BPMN
Buisness Process Model and Notation
A BPMN process model is a graph consiting of four types of core elements
Activity (BPMN)
Include the naming convention
• Activity: imperative verb + noun (e.g. assess credit risk)
Start and End (BPMN)
A start event triggers a new process instance by generating a token that traverses the sequence flow. (“tokens source”).
An end event signals that a process instance has completed with a given outcome by consuming a token (“tokens sink”).
Gateway (BPMN)
Sequence Flow (BPMN)
“Event” naming conventions in BPMN
Event: moun + past-participle verb (e.g. insurance claim lodged)
Symbols
BPMN Exercise
Model the following fragment of a business process for assessing loan applications (loan origination process). Once a loan application has been approved by the loan provider, an acceptance pack is prepared and sent to the customer. The acceptance pack includes a repayment schedule which the customer needs to agree upon by sending the signed documents back to the loan provider. The latter then verifies the repayment agreement: if the applicant disagreed with the repayment schedule, the loan provider cancels the application; if the applicant agreed, the loan provider approves the application. In either case, the process completes with the loan provider notifying the applicant of the application status.
Model the following fragment of a business process for assessing loan applications. A loan application is approved if it passes two checks: i) the applicant’s loan risk assessment, done automatically by a system, and ii) the appraisal of the property for which the loan has been asked, carried out by a property appraiser. The risk assessment requires a credit history check on the applicant, which is performed by a financial officer. Once both the loan risk assessment and the property appraisal have been performed, a loan officer can assess the applicant’s eligibility. If the applicant is not eligible, the application is rejected, otherwise the acceptance pack is prepared and sent to the applicant.
Model the following fragment of a business process for assessing loan applications. A loan application may be coupled with a home insurance which is offered at discounted prices. The applicants may express their interest in a home insurance plan at the time of submitting their loan application to the loan provider. Based on this information, if the loan application is approved, the loan provider may either only send an acceptance pack to the applicant, or also send a home insurance quote. The process then continues with the verification of the repayment agreement.
Exercise With Pool and Lanes
The purchase order sent by the Customer is received by the Seller and checked against the stock. This is done via an ERP module within the Warehouse & Distribution department. If the purchase order is not confirmed, the Sales department sends an order rejection to the Customer, otherwise it sends an order confirmation.
Next, the Warehouse & Distribution department ships the goods and sends a shipment notification to the Customer. Meantime, the Sales department emits the invoice and sends it to the Customer. The process concludes with the order being archived by the Sales department.
Data Object BPMN
Data Store Place BPMN
Resources in the BPMN
Explain how Pool and Lanes are modeled in BPMN.
There are active and passive resources
active (process participant, software, equipment
Resource class: group of interchangeable resources e.g. organizational unit
Resource classes are captured b a POOL. A Pool is used to model a buisness party (whole company)
LANE
A lane captures a resource sub-class within a resource class by partitioning the pool. (model departments, internal roles, software systems)
Example: Order to cash
BPMN Elements - Message Flow
A Message Flow represents a flow of information or material between two process parties (Pools).
Message Flows can connect:
directly to the boundary of a Pool > captures a message to/from that party
to a specific activity or event within that Pool > captures a message that triggers a specific activity/event within that party
Send / Receive Message Events BPMN
A Send activity will send the outgoing message upon activity completion
A Receive activity won’t start until the incoming message has been received
What is the syntax (rules) for Pools, Lanes and Message Flows in BPMN?
Sequence Flows cannot cross the boundaries of a Pool
Seq. Flows and Message Flows can cross boundaries of Lanes
Message Flows cannot connect two flow elements within the same Pool
Process decomposition in BPMN
Activities within a process can be decomposed into a “sub-process”
This can be useful to
Improve the understanding by breaking down large models
Identify parts that should be
repeated
interrupted
compensated
A decomposed activity is shown as followed:
When decomposing activities in processes: What is the syntax in sub-processes?
Sequence Flows cannot cross sub-process boundaries
use start/end events
Message Flows can cross sub-process boundaries
to indicate messages emanting from/incoming into the sub-process
Start with at least one start event
Finish with at least one end element
Sub-process weill complete once all tokens have reached an end event. May need (X)OR-split after sub-process to understand what end events have been reached
Example:
How to use Modeling Levels
Use sub-processes when the model becomes too large and hard to understand > increased error probability
Level 1 - start with value chain
Level 2 - add main decisions and handoffs (lanes)
Level 3+ - add procedural aspects (as much detail as relevant)
Define cycle time and name its parts.
How is the cycle time efficiency defined?
What is the
Per instance cost?
Material cost
Resource cost
Cost of a process instance
Cost of tangible or intangible resources used per process instance
cost of person-hours employed per process instance
Define the resource utilization of a process
Explain the resource utilization vs. waiting time paradox.
The resource utilization vs. waiting time paradox states that when utilization exceeds ~90%, waiting times increase exponentially, as even small delays cause long queues. This shows that near-full utilization may seem efficient but actually harms process performance.
High utilization means the resource is almost always busy.
New tasks must wait longer, as there's rarely idle time.
Small variations in arrival times or process times lead to long queues.
Name 3 quality related process performance measures and how they are measured
product quality
defect rate
delivery quality
on-time delivery rate
cycle time variance
customer satisfaction
customer feedback score
What are the 3 steps to identify performance measures?
Summary: Flow analysis equationsfor cycle time
verknüfte Zyklen werden durch Addition verechnet
Flow analysis cycle time
Flow analysis processing time and cycletime efficiency
What are scopes and limitations of flow analysis
Scope
Calculate processing time and cycle time
cost of processes
Limits
Not all models are structured
Fixed arrival rate and available capacity
Name 3 reasons to keep stock
Balancing the lead time through the process (pipeline inventory/ inventory in transit)
Balancing for seasonal fluctuations (seasonal inventory /build up caused by predictable demand and supply peaks)
Exploiting economies of scale (cycle inventory, buying larger batches makes it cheapier)
Decoupling of productions steps (decoupling inventory, inventory as buffer so delay doesn’t stop entire process)
Decoupling of random demand (safety inventory, avoiding stockputs)
During which minute are the most/fewest people in the store
““ do most people leave/enter the store
Stocks and flows are the necessary elements to simulate dynamic systems.
How can the stock be calculated form the flow?
Define Littles Law and calculate the boxes
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