What are the steps to convert a Scenario to BPMN?

Question

I have an exam tomorrow and to be honest till now I don't know what are the steps that I should go through to design a given Scenario. For example, when you see a scenario like this

Every weekday morning, the database is backed up and then it is checked to see whether the “Account Defaulter” table has new records. If no new records are found, then the process should check the CRM system to see whether new returns have been filed. If new returns exist, then register all defaulting accounts and customers. If the defaulting client codes have not been previously advised, produce another table of defaulting accounts and send to account management. All of this must be completed by 2:30 pm, if it is not, then an alert should be sent to the supervisor. Once the new defaulting account report has been completed, check the CRM system to see whether new returns have been filed. If new returns have been filed, reconcile with the existing account defaulters table. This must be completed by 4:00 pm otherwise a supervisor should be sent a message.

What is your approach to model this? I am not asking for the answer of this particular scenario, I am asking for the method. Do you design sentence by sentence? or do you try to figure out the big picture first then try to find the sub process?

Answer 1

When BPMN comes to mind, one thinks of people together in a conference room discussing how the business does things (creating what you call scenarios and translating to business processes) and drawing boxes and lines on a whiteboard.

Since 2012, when BPMN 2.0 appeared as an Object Management Group (OMG) specification, we have the very comprehensive 532-page .pdf file with pretty much all the information to create the process diagrams one needs.

Still, in addition to reading the previous file, one can also find many BPMN examples of common modeling problems, patterns, books and research papers which help to understand how certain scenarios come to live.

Generally speaking, we first identify who takes part in the process to understand who are the actors. After, we realize where they get (if they get) their input, what they do with it (if they do anything) and where they forward it after they have completed their work (if they forward). This allows to visualize each actor has specific tasks that follow a specific flow of work and can better draw it.

Then, once the clean and simple diagram is built, one can validate visualizing (IRL or not) the users / actors executing the activities.

Answer 2

There are no exact steps. Use imagination, Luke!)

You can take these funny instructions like a starting point, but they were made by dummies for dummies. Commonly you should outline process steps and process participants on a sheet of paper schematically and try to build your model. No other way: only brainstorm.