BPMN — Method and Style

BPMN is the standard and most popular language for modeling business processes. It allows for the creation of process diagrams that are intuitively understandable for business people and precise enough to convey the process logic without distortion to performers and IT specialists.

However, while reading "good BPMN" does not require training, creating such models necessitates learning. Moreover, the BPMN specification, although a standard, is of no help in this regard — it is a technical document designed not for users such as process and business analysts, but for BPM software developers.

Bruce Silver's book "BPMN — Method and Style" explains how to create diagrams that are correct according to the standard, intuitively understandable, and consistent. This is a holistic methodology for business process modeling, based on many years of teaching BPMN and knowledge of BPMN "from the inside," which the author acquired while being a member of the OMG technical committee for the development of the BPMN 2.0 standard.

Silver starts by explaining basic concepts such as process, pool, participant, activity, instance, start and end events. A hierarchical approach to modeling is discussed, where a top-level process diagram that fits on one page can be decomposed into subprocesses if necessary, revealing the process in detail.

The elements and graphical symbols that make up the BPMN palette are examined from simple to complex — from the first level, corresponding to the descriptive subclass of BPMN, to the second, corresponding to the analytical subclass, and then to more advanced constructs such as transaction subprocesses, cancellation, and compensation. The online application discusses technical aspects of interest to BPM software developers, such as the BPMN metamodel and XML serialization.