Bwl red book

ibm.com/redbooks Redpaper
Front cover
Process Discovery
Best Practices
Using IBM Blueworks Live
Joshua King
Nachiappan Chidambaram
Peter Lee
Philipp Schume
David Teran
Use IBM Blueworks Live to better
understand how your business runs
Uncover hidden potential in your
business process
Use analysis features to
eliminate process waste

International Technical Support Organization
Process Discovery Best Practices: Using IBM
Blueworks Live
September 2014
REDP-5111-00

© Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2014. All rights reserved.
Note to U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule
Contract with IBM Corp.
First Edition (September 2014)
This edition applies to IBM Blueworks Live, an IBM Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering, which is available
at this website:
https://www.blueworkslive.com
This document was created or updated on October 28, 2014.
Note: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on
page vii.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2014. All rights reserved. iii
Contents
Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Business Process Model and Notation overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Process levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x
Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .x
Now you can become a published author, too! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Comments welcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Stay connected to IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Chapter 1. Getting started with IBM Blueworks Live. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Logging in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Creating a Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.1 Space Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.2 Space Level Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.3 Activity stream. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.4 Adding Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.5 Space stats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.6 Publishing and permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 2. HR onboarding case study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 The company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.2 Employee roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3 The process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.4 Activate new hire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.4.1 Hire candidate subprocess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4.2 Facilitate new hire orientation subprocess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4.3 Activate new hire subprocess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.5 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Chapter 3. Current State (As-Is) Process Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1 Starting the blueprinting process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.2 Creating a Discovery Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.1 Identifying milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.2 Defining activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3 Details tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.4 Creating a Process Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.4.1 BPM Notation 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.4.2 Adding titles and labeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.4.3 Adding and moving elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.4.4 Subprocess or linked process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.5 Problems tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.6 Policies tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.7 Documentation tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.8 Attachments tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.9 Comments tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

iv Process Discovery Best Practices: Using IBM Blueworks Live
3.10 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Chapter 4. Documentation view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2 Details and comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.3 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Chapter 5. Analyze Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.1 Before the Analyze Mode is used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.1.1 Analyze Mode option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.1.2 Analyze Mode inputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.2 Using the Analyze Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.3 Using the Analyze Mode for process analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.3.1 Use case example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.4 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Chapter 6. Process automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.1 Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6.2 Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
6.3 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 7. Governance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
7.1 Defining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
7.2 Launching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
7.3 Participating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
7.4 Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
7.5 Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
7.6 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Chapter 8. Playbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
8.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
8.2 Playback definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
8.3 Run the playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
8.4 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Chapter 9. Future state (To-Be) Process Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
9.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
9.2 Using the value add analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
9.2.1 Value add . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
9.2.2 Non-value add. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
9.2.3 Required value add. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
9.3 Using the problem analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
9.4 Identifying reusable processes (linked process) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
9.5 SIPOC and RACI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
9.6 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Chapter 10. IBM Business Process Manager implementation-ready model . . . . . . . . 99
10.1 User stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
10.2 Patterns and anti-patterns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
10.2.1 Process complexity: Rule of Seven. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
10.2.2 Subprocesses and linked processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
10.2.3 Timers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
10.2.4 Intermediate Message Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
10.2.5 Teams and participants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
10.2.6 Sequential activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Contents v
10.2.7 IBM Blueworks Live task properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
10.2.8 Subscription to IBM Blueworks Live processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
10.3 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Chapter 11. Rules discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
11.1 Decision services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
11.2 Decision Management Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Chapter 12. Environment setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
12.1 License types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
12.1.1 Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
12.1.2 Contributor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
12.1.3 Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
12.1.4 Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Chapter 13. Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
13.1 Administrative features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
13.1.1 User Management tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
13.1.2 File Management tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
13.1.3 Properties tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
13.1.4 Account Information tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
13.1.5 Billing Details tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
13.1.6 Customization tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
13.1.7 Security tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
13.1.8 Unlock and Allow Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
13.2 Color Legend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
13.3 Activity numbering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
13.4 Where Used function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
13.5 Work Stats view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
13.6 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
13.7 Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
13.8 API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
13.9 Keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Related publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Online resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Help from IBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

