Is this the best process for adding swin lanes to Aris Express or is there an easier/better way?

Hi Ken,

thank you for sharing this with us. I'm not sure if there is an easier way. I would be also interested to see that. But it will get easier as soon as ARIS Express supports BPMN 2, because there you will have swimlanes and pools.

Does anybody else has some ideas about that?

Cheers,

Sebastian

Hi,

as Sebastian described, you can use BPMN in one of the next versions of Express.

But contrarily to our professional products, where you also have the possibility to choose from different swimlane models, Express does not provide other possibilities.

One way could be to use the "activity" objects itself:

1. just place a big activity (just select the activity and click-and-drag in the modeling pane)
   
    
2. place your part processes into this big activity: the "outer" activity will embedd the other objects, so if you move this container activity, all including activities will be moved also.

Does that help?

Bye,

Frank

Hi again,

one picture says more than thousand words, so here is the graphic of my example:

If you move a swimlane, the embedded objects will automatically be moved also.

Bye,

Frank

Hi,

and in addition,

you can create one typical 'swimlane prototype' once,

then add it as a new fragment (all format changes are stored in the fragment pattern)

and thus quickly add further lanes by reusing this fragment as a template.

 

Frank describes this new functionality in his post here:

http://www.ariscommunity.com/users/frank-weyand/2009-08-25-building-your-models-using-bricks-fragments

Regards,

Thorsten

Guys,

Thanks for all the feedback.  I am not sure I understand how to execute in the tool, but I will give it a try today.

If I was to pick one of the two approaches that might be part of your translation from Express to Aris, which would you recommend?

Thanks again for your timely responses. 

Ken

Hi,

If you could use BPMN, which comes, as described by Sebastian, in one of the next versions of Express, you will be able import that data later on into ARIS Business Server. There, you could use the transformation to create patterns and rules to transform this back into EPC, if you want to.

If you do not want do wait for the version of Express providing BPMN, I would go with the idea I described. After importing the ADFs into ARIS, you could copy the content into one of the swimlane model types of ARIS Business Architect/Designer. Unfortunatly, this would not be a automated but manual task.

Bye,

Frank

Frank,

Thanks for your tips.  I modeled the process as you described, and I think it looks/ works fine.  BPMN to BPMN is Aris will be a very good thing.  I'll upload it here.  How do I do that as you did above?

Hi Frank,

Do you suggest that Express is NOT a "professional" product?

For which target users is Express developed?

Wim van Bakel

Hi Wim,

in this community, we use the term "professional product" to refer to our commercial offerings such as ARIS Business Architect. Of course ARIS Express itself is a professional product, but we need a way to distinguish between them.

The target audience of ARIS Express are BPM entry users, who have not done modelling before.

Regards,

Sebastian

Frank, how do I post a picture to the inline conversation?

Ken

Hi Ken.

If you want to add a graphic to a post, you can do it like this:

1. Select the stuff in Express which you want to paste here. Press Ctrl-C
   
    
2. paste it into, lets say, Paint and save it as a JPG or whatever.
3. By using the button "Insert/edit image", you can upload this picture here

Alternativly, you can export the whole graphic from a model as an EMF, there is a button in the main menu in Express for that.

Was that your question? If not, I did get you wrong and like to ask you for more information.

Bye,

Frank

Frank,

That was it thanks.  I just wanted to post what you taught me. 

Ken

I created a detailed description explaining how to add an image to a post or comment. Included in the post is also a short video.

hi all,

  like some people i prefer wait the BPMN 2.0 support in Aris express, in particular exchange format support.  About this point, does it possible to have in this next release, an feature to  transform EPC model into BPMN model ?

Another semantic mismatch is : support of businesss compensation/transaction support in EPC vis à vis BPMN support.

wait and see

regards

djebar

ps does it possible to  follow this feed via email ?

Hi Djebar,

BPMN 2 support is coming with the next major ARIS Express release at the end of this year. I'm pretty sure that there won't be an EPC to BPMN transformation included, because that is not something an entry user will require. The target audience for ARIS Express are BPM entry users.

At the moment it is not possible to follow discussions on ARIS Community by email. We are aware of this limitation and it is on our todo list.

Regards,

Sebastian

Hello franck,

1. just place a big activity (just select the activity and click-and-drag in the modeling pane)
   
    
2. place your part processes into this big activity: the "outer" activity will embedd the other objects, so if you move this container activity, all including activities will be moved also."

I did 1. but when I place new activity or any objects, it does not move if I move the first one. In fact, some times it s working and sometime it is not, have you any idea for this problem ?

Thanks for your answer.

xavier

Hi Xavier,

yes, your are right: the behavior is not nice. This is the consequence,  because emedding sub-workflows into a function is just a workaround to simulate swim lane behavior.

Proper "swim lane models", like we have in ARIS Business Architect/Designer can not be substituted completely by this workaround.

As announced, the next version of Express will have BPMN model type, which solves the problem.

Bye,

Frank

ok thanks for your quick answer.

xav

If you use the Function object you are creating un-necessary embedded relationships and also the relationship between the function and the organisation unit or role is not being created.  If you want to import this to ARIS professional then these relationships need to be tidied up. But if you use a Big Organisational unit or Role, the realtionships will be correct as well as saving time adding on un-necessary objects into your diagram

Hello dear BPM community,

I urgently need your help. I am part of an international organization and we need to map certain business processes, such as payroll, separation of staff etc. Now we are very fond of ARIS Express and want to continue using this software throught the whole organization.

Therefore I have a question. Following: Is it possible to map a parent process as a BPMN diagram, then click on one of the tasks or one of the boxes, which would then open a more detailed description in "Business Process" format (so basically having a separate page opening up with a more detailed subprocesses by clicking on a task in the more general parent diagram?)

I hope thats possible as the porcesses are rather complex which would lead to a jumble and mess of hundered small little processes.

 Thanks for your help.

Laura G.