• Swimlanes
  • Pool
    • Container for a sequence flow between activities
    • Used to represent a process(participant) in an organisation
    • The interaction between pools is shown through Message Flow.
  • Lane
    • Sub-partition within a pool
    • Used to organize/categorize activities of a process based on roles/functions
    • The interaction between lanes is shown through Sequence Flow.
• Artifact
  • Data Object - allows to store data, Can be mapped as input/output in Process Context. Check blog for best practice.
  • Annotation - allows to attach notes to individual elements in the process model
• Connections
  • Sequence Flow - Connects flow objects like events, activities and gateways
  • Data Flow - Connects Data objects to Flow objects to show the data changes within an event/activity
  • Association - Connects additional information like a note(annotations)
  • Message Flow - used to show the flow of messages between two separate participants/pools.
• Objects
  • Event (Circles)
  • Activity (Rounded Rectangles)
  • Gateway ( Diamonds)

Event

An event represents something that happens or may happen during the course of a process.

Menu

> Event Trigger - Trigger Type(Message/Timer/Error/Escalation/None) and Trigger name

> Timer Configuration - Waiting time

> Output Mapping - Start Event Output message to Process Context(Data Objects)

> Input Mapping - Process Context(Data Objects) to End Event Input message

> Start/Correlation Condition

• Message Start Event
  • It indicates that the process start is triggered upon a receipt of a WSDL message.
  • Message trigger is assigned based on service interface/operation.
• Intermediate Message Event
  • It shows where the process waits for a WSDL message from outside the process before resuming.
  • You cannot use intermediate message events in embedded sub-processes.
• Intermediate Timer Event
  • It shows where the process pauses and waits for a certain time to pass before resuming.
• Intermediate Boundary Event
  • It is a specific intermediate event that you place on the boundary of an activity/sub-process but not in the process flow.
  • You use boundary events for exception handling and thus they are triggered by an error or escalation.
• Message End Event
  • It ends a process and sends a WSDL message as a result.
  • A process can have only one end event whose result is a message.
  • You assign a message trigger that is created from a service interface and an operation to the message end event.
• Error End Event
  • It is used to model an error that occurs in a sub-process, but can't be used in embedded sub-processes.
  • It triggers a WSDL fault, defined in the service interface of the message trigger assigned to a message start event.
  • Multiple error end events is allowed in a process
  • Synchronous process ending with an error end event for root process is not allowed since WSDL fault response is not supported.
  • The error/fault in sub-process propagates to the parent process and it can be consumed by the parent process.
• Escalation End Event
  • Represents an exception that occurs inside the process, eg. when a task is not completed until the defined deadline.
  • The escalation is internal for the BPM system and is not visible for other systems.
  • Multiple escalation end events is allowed in a process.
  • You need to set an escalation type and criticality.
  • The escalation/exception is thrown from inner sub-process to next outer process until it is handled by a handler.
  • If no exception handling is possible for a critical escalation, the process is suspended.

Activity

An activity is kind of work that is performed within a business process.

Menu

> Looping : No Looping / Parallel For Each, Data Objects - numberOfCompletedIterations and currentCollectionItem are available in loop.

> Task : Applicable only for Human Activity

> Interface : Automated Outbound Service Interface + Operation + Service Reference(endpoint)

> Mapping : Process Context(Data Object) to Process Context(Data Object)

> Input Mapping : Process Context(Data Objects) to Input of Activity

> Output Mapping : Output of Activity to Process Context(Data Objects)

> Boundary Events : Deadline(Start/Completion) Exception(Critical/Non-Critical) Handling

• Human Activity
  • It is used to represent activity performed by a user. A task needs to be assigned to it.
  • At execution, the assigned task is shown in the universal worklist/BPMInbox.
  • UWL Task : http://tpcpid:50000/webdynpro/dispatcher/sap.com/tc~bpem~wdui~taskinstance/ATaskExecution?taskId=6c965d65959511e4c70400000076d806
  • BPM Task :
  • http://tpcpid:50000/webdynpro/dispatcher/sap.com/tc~bpem~wdui~taskinstance/ATaskExecution?taskId=6c965d65959511e4c70400000076d806&sap-cssurl=http://tpcpid:50000/com.sap.ui.lightspeed/themes/sap_corbu
• Automated Activity
  • It is work that is performed by a system.
  • A service interface definition and an operation need to be assigned to it.
• Referenced Sub-Process
  • It is an activity in the process that is a graphical representation of another independent process.
  • At execution, the other independent process is called.
• Embedded Sub-Process
  • It is a compound activity that cannot be executed standalone like the referenced sub-process.
  • It has a local process context, which is not visible for the parent process.
• Mapping Activity
  • It can be used to transform complex data from data objects in the process context into more simple data.
  • Rules set can be used as a transform in a mapping activity.
• Reporting Activity
  • It is used to collect data from the process context, and can perform process analytics on this data.
  • It references a reporting data source and indicates where in the process data is gathered for reporting.
• Notification
  • It is used to send e-mail notifications from the process.
  • You need to specify the recipients and you can parameterize the subject and message texts.

Gateway

It is used to control the divergence and convergence of sequence flow in a process. It indicates that a decision must be made, or that the process flow must be split or merged depending on the given conditions.

Menu

> Condition Evaluation : Condition with Context fields and Rules and Functions

• Exclusive Choice(Data Based)
  • It controls the sequence flow between activities. It is like a question that is asked at that point in the process.
  • You define for each answer/gate a condition based on a Boolean exp.
• Event-Based Choice
  • It controls the sequence flow by choosing an outgoing gate based on events that occur at that point in the process.
  • It is always followed by catching/receiving events eg. an intermediate event(message/time).
• Parallel Split(Fork)/ Join
  • A parallel gateway is used to visualize concurrent execution of activities.
  • If you use the parallel split gateway you have to catch all tokens with a parallel join gateway in the process.
• Uncontrolled Merge
  • The uncontrolled merge gateway is an exclusive gateway used as a merge for alternative sequence flows.

Links:

bpmn-gateways

Exception Handling

Integration Centric Process - Exception Handling in BPM