vi Process Discovery Best Practices: Using IBM Blueworks Live

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2014. All rights reserved. vii
Notices
This information was developed for products and services offered in the U.S.A.
IBM may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document in other countries. Consult
your local IBM representative for information on the products and services currently available in your area. Any
reference to an IBM product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only that IBM product,
program, or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program, or service that does not
infringe any IBM intellectual property right may be used instead. However, it is the user's responsibility to
evaluate and verify the operation of any non-IBM product, program, or service.
IBM may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter described in this document. The
furnishing of this document does not grant you any license to these patents. You can send license inquiries, in
writing, to:
IBM Director of Licensing, IBM Corporation, North Castle Drive, Armonk, NY 10504-1785 U.S.A.
The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any other country where such
provisions are inconsistent with local law: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT,
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some states do not allow disclaimer of
express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you.
This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made
to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may make
improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time
without notice.
Any references in this information to non-IBM websites are provided for convenience only and do not in any
manner serve as an endorsement of those websites. The materials at those websites are not part of the
materials for this IBM product and use of those websites is at your own risk.
IBM may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it believes appropriate without incurring
any obligation to you.
Any performance data contained herein was determined in a controlled environment. Therefore, the results
obtained in other operating environments may vary significantly. Some measurements may have been made
on development-level systems and there is no guarantee that these measurements will be the same on
generally available systems. Furthermore, some measurements may have been estimated through
extrapolation. Actual results may vary. Users of this document should verify the applicable data for their
specific environment.
Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of those products, their published
announcements or other publicly available sources. IBM has not tested those products and cannot confirm the
accuracy of performance, compatibility or any other claims related to non-IBM products. Questions on the
capabilities of non-IBM products should be addressed to the suppliers of those products.
This information contains examples of data and reports used in daily business operations. To illustrate them
as completely as possible, the examples include the names of individuals, companies, brands, and products.
All of these names are fictitious and any similarity to the names and addresses used by an actual business
enterprise is entirely coincidental.
COPYRIGHT LICENSE:
This information contains sample application programs in source language, which illustrate programming
techniques on various operating platforms. You may copy, modify, and distribute these sample programs in
any form without payment to IBM, for the purposes of developing, using, marketing or distributing application
programs conforming to the application programming interface for the operating platform for which the sample
programs are written. These examples have not been thoroughly tested under all conditions. IBM, therefore,
cannot guarantee or imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs.

