BPMN, appealing or appalling.

Since a few years I help customers to visualize their business processes. It is still very challenging to get the message across that processes are not limited by organizational units. That business processes always drive people to act and start successive activities, maybe in other units. Following activities of the process through different units by visualizing the process using the BPMN helps a lot. Swim lanes in a pool will represent the different units.

It shows immediately that units (or a role in a unit) are not alone but need each other in certain distinct steps in the process and bring it all to the desired end. So, units, roles, people depend on each other, isn’t that an open door? 

The BPMN picture shows it all and thus supports my customer managing his organization. That is, when I manage to make the picture appealing and not appalling to him. This one character difference is crucial for BPM. An appalling BPMN drawing will never be used to support process management, an appealing drawing however may well be used. BPMN has no drawing rules, other than the explanation of the few symbols of the notation. That’s great, everyone with a BPMN tool is able to create process flows in pools. I've seen brave but horrific attempts. Process pictures may be a correct recording of the reality, after lots of analysis’, interviews and tuning, but can still lack appeal.   The BPMN tools are, not by coincidence, known as process designer tools. Design has to do with modeling, styling, patterns and intention. Therefore BPMN pictures have to be designs, they should represent aesthetics. They should attract stakeholders. Users, from managers to operators, should be seduced to view the picture, to seek for details, to recognize his own role, to see his responsibilities, to get aware of the flow and (inter)dependencies, to acknowledge advantages and to adopt this process in his way of working.   Although some tools, like Aris Business Architect, offer nice suggestions how to draw a fork construct for instance, it still depends on the designer how to apply aesthetics and make the BPMN picture appealing to users. Therefore I will share a few easy rules with you all.

• A BPMN pool should be clarifying to others, test regularly when designing (convenient arrangement).
• A BPMN pool should not contain to much swim lanes (approx. max 5), otherwise split up the pool. For splitting-up see next rule.
• A BPMN pool always has one or more end-events. An end-event may be used to associate (association or message flow) with another pool (create symbol: “predefined process”). NB. Also very convenient and user friendly for hyper linking when publishing all BPMN pictures (procedures) as one BPM application (representing the complete business process).
• A BPMN pool should contain no more symbols than readable as printed. Customers always like printed pictures. Be sure that the text in the objects is readable without a magnifying glass.
• Try to avoid crossing lines as much as possible. Make other symbol or lane arrangements if necessary.
• Try to arrange the flow readable from top left to bottom right. Lanes do not have hierarchical or other order. Possibly arrange lanes. 
• Don’t use different colors if they do not have a distinct meaning. It distracts from the essence. (gateways, events, tasks are distinct by shape)
  
  Tools tend to add color to objects for fun looks, but is not standardized and therefore confusing when using several tools, as I do. Why? Maybe next blog.

  and always remember: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."(Einstein).   Cheers,   Alex Stroom BPM consultant Atos Origin NL