Element - Process Map

Process maps give an overview of business processes.

Definition

The process map is used for giving an overview of business processes and for this reason does not have a certain notation that must be used. There are many ways to model the process outlined.

Icon

The icon shows a diagram with process arrow icons.

Use

A process map presents processes, organizational units and IT elements and their relationships.

The process map can be added to a whiteboard diagram as a node.

Dependencies between processes and elements from other diagrams are shown in the whiteboard diagram.

Elements in the Process Map

Node

The following model elements can be shown as nodes in the process map:

Icon	BPMN element	Brief description
	Process	A process is sequence or flow of activities in an organization; the aim of a process is to complete a certain task. There is a range of options for modeling a process. You can link the process node to a BPMN process by drag-and-drop, for example, to express that it is realized by this BPMN process.
	Management Process	Special node representation for directive processes.
	Support Process	Special node representation for subsidiary processes.
	Organizational Unit	An organizational unit is human resources responsible for tasks in an organizational structure, e.g. a department.
	IT Element	An IT element is a resource used in the company to execute a process.
	Information Object	You can link an information object with a business object or structure definition at a later stage. It can be linked with processes or organizational units using information flows.
	Decision Junction Point	In contrast to the other concept nodes, a decision or junction point (stereotype «junction») acts as a branching or merging point for connections. Since, for the modeling, the name is of secondary importance, an optional property is displayed instead of the name: the condition for branching or merging. The condition can have any content, it can be empty or can have the same content multiple times.

Edges

Edges portray sequences, flows, relationships or assignments in the process map.

You can use the display options to hide the name in the diagram and display a stereotype property instead, which, for example, can express a transition condition in process sequences.

Icon	BPMN element	Brief description
	Process Sequence	A process sequence is a directional relationship between processes and can be split or merged at junction points. Since, for the modeling, the name of the process sequence is of secondary importance, an optional property is displayed instead of the name: the condition for the order of the connected processes. The condition can have any content, it can be empty or can have the same content multiple times.
	Resource Connection	A resource connection creates a connection between two resources.
	Resource Assignment	A resource assignment creates a new relationship between a process and an IT element or organizational unit.
	Information flow	An information flow models information flowing in the direction shown. Apart from the junction point, all elements can be connected by information flows. You can optionally also integrate the information object itself into the flow, if you want to model the information to be reusable rather than modeling a simple connection.
	Concept Connection	A concept connection edge adds elements which are already connected via a relationship from the concept connection edge to the diagram.