viii Process Discovery Best Practices: Using IBM Blueworks Live
Trademarks
IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. These and other IBM trademarked terms are
marked on their first occurrence in this information with the appropriate symbol (® or ™), indicating US
registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such
trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM
trademarks is available on the Web at http://www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml
The following terms are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States,
other countries, or both:
Redbooks (logo) ®
Blueworks Live™
IBM®
Rational Team Concert™
Rational®
Redbooks®
Redpaper™
The following terms are trademarks of other companies:
Microsoft, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other
countries, or both.
Java, and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its
affiliates.
Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2014. All rights reserved. ix
Preface
Business processes and decisions are the backbone of every company, from the small to the
Fortune 50; it is how the business runs. It is these processes and decisions that can create
competitive advantage, help a company react more quickly to changing trends, or drag them
down because the processes do not serve the business and allow agility. The first step in
building business agility is to understand how the business works today; What are my
processes? What are the decisions we are making and how do we make them?
Understanding these processes and decisions can allow a company to improve, streamline,
and increase efficiency.
Capturing business processes can be a daunting task. Adding to that burden is learning the
tool of choice for capturing those processes. This book helps the audience ramp up more
quickly to a fully functional process analyst by explaining all of the features of IBM Blueworks
Live™ and how best to use them.
This IBM® Redpaper™ was written with a non-technical audience in mind. It is intended to
help business users, subject matter experts, business analysts, and business managers get
started with discovering, documenting, and analyzing the processes and decisions that are
key to their company’s business operations.
Business Process Model and Notation overview
Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is the standard graphical notation that is used
in defining business processes. It is a standard set of shapes and interactions that define how
a process should be documented for clarity and consistency. IBM Blueworks Live partially
conforms to the most recent BPMN 2.0 specification to provide the most functionality without
overwhelming new users with options. As users become more familiar with the
implementation of BPMN in IBM Blueworks Live, they can use more of the tool’s functionality.
For more information about BPMN, see this website:
http://www.BPMN.org
Process levels
IBM Blueworks Live is a flexible, graphical design and visualization tool that enables users to
capture business process outlines and create BPMN diagrams. However, IBM Blueworks Live
does not enforce any process classification framework. How you intend to use the tool for
modeling mainly depends on the purpose of your process models.
How you define your activities, the process models you capture, and how you communicate
must follow a standard. Organizations typically take one of two approaches: they have their
own defined standard that is implemented or they align with and adopt a global standard. At
IBM, one of our best practices is to use IBM Blueworks Live to capture processes and we use
the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) Process Classification Framework
(PCF) as to what and how to capture processes, as shown in Figure 1 on page x.

x Process Discovery Best Practices: Using IBM Blueworks Live
Figure 1 APQC PCF levels explained
History
The cross-industry Process Classification Framework was originally envisioned as a
taxonomy of business processes and a common language through which APQC member
organizations can benchmark their processes. The initial design involved APQC and more
than 80 organizations with a strong interest in advancing the use of benchmarking in the
United States and worldwide. Since its inception in 1992, the most of the PCF content was
updated. These updates keep the framework current with the ways that organizations do
business around the world. In 2008, APQC and IBM worked together to enhance the
cross-industry PCF and to develop a number of industry-specific process classification
frameworks (APQC Process Classification Framework [PCF] - Cross Industry - PDF Version
6.0.0).
For more information about APQC's PCF, see this website:
http://www.apqc.org/knowledge-base/documents/apqc-process-classification-framework
-pcf-cross-industry-pdf-version-600
Authors
This paper was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working at the
International Technical Support Organization, Austin Center.
Joshua King is the Release Manager for IBM Blueworks Live. He was an IBM BPM Program
Manager responsible for implementing process improvement initiatives at multiple clients
around the world. He spent the last 10 years of his career working in process improvement,
inclusive of software development processes and agile methods, such as Scrum. He is an
expert in BPMN and especially the use of the Blueworks Live product. Joshua coached
internal IBM and external customers on adoption of Blueworks Live and IBM BPM, run
customer facing workshops, and is a Lab Advocate for Blueworks Live and IBM BPM
products.

