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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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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