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76 lines
9.8 KiB
Markdown
76 lines
9.8 KiB
Markdown
# Understand 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. BPMN links the realms of business and IT, and creates a common process language that can be shared between the two.
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BPMN describes details of process behaviors efficiently in a diagram. The meaning is precise enough to describe the technical details that control process execution in an automation engine. SpiffWorkflow allows you to create code to directly execute a BPMN diagram.
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When using SpiffWorkflow, a client can create the BPMN diagram and still have their product work without a need for you to edit the Python code, improving response and turnaround time.
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## Flow Objects
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The flow objects are divided into the following three groups: Event, Gateways and Tasks.
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### Events
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Events, represented with circles, describe something that happens during the course of a process. There are three main events within 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. They determine which path the process will take based on certain conditions or rules. There are different 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, breaks 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 both involve one path in the flow. In the case of an event-based gateway, however, you evaluate which event has occurred, not which condition has been met. |
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| Inclusive gateway |  | An inclusive gateway breaks the process flow into one or more flows. |
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| Complex gateway |  | Complex gateways are only used for the most complex flows in the business process. They use words in place of symbols and, therefore, require more descriptive text. |
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### Tasks
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Tasks represent activities or work that needs to be performed as part of a process. They can be manual tasks that require human intervention or automated tasks that are executed by systems or applications.
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| **Task** | **Symbol** | **Description** |
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|---------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| Service |  | Task that uses a Web service, an automated application, or other kinds of service in completing the task. |
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| Send | | 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 represents that a human performer performs the Task with the use of a software application. |
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| Manual |  | A Manual Task is a Task that is performed without the aid of any business process execution engine or any application. |
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| Business Rule || Business Rule Task provides a mechanism for a process to provide 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.processes. |
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| Sub-Process |  | Sub-processes allow you to collapse and expand tasks to quickly convey information. |
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## Connecting Objects
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Connecting objects are lines that connect BPMN flow objects. There are three different types: 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 proper sequential order. |
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| Message flow symbol | | Represents messages from one process participant to another. |
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| Association symbol |  | Shows 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. They include data objects (representing information or data needed for the process), annotations (providing explanatory or descriptive text), and groups (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 placed to the process, data resulting from the process, data that needs to be collected |
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| Data Storage | | Data storage provides the ability to store or access data that is associated with a business model. If your process outputs 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 have significance 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 more detail. |
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## Swimlanes
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Swimlanes are used to organize aspects of a process in a BPMN diagram. Swimlanes 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. Swimlanes not only organize activities into separate categories, they can reveal delays, inefficiencies, and the workers responsible for each step in a process.
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