Converting BPMN 'Process' to 'Collaboration'

[HarryPlotter]

Hello Sparx Hive Mind.

We have picked up another 'in-progress' project where the original team developed a library of about 50 BPMN business processes. They are generally OK except for one detail. Unfortunately all the diagrams are 'Process' and not 'Collaboration' (even those with multiple pools).

If the model was just for humans, I wouldn't worry. But there is a chance they will be passed to a (still-to-be-contracted) SAP development team. The previous team were hoping to import it to a SAP tool in the first instance. I am following up with SAP sites and sources but thought I would try here too.

My questions are:
1. Does anyone know of specific problems with leaving the diagrams as-is?
2. Is there as easy way to 'change a diagram type'? (For example, is there an easy way to create a collaboration and clone contents from a process?)

[Geert Bellekens]

Hi,

In general you can change the diagram type by opening the diagram and selecting the menu option Diagram|Advanced|Change Diagram Type

If i is only 50 instances I would do it manually like that.

For anything substantially more you could script the change.

Geert

[RoyC]

I'm also intrigued by the suggestion that the SAP Development team are not human... has outsourcing really gone that far?

[Paolo F Cantoni]

I'm also intrigued by the suggestion that the SAP Development team are not human... has outsourcing really gone that far?

Roy,

They're SAPians...    Like Sparxians, only they live on Plant SAP.

They only look human.

Paolo

[qwerty]

Plant SAP.

But Sparxians are from another Plan[highlight]e[/highlight]t  

q.

[RoyC]

(OT) Maybe they DO live on Plant SAP - Vegetarian Vampires?

[qwerty]

Isn't plant also a word for factory? I know English is a funny language. Almost as funny as German. You know we are all Homo SAPians.

q.

[MMA]

If the pool(s) are under a process, which you think should be Collaboration, try these:

    1. Double click the BusinessProcess element from Project Browser to open the property page | Main | Stereotype | ... | BPMN2.0 from "Profile" | Uncheck "BusinessProcess"  and check "CollaborationModel" | OK | OK
    2. Select the diagram contained by the "CollaborationModel" in Project Browser | Diagram | Advanced | Change Type | BPMN2.0 | Collaboration | Yes

After these steps, it is a collaboration model with collaboration diagrams.

You might have to do it manually on all these kind of BusinessProcess elements and the relative diagrams.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Isn't plant also a word for factory? I know English is a funny language. Almost as funny as German. You know we are all Homo SAPians.

q.

Yes,  but it was merely a typo - it should have been planet.  You try typing on a "bucking" bus.  Yesterday afternoon's bus driver delighted in hitting every obstacle in the road.
"Road calming measures" aren't much use if the driver thinks he's driving an F1 bus!  

Paolo

[HarryPlotter]

Thanks Geert and MMA. We're going to manually convert those that are collaborations, both the 'Business Process' element and the diagram. On closer inspection it looks like we only need to change half - the remainder are true private processes.

Regarding the human comment - lolz, phrasing! I meant 'if it were just for human eyes'. We must be stricter in conformance when importing to a machine.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

[SNIP]

Regarding the human comment - lolz, phrasing! I meant 'if it were just for human eyes'. We must be stricter in conformance when importing to a machine.

Actually, no.  With humans, we are "fooled" into thinking we understand what is being said - when actually we don't.

When it REALLY counts - like Nuclear Disarmament during the Cold War, we have to be just as rigorous...  Look up Helsinki Principle.

Check my tag line...

Rigour is your friend...

The beauty of machine parsing is that there is no "being fooled".  If these are the rules, "it's a duck" or it's not.

Paolo

[qwerty]

"Road calming measures" aren't much use if the driver thinks he's driving an F1 bus!  

Paolo

Guessing from the typos I see in your posts the last time I'm guessing you must be on the bus quite a while So sure, it was just putting insult on injury.

Regarding the "Helsinki Principle": I don't get it. Can you give a link to what you are targeting? It can't be medical ethics :-?

q.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

"Road calming measures" aren't much use if the driver thinks he's driving an F1 bus!  

Paolo

Guessing from the typos I see in your posts the last time I'm guessing you must be on the bus quite a while So sure, it was just putting insult on injury.

Regarding the "Helsinki Principle": I don't get it. Can you give a link to what you are targeting? It can't be medical ethics :-?

q.

Yes, I now work for Curtin University and I'm very lucky.  I go to the bottom of my street (more or less), catch the bus and an hour later, it deposits me at the Curtin University Bus station (via a circle route - search: Transperth 98 circle route - it even makes Wikipedia!).  I'm able to work most of that time, so I get to arrive a bit later and leave a bit earlier.

As to Helsinki Principle, it's ISO/TR9007:
"Helsinki Principle…"

Any meaningful exchange of utterances depends upon the prior existence of an agreed set of semantic and syntactic rules.  The recipients of the utterances must use only these rules to interpret the received utterances, if it is to mean the same as that which was meant by the utterer.


HTH,
Paolo