Issue 11601: Clarify association of artifacts to flows (bpmn-rtf) Source: NIST (Mr. Conrad Bock, conrad.bock@nist.gov conradb@cme.nist.gov) Nature: Severity: Summary: In clause 9.7.2 and 10.1.4, it is stated that a data object artifact can be associated with a (Sequence or Message) Flow. But the meaning of association with a Sequence Flow is not clearly stated. In Figure 9.40 there is an example of an association of a data object to a Sequence Flow between two Activities. Is such an association only permitted when the Flow is between two Activities? Is it permitted when the flow is between an Activity and a Gateway? For example, could Figure 9.40 have two activities on the right, with an exclusive data gateway (decision) routing the data object to one or the other under certain conditions? Is there a meaning to associating the data object with a Sequence Flow that terminates in an Event (throw or catch)? Proposed Resolution: When the flow originates from an Activity, the data object is an output of that Activity that is available at the time of the flow. When the flow terminates in an Activity, the data object is an input to that Activity that is available at the time the Activity starts. (This is the conclusion to be drawn from the current text. But these statements are independent of what is on the other end.) If the flow originates from a gateway or event, BPMN assigns no meaning to the association with respect to that end, but a conforming tool may. If the flow terminates in a gateway or event, the data object is an "input" artifact that is available when the Gateway decision is made, the Event is thrown, or the wait for the Event begins. The artifact, or the knowledge of its availability, may be used in making the Gateway decision or throwing or handling the Event. The preferred representation of a data object "flowing" past a gateway or event is to show two (or more) associations: output from the originating activity and input to the activity (or activities) that use the artifact. (And there should be an example of this.) Resolution: Revised Text: Actions taken: October 9, 2007: received issue Discussion: End of Annotations:===== te: Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:37:38 -0400 From: Ed Barkmeyer Reply-To: edbark@nist.gov Organization: NIST User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax) X-Accept-Language: en, fr, de, pdf, it, nl, sv, es, ru To: issues@omg.org Cc: bpmn-rtf@omg.org, Conrad Bock Subject: BPMN RTF Issue: Association of Artifacts to Flows X-MailScanner-Information: Please contact postmaster@mel.nist.gov for more information X-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-MailScanner-SpamCheck: X-MailScanner-From: edbark@nist.gov X-Spam-Status: No Spec: BPMN Date: June 2007 Version: 1.1 Chapter: 9.7.2 and 10.1.4 Related issues: none. Title: Clarify association of artifacts to flows Source: Conrad Bock, NIST, conrad.bock@nist.gov Description: In clause 9.7.2 and 10.1.4, it is stated that a data object artifact can be associated with a (Sequence or Message) Flow. But the meaning of association with a Sequence Flow is not clearly stated. In Figure 9.40 there is an example of an association of a data object to a Sequence Flow between two Activities. Is such an association only permitted when the Flow is between two Activities? Is it permitted when the flow is between an Activity and a Gateway? For example, could Figure 9.40 have two activities on the right, with an exclusive data gateway (decision) routing the data object to one or the other under certain conditions? Is there a meaning to associating the data object with a Sequence Flow that terminates in an Event (throw or catch)? Proposed Resolution: When the flow originates from an Activity, the data object is an output of that Activity that is available at the time of the flow. When the flow terminates in an Activity, the data object is an input to that Activity that is available at the time the Activity starts. (This is the conclusion to be drawn from the current text. But these statements are independent of what is on the other end.) If the flow originates from a gateway or event, BPMN assigns no meaning to the association with respect to that end, but a conforming tool may. If the flow terminates in a gateway or event, the data object is an "input" artifact that is available when the Gateway decision is made, the Event is thrown, or the wait for the Event begins. The artifact, or the knowledge of its availability, may be used in making the Gateway decision or throwing or handling the Event. The preferred representation of a data object "flowing" past a gateway or event is to show two (or more) associations: output from the originating activity and input to the activity (or activities) that use the artifact. (And there should be an example of this.) -- Conrad Bock Email: conrad.bock@nist.gov National Institute of Standards & Technology Manufacturing Systems Integration Division 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8263 Tel: +1 301-975-3818 Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8263 FAX: +1 301-975-4694