[wish] Collapse/Expand BPMN subprocess

Planned

Roland Kaijen

May 20, 2022 10:29

I use subprocess to combine multiple tasks in one lane to give the concerning actor insight into the specific task, without confusing other actors – they might me satisfied at the level of a subprocess.

Wish

I want users to be able to collapse or expand subprocesses.

Why

Collapsed subprocesses create a more simple view of a process, where the possibility to expand a subprocess still gives the concerning actor insight into the various tasks in the process.

Workaround

Subprocesses can be used without the option of collapsing; it helps users to cope with complex processes, but still leaves processes rather big. Another option is to use call activities instead of subprocesses, but that creates Business Processes in ArchiMate when the process is officially published and will therefore muddle the Process Architecture.

Possible Solution

Create subprocesses ‘collapsed’ in a BPMN diagram with the option to ‘expand’ the subprocess resulting in a ‘modal window’ (like previews of worksets) with the ability to define the subprocess using tasks, etc.

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• Official comment

  

  Sebastiaan Bosman

  February 06, 2023 10:29

  Hi Roland Kaijen, 

  As an update to your wish: this is projected to release in Q3, as part of the larger BPMN upgrade. 

  Let us know if you have any questions until then. 
• 

  Roeland Loggen

  May 20, 2022 12:50

  Good suggestion, BPMN compliant. 

  "The modal window" idea can be tricky: you still want to be able to click on an activity and see the description on the right hand side in the process portal.

  Workaround: call activity with a separate BPMN diagram.

  My pain: the lack in the BPMN standard of a sub process that one can use to hide/abstract a part of a process, but over multiple lanes. 

   

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  Roland Kaijen

  May 20, 2022 13:00

  Good point about the ability to describe and attributize (if it's not a word... it should be!) tasks. It may fit into an modal window, but I agree it complicates things.

  I'm not a BPMN specialist, but my thought would be that hiding a part of a process over multiple lanes would be a call activity? The kind of subprocess I'm referring to is a set of tasks within the same lane.

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