visio business process model

1. Note to trainers
The videos in this presentation provide closed-caption files as it’s often easier for viewers of all
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If you wish to remove the closed captions, you must install the Subtitling Add-in for Microsoft
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addin/files/Latest%20Version/
Once you install the add-in, to turn the captions off:
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3. Go to the next slide and repeat until you’ve hidden the captions all slides or for any of the
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4. To show the captions again, repeat steps 1-3, but click Show in step 2. If you click Remove
during step 2, the captions will be permanently removed from the video.

2. Before you begin
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3. Microsoft
®
Visio
®
2010 Training
Business process modeling
notation

4. Course contents
• Overview: Basic BPMN diagrams
• Lesson: Includes 5 instructional movies
• Quick Reference Card
Business process modeling diagrams

5. Overview: BPMN basics
Business process modeling diagrams
Learn the basics of Business Process
Modeling Notation (BPMN) and how
create a BPMN flowchart diagram in
Visio 2010 Premium.

6. Course goals
• Create a basic BPMN diagram.
• Create multiple levels of detail by using
subprocesses.
• Validate a process diagram.
Business process modeling diagrams

7. Introduction (2:31)
Business process modeling diagrams
Point to the bottom of the video to see the video controls. Drag or point
along the progress bar to move forward or go back.
Business Process Modeling Notation or BPMN is a standard
notation system for describing business processes.
It was designed to solve communication problems that arise
when different parts of a company use different types of
notation but they need to work together.
For example, a management team might design a process
and hand it off to the IT department to implement
but IT needs more specific information than is captured in
the management notation.
The foundational principals behind BPMN help you create
clear diagrams with a minimum of clutter,
while including as much complex information as you need.
Here’s an example: A change of address process at Proseware
Inc.
It looks fairly simple but there is a lot of information here and
most of the basic BPMN elements are used.
There really aren’t that many basic elements in BPMN.
In fact, there are four. Flow objects, Connecting objects,
Swimlanes and Artifacts.
Flow objects are the main objects you see in the process.
The squares, diamonds and circles. Those are the only three
types of Flow objects.
Squares represent activities, generally Tasks.
Diamonds represent Gateways, usually decisions of some
kind.
Circles represent events.
Connecting objects are the lines and arrows that connect the
other objects and show the direction of the process flow.
There are three types but I’ll explain those later. They are
easier to understand in context.
Swimlanes are the same as in other cross functional flow
charts.
Each person or group involved in the process has a lane.
Each activity is put into the lane of the person or group
responsible for that step.
BPMN also has the concept of Pools which are separate, self-
contained entities involved in a process.
For example, two companies transacting business or a
company as one Pool and Customers as a second Pool.
The last type of element, Artifacts, are for adding information
and details
but they aren’t part of the structure of the process.
Artifacts include text annotations, group boxes that show
relationships
and Data Objects like emails or documents.
In the next video, I’ll show how these basic elements are
turned into the specific steps that are used in the example
diagram.

8. Elements of BPMN (3:59)
Business process modeling diagrams
Point to the bottom of the video to see the video controls. Drag or point
along the progress bar to move forward or go back.
The basic elements of Business Process Modeling Notation,
or BPMN, are similar to the shapes used in other process
diagrams.
But the BPMN standard provides ways to add as much
specific technical information to your diagram as you need.
Let’s look at how these elements are used in this example
diagram.
There are two Pools on the main page of the change of
address process.
One for the company, Proseware, Inc. and one for a
Customer.
The Proseware, Inc. Pool has two lanes. One for activities
performed by the Help Desk
and one for activities performed by the processing center.
Each Pool has a Start Event and an End Event.
The customer initiates the process by sending a change of
address form to the Help Desk at Proseware Inc.
Notice that the connector between the Customer activity
and the Proseware Inc. activity,
that is going from one Pool to the other, is different from the
connectors that are used inside each Pool.
Inside each Pool, the sequence flow is used, which is
represented by a solid connector.
Between Pools, the BPMN standard says to use a message
flow connector which is dashed rather than solid.
It indicates that messages flow from one pool to the other
but sequences are limited to a single Pool.
Inside the Proseware Inc. Pool, there are three types of
activities
identified by distinct icons on the activity's shape and in this
diagram by colors.
How do you know what each icon represents?
A quick way is to right-click the shape and look at the options
that are set for it.
The first activity has a Loop type of None, a Task Type of
User,
Compensation is not checked and the Activity Type is Task.
So this is a user task and if I zoom in on the icon, it kind of
looks like a sketch of a person.
The other activity that has an icon in the upper right corner
has similar settings on the shortcut menu,
except it’s a Script task, meaning it’s automated.
The third activity is not a task, there’s no task type on the
shortcut menu.
A look at the activity type shows that it’s a Collapsed Sub-
Process instead of a task.
That means there are multiple steps involved in completing
the task.
Which, in this case, is verifying the account, but for the sake
of making this overview process easier to read,
the steps are placed on a separate page of the diagram and a
single shape represents that Sub-Process here.
The Sub-Process shape is hyperlinked to the Sub-Process
page so it’s easy to follow through to the details.
I’ll talk more about Sub-Processes in another video.
There’s only one more element to demonstrate in this
example diagram,
and to do that I’ll follow a link to the Sub-Process Page by
holding down the Ctrl key and clicking the shape.
That element is the Gateway shape. There are a few types of
gateways
and they’re identified by the icons on the shapes, like the
activity shapes are.
These gateways have X’s and by right-clicking and looking at
the Gateway Type,
I can see that they’re Exclusive Data with Marker types.
Exclusive Data means that the sequence can follow only one
of the outgoing branches.
In this case the form is either OK or it’s not, it can’t be both.
Other gateway types handle different routing situations.
For example if the process branches into several
simultaneous paths.
But many processes use only exclusive gateways, including
this process.
In the next video I’ll show how to get started creating this
diagram from scratch.

