
The BPMN Core Elements
Reading and Creating Process Models
Reading a process is like reading a book. It follows a certain orientation and are read from left to right and top to bottom. Learning BPMN is like learning a language. All the BPMN elements have a specific meaning, like words. The effort is worth it, as you will be able to speak (and even think) in the language of a process.
Assuming we are hungry, let's create a process using basic BPMN elements to describe what we have to do in order to reach the goal of satisfying our hunger.
All You Need to Create a Process
- A start event to describe what triggers our process
- A sequence flow, which guides us through the process and our tasks
- A task to describe what we have to do
- An end event, which describes the state reached at the end of the process
Reading and Creating Process Models

Imagine your business process is a marble run.
Within a process, there are flows that the marble needs to follow continuously. The only thing that can stop our marble through the process are tasks. Here, the marble has to wait until the task is executed. In the end, we need to make sure all the flows reach the end event, so the marble can cross the finish line every time... sooner or later. If the marble doesn't arrive, we know there is something wrong and the flow was interrupted somewhere.
The marble example above is an easy way to think about the BPMN concept of a 'token'. In BPMN, our marble is officially called a token. The token concept explains the execution behavior of business processes, no matter how complex they are.
Once you grasp this idea, it really helps to understand business process flows, and especially error messages when you check process execution behavior.
Oh, and if you think these 'technical checks' aren't important, since your models aren't supposed to be executed by systems, we're here to tell you - they are!
The same concept applies in:
- BPMN syntax check (applies whenever you save your diagram)
- Process simulation (where tokens can even be visualized)

Select each item below to learn if it is named correctly or not.
Naming Conventions for Tasks and Events
Whenever multiple people in a company are involved in process modeling, its important to ensure your consistent with naming. Fortunately, there are naming conventions for tasks and events to ensure all BPMN processes follow the same universal style so they are understood all around the globe.
Keep in mind. Naming conventions for tasks and events are based on Best Practices of BPMN and are therefore not to be recognized as strict policies or rules. You can deviate from it if it is properly justified, meaningful and also comprehensible for the modelers.
So, how can you name an event properly and consistently? There are conventions which help you to identify the IS state. In practice, potential signal words for naming events are:
- [demand] occurred
- [order] received
- [service] available
- [invoice] created
- ...
The term "is" doesn't need to be used necessarily, but helps to make sure you are actually describing an IS state.
Select each item below to learn if it is named correctly or not.
Naming Conventions for Events
Select each level in the figure for more information.