UPDATE: below you can see the YouTube recording and additional info about our demonstration.

What to expect from this edition of our capability demonstration? As always, were working together on a set of BPMN diagrams to show that different process modeling tools can work together seamlessly thanks to the BPMN XML – shared diagram interchange format.

This year, we covered more advanced elements of the BPMN specification:

• Boundary events
• Call Activities and
• Event Subprocesses

Our demo scenario is based on a process of handling credit application.

Recording of the event

 
Event started by introduction by Denis Gagné (chair of the BPMN MIWG). Denis introduced our group and companies participating in the demonstration, told about the importance of BPMN Interchange, and provided overview of what will be presented during the session and how it will all work.

You can see the slides below:

Around 7:30 Denis introduces first colleagues, who will be doing the modeling: Björn (from MID), Timotheus (from SAP Signavio), and Mattia (from ESTECO).

Now few things that may help you follow the event a bit easier. Since we are working on 3 different diagrams in parallel you can see how each participant performs his part and leaves, so that following person can import the diagram that was created, add more elements, export it and so on. In the video you can see how Denis acts as DJ switching between our screens to show you the most interesting parts.

For example: Björn’s part is from 7:55 when you see his start page with cute panda (by the way – the process architecture you can see is not part of the BPMN standard) and ends on 9:10 when you can see Timotheus with the part of the model he already created in the background. Timotheus finishes on 10:07 and Mattia takes over and starts modelling the third process from the start. His parts ends on 11:37 and Niall (from Camunda) takes over the model started by Björn. And so on

The tool part lasts till 25:58 when last part was finished by Simon (from Trisotech). In the last few minutes Denis provided summary of the event and introduced all participants to show again, so that you could see (nearly) all of us at once.

Each of us tried to provide a context of what we were doing, so you can watch the video above or if you prefer read the description below where I write what is happening in each process shown during the demo.

The main process (Customer Onboarding) was created by colleagues from: MID (with tool BPanda), Camunda, Software AG (ARIS), KnowProcess, and Trisotech.

As you can see, the logic is pretty clear: after the application is received, a credit score is automatically checked and business rules are used to decide how this application should be handled.

Safe applications get automatic confirmations. Very risky applications are automatically rejected. Cases that are not obvious require a manual check, which can lead to acceptance, rejection, or special handling for fraud.

In case you are wondering: originally when we planned to show automation as a part of this demonstration, there was also some DMN used in this business rule task, but finally, we decided it would take too long and participants would not be very happy.

Apart from the main flow of the process, we also have two event subprocesses used for handling timeouts and cancellation requests.

Now, it’s time to see what happens inside the “Manual check” diagram referenced from the Call Activity in the main process.

Manual Check process was created by: Cardanit (by ESTECO), CaseAgile, viadee, and BOC Group (with yours truly and ADONIS ).

The main flow is pretty easy: the employee needs to decide on the application. If it does not happen within 7 days, there is a timeout thrown. Yes – it is the same timeout that is handled in a main process.

However, that is not all. Apart from the main flow, we also have three event subprocesses (all non-interrupting). The first one deals with requesting documents. We will return to it in a second, since this Call Activity also has its own diagram.

The second one is meant to handle situations when we need to speed up a bit.

The last one (my favorite) is about fraud handling. If fraud is detected, an error is thrown. As you may expect, we will handle it with the boundary event “Fraud detected” in our main diagram.

Last but not least, the final diagram – Document request. It is the smallest one, so there were only two vendors involved: SAP Signavio and Omnitracker.

We do not have any event subprocesses here – only boundary events. The main flow is simple: when we need the documents, they need to be requested, and then we wait for an answer. Ideally, we get the documents and the process can finish. However, some customers may not deliver them right away, so we need the boundary events: one sends a daily reminder and the other triggers a call the customer after a week (we assume optimistically that it will suffice).

And that’s it If you have any questions about this event or the models we created let me know in comments.

As in the previous cases, after the demo I will also add more details to this post plus embed a recording.

