Business process modeling

This article explains the typically manual action of creating and presenting conceptual business process models of a company based on expert knowledge. For automatic evaluation of transactional business process models based on digital traces in IT systems see process mining.

Business process modeling (BPM), mainly used in business process management; software development or systems engineering, is the action of capturing and representing processes of an enterprise (i.e. modeling them), so that the current business processes may be analyzed, applied securely and consistently, improved, and automated. BPM is typically performed by business analysts, who provide expertise in the modeling discipline; by subject matter experts, who have specialized knowledge of the processes being modeled; or more commonly by a team comprising both. Alternatively, the process model can be derived directly from digital traces in IT systems (such as events' logs) using process mining tools.

According to Andreas Gadatsch, process modeling is «about mapping sections of reality from a business area in a business process from a technical and conceptual perspective.» ^{(Chapter 1.1 Process Management) ← automatic translation from German}