Simple activity CVS export from BPMN flow diagram.

[GEC]

I've been struggling to get just a simple CVS export from activities and events from a BPMN flow diagram. It is actually a list of the steps in the process, but should be in the appropriate order !
So my question is: how is the order of the export determined by default?
How could I easily influence the order of the export?
Why is it not just simply in line with the relationships already made in the diagram and/or project browser?

Now it seems you can get 4 different sequences out of EA:
- order in the diagram - diagram view (order by connecting activities etc)
- order in the diagram - list view (order influenced by filtering in columns but no clue how to manage such that it is the flow of the activities...)
- order in the project browser (order by using the arrows up/down)
- order in the export file (cannot influence and no relation with any of the ordering mechanisms above [smiley=sad.gif] )

Thanks for your expert advices  

[qwerty]

AFAIK the standard export has no order. If you want to impose some ordering you need to have rules (know by you). You could quite easily adapt the CSV import (!) script (is there an export too?) coming with the automation so it fits your needs.

q.

[Geert Bellekens]

Defining an order based on the diagram is not trivial.
How should you (or EA) do that?
Top to bottom and left to right? Or start with the start node and then follow the flows?
What if the flow splits? Which Activity should be first then? And should you first follow a path completely before starting with a branch (depth first) or should first do all of the activities on the first level before descending (breadth first)? And what if the flows join again somewhere?!?

In the past I've settled for a simple diagram location based algorithm for output from elements in a diagram. Depending on the direction (horizontal or vertical) I've used top-bottom/left-right or left-right/top-bottom.

Geert

[HarryPlotter]

Hi there.

Not sure if this meets the definition of 'default', but...

... I have used 'alias' to do this in the past. Set ascending 'alias' values for the relevant elements, export and sort the output by that.

[qwerty]

If you happen to name/number your single action according to the Cockburn schema for use case documentation you can use that to effectively sort the single steps.

q.

[GEC]

Hi all,

thanks for your valuable feedback.
The trick with the alias is for sure a way out, thanks for that HarryPlotter.
Still wondering, since EA does know the interconnection between all elements, why it is not following this as the order between elements, even in just a straight flow where there are no split.
Of course in case of split, there can be several 'solutions' like Geert is stating, but I see EA not following one of these. Even in just a straight flow, the logical order is not used.

Currently the output seems just randomly, so the EA programmer has used some random generator to program the order of export? That's why I was wondering about the 'default' order...

Q, what do you mean with a Cockburn schema and how would you apply it to solve my issue?

[Geert Bellekens]

The current order is probably the "natural" order, which is whatever order the records are returned in when you don't specify an order.

Sometimes EA uses the ElementID as order, which then would reflect the moment in time the element was created.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure nobody wrote any code to "randomize" the order.

Geert

[qwerty]

See here. Basically you will number each single step and make the number part of the step name (e.g. "1 The actor ...", "2 The system....", etc.). Alternatives can be numbered like "1a", "1b" with sub-steps "1a1", "1a2" etc. The good part is that the  documentation can be generated quite easily with this schema. The drawback is that if you insert steps you might end up with a lot of tedious re-numbering/naming (which could be supported with scripts).

q.

[GEC]

Think indeed that's where we are in EA what's interpretation of the order of flowcharts is concerned. Still strange anyhow that they would take 'natural order', while there are different options to indicate the order like put in my initial post  :-/

Pitty that not one of these is followed to export the different steps in a flow. Using the 'alias' field is the workaround but making things more complicated than it should be  

Enjoy your day and have fun using EA!

[GEC]

For the ones interested: if you use alias for numbering your activities, you can easily 'automate' it from the project browser, using the auto-numbering feature (right click on a package: Advanced/Apply auto naming to elements).
So you can use the easy ordering feature first inside the project browser using the green up and down arrows and then let EA number your activities (or what you want) accordingly.
For verification, you can show the alias names instead of the activity names on your diagram as well. Doubleclick in your diagram (or select your diagram in project browser and right-click to properties), and then select in the diagram tab 'use alias when available' and you can verify the numbering at a glance