Notations and methods
A comparative overview of the main approaches to describing business processes: from the classic 1970s notations to modern adaptive methods.
Core methods
Every notation has its own field of use. The choice depends on the modeling goal, the audience and the requirements for executability.
The classic flowchart — the oldest and most universal notation for describing algorithms and processes.
A Japanese philosophy of continuously improving processes through small, constant changes made by everyone.
A mathematical model of concurrent systems that underlies the theory behind many modern BPM notations.
A classic structured-analysis tool for showing data flows between processes, data stores and external entities.
A functional-modeling methodology with a strict separation of inputs, outputs, controls and mechanisms (ICOM). A US federal standard.
A high-level notation for depicting the value chain at the level of an organization’s core processes.
A quality-management methodology that reduces process variation through statistical control. It uses the DMAIC approach for improvement.
A high-level Six Sigma tool for defining process boundaries. A single table gives the full context of a process.
An architectural framework and platform for describing business processes, created by August-Wilhelm Scheer. It includes EPC as its key notation.
August-Wilhelm Scheer’s notation based on alternating events and functions linked by logical connectors. The de facto standard for SAP projects and the ARIS platform.
A process-description methodology with support for temporal sequence and logical relations, complementing the functional IDEF0.
UML activity diagrams for modeling control and data flows, with support for parallelism, partitions and object flows.
A Lean tool for visualizing the full value stream from supplier to customer, with a focus on revealing waste.
An XML language for describing executable business processes based on web-service orchestration. Used in SOA platforms.
An extension of UML for systems engineering. Used to describe processes within complex technical systems.
An OMG graphical standard that became the de facto world standard for business process modeling, supporting descriptive, analytical and executable levels.
An OMG standard for describing adaptive, loosely structured "case" processes, where tasks are activated by events and conditions.
An OMG standard for formalizing business rules and decisions through declarative tables and dependency graphs.
Methods by criteria
We compare five key characteristics: readability for the business, executability, tooling support, the entry barrier and expressiveness.
How to choose a method
Four typical scenarios and the recommended approaches.
Use BPMN 2.0 at the analytical or executable level. Only BPMN has a direct transformation to BPEL and is supported by every BPM engine — Camunda, Activiti, Flowable.
Use BPMN (descriptive level) or EPC. Limit the element set to the 15–20 most intuitive ones. Avoid technical details such as messages and timers.
Use VSM to analyze the flow and reveal waste, then BPMN to describe the target processes in detail as changes are rolled out.
Use IDEF0 for functional decomposition or BPMN with detailed role attributes. Many regulators formally accept IDEF0.