BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation)
BPMN is an international notation standard for graphically describing business processes, providing a common communication language between business and IT.
What is BPMN
BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) is an international standard of graphical notation for modeling business processes, developed by the Object Management Group (OMG). The current version BPMN 2.0 (2011) is ISO/IEC 19510 and is supported by all leading BPMS vendors. BPMN provides a unified graphical notation understandable to all stakeholders: from business analysts to developers and managers. This notation is the basis for effective business process management (BPM) and is closely related to business process management systems (BPMS).
BPMN was developed in the early 2000s to bridge the gap between business modeling and IT implementation. Before BPMN, there were many notations (IDEF0, EPC, UML Activity Diagrams), but none of them was simultaneously understandable to business and sufficient for technical implementation. BPMN 2.0 solved this problem by adding formal semantics for executing models.
Today BPMN is the de facto standard for modeling business processes in banks, insurance companies, government bodies and industrial enterprises. More than 80% of all process automation projects use BPMN.
Main BPMN elements
The BPMN 2.0 notation includes more than 50 graphical elements divided into five categories: flow objects (events, activities, gateways); connecting objects (sequence flows, message flows); roles (pools and lanes); artifacts (data, groupings, annotations). This completeness allows describing processes of any complexity: from simple linear sequences to complex orchestrations. The key advantage of BPMN is strict formal semantics, which allows executing models on a BPM engine without manual programming. Read more about the relationship between BPMN and BPMS in the BPMS section.
Flow objects are the main BPMN elements. Events denote the start, intermediate points and end of a process. Activities represent the work being performed — tasks or sub-processes. Gateways manage branching and merging of flows.
Connecting objects determine the execution order. Sequence flows show the order of activity execution. Message flows display the exchange of information between process participants. Associations link artifacts with flow objects.
BPMN modeling levels
BPMN supports three modeling levels: Descriptive — a simplified notation for communication with business; Analytical — the full notation for detailed process description; Executable — a model for direct execution on the engine. In practice, the "from descriptive to executable" approach is used: first a simplified model is created for approval, then it is detailed to the automation level. The training service offers BPMN 2.0 courses for business analysts and developers.
The descriptive level uses a limited set of elements (up to 20), which makes the notation accessible to business users. The analytical level adds elements for detailed description (up to 40 elements). The executable level requires a full set of elements and strict compliance with BPMN semantics.
Transition between levels requires consistent refinement of the model. This approach allows involving business users in the modeling process at early stages and gradually detailing the model to a level sufficient for automation.
BPMN and digital transformation
Implementing BPMN as a corporate modeling standard reduces the time for requirements approval between business and IT by 30-40%, improves the quality of process documentation and allows automatically generating executable code. Our products, such as SINTEZ-M, support import/export of BPMN models in the standard XMI format. The full text of the standard and model examples are available in the documents section.
BPMN is also the basis for digital transformation of public administration. It allows formalizing administrative regulations and automating their execution, which reduces the time for providing public services and improves their quality.
In the future, BPMN will develop towards greater integration with artificial intelligence technologies. This will allow automatically analyzing process models, identifying bottlenecks and offering optimizations, as well as adapting processes in real time based on data analysis.
Frequently asked questions
What is BPMN in simple words?
BPMN is an international language for drawing business process diagrams, understandable to both business and IT specialists. It allows clearly showing who, what and in what sequence does to achieve a goal. BPMN diagrams can be directly executed in BPMS systems, which eliminates the gap between design and implementation. You can familiarize yourself with the basic principles in our glossary.
What is the difference between BPMN and UML?
BPMN focuses on workflows and business processes, showing who and what does to achieve a business goal. UML is a universal language for designing software architecture, classes, databases and logic within information systems. BPMN is understandable to managers and analysts, UML — mainly to developers. BPMN diagrams can be directly executed in BPMS, and UML — transformed into program code. Read more about notations in the our technologies section.
Where to draw BPMN diagrams?
Professional editors are available for creating BPMN diagrams: Camunda Modeler (free, with execution support), Bizagi Modeler (for beginners), as well as online services Draw.io and Miro for teamwork. In corporate environments, Microsoft Visio is often used. If you plan to automate processes, choose tools with BPMN 2.0 support and integration with BPMS. Our products, such as SINTEZ-M, include a built-in BPMN model designer.
What is a BPMN system?
A BPMN system (or BPMS) is software for automating business processes, where the work logic is built using graphical diagrams in the BPMN language. The system reads the diagram, converts it into code and automatically distributes tasks between participants, tracks metrics and allows making changes on the fly. Such systems are used to manage approvals, order processing and HR processes. Read more about the capabilities on the SINTEZ-M page.
What is the difference between BPMN and IDEF0?
IDEF0 is a functional modeling notation that shows a system as a set of interrelated functions, but does not define the sequence of their execution in time. BPMN, on the contrary, is focused on workflows and time sequences, which allows not only describing, but also automating processes in BPMS. BPMN has strict formal semantics for machine interpretation, which IDEF0 does not have. Learn more about notations in our glossary.
Is BPMN still relevant?
BPMN remains a relevant standard, especially in the AI era. Enterprises still need control tools, audit logs, retries and clear definition of responsible parties. If AI is the brain, then orchestration through BPMN is the nervous system for coordinated actions. BPMN models can be integrated with low-code platforms for rapid automation. Read more about application in the technologies section.
Why is BPMN the standard for business process modeling?
BPMN 2.0 is an international standard (ISO/IEC 19510) developed by the Object Management Group and supported by all leading BPMS vendors. It provides a unified graphical language understandable to both business analysts and developers, and its strict formal semantics allow process models to be executed directly on a BPM engine without manual programming. This makes BPMN the de facto standard for process automation projects in banks, government bodies and industry.
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BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation)
BPMN is an international notation standard for graphically describing business processes, providing a common communication language between business and IT.
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