9. Start a diagram (4:50)
Business process modeling diagrams
Point to the bottom of the video to see the video controls. Drag or point
along the progress bar to move forward or go back.
To start making a BPMN diagram, open Visio Premium 2010
and click the Flowchart category.
Double-click BPMN Diagram.
The drawing page is blank but I know I want my shapes
organized in Pools and Swimlanes, so that’s a good place to
start.
I’ll drag a Pool/Lane shape over to the page.
Since I need two Lanes in this pool, I'll add a second one
by holding the pointer and then clicking the blue arrow that
appears.
With two or more Lanes, Visio adds a title to the Pool.
I might as well change the labels now.
So I’ll click the title text once and start typing. Proseware, Inc.
The top Lane is for the Processing Center.
The bottom Lane is for the Help Desk.
Now I’ll add a second Pool for the customer and change the
label.
Each Pool will have its own sequence with start and end
events.
So I’ll drag a Start Event onto the appropriate Lane in each
Pool.
I’ll label the customer event, Customer changes address, by
selecting the shape and typing.
Since the Proseware, Inc. sequence is more complex than the
customer’s sequence,
I’ll fill in the Proseware Pool and then line up Customer
under it.
I’ll add shapes and connectors in one click
by using the floating mini toolbar that appears when I hold
the pointer over a shape
and then over the little blue arrow that appears.
The four shapes that it shows are the first ones in the quick
shapes area of the stencil
but the preview shape that appears on the page by default is
a Start Event which isn’t in the Quick Shapes area,
it’s showing up because Start Event is selected in the stencil.
I want a task shape though. So I’ll click that on the floating
toolbar.
The next shape I need is the collapsed sub process shape,
which isn’t in the quick shapes area.
I could drag one from the stencil but I’ll select it in the stencil
and click the blue arrow when collapsed sub process shows
up as the preview shape.
The collapsed sub process is in the wrong Lane but that’s
easily fixed by dragging it where it needs to go.
Now I need a task, another task and finally, the end event.
The customer sequence is quite short.
Two tasks and an end event.
I just need to line up the Customer tasks with the Help Desk
tasks because message flows run between them.
To complete the connections, I’ll add the message flows
between the Pools.
I can do that quickly by holding the pointer over the blue
arrow
that points from one shape to the other in the direction of
the flow.
The mini toolbar appears but I can ignore that now.
Visio detects that a shape is directly across from this shape
and it’s within connection range
so it puts a preview of a connector on the page.
It’s a solid sequence flow.
It needs to be a dashed message flow but I can change it
from one to the other.
So I’ll click the arrow to keep it.
When I right-click the connector, I see the three types of
connecting objects at the top of the shortcut menu.
I just click the one I want. In this case, message flow.
I do the same thing for the other message, except this one
comes from the Proseware Pool to the Customer Pool.
One last thing to do to get the foundations in place, identify
what kinds of tasks these are.
The ones in the Help Desk lane are user tasks.
A person does something.
So I’ll right-click the first task, point to task type and click
User.
Activities at the processing center are automated.
So I’ll select the Script type for that one.
Then back to the Help Desk with another user task.
I’ll show what to do with a collapsed sub process shape in
the next video.

