Generating BPEL from BPMN diagrams

Throughout the chapter we have seen that BPEL is a high-level language for specifying business processes. BPEL is an executable language but not a modeling language. If you try to model processes in BPEL, this will likely not be successful, as BPEL requires many details, such as variable assignments, endpoints, and so on. All these details are usually not necessary when we model business processes.

In the past, several notations have been used to model processes. Flow diagrams and block diagrams have been representatives of the first generation notations. Then, more sophisticated notations have been defined, such as EPC (Event Process Chain) and eEPC (Extended Event Process Chain). UML activity diagrams have also been used. A few years ago a new notation, called Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) has been developed. Business Process Modeling Notation is the most comprehensive notation for process modeling so far. It has been developed under the...