BPMI.org

[sjbyrne]

We have embraced BPMN for a few BPA efforts that are underway. A question has been posed to us in regard to "Controls".

Does the notation support (in a visual manner) a standard way of depicting Financial or Audit Control activities that may be embedded as part of a business process?

With things like Sarb. Ox, I would be surpised if this was not considered when composing the standard.

Any suggestions on how to represent these types of activities would be greatly appreciated?
_________________
Stephen J Byrne
Director, Enterprise Architecture
The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company

[Stephen A White]

It sounds as though the controls you are speaking of are specific types of activities within the process models, rather than flow control mechanisms, such as decisions. If this is the case, then BPMN provides the basic shape of the activity (a rounded rectangle), but does not have graphical distinctions between different types of activities.
We believed that there would be many methodologies and vertical market uses for BPMN and that each of these applications would have different types of activities that might have significance. Therefore, we left it up to the users, or tool vendors, to apply extensions to meet their needs. These extensions could be in the form of Artifacts, which are separate graphical objects that can be associated with activities, but are not part of the basic flow of the Process. Another extension allowed is the addition of graphical icons internal to the shape of an activity. These icons or ornaments can be used to signify the type of activity that is being performed. For example, an telephone icon could be used to show that the activity is a phone call. The only restriction is that the basic shape of the activity is not changed.
At this stage of BPMN development we have not standardized many Artifacts or any activity icons, but this type of work may follow in the future.