Process Modeling Notations and Workflow Patterns

The research work of Wil van der Aalst, Arthur ter Hofstede, Bartek Kiepuszewski, and Alistair Barros has resulted in the identification of 21 patterns that describe the behavior of business processes. This paper reviews how two graphical process modeling notations, the BPMN Business Process Diagram from the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI), and the UML 2.0 Activity Diagram from the Object Management Group (OMG), can represent the workflow patterns. The solutions of the two notations are compared for technical ability to represent the patterns as well as their readability.