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91 lines
9.7 KiB
Markdown
91 lines
9.7 KiB
Markdown
# Understanding the terminology
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## BPMN and SpiffWorkflow
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Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is a diagramming language for specifying business processes.
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BPMN bridges the gap between business and IT, creating a shared process language for both parties.
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BPMN efficiently depicts the details of process behaviors in a diagram.
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The precision of its meaning allows it to describe the technical details that control process execution in an automation engine.
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SpiffWorkflow enables you to create code to execute a BPMN diagram directly.
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By using SpiffWorkflow, a client can create the BPMN diagram and have their product work without the need for you to modify the Python code, thus improving response and turnaround time.
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## Flow Objects
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Flow objects are divided into three groups: Events, Gateways, and Tasks.
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### Events
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Events, represented by circles, describe occurrences during a process.
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There are three main types of events in business process modeling: start events, intermediate events, and end events.
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| **Event** | **Symbol**| **Description** |
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|-----------|-----------|-----------------|
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| Start Event | | Signals the first step of a process. |
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| Intermediate Event |  | Represents any event that occurs between a start and end event. |
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| End Event |  | Signals the final step in a process. |
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### Gateways
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Gateways represent decision points in a process.
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Based on certain conditions or rules, they determine which path the process will follow.
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There are various types of gateways:
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| **Gateway** | **Symbol**| **Description** |
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|---------------|-----------|-----------------|
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| Exclusive Gateway | | Evaluates the state of the business process and, based on the condition, diverges the flow into one or more mutually exclusive paths. |
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| Event-based Gateway |  | An event-based gateway is similar to an exclusive gateway in that both involve one path in the flow. However, with an event-based gateway, you evaluate which event has occurred, not which condition has been met. |
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| Inclusive Gateway |  | An inclusive gateway diverges the process flow into one or more flows. |
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| Complex Gateway |  | Complex gateways are used only for the most intricate flows in the business process. They use words instead of symbols and thus require more descriptive text. |
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### Tasks
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Tasks represent activities or work that needs to be done as part of a process.
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They can either be manual tasks that require human intervention or automated tasks that are performed by systems or applications.
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| **Task** | **Symbol** | **Description** |
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|---------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| Service |  | A task that utilizes a Web service, an automated application, or other types of service to complete the task. |
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| Send | | A task that sends a message to another pool. The task is completed once the message has been sent. |
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| Receive |  | A Receive Task indicates that the process has to wait for a message to arrive in order to continue. The task is completed once the message has been received. |
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| User |  | A User Task denotes that a human performer completes the task with the help of a software application. |
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| Manual |  | A Manual Task is a task performed without the aid of any business process execution engine or application. |
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| Business Rule || A Business Rule Task provides a mechanism for a process to supply input to a Business Rules Engine and then obtain the output provided by the Business Rules Engine. |
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| Script |  | A Script Task defines a script that the engine can interpret. |
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| Call Activity |  | A call activity allows you to call and invoke another process as part of this process. |
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| Sub-Process |  | Sub-processes allow you to collapse and expand tasks to convey information quickly. |
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## Connecting Objects
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Connecting objects are lines that connect BPMN flow objects.
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Three different types exist: sequence flows, message flows, and associations.
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| **Connecting Objects** | **Symbol** | **Description** |
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|---------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| Sequence Flow Symbol |  | Connects flow objects in the proper sequential order. |
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| Message Flow Symbol | | Represents messages sent from one process participant to another. |
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| Association Symbol |  | Illustrates relationships between artifacts and flow objects. |
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## Artifacts
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Artifacts are used to provide additional information or documentation within a process.
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They include data objects (which represent information or data needed for the process), annotations (which provide explanatory or descriptive text), and groups (which are used to visually group related elements).
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| **Artifact** | **Symbol** | **Description** |
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|---------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| Data Object |<div style="height:50px;width:50px">  | Data objects can represent data input to the process, data resulting from the process, or data that needs to be collected. |
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| Data Storage | | Data storage facilitates the storage or access of data associated with a business model. If your process produces any data, it will become necessary to store that data. |
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| Group | <div style="height:50px;width:50px">  | Groups organize tasks or processes that are significant in the overall process. |
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| Annotation | <div style="height:50px;width:50px">  | Annotations allow you to describe the business process and flow objects in greater detail. |
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## Swimlanes
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Swimlanes are used in a BPMN diagram to organize aspects of a process.
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They visually group objects into lanes, with each aspect of the process added to a separate lane.
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These elements can be arranged either horizontally or vertically.
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Not only do swimlanes organize activities into separate categories, but they also reveal delays, inefficiencies, and the individuals responsible for each step in a process.
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