Process Patterns in
BizAGI
Overview
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Types of events
Types of gateways
Design patterns
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list
Events
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Fire as a result of something happening
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A message is received
A period of time elapses
An exceptional conditional arises
We typically perform an action in response to
an event
Event Types
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Message – Arrives from a participant
Timer – Process starts at a period in time
Rule (conditional)– Triggers when a rule
becomes true
Event Types (2)
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Link – Connect the end event of one process
to the start of another process
Multiple – Multiple ways of triggering the
process
Exception – An error
End events
Message Events
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Messages are typically sent by one participant
and received by another
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Send sales order information that is received by
accounting to check credit
The event can be thrown or caught
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Sending a message means throwing a message
Receiving a message means catching a message
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See MessageThrowCatch in EventSamples
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Message Throw Catch
Example
Timer Events
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The event fires a specific time or cycle
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Only applicable to start or intermediate events
In BizAgi, use the Element properties to set the
timer to a date or cycle
Examples
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Time delay to approve credit
Wait for payment date
Start payroll process every two weeks
See Timer in EventSamples
Conditional Events
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Events that fire when an external condition
becomes true or false
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Process A/P checks on Mondays
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Inventory below threshold – generate order
request
 Only applicable to start or intermediate events
See Conditional in EventSamples
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We could also implement this as a timer
Gateways 1
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Gateways are used to depict decisions or
merges
Types
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Exclusive (XOR)
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Inclusive (OR)
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Only one output (alternative) flow is allowed
Gateways diverge or converge
A default output flow must be specified
Parallel for / join (AND)
Gateways (2)
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Event-based gateways
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These are (Exclusive) gateways that rely on
external messages
Gateway – XOR Example
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Exclusive XOR Decision
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See ExclusiveGateway in EventSamples
Gateway - OR
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Inclusive OR decision
Gateway – Example 3
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Parallel Forking – All sequence flows drawn
out of the gateway are taken
Processes and Tasks
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A process is a network of steps
A process can be marked as having a subprocess
To mark an activity has having a sub process,
right-click the activity and click Transform
to subprocess
Sub Processes –
Illustration (1)
Data Objects
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First, we are not talking about a database or
physical data
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We are talking about information about a
process
Data objects are attached to a sequence or
message flow with a dashed line
Data Objects (Illustration)
Text Annotation
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Contains descriptive text about a process
A line connects the annotation to the activity
Workflow Patterns
(Introduction)
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In this second section of the lecture, we talk
about simple and complex workflow patterns
Much of this is derived from the AIFB paper
(Modeling Workflow Patterns) in this lecture
Sequence Pattern
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Tasks are executed in sequence (one after
another)
Parallel Split
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This is a logical AND gateway
The parallel branches are executed
concurrently
Parallel Split (Example)
Synchronization
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Two or more different branches get merged
into a single branch
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All merged branches must be completed before
the process can continue (Implied)
Synchronization can occur because of a parallel
split
Synchronization (Illustration)
Exclusive Choice
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Here, we are making a decision with mutually
exclusive outcomes
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(Only one outcome is possible)
Exclusive Choice (Example)
Simple Merge
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A point in a process where two or more
branches are merged into a single branch
The initial branches are created via some
type of choice
Simple Merge (Example)