

non-atomic (compound).

The types of activities that

are a part of a Process

Model are: Process, Sub-

Process, and Task.

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Activities

A Sub-Process can be in

an expanded form that

shows the process details

of the a lower-level set of

activities.

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Connections

•A Sequence Flow is used to show the order that activities will be

performed in a Process.

•A Message Flow is used to show the flow of messages between

two entities that are prepared to send and receive them.

•An Association is used to associate information and artifacts with

flow objects.

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Gateways

Gateways are modeling

elements that are used to

control how Sequence

Flows interact as they

converge and diverge within

a Process. If the flow does

not need to be controlled,

then a Gateway is not

needed.

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Artifacts

Data Objects are not flow objects (i.e., connected

through Sequence Flow), but they do provide

information about how documents, data, and

other objects are used and updated within a

Process.

Text Annotations are a mechanism for a modeler

to provide additional information for the reader of

a BPMN diagram.

Groups provide a mechanism to visually organize

activities

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BPMN Example

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XPDL – BPMN Marriage

• BPMN

• Graphical notation

• No file format

• XPDL

• XML file format

• No graphics

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Sketchpad for BPMN

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New Elements in XPDL 2.0 from BPMN

• Pools and lanes

• used to define participants and roles

• Message flows

• used for communication between processes

• Associations and Artifacts

• used to document the process definitions

• Graphic information for each entity

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Package Meta-Model

Process

(W. Process)

Package

[Business

Process Diagram

(BPD)]

Type

Declaration

ApplicationParticipant

Pool

Lane

Data Field

ExternalPackage

0..1

0..10..1

0..1

0..1

0..1

*

*

*

*

*

*

**

MessageFlow

Association

Artifact

sourcetarget

sourcetarget

Activity

target

source

source

sourcetarget

target

Resource

Repository or

Organizational

Model

System and

environmental data

W. Relevant

Data

Data Object

Group

Annotation

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Process Meta-Model Process

(W. Process)

Type

Declaration

Application

ActivitySet(Embedded Sub-Process)

Data Field

(Property)

Participant ActivityTransition

(Sequence Flow)to

fromperformer

performer

usesuses

uses

uses

Pool Lane BlockActivityTask/Tool

SubFlow

Event

Route

Reference

Resource

Repository or

Organizational

ModelSystem and

environmental data

W. Relevant

Data

Gateway

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Tool and Vendor Information

• Each tool can add tool specifics

• Graphical information

• Extensions

<xsd:element name="VendorExtension">

<xsd:complexType>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:any namespace="##other" processContents="lax"/>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="ToolId" type="xsd:string" use="required"/>

<xsd:attribute name="schemaLocation" type="xsd:anyURI" use="required"/>

<xsd:attribute name="extensionDescription" type="xsd:anyURI"

use="optional"/>

<xsd:anyAttribute namespace="##other" processContents="lax"/>

</xsd:complexType>

</xsd:element>

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Tool Specific Graphical Information

• Each tool adds its own graphical information

• Same XPDL can be displayed different by different

tools

XPDL

Tool A Tool B Tool C

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Example <Activity Id="31" Name="">

<Route GatewayType="AND" MarkerVisible="true"/>

<TransitionRestrictions>

<TransitionRestriction>

<Join Type="AND"/>

</TransitionRestriction>

</TransitionRestrictions>

<NodeGraphicsInfos>

<NodeGraphicsInfo ToolId="ToolA" Width="41.0" Height="41.0">

<Coordinates XCoordinate="10" YCoordinate="75"/>

</NodeGraphicsInfo>

<NodeGraphicsInfo ToolId="ToolB" Page="1" Width="890">

<Coordinates XCoordinate="23" YCoordinate="12"/>

</NodeGraphicsInfo>

<NodeGraphicsInfo ToolId="ToolC" Width="25" Height="34" Shape="Round">

<Coordinates XCoordinate="1078" YCoordinate="230"/>

</NodeGraphicsInfo>

</NodeGraphicsInfos>

</Activity>

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Extended Elements and Attributes

• XPDL schema is extensible

• Allows vendors to extend XPDL

• Adds arbitrary XML in a well defined manner

• Anonymous and namespace qualified extensions

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Future

• XPDL

• WfMC will continue to maintain XPDL

• Will update based on

• BPMN evolution

• Implementers comments

• BPMN

• BPMI has become part of OMG

• BPMN will be further developed within OMG.

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http://www.wfmc.org

email: wfmc@wfmc.org

Contacts & Further Information