Business Process Modeling (with UML 2 and BPMN)

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:Define workflow rules for a business process.Consolidate the viewpoints of stakeholders during requirements-gathering sessions using activity diagrams.Describe business use-case workflow with activity diagrams.Tie together system use-cases using activity diagrams with and without partitions (swimlanes) and object flows.Augment system use-case documentation with activity diagrams.Create UML state-machine diagrams that describe the life cycle of a business object.Link use-cases to state-machine diagrams.Convert activity diagrams to BPMN format (BPD).Supplement: Convert activity diagrams to IDEF format. (Included in course material; covered in lectures upon request.)Supplement: Understand alternative approaches to the UML standard, including flowcharting, block diagrams and Data Flow Diagrams (DFD). (Included in course material; covered in lectures upon request.)

IT Business Analysts and their managersSystems Analysts and programmers interested in expanding their role into the business area

There are no formal prerequisites for this course.

Interviews with business stakeholders can often lead to conflicting requirements regarding workflow:Business process modeling is an effective way to illustrate these differences and to develop a consensus amongst stakeholders during follow-up interviews or JAD Sessions.Workflow modeling is a key activity in process improvement:The techniques provide an effective means of analyzing existing workflow and comparing proposed improvements.Complex sequencing rules described by the BA are often misunderstood by developers:The techniques in this course result in standardized visual documentation that cannot be misinterpreted by the development team.The rules that determine how the business treats a business object over its lifecycle are often spread across the requirements documentation:The state-machine modeling technique taught in this course results in a visual summary of the object’s lifecycle from the time the business becomes aware of it until it is no longer used. UML standardization means these requirements won’t be misinterpreted by the development team.