Explore the strengths and weaknesses of BPMN and EPC notations in business process management, highlighting key aspects like exceptions, loops, and data handling in this insightful analysis.
A new blog post of What’s Your Baseline was published on Apr 05, 2011:
Overview:
This article co-authored by Ivo Velitchkov and Roland Woldt explores the differences between BPMN and EPC notations in business process modeling. It discusses aspects such as semi-structured processes, exception handling, loops, data management, and tool support, establishing BPMN’s advantages in flexibility and complexity, while highlighting EPC’s strengths in ERP integrations.
Core content:
- BPMN supports semi-structured processes better than EPC, particularly with ad-hoc subprocesses.
- Exception handling is a strong point for BPMN, providing various constructs that EPC lacks.
- BPMN offers flexible loop constructs, while EPC requires more complex rules for loop behaviors.
- Data management is clearer in EPC, allowing detailed integration with UML Class Diagrams.
- Both notations have distinct advantages in different scenarios, especially concerning ERP systems.
Learnings:
- Understand when to utilize BPMN versus EPC based on process complexity and structure.
- Recognize the importance of exception handling in process modeling for realistic representations.
- Learn how loops are more elegantly managed in BPMN compared to EPC’s approach.
- Explore the integration capabilities of EPC with ERP systems like SAP and Oracle.
- Evaluate the tool support available for each notation to fit your BPM needs.
The original content was published in English.
