BPMN 2.0: Essential Standard for Process Clarity – But What's Missing for Execution?

BPMN 2.0: The Lingua Franca for Business Processes

Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) version 2.0 has established itself as an internationally recognized standard for the graphical modeling of business processes. Its primary goal is to create a common, unambiguous language for business departments, process analysts, and IT. Clearly defined symbols for events, tasks, gateways, and message flows allow for the visualization and communication of even complex procedures. This formal notation also enables machine interpretability, providing an important foundation for digitization.

Why BPMN 2.0 is a Cornerstone for Enterprise Processes

Especially in large, distributed organizations with diverse system landscapes, BPMN 2.0 offers decisive advantages:

• Transparency & Analysis: Processes are documented uniformly, facilitating their analysis and optimization.
• Improved Communication: Business departments and IT specialists can collaborate more effectively based on a common visual language.
• Governance & Compliance: Standardized representation supports approval processes, audits, and adherence to guidelines.
• Reusability & Standardization: Existing, documented processes can be more easily adapted, used as templates, and harmonized company-wide.

BPMN 2.0 is thus an indispensable standard for the documentation and shared understanding of processes, particularly when it comes to harmonization in complex corporate structures.

The Challenge: From Pure Notation to Agile Automation

Despite its strengths in modeling, practice often shows: A BPMN diagram alone is not automatically an executable, agile process. Even with platforms that utilize BPMN engines (such as Camunda), the actual implementation – i.e., the development of forms, system integrations, business rules, and user interfaces – often requires significant additional development effort.

A common dilemma: The original, clearly modeled process idea becomes fragmented during technical implementation. Changes in the business process necessitate cumbersome code adjustments, and synchronizing the visual model with the implemented logic becomes an ongoing challenge. Our experience from over a decade in the enterprise BPM field shows: This discrepancy leads to friction, longer development cycles, and a lack of flexibility, especially when requirements change dynamically or numerous third-party systems need to be integrated.

The flying dog Approach: BPMN as a Basis, Agile Execution as the Goal

For this reason, we at flying dog software have adopted a two-pronged approach to combine the benefits of BPMN with the requirements for agile, productive process automation:

1. We have developed our own modern BPMN 2.0 Editor and released it as Open Source. This underscores our commitment to open standards, transparency, and the community spirit.
2. Our Workflow Engine and Workflow Studio deliberately go a step further than pure BPMN execution. They enable the direct integration of actions, code snippets, and complex event logic within the workflow definition itself.

This integrated approach is a core differentiator of our platform. It bridges the gap between the abstract model and concrete technical implementation, making the development and adaptation of business processes significantly more agile and efficient.

The strengths of our system in detail:

• Direct Action Integration: Actions (system calls, database operations, UI interactions) are configured directly on nodes and edges in the workflow model, without a separate implementation layer.
• Embedded Code Capability: Where low-code is insufficient, developers can insert specific code blocks (e.g., JavaScript) directly in the Workflow Studio – without switching tools.
• Support for Multiple Actions: Each node and edge can contain multiple actions, including conditional or parallel execution.
• Event-Driven Logic: External and internal system events or user actions are processed directly within the workflow model, controlling the flow.
• Clear Role and Group Concept: Access rights and responsibilities can be precisely mapped and managed.

This tight coupling of model and execution logic significantly reduces complexity and accelerates implementation.

Real-World Example: Standardization with BPMN, Agile Implementation with flying dog

A recent project with a former Siemens subsidiary illustrates the benefits: Complex accounts receivable processes with SAP integration needed to be standardized and automated. BPMN 2.0 served as an excellent basis for documentation and coordination with business departments.

However, it quickly became clear that pure BPMN modeling was insufficient for the dynamic requirements. Defining SAP interfaces, complex validation rules, regional variations, and multi-level escalation logic would have been very time-consuming with a classic BPMN engine and separate code implementation.

With our platform, these requirements could be defined and implemented directly in the Workflow Studio – including all actions, database interactions, and system integration logic. Changes to the process or rules could be tested and deployed immediately, without lengthy separate development cycles. The result: A unified, maintainable process logic that masters the complexity of the environment while remaining agile and adaptable.

Conclusion: BPMN as the Foundation – Agile Workflow Automation as the Key to Success

BPMN 2.0 is and remains a valuable and important standard for the documentation, analysis, and shared understanding of business processes. However, for the actual, efficient automation and flexible implementation of complex, mission-critical workflows, more is often required than pure BPMN execution.

The flying dog BPM platform combines the best of both worlds: The clarity of standardized process description through BPMN 2.0 (supported by our Open Source Editor) and the power of directly executable workflows with low-code and pro-code options in our Workflow Studio. The result: Shorter development times, greater flexibility, and processes that are not just modeled, but operate robustly and efficiently in daily operations.

Are you already using BPMN 2.0 for process documentation but want to achieve faster, more agile implementation? Talk to us. We’d be happy to show you how our platform can help you not just model your processes, but truly bring them to life.