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1.
Best Practices in BPMN
- 1.1. Practice 1. Understand the Process Objectives/Scope
- 1.2. Practice 2. Diagram Design – Simple but Effective
- 1.3. Practice 3. Use Standards
- 1.4. Practice 4. Use Labels
- 1.5. Practice 5. Process Structure and Details
- 1.6. Practice 6. Documentation and Comments
- 1.7. Practice 7. Validation and Testing
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2.
Focus on Process Sequence and Logic
- 2.1. Step 1. Clearly Define Process Start and End
- 2.2. Step 2. Break Down the Process into Manageable Activities
- 2.3. Step 3. Establish Clear Boundaries between Participants
- 2.4. Step 4. Use Decision Gates Appropriately
- 2.5. Step 5. Identify and Represent Alternative and Main Flows
- 2.6. Step 6. Consider Scalability and Reusability
- 3. Conclusion
Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is an excellent way to graphically represent various processes, such as workflows, events, roles, activities, and more. Many organizations use BPMN to improve process clarity and enhance communication with stakeholders. However, BPMN practices are not yet mature. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see teams making mistakes when modeling business processes, which can make the models difficult to understand or ineffective.
For this reason, we have designed this guide to explore the best BPMN practices and help model clear, effective, and useful business processes.
Best Practices in BPMN
The best BPMN model is one that effectively communicates the business process to all types of stakeholders. It is clear, precise, and easy to understand.
Let’s now look at some effective BPMN best practices:
Practice 1. Understand the Process Objectives/Scope
Before starting with BPMN modeling, it is important to understand the process objectives/scope. You need to be clear on the “why,” “who,” “where,” “when,” and “what” of the process. You should thoroughly understand what each instance of the process reflects and how it aligns with broader business objectives.
For example, consider you are creating a BPMN model for a customer service process. The objective/scope of this process might be to improve response times and customer satisfaction. You can define its elements as:
- Why – To improve customer satisfaction by enhancing response time.
- Who – List all relevant stakeholders, such as customers, support team, managers, etc.
- Where – List all platforms or channels handling customer support, like call centers, email, live chat, etc.
- When – List the sequence and timing of tasks involved in the process, such as initial customer contact, issue resolution, and follow-up.
- What – List the activities involved in the process, such as logging a customer query, assigning a representative, resolving the issue, and closing the case.
Once you are clear on the process objectives/scope, you will be in a better position to create a BPMN model that accurately represents the process and aligns with the organization’s needs.
Practice 2. Diagram Design – Simple but Effective
Ideally, a BPMN diagram is a single-page diagram that is simple but effective. The recommended approach is to create a high-level diagram that presents the entire process. On the other hand, you can use nested diagram levels to present the details of subprocesses. This way, you can zoom in/out of the diagram to present different details to different stakeholders.
No matter what approach you use to design the BPMN diagram, ensure that the design is simple and easy to read. Avoid confusing readers with line crossings and keep the flow consistent.
Similarly, if there are multiple consecutive activities in a single lane, try to see if they can be integrated. This way, the diagram can become simpler.
Practice 3. Use Standards
Some process maps are built without following any standard. While they may include squares, triangles, parallelograms, circles, and other elements, the creator might not even know what those shapes mean. Secondly, it becomes difficult for stakeholders/users to understand the process map.
Therefore, another crucial BPMN practice is to use BPMN notation standards and established conventions to facilitate understanding and collaboration. The best are the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) maintained by the Object Management Group.
When you use BPMN symbols and elements, your diagram becomes clear and readable for all stakeholders. To learn more about the notation elements, check our article: What is BPMN?
Practice 4. Use Labels
Labeling is important to improve diagram understanding. When shapes have no labels, it becomes confusing to understand what they mean. Therefore, ensure that your BPMN diagrams include labels. When labeling, keep the label text simple and short, and avoid using abbreviations.
Practice 5. Process Structure and Details
From the BPMN best practices mentioned, we have learned that the diagram should be simple to make the process model easy to understand. However, some processes have many stages to cover. In such cases, the best approach is to involve multiple layers of details. There should be a main “Process” and then a set of “Subprocesses” that divide the main process into layers.
