BPDMN: A Conservative Extension of BPMN with Enhanced Data Representation Capabilities

Abstract

The design of business processes involves the usage of modeling languages, tools and methodologies. In this paper we highlight and address a relevant limitation of the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN): its weak data representation capabilities. In particular, we extend it with data-specific constructs derived from existing data modeling notations and adapted to blend gracefully into BPMN diagrams. The extension has been developed taking existing modeling languages and requirement analyses into account: we characterize our notation using the Workfl ow Data Patterns and provide mappings to the main XML-based business process languages.