In contrast to the BPMN 2.0 Specification we added one feature, that is mostly desired by non-technical modelers: the Duration of a sequence flow.
- This can be useful when you need a delay between two activities.
- E. g. you model a process like the one shown below. Imagine the way up to the board is long and takes around ten minutes.
- You do not want to add another activity which represents the ten minutes time consumption for the walk to the board room.
- Instead you simply add a Duration in the simulation properties set.
- See Model 1b - Time Consuming Sequence Flows from the Simulation Tutorial for an example.
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Figure 1: Example Model
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Simulation Properties
Optional Simulation Properties
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Expression
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This field is used to define the expressions after an exclusive or inclusive gateway.
- You simply add a condition like "x<y" (in F(x)) or a Python-script, that determines whether this sequence or conditional flow is to be followed next in the model.
- See Gateway Decision Making and especially the sub-section Assigning Conditions for more information.
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Duration
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Add a duration for this sequence flow.
- The approach is exactly the same as the duration of the activity.
- This feature can be used to represent a time consumption, for which you would not like to add an additional activity, like the time period of walking to the CEO's office (which can be significantly far way).
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