Flow-Based Process Modeling: Application in BPMN and Process-Oriented Software Systems

Process modeling refers to a great diversity of approaches found in the literature as well as in practice; e.g., software engineering, enterprise modeling, knowledge modeling, simulation and quantitative analyses, and workflow systems. Without loss of generality, this paper focuses on business process modeling. In this field of study, it has been suggested that Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) preceded by a simple business process modeling notation, is sufficient for design in the early phases of development. These phases precede the implementation stage, when BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) is used. Additionally, it has been proposed that inherent weaknesses of BPMN (e.g., its formal semantics) can be solved by defining BPMN in terms of Petri nets, for which efficient analysis techniques exist. The paper proposes an alternative approach that includes a diagrammatic modeling language to implement this combination of "simple business process modeling notation + BPMN + Petri nets."