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BPMN Framework

A simple approach

BPMN and Business Process Model Notation
BPMN and Business Process Model Notation

BPMN – Business Process Management Framework

BPMN is the most widely-accepted process documentation methodology in the world. Business Process Management Framework allows both technical and business users to quickly and easily model business processes.

A closer look at the advantages of Business Process Management Framework (BPMN)

Ensure Transparency

Know where resources are being used and encourage efficient work and habits by planning well in advance

Orchestrate Technology

Implement service orchestration to design more flexible communications networks that mirror the efficiency of your business process management

Manage Workflow

Integrate your people, processes, and technology by taking advantage of our workflow engine to deliver work to where it’s needed, and keep all employees up to date with the most important priorities

Portable Process Manuals

Generate a complete output of processes and all related information, ready for print. Allow collaboration for employees to share information widely.

Standard Methodologies

Avoid trial and error when improving client’s operational efficiency and get a head start by taking advantage of industry standards.

Compliance

Our process methodology and support for business rules and risk/control management allows effective process design that has all the appropriate checks and balances

Encourage Collaboration

By uniting goals and creating a common framework for your clients, they will be able to cooperate at a previously unattained level.

Utilize Resources

Business process management will expose unused resources and allow you to take better advantage of them along the length of the process

What is BPMN?

Conceived and developed by the Business Process Management Institute (BPMI), Business Process Modeling Notation, or BPMN for short, is a graphical method of representing business processes within a business process model. The representation diagram is somewhat similar to a flowchart, though not exactly the same. Since 2005, when parent BPMI merged with the Object Management Group (OMG), the latter has been in charge of maintaining the Modeling Notation.

With BPMN, modeling processes simply involves modeling the event that triggers the process and then mapping all of the activities or events (represented by rectangles) that occur until an outcome is reached. Decisions and alternatives are mapped using gateways (represented by lozenges), and all of the process shapes are then linked. The resulting process map closely resembles a flowchart that can be intuitively understood by non-technical business users.

The graphical notations achieve this objective by streamlining and simplifying divergent processes into compact, bite-sized bits of readily digestible information. In addition, the notations are standardized, which means developers, analysts and management executives all have the same frame of reference and level of understanding. For instance, BPMN can ensure that the otherwise complex documents coded in Extensible Markup Language (XML) can be visualized and understood with the help of a common notation that everyone understands.

How does BPMN Work?

Business Process Modeling Notation makes use of a limited range of basic structural elements, easy enough for both technical and non-technical people involved in the project. These elements belong to one of the following four key categories.

Flow Objects

Used to represent specific activities, events or gateways within the process. Symbols for flow objects include geometric figures such as triangles, rectangles, circles and diamonds. It should be remembered that within BPMN, an ‘activity’ is any work performed as part of a process. It is divided into two types – a) tasks, and b) sub-processes.

Swimlanes

Used to organize multiple flow objects into categories sharing similar functionality, swimlanes are depicted using straight lines that run lengthwise inside a rectangle. They are named so because of their resemblance to Olympic swimming pools’ lane lines. The rectangles in which swimlanes are drawn are in fact, known as ‘pools’ in BPMN.

Connecting Objects

Used to represent association, message flow or sequence flow, these elements connect to flow objects using solid, dotted or dashed lines. Arrows may be included between flow objects and connecting objects, to show the direction of process flow. An ‘association’ shows how different text, data and other elements relate to each other.

Artifacts

Used to represent annotations, groups and data objects, artifacts are the fourth major element category used in the creation of Business Process Diagrams or BPDs. A ‘BPD’ according to BPMN is a diagram made of a collection of graphical objects/elements that represents a business process.
Together, the four element categories are used to create a common business process language understandable by all. For example, business analysts who are responsible for creating business processes and refining them and developers who are responsible for creating codes to implement them can use the same language to interact, share and collaborate. And so can the business process managers, who do not have the technical knowledge of coders but are responsible for monitoring and managing the processes.

How Interfacing can help

Enterprise Process Center® uses BPMN to graphically depict the end-to-end flow of business activities.
Ranked Leader in the Gartner Enterprise Business Process Analysis (EBPA) MarketGuide, BPMS Platform Enterprise Process Center (EPC) supports the BPMN standard. You can model your processes and take them all the way to the automation/execution stage of the process lifecycle. BPMN flows can be automated to streamline the end-to-end execution of human and system-centric processes.