IBM Certification Test 992.2 - Modeling
How to Use modeling elements to accurately describe a business process
The task of modeling a process consists of defining the details of a business process flow, and modeling all the data, resources, and other elements that are used by the flow.
Modeling elements Overview(
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Use modeling elements to model a business process. Modeling elements can be divided into two major groups:
- Modeling elements that are displayed in the Project Tree
- modeling elements that are displayed in the Process Diagram (
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| Project Tree | Process Diagram |
| The project tree displays a collection of catalogs. A catalog is a container that holds elements of related types within your model. A catalog performs the same function as a folder in a traditional directory structure. Catalogs group elements of the same type together in the Project Tree view. For example, you can group any process that you create in a catalog called Processes. When you create a project, a number of catalogs are created for you by default, according to the different elements that you can model. Some contain predefined elements, while others are designed to hold the model elements that you create. These include the following catalogs: You can use these catalogs to store your model elements, or you can create new catalogs that more accurately reflect how you want to set up your project. For example, rather than use the default Processes catalog to store all of your processes, you might want to create new catalogs called Accounting, Human Resources, and Order Fulfillment. You can create any number of catalogs, organized according to how you wish to maintain your project. |
The process diagram is a graphical representation of a business process flow, consisting of activities and the connections between these activities. You can use a process diagram to visually compose a process flow, using elements that you drag and drop from the palette or from the Project Tree view. A process diagram can contain the following global elements , which you can drag and drop from the Project Tree view:
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Catalogs
A catalog is a container that holds elements of related types within your model.A catalog performs the same function as a folder in a traditional directory structure. Catalogs group elements of the same type together in the Project Tree view. For example, you can group any process that you create in a catalog called Processes.
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Data catalogs
A data catalog is a container that holds business item templates, business items, business item instances, notification templates, and notifications. Data catalogs are displayed in the Project Tree view. A data catalog performs the function of a folder, allowing you to group a related set of business items and notifications that you create to model your business operations. For example, the ABC Project sample contains a single data catalog, Business items, which contains all of the different business items used in its processes. Alternatively, you could create a separate data catalog for each of your separate business operations, such as Accounting to hold all bills and invoices, Forms to contain all business forms, and Inventory to contain all inventory items. Each time you create a project, a data catalog called Business items is created for you. You can nest data catalogs inside one another. This enables you to create a multilevel structure to contain your items. Remember: The fully qualified name of any element (which includes the workspace location and the catalog structure as well as the element name) must not exceed 256 characters. If you use long names for catalogs and project elements, and if you nest the catalogs several levels deep, you may approach or pass this limitation. WebSphere® Business Modeler will allow you to pass the 256 character limit, but if you export such a project and later try to import it, then any elements with a path longer than 256 characters (including the target workspace location) will not be imported. Additionally, if you export a project that contains element names that are below the limit, but then import the project into a workspace with a longer path than the workspace of the original project, then any elements that would have a path longer than 256 characters in the new project will not be imported. Parent topic: Creating data catalogs |
Process catalogs A process catalog is a container that holds processes, tasks, repositories, and services. Process catalogs are displayed in the Project Tree view. A process catalog performs the function of a folder, allowing you to group a related set of processes, tasks, repositories, and services that you create to model your business operations. For example, the ABC Project sample contains a single process catalog, Processes, which contains all of its processes, tasks, repositories, and services. Alternatively, you could create a separate catalog for each of your separate business operations, such as Ordering to contain all the customer order functions of the business, and Production to contain the production functions. Each time you create a project, a process catalog called Processes is created for you. You can nest process catalogs inside one another. This enables you to create a multilevel structure to contain your processes. Remember: The fully qualified name of any element (which includes the workspace location and the catalog structure as well as the element name) must not exceed 256 characters. If you use long names for catalogs and project elements, and if you nest the catalogs several levels deep, you may approach or pass this limitation. WebSphere® Business Modeler will allow you to pass the 256 character limit, but if you export such a project and later try to import it, then any elements with a path longer than 256 characters (including the target workspace location) will not be imported. Additionally, if you export a project that contains element names that are below the limit, but then import the project into a workspace with a longer path than the workspace of the original project, then any elements that would have a path longer than 256 characters in the new project will not be imported. Parent topic: Creating process catalogs Related tasks |
Resource catalogs Parent topic: Creating resource catalogs |
Modeling process flow
Creating a process diagram involves modeling the processes, tasks, repositories, and services that represent your business process and the flow elements that connect the process.
