Every process in your organisation involves a wide range of people. Technical specialists, business teams, IT — each group tends to read a process through its own lens. But if you want to step back, improve existing processes or design new ones, everyone has to speak the same language and work from the same picture.
That is exactly what the BPMN 2.0 standard delivers.
BPMN 2.0 builds a bridge between IT and the business. Understanding each other is the first step towards working together effectively.
Edouard Cante, CPO SoftProject
BPMN stands for Business Process Model and Notation. The “BPM” part points straight to business process management: analysing, improving, modelling and automating an organisation’s processes, then monitoring them over time. The “N” stands for notation — BPMN is a method for modelling business processes, above all through a graphical representation. Its purpose is to provide a shared framework for describing sequences of activities and workflows.
In other words: BPMN is a standard, while BPM is a method and an organisational approach to processes, usually supported by software.
The notation is maintained by the Object Management Group (OMG), the international consortium behind UML and other modelling standards. Since the major revision published in 2011 we speak of BPMN 2.0, and the specification has since also been adopted as an international standard (ISO/IEC 19510). Today BPMN 2.0 is the reference notation for mapping workflows — usable for any type of process and in any industry.
What changed with version 2.0?
The step from BPMN 1.x to BPMN 2.0 was more than a cosmetic update. Alongside the graphical elements, version 2.0 defines:
- a formal metamodel with precise execution semantics, so a diagram is no longer just a drawing but can drive a process engine;
- a standardised XML interchange format, which makes models portable between modelling tools and BPM platforms;
- additional diagram types — collaboration, conversation and choreography diagrams — for processes that span several organisations.
This is why BPMN 2.0 is the version that matters in practice: it is what turns a shared picture into something executable.UML and BPMN 2.0: complementary or competing?
They are complementary, because they answer two different questions:
- BPMN 2.0 focuses on analysing and designing business processes as diagrams. Systems take part in and interact within those processes.
- UML is a standardised visual modelling language for the design of a system. It focuses on the information system itself — for example through use case diagrams that sit alongside a BPMN model.
BPMN 2.0 also pairs well with other OMG standards: DMN (Decision Model and Notation) for modelling decisions, and CMMN (Case Management Model and Notation) for case management. Together they give you a 360° view of processes and the decisions inside them.
What is BPMN 2.0 for, and what are the benefits?
Sharing one view of your workflows is clearly essential. But that alignment only works if everyone involved — technical teams, business teams and end users alike — can actually read the model. Without a common, universally understandable language, that is far from guaranteed.
This is precisely the gap the Business Process Model and Notation method fills: a common framework for representing business processes graphically across the company. And it is independent of the BPM tool or software you use — an important point, and one that matches our own convictions: at Blueway we believe business needs should not be constrained by technical answers and tooling.
Beyond the diagrams themselves, the BPMN 2.0 standard also normalises object descriptions, their attributes and the file format.
The main benefits of adopting the standard:
- Better communication and collaboration between all stakeholders, IT and business, thanks to a shared and readable graphical representation.
- Greater organisational agility, because processes are precise, shareable and easy to evolve as the business changes.
- A catalyst for process digitalisation, bringing technical, operational and business perspectives together.
- Operational optimisation: eliminating redundancies, spotting bottlenecks and enabling continuous improvement.
- Tool independence and portability, since BPMN 2.0 models can be exchanged between platforms instead of being locked into one vendor.
Digital transformation has to be inclusive and connect every stakeholder to the overall flow of information and to the business processes. Adopting BPMN 2.0 is one of the steps to making your BPM projects succeed.
Edouard Cante, CPO SoftProject
The principles of BPMN 2.0: simple without being simplistic
BPMN 2.0 consists of a varied set of graphical elements used to build diagrams that everyone can read. Three core building blocks form the backbone of the notation:
- Activities — the work carried out in an instance of the process (task, transaction, sub-process, call activity).
- Gateways and connectors — gateways split and merge flows, while connectors link the flow objects together.
- Events — something that happens during the process (start, intermediate, end).
Around these sit the rest of the BPMN 2.0 vocabulary: sequence and message flows, pools and lanes, data objects, conversations, choreographies and more, each with its own terminology. We will not walk through the full glossary here — plenty of resources already do — because our focus is on putting the standard to work, which is where our expertise lies.
How do you apply BPMN 2.0 in your business process management software?
BPM software and BPMS platforms usually provide a workflow design studio for modelling processes functionally, in order to simplify and automate the generation of the corresponding flows and interfaces. They connect the idea to its implementation as an executable workflow, by way of a precise definition of the steps, actions, roles, data and applications involved. That makes them the primary lever for applying BPMN 2.0 across the enterprise.
Not every process management tool respects the standard, however. To get real value from the method, the functional scope should include:
- A library of BPMN symbols (activities, events, transactions, gateways and so on)
- An ergonomic, intuitive workflow design studio
- Collaborative editing across stakeholders and teams
- The ability to import and export BPMN models of your workflows
- Validation of workflows against the rules of the standard
- The ability to decompose workflows hierarchically into sub-processes
- Automatic documentation generation
- Interoperability between processes, data and applications
Strengthen your process and data governance with our platforms
The Process Governance module of our platform for process and data integration is built entirely on the BPMN 2.0 standard. Putting people and business priorities back at the heart of processes is one of our core beliefs — and that requires a shared representation of processes across the company.
With the same goal of making process thinking accessible to everyone, our BPM modelling module is designed to be picked up easily by business users. Roles, participants, steps, activities and actions are all defined in an intuitive, visual interface. Process Governance can also generate specifications that comply with BPMN 2.0 automatically from the model, and supporting documents attached to the model can be carried straight into that specification.
On top of that, the other modules of the data platform ensure interoperability between two complementary dimensions: your data (capture, synchronisation, quality, storage, sharing, exposure) and your processes. Unlock the potential of your flows and your teams with SoftProject.
Process modelling brings the role of the people involved into the light and aligns everyone on who, when, what and how. Technology then becomes a support that assists implementation, rather than letting technical constraints dictate business priorities.
Edouard Cante, CPO SoftProject
Edouard Cante is responsible for the strategic direction and further development of SoftProject’s product portfolio as Chief Product Officer. With a strong understanding of the market and a high level of innovative drive, he advances customer-centric solutions and ensures the company’s long-term competitiveness.
FAQs
What is the difference between BPM and BPMN 2.0?
BPM is the management discipline — analysing, improving, automating and monitoring processes. BPMN 2.0 is the standardised notation used to describe those processes graphically.
Is BPMN 2.0 the current version?
Yes. Version 2.0 was published by the OMG in 2011, with maintenance releases since. It remains the version implemented by modelling tools and process engines.
Do I need BPMN 2.0 to automate a process?
Not strictly, but it helps considerably: because BPMN 2.0 defines execution semantics and an XML interchange format, the same model can be discussed with the business and executed by a process engine.
Which BPMN 2.0 symbols should I learn first?
Start with events, activities and gateways, plus pools and lanes to show who does what. That subset already covers the majority of everyday diagrams.