10. Break out subprocesses (3:06)
Business process modeling diagrams
Point to the bottom of the video to see the video controls. Drag or point
along the progress bar to move forward or go back.
When you diagram a complex process,
it’s usually good to have multiple levels of detail to enable
different levels of analysis.
At the highest level of the complete process, it would be too
much detail to have every step included.
Detailed steps that form a self-contained unit of activity can
be broken out of the overview process
and diagramed separately as sub processes, which are then
represented as a single shape in the overview.
In this example: the collapsed sub process shape represents
several steps.
Those steps are diagramed separately.
If the sub process hasn’t been drawn yet, select the collapsed
sub process shape,
and on the process tab, click Create New.
Visio creates a new blank page that’s linked to the selected
shape.
If the sub process has been diagramed all ready;
select the shape you want to link, go to the process tab, click
Link to Existing,
and then select the page you want to link to in the list.
There’s also the option to browse to another document.
For example: if sub processes are documented and
maintained by each team in separate files, in a process
repository,
you can link to the separate file and it will open.
Even if the file is Excel, or PowerPoint, or Word; for example.
As long as the user has the right program to open the file.
If you are drawing the overview and decide that a group of
shapes should be broken out as a sub process,
you don’t have to draw them over again.
Select those shapes by holding the CTRL key while you click
them all
and on the Process tab, click Create from Selection.
A collapsed sub process shape is added to the diagram
and the selected shapes are moved to a new page.
So far I’ve talked about collapsed sub processes.
You might have noticed that there is an expanded sub
process shape too.
This shape is a container you can use when you want to leave
a small sub process on an overview,
but still make it obvious that the steps form a unit.
To add an expanded sub process container,
drop it from the shapes window over the shapes in the sub
process.
It doesn’t fit quite right and it doesn’t actually contain any
shapes yet, but we'll fix that.
Select all the shapes, then right-click one of the selected
shapes, point to Container,
and then click Add to Underline Container. Now find the side
of the container, right-click it, Point to Container,
and then click Fit to Contents. And while the expanded sub
process tape is still selected, start typing to add a label.
In the next video, I’ll show how to run the validation tool,
which checks whether the diagram conforms visually with
the BPNM 1.2 Standard, and helps you find where the errors
are.

11. Validate the diagram (1:40)
Business process modeling diagrams
Point to the bottom of the video to see the video controls. Drag or point
along the progress bar to move forward or go back.
The BPMN standard contains a large number of rules that
have to be satisfied in compliant diagrams.
Diagram Validation in Visio Premium 2010, helps you check
that a diagram conforms visually to the BPMN 1.2 standard.
To run the validation tools; on the Process tab, click the
Check Diagram button.
This issues window opens.
If you have items in the Issues window, click one and the
corresponding shape is selected.
After you fix an issue, check the diagram again to confirm
which problems were fixed.
Fixing one problem will often clear up several items in the
Issues window.
In this case, a connector looks like it’s attached but it isn’t.
I’ll drag it over and glue it in place and then run Check
Diagram again.
Sequence flow must not cross a Pool Boundary.
I’ll click it and the sequence flow is selected on the diagram.
It should be a message flow since it crosses between pools.
So I’ll right-click it and change the type to Message Flow, and
the other one needs to be changed as well.
Now Check Diagram returns a Clear Issues window.
That’s the end of the BPMN Basics Training.
You can create many kinds of process diagrams, using only
what I described in these five videos.
To learn more about business process modeling notation,
visit: www.bpmn.org

12. Quick Reference Card 1
Start a BPMN diagram from a template
1. Start Visio 2010 Premium.
2. Under Template Categories, click Flowchart.
3. Double-click BPMN Diagram.
4. Begin dragging shapes to the page and connecting them.
Create a new, blank subprocess
1. Select the shape in the diagram that you want to link the new subprocess to.
2. On the Process tab, in the Subprocess group, click Create New.
3. Visio adds a new page to the diagram for the subprocess, and creates a
hyperlink from the selected shape to that page.
Business process modeling diagrams

13. Quick Reference Card 2
Extract selected shapes into a subprocess
1. Select the shapes you want to move to the subprocess.
2. On the Process tab, in the Subprocess group, click Create From Selection.
The selected shapes are moved to a new page, and a new shape is added to the
source diagram to represent the subprocess. The new shape is linked to the new page.
If the process overview is a cross-functional flowchart, the new subprocess page will
include swimlanes and phases that match the overview page.
Link to an existing subprocess
1. Select the shape you want to link to the subprocess.
2. On the Process tab, in the Subprocess group, click Link to Existing.
A menu opens that lists the pages in the diagram, and also gives the option to link to
a different document.
3. Click the page you want to link to, or click Browse to Other Document to link the
shape to a different document.
Business process modeling diagrams

14. Quick Reference Card 3
Run validation on a diagram
• On the Process tab, in the Diagram Validation group, click Check Diagram.
If there are problems, the Issues window opens with a list of issues. If some of the issues
don’t apply to your diagram, you can ignore them.
Ignore issues that don’t apply to your diagram
In the Issues window, right-click the issue you want to ignore. You have two options for
ignoring issues:
• Click Ignore This Issue to hide a single issue.
• Click Ignore Rule to hide all issues raised by a particular rule.
You can view issues that are ignored by right-clicking in the Issues window and then
clicking Show Ignored Issues. Ignored issues are shown in shaded rows with lighter text,
and have Yes in the Ignored column. You can stop ignoring an issue or a rule by right-
clicking it and then clicking the appropriate command.
Business process modeling diagrams

15. Quick Reference Card 4
The online version of this Quick Reference Card has more information. To see that version,
go to http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/visio-help/quick-reference-card-
RZ102712773.aspx?section=8&mode=print
Business process modeling diagrams