If you want to see the diagram interchange live plus have a chance to ask questions to the members of BPMN MIWG register for the live event: https://streamyard.com/watch/dAGGy6KFzb9Y

In 2020 edition of our demo automation is back As previously this presentation will be part of Object Management Group technical meeting (during BPMN in action slot).

As you may guess this event does not take place in Orlando as it was planned, but is virtual so you can easily join us live by registering on OMG website for the event (or using direct link to GoToWebinar registration page). It takes place on Monday June 22nd 11.00 am – 12.30 pm ET.

For the first time we will be streaming the event using GoToWebinar and not Hangouts/YouTube, so keep your fingers crossed!

This year we will have 11 participating vendors: BOC Group, Camunda, Cardanit, Case Agile, Itesoft, KnowProcess, OMNITRACKER, Signavio, Software AG, Trisotech, and Viadee. 6 vendors (BOC Group, Camunda, KnowProcess, OMNITRACKER, Signavio, Trisotech) will be showing automation.

Our demo scenario will be based on a (fictive) EU Bank which documents the current state (AS-IS) processes and develops future state (TO-BE) for the recruitment. If you are using ADONIS probably you will recall those processes since they are (again ) based on ADOmoney Bank example.

Here is the overview process architecture which was not part of the interchange demo as it is not BPMN

This demo covers three processes:
a) Advertising job vacancy

b) Current (AS-IS) application process

c) Improved (TO-BE) online application process.

UPDATE:
The recording is now available on YouTube, so you can watch all the session plus Q&A.

You can also download our diagrams from Github:
https://github.com/bpmn-miwg/bpmn-miwg-demos/tree/master/2020-06-omg-technical-meeting-orlando

Below you can find few screenshots where Denis presents models used in the demo.

As you can see first model was extended a bit with Data Objects and object names were shortened (since during our demos it turned out that we don’t have time to type everything

PS. To learn more about BPMN MIWG and watch recordings of past demonstrations visit our site: http://www.omgwiki.org/bpmn-miwg/doku.php
You will also find there test cases and list of tools participating in MIWG tests.

PPS. Below you can see major points of the webinar
Meg Duncan from OMG starts the session and tells few words about Object Management Group.
Denis Gagné starts presentation at 2:56. Denis mentions 11 participating vendors and BPMN 2.0 10th anniversary.
He continues by presenting idea of model interchange (also including hidden attributes).
Afterwards our scenario is presented: EU Bank and you can see how it is split between various tools.
Please note that many things will be done in parallel since we had limited time for the demo.
Niall from Camunda starts modelling at 8:51 by creating diagram in Cawemo.
In parallel Gabriele from Cardanit starts modelling another process at 9:54.
At 10:55 Denis introduces Frank from Software AG (ARIS tool) who will start modelling third process.
At 12:05 we move to Simon from Trisotech who will be completing diagram from Niall
As Denis mentions BPMN provides a modelling standard, but each tool has own “tool smarts”.
Tim (KnowProcess) starts extending diagram from Gabriele at 13:55.
Since ARIS part is ready, now (14:54) Chris from viadee can continue.
At 16:05 you can see Benjamin from Itesoft who will extend Simon’s model.
Now at 17:20 Philipp from Signavio continues Tim’s work.
Marion from Omnitracker joins at 18:36. You can also hear Denis explaining that BPMN does not specify colors, but some tools support “BPMN in color” extension.
At 20:20 Benjamin is done and shows the first process: Recruitment (AS-IS).
At 21:20 Boris (CaseAgile with Enterprise Composer) joins the group to extend model from Cardanit in his Visio add-on.
Zbigniew from BOC Group (yes, it’s me) with ADONIS joins at 22:15 to continue Marion’s model. Denis tells more about why BPMN MIWG is needed to make sure tool vendors reach a common understanding of the specification and how do we work together. He also provides a small teaser of the upcoming automation part.
You can see overview of the Online recruitment process at 25:10.
Denis invites viewers to ask question at the end of the session.
Boris shows his full model at 27:05.
And now we are ready for the automation part (27:43)!

On June 5th 2017 during OMG Technical Meeting in Brussels BPMN Model Interchange Working Group (BPMN MIWG) presented the Interchange Capability Demonstration.

Below you can see the full recording of the event.

