When implementing Service Support and Delivery processes it is very important to document the process with process diagrams and textual information. However, when creating the process diagrams the format of the diagram is at the discretion of the author. When reviewing these process documents I have found a wide range of styles and formats being used, which makes the process harder to read and understand. What is needed is consistency in the documentation, this is where Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) comes into play.
BPMN version 1.0 was created by members of the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI) on May 3, 2004 and was recently adopted by the Object Management Group (OMG) in February of 2006. The OMG Specifications defines the scope of BPMN as the following.
The primary goal of BPMN is to provide a notation that is readily understandable by all business users, from the business analysts that create the initial drafts of the processes, to the technical developers responsible for implementing the technology that will perform those processes, and finally, to the business people who will manage and monitor those processes. Thus, BPMN creates a standardized bridge for the gap between the business process design and process implementation.
Granted, BPMN was developed with the intent that business processes documented in BPMN standards can be easily converted to Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) in order to be automated by BPM technology. However, using BPMN without the intent to convert it to BEPL for process diagrams, we will have a consistent format that allows anyone to readily understand and execute the process - assuming they are familiar with the BPMN specification.
Having a standard for process diagrams is great, enforcing standards is another thing. With products like Microsoft Visio, BPMN compliant diagrams can be created. However, Visio does not have the capabilities to validate the diagrams against BPMN standards. For small process diagram this is not necessary; however, for more complex hierarchical processes this become a problem.
We have surveyed the market and referenced various industry reports (e.g. Forrester, Gartner, etc.) to find the most appropriate and cost-effective solution for creating and maintaining BPMN compliant diagrams. There are a variety of offerings in the market from Visio add-ons, to dedicated diagramming tools, to enterprise class BPM platforms. However, what we have found is the Visio add-ons did not meet our requirements, and the enterprise class solutions were far too expensive to be used just for process diagrams.
One of the key offerings of any of these BPMN tools is the ability to not only publish to a typical Word document, but to also produce HTML based process diagrams that can be easily accessed throughout the organization without the need for dedicated client software. This makes the process more accessible and actionable by the organization.
Based on our requirements and industry reviews we have chosen iGrafx for our standard BPMN compliant tools. iGrafx offering a range of product offerings from their basic FlowCharter tool which can create, maintain, and publish BPMN compliant process diagram, to enterprise class modeling tools, and everything in between.
I would invite others to express their opinions with regard to either the adoption of BPMN standards for ITIL initiatives, their experiences with process documentation, or their findings with regard to BPMN compliant tools.
