BPMN in ten minutes: the symbols you actually need
BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) is the common standard for drawing business processes. For analyzing an office process you need fewer than ten of its symbols: a pool with lanes, start and end events, tasks, exclusive and parallel gateways, a timer event for waiting, data objects for forms and documents, and the sequence flow that connects them. This lesson explains exactly those symbols.
BPMN, flowchart, process diagram: what is the difference?
A flowchart shows a sequence of steps and decisions with boxes and diamonds; its symbols vary between tools and organizations. BPMN is a standard maintained by the Object Management Group, with defined symbols and rules, so a diagram means the same thing to everyone who knows the notation. BPMN also adds lanes for responsibilities, events and data objects.
The full standard is large and includes elements for executable workflows, compensation and escalation. For analyzing an office process, a small core is enough. This lesson describes that core as it is used in the app. The app speaks of a “BPMN notation” and makes no claim to cover the full standard.
Pool and lanes
The pool is the frame around the process and carries its title. Inside the pool, horizontal lanes stand for roles, departments, external partners, customers or IT systems; the name of the lane is written vertically on the left. Each step sits in the lane of whoever does it, so a change of lane is a handoff. More in swimlane diagram.
The symbols at a glance
These are the shapes the app draws, and what they mean:
| Symbol | Shape | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Start event | Thin circle | The trigger, e.g. “Invoice received” |
| End event | Thick circle | The result, e.g. “Invoice posted”; can also mark an aborted case |
| Task | Rounded rectangle | One step done by one role, with processing time and waiting time |
| Exclusive gateway | Diamond with X | A decision: exactly one outgoing path is taken |
| Parallel gateway | Diamond with + | Split: all outgoing paths run at the same time; join: wait for all |
| Timer intermediate event | Double circle with clock | Pure waiting without work, e.g. a supplier’s reply or a deadline |
| Data object | Page with folded corner | A form, document or list that a task needs or produces |
| Sequence flow | Solid arrow | The order of steps |
Tasks: manual or automated
A task is the workhorse of the diagram. Its name should be verb and object: “Enter invoice”, “Check request”, “Write quotation”. In the app a task carries its processing time, waiting time, IT system, query rate and the forms or documents it uses.
A task can be marked as automated when it runs without a person, for example an automatic posting. Automated tasks count towards lead time but cause no personnel cost and use no capacity of a role. In BPMN terms, a manual task done by a person in a system corresponds to a user task, an automated one to a service task.
Gateways: decisions and parallel work
An exclusive gateway is a question with several answers, each on its own outgoing arrow: “Complete?” with yes and no. For the analysis each outgoing arrow carries a share – in the invoice example 80% complete, 20% incomplete. Without shares, nothing behind a decision can be calculated properly. See branches and loops.
A parallel gateway splits the case into paths that run at the same time and joins them again. In the quotation template, for a non-standard product, engineering clarifies feasibility while purchasing prices are requested; costing only starts when both are done. For the lead time only the longer branch counts; for the processing time per case and the cost both branches count.
Waiting and data objects
Waiting deserves its own symbol when nobody in the organization works on the case: a supplier’s correction, a statutory deadline, the post. BPMN uses a timer intermediate event for this, drawn as a double circle with a clock. Waiting that happens before a task – the case lying in an inbox – is entered as the task’s waiting time instead.
Data objects stand for forms, documents and lists. They make visible what a step needs and produces, and they are the basis for spotting media breaks: the paper form that someone types into the ERP. More in media breaks and forms.
A small example
The invoice check from the worked example reads like this in BPMN: a start event “Invoice received” in the accounts payable lane, the tasks “Enter invoice” and “Check invoice”, an exclusive gateway “Complete?”. On “no”, the case moves to the supplier lane into a timer event “Query to supplier” and returns with a dashed arrow to “Check invoice”. On “yes”, a second gateway asks “Amount above €5,000?”; on “yes” the task “Approve invoice” sits in the division management lane. Both paths meet at “Post invoice” and end with “Invoice posted”.
Try it in the editor
Incoming invoice processing · 1,200 / month
The invoice template uses all core symbols: lanes for mailroom, accounts payable, department, management and supplier, two decisions, a waiting step for the supplier’s correction and documents attached to tasks.
Open the example in the editorFrequently asked questions
Is BPMN the same as a flowchart?
No. A flowchart is any diagram of steps and decisions. BPMN is a standardized notation with defined symbols, lanes, events and data objects, so the meaning is the same for everyone who knows it.
Do I need to learn the whole BPMN standard?
Not for a process analysis. Pool, lanes, start, end, task, the two gateways, the timer event and data objects cover what an office process needs.
Is the app fully BPMN compliant?
No. The app uses a BPMN notation for the elements listed in this lesson. Elements such as message flows, compensation or event subprocesses are not part of it.
Where do times and costs go in BPMN?
BPMN itself has no fields for them. In the app, processing time, waiting time, shares, query rates and cost rates are properties of tasks, arrows and lanes.
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