Since I got quite a few questions about the demo scenario from the viewers I thought it would be useful to provide an explanation of what was presented

What is the BPMN MIWG

As you will learn from the introduction done by Denis who chairs the BPMN MIWG, the goal of our group is to make BPMN interoperability true.

What does it mean in practice? Well – if you write a text document in Word, you would expect that content and formatting will be preserved if your colleague opens it in Google Docs – right?

BPMN is a standard notation for modelling processes. What you create are models, not just pretty pictures. So you can create a process diagram in one tool, send it to your colleague who is using different tool for feedback and extensions and move the ready “business diagram” for your IT specialists who will use it for automating the process. You do not need to re-create a diagram in each tool. You do not need to worry about problems with distorted diagrams. Not only visible attributes (e.g. task types) can be preserved but also hidden attributes that are part of the spec or are execution vendor’s extensions.

Sounds obvious? It was not that obvious in 2013 when the group was started. Before that each vendor had to interpret the specification and test their solution with few selected tools to see if everything is fine. This was hard, time consuming and resulted in many problems with exchanging models.

Luckily for the world (or at least this part of the world interested in BPMN Denis Gagne from Trisotech started the BPMN MIWG and vendors interested in BPMN (including BOC Group) got a chance to work together to improve their tools interoperability.

Since this time we did 6 public demonstrations of the interoperability (including the last one in Brussels), prepared over 10 test models and performed tests of over 30 tools (both modelling and automation). Below you can see the preview of the table with test results. Please note it was not updated after the last demo yet (and does not show e.g. results of ADONIS NP).

On the BPMN MIWG page you can see all details of our work – including past demos.

What was presented during the demo

During this demo we were collaboratively modelling few interrelated processes of new employee onboarding. The demo scenario was inspired by a process prepared for new ADONIS NP training videos (ADOmoney Bank case study). The initial models were afterwards extended by Francois from W4 and tweaked by the whole group during few months of preparations for the demo led by Denis.

Why did we need so much time to prepare? It’s because for the first time we were exchanging that many “hidden attributes”. Plus for the first time we tested importing and exporting many diagrams in one file.

Below you can see a picture showing the processes and how were they split into various tools participating in demo.

Common question I got was: Why did you use 9 tools to model 4 diagrams and did it in parallel? Answer is simple: we wanted all the modelling tools to participate actively and did not want to bore the viewers by showing everything in a sequence.

Modelling part

At 8:40 you will see how Tim starts modelling the (main) Onboarding process with Yaoqiang BPMN Editor.

UPDATE: high-def graphic of a final Onboarding diagram

Now Tobias from Signavio steps in and starts modelling the IT process and afterwards Boris from CaseAgile creates second lane of the main pool.

UPDATE: high-def graphic of a final IT diagram

When Tim, Tobias and Boris finished their models (please note that invisible attributes were added in this part e.g. Data Store parameters by Tim) they saved the diagrams to a common Dropbox repository and second wave of participants joined around 12:48.

I started by importing Tim’s diagram to ADONIS and extending it. Francois from (ITESOFT) W4 did the same with model created by Boris, while Antonio (from ITP commerce) continued work of Tobias.

If you look closely you can see that we show hidden attributes added by our colleagues one step earlier (e.g. I am showing Data Store unlimited plus xsd:string definition added by Tim using special feature of ADONIS which allows you not only to take over any data from other tools, but also view and edit it).

Around 17:48 things are getting really busy (luckily Denis was providing narration all the time). Francois had a big diagram to create, so he continues, while next round of participants joins: Simon from Trisotech (who will be merging all the diagrams), Falko from Camunda (who will be modelling the Payroll pool) and Alessandro from Esteco (modelling Facilities pool).

UPDATE: high-def graphic of a final Payroll diagram

UPDATE: high-def graphic of a final Facilities diagram

When all the diagrams were done and merged by Simon, Boris returns (at 25:52) to show the result in additional tool: BPMN View.

Automation part

At 26:30 the models are moved to the automation tools. Only selected parts of the process were shown in order to save time, but the results were impressive and the audience liked it.

