What is BPMN? A Quick Beginners’ Guide

This comprehensive guide to Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is based on the provided sources. It outlines the purpose, core elements, and detailed behavior of the notation used to standardize business process modeling.

1. Overview of BPMN

BPMN is a graphical representation used to specify business processes within a model. It was originally developed by the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI) in 2000 and has been maintained by the Object Management Group (OMG) since 2004.

The primary objective of BPMN is to provide a notation that is intuitive for business users while remaining powerful enough to represent complex process semantics for technical users. While the basic shapes are similar to standard flow diagrams, BPMN allows modelers to represent specific business actions, such as messaging departments or escalating issues.

2. Core BPMN Elements

The sources identify four primary elements used to construct a process model:

  • Activities: Represent the actual work performed within a business process.

  • Gateways: Used to control the divergence and convergence of sequence flows, effectively acting as decision points or merge points.

  • Flows:

    • Sequence Flow: Shows the specific order in which activities are performed.

    • Message Flow: Shows the communication or flow of messages between two different participants.

  • Events: Represent something that “happens” during a process, rather than a task being performed.

3. Detailed Guide to Events

Events are a critical component of BPMN and are visually represented as circles. They are categorized by where they occur in the process and how they behave.

BPMN Notation Overview

Classification by Position

  1. Start Events: Indicated by a thin narrow line, these signify where a process begins. Every process must start with an event.

  2. Intermediate Events: Indicated by a thin double line, these occur between the start and end of a process.

  3. End Events: Indicated by a thick single line (or a filled outer circle), these signify the conclusion of a process. Every process has at least one end event.

Event Behaviors and Markers

BPMN 2.0 supports over 60 different types of events, often identified by Internal Markers (icons inside the circle).

  • Catching vs. Throwing:

    • Catching events have a defined trigger and start once that trigger is “fired”; they are visually identified by unfilled internal markers.

    • Throwing events are triggered by the process itself to create a notification; they are identified by filled internal markers.

  • Boundary Events: These are intermediate events attached to the boundary of an activity. They can be triggered at any time while that specific activity is being performed.

  • Interrupting vs. Non-Interrupting:

    • Interrupting Events: Represented by a solid line. When triggered, the current task stops immediately, and the flow moves to a new path.

    • Non-Interrupting Events: Represented by a dashed line. When triggered, the original task continues to completion while a parallel flow begins from the event.

Summary Table of Visual Indicators

Feature Visual Style Meaning
Start Event Thin single circle The process begins here.
Intermediate Event Double circle Happens during the process.
End Event Thick/Filled outer circle The process ends here.
Interrupting Solid line Stops the current activity immediately.
Non-Interrupting Dashed line Allows the activity to finish while starting a new path.
Catching Unfilled marker Waiting to receive a signal/trigger.
Throwing Filled marker Generating a signal/trigger.

 

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