Why a Diagram is Only Sometimes Worth a Thousand Words - An Analysis of the BPMN 2.0 Visual Notation

Oct 26, 2026

Upload by Levi

The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is an international standard for modelling business processes, functioning as a visual language whose diagrams drive documenting, analysing, communicating and designing. This paper applies a visual-notation design theory, the Physics of Notations, to systematically evaluate BPMN 2.0’s visual notation. The analysis identifies serious flaws that may hinder practical usability, especially when communicating with end users. The work concludes that BPMN 2.0 needs radical redesign to serve as a shared language between business and technical experts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages62

Reading Time2 h 36 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Visual Representation: An Important but Neglected Issue

BPMN: An International Standard for Business Process Modelling

Why a Diagram is Only Sometimes Worth a Thousand Words: An Analysis of the BPMN 2.0 Visual Notation Daniel L. Moody Director, Ozemantics Pty Ltd Sydney, Australia [daniel@ozemantics.com.au](daniel@ozemantics.com.au) Department of Information Systems University of Twente, The Netherlands [d.l.moody@utwente.nl](d.l.moody@utwente.nl) Abstract. The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) has recently emerged as an international standard for modelling business processes. This is one of the most important developments in the history of the IS field, which has the potential to unify the business process management (BPM) field in the same way UML has unified software engineering. Like most business process modelling notations, BPMN is a visual language: it uses diagrams as the primary means for documenting, analysing, communicating and designing business processes. This paper conducts a systematic analysis of the BPMN 2.0 visual notation using a theory for visual notation design (the Physics of Notations) . The analysis reveals some serious flaws in the BPMN visual notation, which represent potential barriers to its usability and effectiveness in practice, particularly for communicating with end users. The conclusion from our analysis is that radical surgery is required for BPMN 2.0 to achieve its goal of providing a common language for communicating between business and technical experts. A broader goal ofthis paper is to raise awareness about the importance of visual representation in IS modelling, which has historically received little scientific attention. Finally, the paper demonstrates how a design theory can be used to improve IS practice. 1. Introduction 1.1 Visual Representation: An Important but Neglected Issue Visual notations1 play a critical role in the IS field, and have dominated both research and practice from its earliest beginnings: they are used in all areas and all levels of IS practice, from strategic planning to integrated circuit design. They play a particularly critical role in communicating with business stakeholders, as diagrams are believed to convey information more effectively to non-technical people than text [1] . Yet historically, visual representation issues have received so little attention in IS research. IS modelling notations are typically evaluated exclusively on their semantics, with issues of visual syntax rarely mentioned [e.g. 2, 3] . When notations are empirically compared, differences are generally attributed to semantic rather than syntactic differences, even though differences in visual representation are often just as great. Visual representation thus acts as a significant (but unrecognised) confounding in such studies. 1 Also called graphical notations, diagramming notations or visual languages DRAFT ONLY: Please do not distribute without prior permission from the author Page 1 An Analysis of the BPMN 2.0 Visual Notation One possible reason for the lack of attention to visual representation is that methods for analysing visual syntax are less mature than those available for analysing semantics [4-6] . However, another explanation is that researchers consider visual syntax to be unimportant: a matter of “aesthetics” rather than effectiveness [7] . This view is contradicted by research in diagrammatic reasoning, which shows that the form of problem representations has a comparatively greater effect on human understanding and problem solving performance than their content [8-11]. Empirical studies in IS contexts confirm this: the graphical form of notations significantly affects understanding, especially by novices [7, 12-18] . This suggests that issues of visual representation (form) should be treated with as much care, if not more, as issues of semantics (content) . 1.2 BPMN: An International Standard for Business Process Modelling The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) has recently emerged as an international standard language for business process m

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the paper about BPMN 2.0?

It systematically analyses the BPMN 2.0 visual notation and assesses its usability and effectiveness, especially for communicating with end users.

Which theory is used to analyse BPMN 2.0 visual notation?

The paper uses a theory for visual notation design called the Physics of Notations.

What does the paper conclude about BPMN 2.0?

It concludes that BPMN 2.0 has serious visual-notation flaws and requires radical surgery to achieve its goal of providing a common communication language between business and technical experts.

Oct 26, 2026

Upload by Levi