BPMN
Lets start with easy things like BPMN; but as a prerequisite, make yourself a coffee/tea and watch the following videos FLASH at
http://www.workflowpatterns.com/ which lists 21 process templates/patterns. Watching these FLASH videos will take you about an hour. If you have an understanding of these FLASH videos and “Tokens” BPMN is a piece of cake.
Now read the BPMN document for the same patterns by White (IBM) who replicates the 21 patterns. It might be in one of the older PDFs on the BPMN website. The trick to BPMN in the beginning is to watch the “token”; for example, when the “token” is created (eg. Start events, signal events etc.) or when the “token” is consumed (eg. End events, catching signal events etc.)
Back to the old SSADM! The DFD techniques you learned and applied are still relevant. Flows to and from external entities can now be depicted as message flows between pools. The concepts of having high-level processes that are “decomposed” are still ok; except you now have a richer symbol list to depict processes. Get a Cribsheet from
http://bpmb.de/poster
Now DFDs are simplistic and powerful, most users understand them. BPMN is equally as powerful but a lot more flexible. Its this flexibility that causes novices to create “communication gaps” between the user and the business analyst. To resolve this issue, I usually create a “watered down” set of symbols; I totally avoid “Complex gateways” because my users do not grasp these concepts. Another issue when people create BPMN is they often forget the “data”; but that’s another story
BPMN summary:
- Understand the 21 “Van Der Aalst” process patterns
- Understand the concept of a “token” (Petri-nets)
- Understand the 21 “Van der Aalst” patterns in BPMN
- Familiarise yourself with the BPMN symbols
- Reduce the number of BPMN symbols to avoid communication gaps.
To play with BPMN, download
www.bizagi.com – also view the tutorials and play around with the software.
UML
For UML, I agree with Kimbo’s BOOK recommendations, which are good for starters. I’ve got all the books as well, plus a few books by the “Three Amigos”
I would add to it the ICONIX process. You can find the OLD book in PDF format on the net somewhere. Google: “iconix process Doug Rosenberg”. ICONIX is an easy process to follow; it puts the UML into context!
To play with UML, go to
http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/ This tool is awesome and very affordable. I've used it on a few assignments, especially for Requirements Management. Its a RICH tool it does "Everything", download their community version and "play" with it.
ENJOY!
Warm regards,
K