Chapter 1 - Introduction to Business Process Visual ARCHITECT
Chapter 1 - Introduction to Business Process Visual ARCHITECT
What is Business Process Visual ARCHITECT™
Business Process Visual ARCHITECT (BP-VA) is a visual modeling tool that provides the most extensive support for the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) - a widely used business process notation that is intuitive to business users yet able to represent complex process semantics.
More than just a BPMN diagramming tool, BP-VA offers the following key benefits to make business process modeling faster, better and easier:
Intuitive User Interface
In BP-VA, project resources and modeling facilities are well-organized in dockable windows (Diagram Navigator, Model, Property, etc), you can show/hide and re-arrange the windows to create your favorite modeling environment.
Figure 1.1 - User Interface of BP-VA
Most modeling or diagramming operations can be carried out quickly by in-place editing, context menu or through the property table. This saves you a dramatic amount of time compared to using modal dialog boxes in traditional diagramming tools.
Figure 1.2 - Context menu
To make diagramming and modeling even more efficient, BP-VA adopts the resource-centric interface, where context-sensitive shortcut buttons (hereafter referred as "resource" ) will be shown around the active diagram element. Each resource provides a functionality that you would likely to perform frequently, like creating a connection to a new/existing shape, opening the model specification, resizing a shape to fit. Since the resources are shown around the active diagram element, you can save considerable time and mouse move to access the menu bar or toolbar for the desired functionality.
Figure 1.3 - Resource-centric interface
Complete BPMN Specification and Notation Support
BP-VA completely covers the latest Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), from model specification to graphical notation, including different presentation options. You can easily model your business process by drawing Business Process Diagrams and present them to your business partners that understand BPMN.
Figure 1.4 - Complete BPMN specification and notation support
Intelligent Notation Validation and Modeling Assistance
To ensure you are always on the right track, BP-VA provides intelligent notation validation while you are editing the diagrams. Warning sign will be shown on the diagram if you try to make an invalid connection between shapes. When shapes are moved between pools that caused invalid business flows, those invalid flows are analyzed and displayed, with suggested quick fixes for you to quickly correct the problems.
In the License Agreement screen, read the BP-VA license agreement. Select I accept the agreement and click Next if you agree with it, otherwise click Cancel to exit the installation.
In the Select Destination Directory screen, select a directory for installing BP-VA. Click Next to continue.
In the Select Start Menu Folder screen, select a new or an existing Start menu folder for BP-VA. Click Next to continue.
In the Select File Associations screen, select to associate files with extension .vpp if you want them to be opened with BP-VA automatically. Click Next to continue.
In the Products Configuration screen, enter the file path of your BP-VA license key. If the license key is not ready at the moment, just leave it blank (you will be asked for the key again when you start BP-VA). Click Next to continue.
When you see the Installing screen, the required files will be copied to your computer for installing BP-VA.
When you see the installation completed screen, click Finish to finish the BP-VA installation.
Starting Business Process Visual ARCHITECT
To start BP-VA, perform one of the following actions:
Click the Start menu > All Programs > Visual Paradigm > Business Process Visual ARCHITECT.
Figure 1.8 - Launching BP-VA on Windows menu
Open the BP-VA installation directory, go into the bin folder and open Business Process Visual ARCHITECT.exe.
Figure 1.9 - The executable of BP-VA
BP-VA will be started shortly.
Figure 1.10 - The BP-VA splash screen
User Interface
The user interface of BP-VA comprises of the following panes:
Diagram Pane
The Diagram Pane is a tabbed view of all opened diagrams. You can click on the tab of a diagram to make it the active diagram for viewing or editing. You can arrange the windows so you can view more than one diagram at the same time.
Figure 1.11 - Diagram Pane
Diagram Navigator
In the Diagram Navigator, diagrams are listed under their corresponding diagram type, and diagram elements are listed under their owner diagrams. You can open a diagram/diagram element by double-clicking on its node in the Diagram Navigator. Other operations like open specification, rename, delete can be performed by right-clicking on the node to invoke its context menu.
Figure 1.12 - Diagram Navigator
Model
The Model pane shows the model elements in the project. Elements are arranged according to their parent-child hierarchy. Operations on model like open specification, rename, delete can be performed by right-clicking on the node to invoke its context menu.
Figure 1.13 - Model pane
Property
The Property pane shows the properties of the active diagram or the currently selected diagram elements. You can view or edit the properties here.
Figure 1.14 - Property pane
Diagram Overview
The Diagram Overview shows the entire diagram zoomed to fit the overview display area. The actual visible bounds are indicated by the blue rectangle. To scroll the diagram to a desired location, move the mouse over the Diagram Overview and drag (you will notice the mouse cursor changed to a "hand" ).
Figure 1.15 - Diagram Overview pane
Documentation
The Documentation pane shows the documentation of the active diagram or the currently selected diagram element. You can view or edit the documentation here. Documentation can be edited in rich text or plain text by selecting/deselecting the HTML checkbox.
The documentation format (rich text or plain text) is a project-wide option. You cannot apply rich text documentation to one element while apply plain text documentation to another element in the same project.
Chapter 1 - Introduction to Business Process Visual ARCHITECT