- Global and local process elements
Business processes can contain elements that are reusable by other processes or are owned by the process itself. In a WebSphere® Business Modeler project, these elements consist of tasks, processes, and repositories that are defined as either global or local. Global elements are found in the Project Tree view and are reusable by other processes. Local elements are found within a process and exist only within that process. - Process diagrams
The process diagram is a graphical representation of a business process flow, consisting of activities and the connections between these activities. You can use a process diagram to visually compose a process flow, using elements that you drag and drop from the palette or from the Project Tree view. - Common modeling patterns
To help you choose the most appropriate elements for modeling your processes, you can review some commonly used flow patterns and the suggested elements to implement them. - Selecting modeling modes
WebSphere Business Modeler has different modeling modes that allow you to capture different levels of detail in your process models. - Creating processes
Processes are representations of business process flows. Each process has a specification that defines the inputs and outputs of the process, and a process diagram that visually represents the internal details of the process flow as well as showing the inputs and outputs. - Creating tasks
Tasks can either be global tasks, created in the Project Tree view, or local tasks that you create when you add them to a process diagram. - Adding flow elements to process diagrams
To fully define a process model, you need to add flow elements to your process diagrams. For example, you need to add elements such as decisions and merges to your process flow. - Creating repositories
Repositories are storage areas for the information that is created in a business process. - Creating services
External processes that can be used within an organization’s processes, such as those provided by a payroll service or transportation service, can be modeled as services and placed in the Project Tree view for use in process diagrams. - Adding element specifications
After creating an element, you can optionally add attributes to further define the element. For example, for a task, you might add two inputs and outputs, a required resource, and the processing cost. - Creating classifiers
Classifiers enable you to categorize and color-code process elements. You can use the provided set of classifiers or create your own. - Managing process diagrams
Knowing some tips and shortcuts for working with process diagrams can save you time and simplify your work. - Color-coding elements
You can add colors to resource definitions, roles, organization units, locations, and classifier values. When you then associate these items with elements in the Process diagram (such as tasks), you can color-code the diagram to see at a glance which elements are associated with specific values. For example, if you add blue to the Customer Service Representative role and green to the Supervisor role, you can use color-coding in the Process editor to see how many tasks each role performs. - Applying swimlane layout to process diagrams
You can organize the elements in your process diagrams into swimlanes according to different kinds of groupings. For example, you could group elements into swimlanes based on the roles associated with tasks. - Changing settings for process diagrams
You can change the settings that affect how WebSphere Business Modeler displays elements in process diagrams to customize the display according to your needs.
Parent topic: Modeling processes
Modeling elements Details (
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- See Project Tree view buttons and icons for project tree modeling element details
- See Palette icons for process diagram modeling element details
Common modeling patterns
To help you choose the most appropriate elements for modeling your processes, you can review some commonly used flow patterns and the suggested elements to implement them.
- Split paths in process flows
You can split the path of a process flow in a number of different ways. The method you use to create the paths depends on whether the new paths are exclusive (only one can occur at a time) or inclusive (more than one path can occur at the same time). If the paths are inclusive, the method you use to create the paths depends on whether each path is always followed, or if one or more of the paths is followed depending on some condition. - Combined paths in process flows
You can combine parallel paths back into a single path in several ways. The method you use to combine the paths depends on whether the parallel paths are exclusive (only one can occur at a time) or inclusive (more than one path can occur at the same time). If the paths are inclusive, the method used to combine the paths depends on whether the paths need to be synchronized. If the paths are synchronized, the outgoing path must wait for all incoming paths to complete before continuing. - Repeated segments in process flows
A cycle occurs when a segment of the process flow is repeated until some condition is met. Use a loop to model a cycle, but be careful that what you model is a true cycle.
Parent topic: Modeling process flow
Related concepts
Modeling techniques for application development
Related tasks
Specifying inputs
Specifying input criteria
Related concepts
Modeling techniques for application development
Related tasks
Specifying inputs
Specifying input criteria
Adding flow elements to process diagrams
To fully define a process model, you need to add flow elements to your process diagrams. For example, you need to add elements such as decisions and merges to your process flow.
- Adding start, end, and terminate nodes
You can add a start node to a process diagram to identify the beginning of a process flow, a terminate node to indicate the end of the process as a whole, or an end node to indicate where a particular flow ends. At least one terminate node is required within every process, subprocess, and loop. When a flow reaches a terminate node while the process is running, the process immediately terminates, even if there are other currently executing flows within the process. End nodes, by contrast, are simply visual markers within a process that identify the end of a particular flow.
- Connecting elements in process diagrams
You can connect tasks, subprocesses, and other elements together to model the flow of information through a process. You can also pass data along connections by associating a business item or basic type with a connection.
- Adding annotations
You can add an annotation with additional description or comments anywhere in a process diagram.
- Adding decisions
You can add a decision to a process diagram to route input to one of several alternative outgoing paths.
- Adding forks
You can add a fork when you want to perform two or more tasks in parallel. A fork makes copies of its inputs and forwards them by several processing paths.
- Adding merges and joins
You can add a merge or join to a process diagram to recombine processing paths, bringing several alternative flows back into a single flow. A join also synchronizes the flows, by combining two or more parallel paths that must all complete before they continue along a single path. You will typically use a merge after a decision and a join after a fork.
- Adding loops
You can add any of the three kinds of loops to a process diagram. For loops repeat the same sequence of activities a specified number of times. While loops and do-while loop repeat the same sequence of activities as long as some condition is true. Do-while loops are guaranteed to run at least once, whereas while loops will never run if the condition is false from the start.
- Adding maps
You can add a map to a process diagram to specify how to transform input data into output data. The map provides the same functionality as a local task and is provided only for diagramming purposes.
- Adding observers
You can add an observer to a process diagram. The observer observes some value (typically the number of items in a repository) and produces output when the value reaches a defined threshold.
- Adding timers
You can add a timer to a process diagram. The timer produces output at a specified point in time.
- Adding notification broadcasters
You can add a notification broadcaster to a process diagram. The notification broadcaster broadcasts a notification when a specific event occurs.
- Adding notification receivers
You can add a notification receiver to a process diagram. The notification receiver receives notifications and can take some action as a result.
- Adding elements to off-screen areas
When you are working in the Process editor and have a large diagram, you may want to drop an element onto an area of the diagram that is not currently visible.
- Removing elements from process diagrams
When you no longer need an element in a process flow, you can delete the element from the process diagram.
Parent topic: Modeling process flow
Related links
- Business Process Management: Modeling through Monitoring Using WebSphere V6.0.2 Products
- WebSphere business process management zone (IBM Developerworks)
- WebSphere Business Modeler certification exam 992 prep, Part 2: Model business processes
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