Building Business Process Diagrams

A business process diagram (or process flow diagram) provides a graphical view of the control flow (the sequence of execution) or data flow (the exchange of data) between processes at any level in your system.

A business process diagram can be created in a model, a package or within a decomposed process.

There are three types of BPDs for modeling different aspects of a system:

Top-level diagram – focuses on the roles played by business partners in relation to a system (see Top-Level Diagram Basics)
Choreography diagram – focuses on allocating responsibility for activities, choreographing objects, analyzing flows of data, and modeling the implementation of activities (see Choreography Diagram Basics)
Data flow diagram – focuses on data exchange between processes (see Data Flow Diagram Basics)

Top-Level Diagram Basics
A top-level diagram is a special form of business process diagram required by ebXML and BPEL languages, which provides a high-level representation of a system and its interactions with business partners.
Choreography Diagram Basics
You create a choreography diagram for any decomposed process for ebXML and BPEL languages, and at any level of the process hierarchy for other languages. Each choreography diagram contains a control flow, which organizes the sub-processes directly below the process from which the diagram has been created.
Data Flow Diagram Basics
A data flow diagram (DFD) lets you graphically represent the flow of data through a system without any indication of time.
Processes (BPM)
A process is a manual or automated action, such as "Process order", or "Send a mail".
Organization Units ( BPM)
An organization unit can represent a company, a system, a service, an organization, a user or a role, which is responsible for a process. It can also be a business partner who uses high level processes.
Starts (BPM )
A start is a starting point of the flow represented in the diagram.
Ends (BPM )
An end is a termination point of the flow represented in the diagram.
Decisions (BPM )
A decision specifies which path to take, when several paths are possible.
Synchronizations (BPM )
A synchronization enables the splitting or synchronization of control between two or more concurrent actions.
Flows (BPM )
A flow is a route the control flow takes between objects (potentially with the exchange of data). The routing of the control flow is made using guard conditions defined on flows. If the condition is true, the control is passed to the next object.
Role Associations (BPM)
A role association is a relationship that describes an interaction between a process and an organization unit displayed as an actor.
Events (BPM)
An event is an instantaneous and observable occurrence during the course of a business process, which triggers it to respond. For example, it can be unexpected data returned by a web service or a deadline.
Message Formats (BPM)
A message format can be an XML document or a list of parameters, which defines the format of the data exchanged between processes.
Message Parts (BPM)
A message part represents a sub-division of a message format into separate parts. For example, an invoice form can be modeled as a message format, which includes the following message parts: product information, customer information, and payment information.
Data (BPM)
A data object is a piece of information exchanged, at a high conceptual level, between processes using flows or between processes and resources using resource flows.
CRUD Matrix (BPM)
A CRUD matrix is a table that allows you to observe, at a global level, the actions (Create, Read, Update, or Delete) your processes perform on data or resources, and modify or add any missing actions on them.
Resources (BPM)
A resource is a data store. It can be a database, a document, a data, or a component to which a process have access. In the following example, the Check Stock process reads data contained in the Inventory resource:
Resource Flows (BPM)
A resource flow allows a process to access a resource and describes an interaction between them. In the following example, the Register_complaint process creates, updates or deletes data contained in the Additional_info resource:
Service Providers (BPM)
The business process world is, most of the time, a set of linked services, or repeatable business tasks, that can be accessed when needed over a network, as though they were all installed on your local desktop.
Service Interfaces (BPM)
A service interface is an object that contains a set of operations. For example a "LoanApproval" service interface may contain the following operations: "Request" and "Check".
Operations (BPM)
An operation is an object contained by a service interface, and which comprises input and output elements defined in terms of messages or message parts.
XSD Documents
An XSD document defines the data schema handled by a service provider. It can be created in a choreography diagram with any orchestration languages.
Variables (BPM)
A variable is a data container, which holds temporary values that can be passed between processes as input and output parameters, and which are important for their correct execution. For example, variables are useful to determine routing decisions or to build the messages a process has to send.
Correlation Keys (BPM)
A correlation key is a set of variables that is used to identify a process instance in order to route the messages that apply to it.
Data Transformations
A data transformation is an object that allows you to copy data from a source container to a target container, and also to calculate the value of an expression and store it in a variable.