As you document, define, and refine a business process, you will
typically add more detail and additional steps to your process map. At
some point, your map is likely to become unwieldy and difficult to read
and maintain.
One common solution for a cluttered process map is to select a
group of related process steps and replace them with a single subprocess symbol.
You then move the selected steps to another page where you have room to
spread them out and continue to work on that section of the overall
process. Visio Premium 2010 includes several subprocess buttons that
automate much of the work of creating subprocesses.
In this exercise, you will add additional detail to the theater
ticketing example by defining a subprocess for two of the existing
tasks.
Set Up
-
Draw a bounding box to select both the Print tickets and Send or hold tickets shapes.
-
On the Process tab, in the
Subprocess group, click the
Create from Selection
button.
Visio replaces your selected shapes with a subprocess shape;
adds a new page to the drawing; places your selected shapes on the
new page; and builds a hyperlink from the new subprocess shape to
the subprocess page.
Tip
The plus sign at the bottom of the new shape is the BPMN
notation for a subprocess.
-
With the subprocess shape still selected, type Print and fulfill ticket
order.
-
Hold down the Ctrl key and click the Print and fulfill ticket order shape to
move to the subprocess page. You will see your two original
activities on the new page.
In the remaining steps of this exercise, you will define a
more complete subprocess.
-
Delete the Send or hold
tickets shape.
-
Point to the AutoConnect
arrow on the right side of the Print
tickets shape, and from the Quick
Shapes menu, add a Gateway.
Troubleshooting
If the AutoConnect arrow doesn’t appear, that option may be
turned off in this drawing. To activate AutoConnect, on the View
tab, in the Visual Aids group, select AutoConnect.
-
With the gateway still selected, type More than 7 days ‘til
show?.
-
Point to the AutoConnect
arrow on the right side of the gateway, and from the Quick Shapes menu, add a Task.
-
Hold down the Shift key and drag the task up so its
bottom edge is just above the top edge of the gateway.
Tip
Holding down the Shift key while dragging a shape constrains
shape movement to a single direction.
-
Point to the AutoConnect
arrow on the right side of the gateway, and from the Quick Shapes menu, add a Task.
-
Hold down the Shift key and drag the new task down so its top
edge is just below the bottom edge of the gateway.
-
Click the connector to the upper task and type Yes. Then
click the connector to the lower task and type No.
-
Click the task on the Yes
path, and type Ship
tickets.
-
Click the task on the No
path, and type Hold
tickets at box office.
-
Drag an End Event shape
from the BPMN Basic Shapes
stencil and drop it to the right of the two new tasks.
-
Drag the AutoConnect arrow
on the right of the Ship tickets
task and connect it to the end shape; then do the same thing for the
Hold tickets at box office
task.
-
Drag a Text Annotation
shape from the BPMN Basic Shapes
stencil, attach it to the end shape, and type Tickets
processed.
-
Double-click the Page-1
page name tab and type Main Process. Then double-click
the Page-2 page name tab and type
Print and
Fulfill.
-
On the Process tab, in the
Diagram Validation group, click
the Check Diagram button.
The messages that appear in the Issues window result from a
deliberate omission in this exercise: there is no Start event. A
BPMN subprocess that includes an End event should also include a
Start. You can resolve the error by adding a Start event.
Tip
Because of the potential complexity of BPMN
diagrams, the text of many BPMN issue descriptions is longer than
the width of the Issues window. However, if you position the
cursor over any item in the Issues window, Visio displays the full
text in a pop-up message.
Clean Up
Save your changes to the Theater
Ticketing Process drawing, and then close it.
Your completed BPMN diagram now shows the main process flow on
Main Process and the detailed subprocess on Print and Fulfill.
Tip
In this exercise, you created a subprocess from existing tasks.
The Subprocess group on the Process tab includes two additional
subprocess functions:
-
Create New
. To create a new, blank subprocess page, select any
existing Task. When you click the Create New button, Visio
inserts a new page and names it using the text from the selected
Task. Visio also creates a hyperlink from the selected shape to
the new page.
-
Link to
Existing. You can create a hyperlink to any existing subprocess
page, whether it’s located in the current drawing or another
one. To do so, select any Task, and then click the Link To
Existing button. Visio presents a list of the pages in the
current diagram as well as two options: Browse To Other Document
and Edit Link. The former lets you link to any existing
document; the latter opens the Hyperlinks dialog box so you can
edit an existing link. The end result of selecting any of the
Link To Existing menu items is a hyperlink to a page or
document.
