Please note : This help page is not for the latest version of Enterprise Architect. The latest help can be found here.

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BPMN Models

If you need to model the activity of a business, capturing the behavior and the information flows within the organization or system, you can do so using the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). BPMN is specifically targeted at the business modeling community and has a direct mapping to UML through BPMN Profiles integrated with the Enterprise Architect installer. Through use of these profiles, you can develop BPMN diagrams quickly and simply, and:

  • Maintain existing diagrams created in BPMN 1.0 format, and create new diagrams in BPMN 1.0
  • Create and maintain diagrams in the BPMN 1.1 and BPEL formats
  • Create and maintain diagrams in the BPMN 2.0 and BPEL formats
  • Migrate a BPMN 1.0 model (or part of a model) to BPMN 1.1, and a BPMN 1.1 model (or part of a model) to BPMN 2.0

The Enterprise Architect installer for releases later than 8.0 provides you with separate versions of the MDG Technology for BPMN that support BPMN versions 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0, and BPEL.

Access BPMN facilities are provided in the form of:

  • A BPMN diagram type, accessed through the 'New Diagram' dialog
  • BPMN pages in the Toolbox
  • BPMN element and relationship entries in the 'Toolbox Shortcut' menu and Quick Linker.

Specifications of BPMN elements and relationships are defined by Tagged Values; for example, to define the Message, Timer and Default Path (/) symbols in this diagram:

BPMN Toolbox Pages

You can access the BPMN Toolbox pages through the 'Design > Diagram > Toolbox : 'Hamburger'' option; select the 'BPMN 1.0', 'BPMN 1.1' or 'BPMN 2.0' option as appropriate.

You can also set BPMN as the active default technology to access the Toolbox pages directly.

Disable BPMN

If you prefer not to use BPMN in Enterprise Architect, you can disable it (and subsequently re-enable it) using the 'MDG Technologies' dialog ('Configure > Technology > Manage').

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