Recently I have been doing a series of presentations on SOA and BPM with a combined governance strategy and framework.  It seems that BPM and SOA are a hot topic these days, but there doesn’t seem to be much knowledge on how to effectively combine both practices into a unified effort where both IT and business collaborate towards the same goals.   This is the problem that BPM tried to solve back in 2002 but was not widely adopted because of the lack of IT backing of the tools.   Now that SOA is becoming common practice it’s time for a second look at what BPM can really do for an organization.

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There are many ways to accomplish loops in the BPMN specification.   Flowcharts only offer one way to cause a loop back, but BPMN offers 4 explicit ways, and potentially dozens of ways to create a loop implicitly.  Often my students ask the question “so, aren’t they all the same thing?”   Technically, yes, and no.   Sorry to say it, but there is no right answer according to the specification.  This is up to you to figure out.   The specification does however offer many options that can be used to express certain situations.  But to a newcomer to BPMN,  the challenge is always which one should you use, when, and why.

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Today (April 21st) I’m doing a presentation at AJUG (Atlanta Java Users Group).  The presentation will cover topics related to the relationship between SOA and BPM.   Any attendees are welcome to comment and post feedback on this event.

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Often I see process models that represent the same basic business concept but are modeled with completely different styles.   Technically the BPMN lane and pool shapes are both a swimlane.  But which one do I use, when, and more importantly - why?

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Of the many BPMN shapes, I seem to get the most questions about the BPMN signal event.    There seems to be 3 use cases that are the most common.   But first let’s take a look at what the OMG BPMN 1.2 specification says about signal event:

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Why so long between posts?   I took some time off to spend with my family.

My wife and I have a baby girl who is now 5 months old.  Between family life and traveling all the time it’s hard to keep up with a blog site.   This and the fact that most of my “creative juices” have been reserved for my upcoming BPMN patterns book.

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I just updated the site theme.  Do you like it?

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Before I arrived at Quito, Ecuador I thought it was a typo when I saw the elevation is 9300′ (2835 meters) above sea level. But shortly after I arrived the headache of altitude sickness began and it wasn’t so hard to believe.

It’s very exciting for me to be teaching BPMN here in Ecuador. This is my first experience working with a professional translator. I speak some Spanish, but not enough to conduct a process modeling class. Sometimes it’s hard enough to teach in my native English language, so translation to Spanish I left to a professional. Read more »

Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve added any new posts.   I’ve been learning Spanish for the past month, cramming as much as I can, in preparation for my trip to Ecuador.  I will be conducting process modeling classes for this week and next in Quito, Ecuador.   I’ve had no prior experience with speaking Spanish, so this will be a real challenge.   The goal is to leave here in two weeks with enough experience to prepare for an all Spanish BPMN process modeling class.   The location for this class?  I don’t know yet.   Maybe Chile, Ecuador, Mexico City, Venezuela, or maybe even Madrid, Spain.   I do know that there is a big demand for process modeling knowledge in Spanish speaking countries.

Surprisingly I’m finding more and more that developing nations are more open to adopting the process development methodologies than what I see in the USA.   Maybe it’s because we’re so used to the old ways of business and it’s hard to change?   Anyway, I’m enjoying teaching people that are so eager to learn, even if they can’t understand a word I’m saying

Often I hear from people that are looking to implement a new “workflow application” in their organization. This always gives me a reminder that we (the IT community) have not yet broken through that boundary yet to where everyone understands what is a process and what is an application. Read more »