People sometimes ask me, what is Method and Style? For a quick marketing answer, you can watch this Ignite video. But if you want a concrete example, read on... Method and Style is a systematic approach to creating what I call "good BPMN"... not simply correct according to the spec, but models that fulfill BPMN's [...]
In July I discussed the features and benefits of the DMN Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK), which provides an ever-enlarging suite of DMN models, including test input values and expected outputs. The TCK website https://dmn-tck.github.io/tck/ then had 4 DMN tools listed. Now it has 6, as shown below: This is significant because the TCK is the true measure [...]
The DMCommunity website regularly posts "challenges" through which decision management practitioners and vendors may compare their tools and solutions. The September challenge shows off DMN and FEEL particularly well. Here is the challenge, as stated: A human resource office has information about all employees in every department including: salary, marital status, age, etc. Help the [...]
I am happy to announce a new version of BPMN Method and Style training and certification using the Trisotech BPMN Modeler. I have offered live and live/online BPMN training for many years using itp commerce's Visio add-in and Signavio, but the effort to create web/on-demand training has always been limited this format to a single [...]
DMN promises something truly revolutionary to the practice of decision management: a tool-independent, directly executable decision language for business users. Vendor implementations that fulfill that promise are emerging, albeit slowly. Unfortunately, many proprietary decision modeling tools have appropriated the DMN name as a marketing decal without conforming to the spirit, much less the letter, of [...]
An often repeated charge against DMN is that it makes iteration - a key feature of real-world decision logic - too difficult for business users. "It's programming!" they wail. "Business users can never understand this!" But actually, it's not so hard. To iterate a decision in DMN you must start with a list. Iteration simply [...]
Earlier this year I launched my DMN Method and Style Basics training and certification, based on the Trisotech DMN Modeler with RedHat Drools 7.0 execution built in. That class covers decomposition of the Decision Requirements Diagram and modeling of decision tables, which form the heart of end-to-end decision modeling. But real-world decisions often involve logic [...]
It's hard to believe I've been doing BPMN Method and Style training for 10 years. With the introduction of a major new version from one of my tool providers, and plans to bring on another tool, I'm now at work on the 7th - and hopefully last - version of the training content. And it [...]
Newcomers to the Decision Model and Notation (DMN) standard may be put off by the notion of a decision table's "hit policy." What the heck is that? It sounds technical. Add to that the idea that the modeler is supposed to select the "best" one. Too complicated! Well, it's actually not. Here is what's going [...]