Tools for Business Process Modeling using the BPMN

“Business Process Modeling is an important part of understanding and restructuring the activities and information a typical enterprise uses to achieve its business goals. With a modeling tool like Enterprise Architect, you can model, document and restructure those processes and information flows using industry standard UML and the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). Best of all, the process designs and models can be used to drive process re-structuring and software development.”

When it comes to Business Process Modeling, Sparx Systems' Enterprise Architect 17.0 has everything covered.

With EA you can:

Model business processes with industry standard UML
Easily take advantage of the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)
Model processes, information flows and data stores
Manage requirements at a very detailed level
Take advantage of UML Profiles for business process modeling
Reverse engineer legacy code and database models
Produce great looking reports in standard RTF and HTML format
Connect your business process model to use case and software design models for end to end traceability

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Business Process Model

RTF Template Editor

MDG Technology brings BPMN support to Enterprise Architect
The BPMN Add-in for Enterprise Architect provides a full-featured implementation of the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). This allows business processes to be expressed in a standard graphical notation.

Business Process Modeling is the discipline of defining and outlining business practices, processes, information flows, data stores and systems. BPM often involves using a notation such as UML to capture graphical representations of the major processes, flows and stores.

UML provides activity, state, object and class diagrams to capture important business processes and artifacts. More detailed BPM models can easily be built using UML Profiles. Sparx Systems has available for download a detailed UML Profile for Business Process Modeling based on the extensions defined by Hans-Erik Eriksson and Magnus Penker in their book, "Business Modeling with UML". This profile is used to define a set of stereotypes for working with Business Activities, Processes, Objects and Information flows.

BPM differs from software system modeling in a number of important ways. The key difference between system modeling in UML and Business Process Modeling is that the emphasis on how the work is done within an organization, rather than what work is done. It is an important tool in understanding the activities a business undertakes, and the kind of information it needs to successfully engage in those activities. Enterprise Architect can help you identify and document processes within a business, and identify which business processes can be managed more effectively. Also, they serve the important function of situating new and existing software systems within the business context.

Enterprise Architect is ideally suited to capturing and documenting your business process models. Best of all, the models you create in EA can then be used to drive the requirements, use cases, analysis and design phases of new software development projects, all with complete traceability back to your original BPM.

For further information, see the Sparx Systems tutorial on Business Modeling with EA and the UML Profile for Business Process Modeling.