BPMS Watch: Can Business Analysts Model Exception Handling?

By: Bruce Silver, Principal, Bruce Silver Associates Friday September 15, 2006

It s conventional !isdom in business t"at #0$ o% t"e problems are caused by 20$ o% t"e !or& ' t"e (e)ceptions*( In BP+, t"ere%ore, you,d t"in& t"at e)ception "andlin- !ould be a critical %ocus o% process modelin- and analysis* In most cases you,d be !ron-* .ertainly t"e desi-ners o% t"e Business Process +odelin- /otation 0BP+/1 standard at BP+I 0no! part o% 2+31 "ad e)ception "andlin- in mind %rom t"e start* BP+/ introduces to process modelin- t"e notion o% intermediate events* It s a -oda!%ul name but an absolutely essential concept %or ma&ine)ception "andlin- visible in t"e process dia-ram and understandable to business people* In %act, events are t"e &ey di%%erence bet!een BP+/ and traditional %lo!c"artin-* In BP+/, intermediate events are dra!n as circles !it" a double border, !it" a symbol inside denotin- t"e type o% event: receipt o% an e)ternal si-nal 0messa-e1, a timeout, a system %ault, etc* 4"en dra!n attac"ed to t"e border o% a process activity or subprocess, t"e semantics o% BP+/ say t"at t"e activity or subprocess is interrupted immediately, and t"e process continues alon- t"e %lo! pat" leadin- out %rom t"e intermediate event* 5"at pat" is called (e)ception %lo!*( I% t"e event never occurs, t"e activity or subprocess completes normally and processin- continues alon- t"e %lo! pat" leadin- out %rom it* 5"at pat" is called (normal %lo!*( Is t"at "ard to understand6 /o, I didn t t"in& so* 7ou d be surprised, t"en, to &no! t"at a number o% modelin- tools o%%ered by BP+S vendors t"at advertise t"emselves as BP+/8compliant don t support intermediate events* 4"at t"ose vendors usually say is t"at t"e concept is too tec"nical %or business analysts to understand* 4"at t"ey really mean, in most cases, is t"at t"eir process en-ine ' t"e t"in- t"at (e)ecutes( t"e model to automate and monitor t"e process %lo! ' can,t "andle t"em* 5"e modelin- tool,s simulation en-ine "as no idea !"at to do !it" t"em, eit"er* So t"ey,re 9ust le%t out o% t"e tool* S"ame on 2+3 %or allo!in- t"is pseudo8 BP+/ to proli%erate as it "as* 5"e traditional alternative to modelin- e)ception "andlin- e)plicitly in t"e process dia-ram is to do it in code, toss it over t"e !all to I5* 2nce in a !"ile t"is mi-"t be necessary, but as a -eneral principle it s 9ust plain !ron-* By removin- e)ception "andlin- %rom t"e process model and buryin- it in implementation code, you,ve not only lost visibility into !"at,s -oin- on, you,ve lost t"e ability to use it in simulation analysis, you,ve lost a-ility, reuse, s"ared best practices, etc* All o% t"ose assume e)ception "andlin- is in t"e process model* In addition to intermediate events, BP+/ adds anot"er important notion to t"e process modeler s vocabulary: business transactions* A transaction "ere means a collection o% activities t"at must be per%ormed (atomically( ' all must complete success%ully ' or else t"e system must be (rolled bac&( to its initial state, as i% none o% t"em "ad ever occurred* :nli&e classic transaction protocols li&e t!o8p"ase commit, !"ere t"e resource per%ormin- eac" part o% t"e transaction must be (loc&ed( until t"e transaction eit"er commits or rolls bac&, business transactions are by de%inition (lon-8runnin-( ' seconds to days ' too lon- to loc& t"e resources, !"ic" also means you can,t really roll bac& to t"e initial state* Instead, i% any activity in t"e business transaction cannot complete success%ully, any already completed activity must be undone by a compensatinactivity and any uncompleted activities in t"e transaction are abandoned* :ndoin- a debit, %or e)ample, mi-"t be issuin- a credit %or t"e same amount* It s not a rollbac& as i% neit"er "ad "appened 8 bot" t"e c"ar-e and t"e credit s"o! up on your ;isa bill 8 but it "as e<uivalent business e%%ect* =ere s a scenario* 7ou,re boo&in- a trip to >urope online, air and "otel* /eit"er t"e airline nor t"e "otel can -uarantee eit"er price or availability until you actually boo& speci%ic dates !it" a credit card* 7es, it,s a nasty !orld !e live in* But i% you can,t matc" t"e dates o% bot" "otel and air, you re reservation isn t muc" -ood* So consider t"em part o% a sin-le business transaction* ?et s even ima-ine t"at you %irst select your pre%erred complete itinerary 0"otel and air1 and t"en instruct t"e travel site to boo& it* ?et s assume t"e travel site models t"is as a BP+/ business transaction, %irst boo&in- t"e "otel 0no cancellation %ee1 and t"en t"e air 0no avoidin- t"e cancellation %ee1* 5"e BP+/ mi-"t loo& li&e t"is:

5"e subprocess enclosin- Boo& =otel and Boo& Air acts as a business transaction* I% t"e "otel is unavailable, t"e subprocess completes !it"out boo&int"e air* But i% t"e "otel is available, it is boo&ed !it" a deposit on t"e credit card* I% t"e air is not available, t"e subprocess completes !it" a compensation end event ' a call to completed activities to e)ecute t"eir de%ined compensation activity* For t"e Boo& =otel activity, t"e compensation activity .ancel =otel 0!it" compensatin- credit %or t"e deposit1 is identi%ied by its lin& to t"e compensation intermediate event on t"e boundary o% Boo& =otel* 5"e e)planation may be lon-8!inded, but t"e dia-ram is concise and e)plicit* 5"is is about business semantics, not pro-rammin-* Business analysts can understand intermediate events, e)ception %lo!s, and compensation* 5"e problem to date "as been a lac& o% <uality trainin- on BP+/ supported by a clear met"odolo-y %or translatin- process &no!led-e into dia-ram correctly* 5"e current state o% mar&et education on BP+/ is really <uite appallin-* 0I% you don t believe me, loo& "ere*1 5"at s !"y I,m puttin- to-et"er my o!n trainin- materials on Process +odelin- !it" BP+/* >)ception "andlin- is too important to be tossed over t"e !all to t"e pro-rammers* @eal trainin- and a met"odolo-y can -ive process analysts t"e tools t"ey need to de%ine "o! e)ceptions s"ould be "andled in t"eir critical business processes* Bruce Silver Bruce Silver 0bruceAbrsilver*com1 is an independent industry analyst coverin- BP+S tec"nolo-y and t"e aut"or o% t"e 2006 BP+S @eport series on bpminstitute*or-* @ead t"e BP+S 4atc" blo- at !!!*brsilver*comB!ordpress* About Bruce Silver s BP+S 5rainin- .ourse*

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