You could see how our process is automated on Omny Link (presented by Tim), Camunda (presented by Falko) and W4 (presented by Benjamin).

Please note that automation did not happen “automagically” in a matter of minutes. Our colleagues were using models from our previous session since automation of a process takes some time (especially if you need to add some nice looking forms, provide integration with other systems etc). However after the event Falko showed me how to move from a simple diagram to a proof of concept automation in a matter of 15 minutes. While sitting in a train!

Your takeaways

1) BPMN allows you to interchange diagrams between various tools.
2) You can model “business diagram” in one tool and move the diagram to the automation tool where it will be extended with needed details and executed. And than you can move the diagram back to the “business tool” (it’s called “roundtrip”).
3) If you want to see how your current (or potential) tool supports BPMN interchange you should take a look at the BPMN MIWG page and see the demo recordings plus test results.

PS. You can also view few tweets with pictures from the event:
https://twitter.com/frncsbnnt/status/871743471526268928
https://twitter.com/tstephen10/status/871759599971557378

There was also a press release about it.

The demo session was very successful and in less than a half of hour participants of the demo could learn more about the BPMN MIWG (from Simon who did the introduction and coordinated our session) and see how a BPMN diagram moves between the “business tools” which change the model (this time Falko started with bpmn.io, I took over with ADONIS and Simon did the last changes with Trisotech) to the execution engines.

This time we had 3 execution engines: W4 (presented by François), Camunda (Falko), and Omny Link (by Tim). As the model was directly transferred to execution with no time for adding technical attributes, there was no room for errors. And there were none – everything went smoothly, proving that BPMN interoperability is possible among the tools from BPMN Champions League (term coined by Falko in his post about the event).

Apart from the BPMN MIWG demonstration there were many other interesting sessions during the online summit covering topics like BPM of Things, creating living process applications, digital transformation, digital business (yes – digital was popular topic…), DMN and operational excellence. I also had a chance to present few tips for building the process architecture.

To my surprise my blog (BPM Tips) received the award of “Best BPM promoter in Eastern Europe 2015”.

If you did not have a chance to join the Online Summit do not worry as the organizers will soon add the possibility to watch the recordings – I will update this post when they are live.

Recording of the BPMN MIWG session:

My session on Business Process Architecture:

Do you need to move your business process models from one tool to another as part of your process improvement lifecycle? Would you like to learn more about BPMN interoperability and how BPMN can benefit your organization? Interested in meeting BPMN experts and being among the first to know about current and future technologies in business process modeling and automation? A live demonstration of BPMN Model Interchange will concurrently take place during the OMG Technical Meeting and bpmNEXT. Sign up for either event to witness this demonstration in person. The event will be hosted by Denis Gagne of OMG BPMN Model Interchange Working Group (BPMN MIWG) featuring a multitude of BPMN-based tools and platforms. Do not miss the opportunity to see a smooth and complete interchange of process models between leading software vendors. Cannot make it? Then join the live stream of the interchange demo via this link: Live-Stream

Participants of the demonstration include:

		At a glance: bpmNEXT When: March 25th-27th, 2014 Interchange Demo: March 26th, 2014 at 11:00hrs (PT) Where: Asilomar Conference Grounds 800 Asilomar Ave, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, United States OMG technical meeting When: March 24th-28th, 2014 Interchange Demo: March 26th, 2014 at 14:00hrs (ET) Where: Hyatt Regency Reston 1800 Presidents Street, Reston, VA 20190 bpmNEXT will showcase what’s next in the area of business process management from 25-27 march. Witness the latest developments in the BPM area and see how to ensure your organization’s ability with the commitment to standards, interoperability and sustainability. Learn how to continue to use the systems and technologies you currently have in place and be ahead with future technologies. Find more information about the program and the speakers at the bpmNEXT website. The OMG technical meeting on 24-28 march brings together IT architects, business analysts and government experts as well as vendors and end users. Every meeting is a great opportunity to meet and network with these experts and to get a firsthand insight about how to influence the direction of future standards. Connect directly with standards specialists of the tech industry, and learn about the future landscape of enterprise technologies. Find more information on the OMG website, and save the date now!