BPMN Series Timer Events – Best Practices and Common Mistakes

© Good e-Learning 2014. All rights reserved.

BPMN Series

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BPMN 2.0 Best Modeling Practices – Part 1

Good e-Learning’s complete guide to BPMN 2.0

by Gregor Polančič

BPMN Series Timer Events – Best Practices and Common Mistakes

© Good e-Learning 2014. All rights reserved.

Introduction

The notational part of the BPMN 2.0 standard defines visual process elements and provides rules for their usage when creating business process diagrams

However the method and style approach for creating BPMN diagrams is out of the scope of the BPMN specification

This slide deck teaches you about six best practices which relate to the ‘style’ modeling approach.

The best practices can be obtained from the book ‘BPMN Modeling and Reference Guide. Future Strategies Inc., Lighthouse Pt, FL, 2008.’

BPMN Series Timer Events – Best Practices and Common Mistakes

© Good e-Learning 2014. All rights reserved.

BP#1: Sending and receiving messages

Message exchange (i.e. sending and receiving messages) is used for communication between processes

Message exchange can be realized with

• Message events (i.e. catch and throw message events)

• Message tasks (send task and receive task)

Minor differences between message events and message tasks do exist. However if possible, the best practice is to avoid using both approaches together in the same diagram

Pro

ces

s 1

Pro

ces

s 2

Message flow

Task

Task

Message flow

BPMN Series Timer Events – Best Practices and Common Mistakes

© Good e-Learning 2014. All rights reserved.

BP#2: Using start and end events

The BPMN specification defines start and end events as optional- however a best practice is to use them

Note that if there is an end event then there must be at least one start event and opposite

Pro

ces

s

Sub Process

Task Task TaskP

roc

es

s

Sub Process

Task Task Task

BPMN Series Timer Events – Best Practices and Common Mistakes

© Good e-Learning 2014. All rights reserved.

BP#3: Setting timers

Timers (i.e. timer events) are events that occurs when a specific time condition becomes true

If applicable, you should avoid specific date and time conditions as they inhibit the re-usability of a process

8. AM 20 minutes

Task

1 hour

Increase reuse!

Start of a working day

Wait agreed amount of

time

Task

Task exceeds

defined time

BPMN Series Timer Events – Best Practices and Common Mistakes

© Good e-Learning 2014. All rights reserved.

BP#4: Use a default condition

One way for the modeler to ensure that a process does not get stuck at a gateway is to use a default sequence flow

A Default sequence flow should be used in the following scenarios:

• when data-based exclusive judgment (XOR split) is exercised

• when inclusive judgment (OR split) is exercised

It can be modeled with an OR gateway or with conditional flows

Condition 1

Condition 2

Task

Condition 1

Default flow Default flow

BPMN Series Timer Events – Best Practices and Common Mistakes

© Good e-Learning 2014. All rights reserved.

BP#5: Use a timer intermediate event with an event gateway

• A timer intermediate event acts as a default flow when using an event-based decision.

• A Timer intermediate event assures that a process will continue after an event-based decision if NO other events ‘happen’

Task

1 day

Pro

ces

s

Participant

Answer 1

Answer 2

“Default flow”

BPMN Series Timer Events – Best Practices and Common Mistakes

© Good e-Learning 2014. All rights reserved.

BP#6: Prevent deadlocks when synchronizing paths

Make sure that the number of incoming sequence flows is correct for a parallel gateway - especially when used in conjunction with other gateways

Task 2

Task 3

Task 1

Exceed time

Cond 1

Cond 2

Task 4

This flow is conditional

This flow is performed if time is exceeded

BPMN Series Timer Events – Best Practices and Common Mistakes

© Good e-Learning 2014. All rights reserved.

Summary

These slides presented six best practices that should be followed to decrease the ambiguity and increase the usefulness of your BPMN diagrams

The can be summarized in the following way:

• in BPMN diagrams, you should always use start and end events

• you should avoid deadlocks when using different types of BPMN gateways

• If there are several options for using a BPMN element, use your chosen element consistently

BPMN Series Timer Events – Best Practices and Common Mistakes

© Good e-Learning 2014. All rights reserved.

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