lecture 5

Question 1

business process model and notation (BPMN)

Answer 1

owned by an institution which established other world-wide standards. it is supported by many softwares.

Question 2

pool

Answer 2

the main process (or conductor). it assumes process control and assigns tasks. it can be a physical person or any other type of entity, eg. website, company, process etc. the pool is a higher-ranking instance compared to its lanes.

Question 3

lane

Answer 3

a sub-partition in a pool. eg., a sub-participant who is responsible for executing specific tasks. it can be a physical person or any other type of entity, eg. website, company, but not a process.

Question 4

participants

Answer 4

the actors of a process.

Question 5

events

Answer 5

start, connect, or end a process. it represents something that “happens” during a process. it can be a start, intermediate, or end event. an event can “catch a trigger” (white), which means that it reacts to something, or it can “throw a result” (black). it can general, or with a predefined type; time-based, message-based, condition-based, signal-based, etc. it can be positioned within sequence flow or attached at the boundary of an activity. it can interrupt the execution of an activity (continuous line) or not interrupt it (dashed lines).

Question 6

gateways

Answer 6

determine the direction of a process.

Question 7

task

Answer 7

a single action that occurs in a business process.

Question 8

data object

Answer 8

shows the inputs and outputs of activities, and does not affect the process flow. it represents an object created, eg. a list, a document, etc. if a porcess instance is cancelled, all of its data object instances become inactive.

Question 9

data store

Answer 9

represents a database, which allows storing information, even after the process instance has been completed.

Question 10

sequence flow

Answer 10

used to connect tasks.

Question 11

message flow

Answer 11

used to show the flow of messages between separate pools/lanes. you cannot use message flow to connect flow objects within the same participant.

Question 12

data association flow

Answer 12

used to connect tasks with objects.

Question 13

artifacts

Answer 13

not part of the process but used to clarify.

Question 14

text annotation

Answer 14

to write notes, try to limit as much as possible. annotations are useful to explain time events.

Question 15

group

Answer 15

to group different tasks.

Question 16

loop

Answer 16

a loop task repeats until a defined condition either applies or ceases to apply. eg. suggest various dishes to our dinner guests until everyone agrees. then, the meal can be prepared.

Question 17

multiple parallel instance

Answer 17

multiple tasks occurs repeatedly and can be executed in parallel. eg. some roommates want to eat pizza, so “choose pizza” can occur in parallel.

Question 18

subprocess

Answer 18

an activity that expands/collapses a view. it describes a sequence (ad hoc or based on an event). it cannot contain pools and lanes, but other events and tasks.

Question 19

start message event

Answer 19

the process starts with the reception of a message and triggers the rest.

Question 20

end message event

Answer 20

the process ends with the sending of a message.

Question 21

intermediate time event

Answer 21

the event continues after a specific time (specify it).

Question 22

intermediate message event

Answer 22

at an intermediate moment of the process, a message is received and it interrupts the process.

Question 23

start time event

Answer 23

the event starts at a specific time (specify it).

Question 24

end error event

Answer 24

the process ends with an error.

Question 25

conditional event

Answer 25

sometimes we only want a process to start or to continue if a certain condition is true. anything can be a condition, and conditions are independent of processes, which is why the condition can only exist as a catching event.

Question 26

signal event

Answer 26

signals are similar to messages. the difference is that a message is always addressed to a specific recipient, while a signal is more like a newspaper advertisement or a television commercial. it relatively undirected.

Question 27

multiple event

Answer 27

summarises several events with a single symbol. eg. we try a new pizza after having seen it on TV or after a friend recommended it. after eating it, we will rate the pizza and in turn inform our friend. however, it is better to use single events.

Question 28

link event

Answer 28

a special case. it has no significance related to content, but it faciliates the diagram-creation process. you can draw two associated links as an alternative to a sequence flow. link events can be useful if you have to distribute a process diagram across several pages. links orient the reader from one page to the next.

Question 29

exclusive gateway (COR)

Answer 29

a gateway can offer multiple direction. however, an exclusive gateway indicates the possibility to follow just one direction.

Question 30

inclusive gateway (OR)

Answer 30

indicates the possibility to follow one direction or different directions at the same time.

Question 31

parallel gateway (AND)

Answer 31

indicates that different directions will be followed at the same time in parallel.

Question 32

event-based gateway

Answer 32

indicates that the direction to follow depends on a conditional event. it does not route based on data, but rather by which event takes place next. eg. we order pizza and wait for it to be delivered. we can only eat after we receive it (first event), but what if it doesn’t arrive after 60 minutes? (second event).