BPMN Tutorial for Beginners: Your First Process Model
Learn BPMN by drawing a real process in the free bpmn.io modeler, no account needed. A start event, tasks, an exclusive gateway with labelled flows and two end events, using an online shop's order to delivery process.
Step by step
What is BPMN
- Your first BPMN model. BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) is the standard way business analysts draw a process, so everyone reads it the same way. Here you model an online shop's order process in the free bpmn.io modeler.
- New diagram. Go to demo.bpmn.io and start a new diagram. You get one thin circle. That is the start event: the moment the process begins.
- Start event. Double-click the circle and type what starts the process: Order placed. Events are things that happen, so name them as a short state.
Tasks
- Task. Click the start event and a small menu opens next to it. Click the rounded box to add a task, and type Check stock. A task is work, so name it with a verb and a noun.
Gateways
- Gateway. Click the task, then the diamond in its menu. This is an exclusive gateway: only one way out is taken. Name it with a short question: In stock?
- Label the flows. From the gateway's menu, add the yes path: a new task called Ship order. Then double-click the arrow going to it and label it Yes.
End events
- End event. Every path needs an end. Click Ship order, then the thick circle. That is an end event. Name it after the result: Order delivered.
- Second end. Now the no path. Drag the end event from the gateway's menu to the empty space below it. Name it Order on hold, and label its arrow No.
- Label the flows. Once the no path is added too, both arrows out of the gateway carry a label, Yes and No, so anyone can read the rule without asking you.
- The finished model. Click an empty spot to see the whole model: 1 start event, 2 tasks, 1 decision and 2 end events. That is a complete BPMN process.
Recap
- The rules. The rules: begin with 1 start event, name tasks with a verb and a noun, label every arrow out of a gateway, and end every path with an end event.
Common mistakes
- Naming tasks without a verb. A task called Stock or Shipping doesn't say what work is done. Use a verb and a noun, like Check stock or Ship order.
- Naming the gateway like a task. A gateway called Check stock repeats the task before it. Do the work in a task, and name the gateway with a short question, like In stock?
- Unlabelled arrows out of a gateway. Without Yes and No on the arrows, readers have to guess which way the order goes. Double-click each arrow and label it with the answer to the gateway's question.
- A path with no end event. If the no path just stops, nobody knows what happens to the order. Give every path its own end event, like Order on hold.
When a business analyst uses this
In a process-mapping workshop, a business analyst draws the current order process live in bpmn.io while the team talks. Labelled gateways like In stock? with Yes and No arrows make each business rule visible, so stakeholders can spot a missing path, such as what happens to orders on hold, before sign-off.
Questions people ask
Why use BPMN instead of a normal flowchart?
BPMN is a standard, so each shape has one agreed meaning. Business people and IT read the same diagram the same way, and you don't have to explain your own symbols.
What is a simple BPMN example?
An online shop's order process: the start event Order placed, the task Check stock, then the gateway In stock?. Yes leads to Ship order and Order delivered, and No leads to Order on hold.
Is this BPMN 2.0?
Yes. BPMN 2.0 is the current version of the standard, and start events, tasks, exclusive gateways and end events are all core parts of it.