To better understand this, consider the order fulfillment process in an e-commerce company. The main process involves several stages: receiving the order, processing the payment, preparing the order for shipment, shipping the order, and handling returns. Within these stages, there are subprocesses, such as:
Subprocess: Order Receipt
- Start Event: Order Placed
- Task: Validate Order
- Task: Confirm Order with Customer
- End Event: Order Confirmed
Subprocess: Payment Processing
- Start Event: Order Confirmed
- Task: Validate Payment Information
- Task: Process Payment
- Task: Confirm Payment
- End Event: Payment Processed
Therefore, you can first clearly present the main Process and its stages in the BPMN model. Then, you can present the subprocesses. This makes the entire process more manageable and easier to understand.
Practice 6. Documentation and Comments
If the business process is complex, then you should also provide additional documentation and clear comments in the diagram. You can include descriptions of activities, relevant business rules, or any other information that might help users understand and execute the process correctly.
To better understand, consider an IT incident management process. This process involves multiple steps, decisions, and departments. Therefore, if the process provides detailed documentation and comments, it can enhance clarity and execution.
Practice 7. Validation and Testing
Before finalizing a BPMN model, ensure thorough testing and validation to guarantee that the process works as described. You should verify the process flows, sequences, and conditions. Also, check its integration with other activities/systems. This way, you can ensure that users can execute the process without facing any issues.
Focus on Process Sequence and Logic
Process sequence and logic are crucial elements in BPMN. It is essential to structure them well to make the business process easy to understand and efficient. From this perspective, below are some key BPMN practices to consider:
Step 1. Clearly Define Process Start and End
It is important to precisely establish the process start and end points in the BPMN diagram. If there are no clear start and end events, viewers may get confused about when the process begins or ends.
Clearly mark the start with a “Start” event and the end with a “End” event. This helps understand the scope and boundaries of the process and identify relevant inputs and outputs.
Step 2. Break Down the Process into Manageable Activities
One of the most effective BPMN practices for process sequence and logic is to break down the process into small, manageable activities. This facilitates understanding and detailed analysis of the process. For example, if you create a single complex task labeled “Process Order” without providing subtasks, it becomes unclear how this task proceeds. Therefore, try to use tasks and subtasks to break down activities into simple and comprehensible steps.
Step 3. Establish Clear Boundaries between Participants
When multiple participants or actors are involved in the process, it is essential to define clear boundaries between them. You can use pools and lanes to indicate the responsibility and interactions of each participant. However, if you do not use lanes, the roles and responsibilities of different departments remain unclear.
Step 4. Use Decision Gates Appropriately
Decision gates (exclusive, inclusive, and parallel gates) allow you to represent decision-making logic within the process. Without decision gates, the process flow becomes unclear. Secondly, it is difficult to represent different paths or conditions that depend on specific criteria. Therefore, use appropriate gates according to the type of decision and clearly define conditions to avoid ambiguities.
Step 5. Identify and Represent Alternative and Main Flows
In many processes, there may be alternative or exceptional flows. If you ignore them, they can lead to an incomplete representation of the process. Therefore, identify and represent these flows along with the main process flow. You can use specific events to indicate the start and end of alternative flows. Additionally, you should also use decision gates to present the conditions that determine the different flows.
Step 6. Consider Scalability and Reusability
When designing the process in BPMN, consider scalability and reusability. Identify the parts of the process that can be reused in other contexts or that might require future changes due to business evolution. If you do not, it will require more effort later when the need arises to modify or reuse those parts of the process. Therefore, you should ensure to have a flexible process that adapts as needs change over time.
By following these best practices, you can create BPMN diagrams that are clear, logical, and efficient, making it easier for all stakeholders to understand and execute the processes correctly.
Conclusion
Effective BPMN implementation practices are essential to make the most of this process modeling tool. By following the BPMN best practices discussed above, you can create BPMN diagrams that are clear, logical, and efficient. Eventually, this will make it easier for all stakeholders/users to understand and execute the processes correctly.
It is important to note that a successful BPMN implementation is not just about creating diagrams, but also about their practical application. Therefore, organizations are recommended to provide adequate training to their staff on BPMN and promote a culture of continuous improvement in process management. Discover the possibilities of Qflow now.
