Process Modeling Standards

[Jeff Aiken]

I am looking for a good source on standards to follow when creating process models. For instance, a task description should contain a verb, an adjective or descriptor and a noun. It also should not contain the role or resource performing the activity. Does anybody know of where I could get a good 'shopping list' of standards?

[mmnolan]

Good morning Jeff,
This Redpiece addresses some process modeling best practices. Malcolm

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/redp4159.html

[skemsley]

Jeff, like any other industry, the great thing about process modeling standards is that there's lots of them. ;)

Seriously, however, there are a few that may be of interest: BPMN is a graphical modeling notation that is being released in its second version from OMG.org, and is used by many of the BPM vendors. BPMN is only a graphical notation, it doesn't include a serialization (file) format, so all of the vendors that support it usually support one or both of the two main serialization formats: XPDL from WFMC.org, or BPEL from OASIS-open.org. Although the "E" in BPEL stands for "execution", in many cases it is just being used as a file and interchange format rather than an actual execution format by the BPM engines.

All three of these standards will give you an idea of how to create well-formed process models. You can also check out my blog at www.column2.com for other information on standards, especially the posts that I did earlier this year on the BPM Think Tank that brought together many different process standards bodies.