It came together faster than I thought! BPMN Method and Style is now available on Amazon.com. I had hoped to send out an email blast last night to announce it to all BPMS Watch subscribers from the Mailpress plugin, but I’ve been learning (the hard way) about gmail’s smtp limit… Apologies to those first 100 or so subscribers who probably got 3 or 4 emails. For the rest of you, here is what I was trying to say…
If you’ve been following BPMS Watch lately, you know that I’ve been working on a book that explains how to use BPMN correctly and effectively to create process models that can “stand on their own”? i.e., be clear and understandable to anyone from the diagram alone. The book is called BPMN Method and Style, and it’s available now on Amazon.com. It’s based on the brand new BPMN 2.0 standard, set for approval by OMG later this month.
Creating business process models that can be shared effectively across the business – and between business and IT – demands more than a digest of BPMN shapes and symbols. It requires a step-by-step methodology for going from zero to a complete process model. It also requires consistent application of a modeling style, so that the modeler?s meaning is clear from the diagram itself. I not only explain the meaning and proper usage of the entire BPMN 2.0 palette, but call out the working subset that you really need to know. The book also reveals the hidden assumptions of core concepts left unexplained in the spec, the key to BPMN?s deeper meaning.
The book addresses BPMN at three levels, with primary focus on the first two. Level 1, or descriptive BPMN, uses a restricted palette in combination with some relaxation of BPMN?s rules to meet the needs of business users doing basic process mapping. Level 2, or analytical BPMN, takes advantage of the notation?s exceptional expressiveness for detailing event and exception handling, key to analyzing and improving process performance and quality. Level 3, or executable BPMN, is brand new in BPMN 2.0. Here the XML underneath the diagram shapes can be deployed to a process engine to actually execute the model. The method and style recommended by the book aligns these three levels, facilitating business-IT collaboration throughout the process lifecycle.
Inside the book you?ll find detailed discussions, illustrated with over 100 examples, about:
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The questions BPMN asks, and does not ask
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The meaning of basic concepts like starting and completing, sending and receiving, waiting and listening
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Subprocesses and hierarchical modeling style
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The five basic steps in creating Level 1 models
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Event and exception-handling patterns
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Branching and merging patterns
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Level 2 modeling method
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Elements of BPMN style: element usage and diagram composition
If you have an interest in learning how to do process modeling the right way, or just want a heads up on what’s new in BPMN 2.0, I hope you’ll take a look at the book. If you are interested in training based on the new “method and style,” I’m doing a 2-day class in San Francisco on July 1-2, hosted by the BPM Institute. Click here for details.
Really looking forward to getting my hands on this book, Bruce!
Regards,
Steinar Carlsen
Congratulations, Bruce!
I expect this work will help elevate the level of discourse, and improve a lot of the work being done.
(My copy is on its way.)
Looking forward, aw
Hi Bruce,
The reviews of this book certainly look awesome and I enjoy the articles on this site, my only query before I purchase it is: given that BPMN 2.0 is yet to be signed off, what is the likelihood of change to the standards discussed in your book based on that sign-off?
Thanks
Nick
Nick,
Usually changes in the Finalization Task Force (FTF) phase are minor, bugs reported by implementers (tool vendors). The book focuses on the elements visible in the diagram, whereas I would expect any changes to be in the invisible executable details underneath, maybe minor tweaks to the schema. I would be shocked if the key new diagram elements discussed in the book – non-interrupting events, event subprocesses, and Escalation event – were eliminated or changed significantly.
–Bruce
That’s great Bruce – thanks for such a speedy reply; I look forward to reading your book!
Thanks
Nick
Hello Bruce,
I’ve ordered your book and look forward to reading it.
As someone who is new to BPM and BPMN, I’m wondering if you can tell me if using BPMN to model process control flows can or is likely to replace Lean’s Value Stream Mapping as a way to optimize business processes?
Our organization has adopted SAP’s ERP software and their ARIS modelling tool. They’ve begun to implement SAP in one region of the global enterprise and within a few years we’ll be adopting it too. Can you tell me if I’d be wasting my time by starting to map our processes using Lean’s VSM tools? Does it make more sense for me to learn BPMN and start mapping using ARIS?
I guess the real question is: Is there a place for VSM if BPMN is adopted companywide?
Regards,
Paul
Hi Bruce,
Thank you providing this excellent resource! The dictionary/BPMN 2.0 analogy is very appropriate. 🙂 I also loved the education/training one. 🙂
I’m totally on board with the 3 levels, in fact I see another level at about 0.5, but I won’t go into that now. I’m interested to hear your views on semantic quality and its relationship to each of your top two levels (assuming the execution semantics of level 3 are 100% accurate).
Is it okay at level 1 to model something that is not of high semantic quality, given the reduced palette and possibly lower training/education level of the modeller. Is this the same for level 2? I’m considering things like multiple-instance pools (chp13).
Also, does your book cover parallel multiple events anywhere? Seems to be very level 3 to me.
Kind regards
Sam