Preface xi
Nachiappan Chidambaram is a IBM BPM Methodology expert who manages IBM BPM
projects and programs. Nachi is a certified L3 IBM BPM Analyst and a certified IBM BPM
Program Manager. He joined Lombardi six years ago and is a part of the Delivery and
Services team, assisting in several IBM BPM project implementations across a wide range of
clients. Previous to IBM and Lombardi, he worked as a process expert for Gap, Inc. and was
responsible for improving their logistics processes by using Lean and Six Sigma.
Peter Lee is a IBM BPM Solution Architect at IBM Software Group. He has led many projects,
including Quick Win Pilots, to provide business value within a short time frame to Fortune 500
companies since 2007 across industries in banking, insurance, healthcare, retail, and
electronics. Peter is dedicated in optimizing and reducing business process inefficiencies as
part of the IBM Smarter Process initiative.
Philipp Schume is a IBM BPM Solution Architect. He delivered custom application
development projects for IBM Germany before he transitioned to the IBM BPM Lab Services
group in North America where he worked in IBM BPM development and consulting. Since its
creation in 2013, he is a core member of the worldwide Smarter Process Center of
Competency. Philipp is an expert in IBM BPM methods and technology and his main focus is
on delivery excellence. His main areas of expertise are agile development in collaboration
with business stakeholders. Philipp created assets and written papers about business
process modeling and design best practices and its methodology.
David Teran is a Senior IBM BPM Analyst who analyzed, designed, and optimized business
processes for clients around the globe by using IBM Blueworks Live since 2008. In 2010,
David joined IBM through the acquisition of Lombardi Software. In addition to his analysis
competencies, he is an IBM Certified Instructor in areas of Process Analysis by using IBM
Blueworks Live. In 2013, he became a core member of the Worldwide Smarter Process
Center of Competency (CoC). He supports business development, presales, selling,
solutioning, and agile project and program delivery. He holds an MBA from Tulane University
and a degree in Industrial Engineering from Louisiana State University (LSU). David also
holds several certificates in the area of Six Sigma, Lean, and Project Management and is
considered an expert in the use of IBM Blueworks Live for IBM BPM projects and business
process architecture.
Now you can become a published author, too!
Here is an opportunity to spotlight your skills, grow your career, and become a published
author—all at the same time! Join an ITSO residency project and help write a book in your
area of expertise, while honing your experience using leading-edge technologies. Your efforts
will help to increase product acceptance and customer satisfaction, as you expand your
network of technical contacts and relationships. Residencies run from two to six weeks in
length, and you can participate either in person or as a remote resident working from your
home base.
For more information about the residency program, browse the residency index, and apply
online at this website:
ibm.com/redbooks/residencies.html

xii Process Discovery Best Practices: Using IBM Blueworks Live
Comments welcome
Your comments are important to us!
We want our papers to be as helpful as possible. Send us your comments about this paper or
other IBM Redbooks® publications in one of the following ways:
Use the online Contact us review Redbooks form that is found at this website:
ibm.com/redbooks
Send your comments in an email to:
redbooks@us.ibm.com
Mail your comments to:
IBM Corporation, International Technical Support Organization
Dept. HYTD Mail Station P099
2455 South Road
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601-5400
Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
Find us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/IBMRedbooks
Follow us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/ibmredbooks
Look for us on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2130806
Explore new Redbooks publications, residencies, and workshops with the IBM Redbooks
weekly newsletter:
https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/subscribe?OpenForm
Stay current on recent Redbooks publications with RSS Feeds:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/rss.html

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2014. All rights reserved. 1
Chapter 1. Getting started with IBM
Blueworks Live
IBM Blueworks Live is a collaborative platform for process and decision discovery in the
cloud. It provides a rich set of tools for discovering and documenting important process
knowledge. Exceptionally easy to use and highly collaborative, it enables subject matter
experts and business analysts to work together to capture and refine their process discovery
maps and process models. Teams can easily use knowledge and expertise from across the
organization to analyze and improve their business processes after they are captured in IBM
Blueworks Live.
IBM Blueworks Live provides an easy-to-use environment for the rapid discovery, definition,
and documentation of business processes and their associated decisions and policies. Its
graphical design and visualization tools are designed to make it easy for business owners,
business users, and subject matter experts to engage directly in the analysis and
improvement of their business processes. Business processes can be outlined or
brainstormed with the ease of creating a bulleted list and Business Process Modeling
Notation (BPMN) diagrams are automatically generated from these lists. Processes can be
viewed on a shared whiteboard. Also, two or more users can work on the same process at the
same time; all changes are shown instantly to all users.
IBM Blueworks Live provides the single, shared repository where all stakeholders can find the
single version of truth about any process. In this way, IBM Blueworks Live helps facilitate
successful process improvement projects by enabling all users on the process improvement
team to become aligned on process goals, problems, and areas for improvement.
When the IBM Business Processing manager (IBM BPM) team is ready to inventory, discover,
and analyze the details of their processes, IBM Blueworks Live can be used as the System of
Record for storing and sharing the detailed information for all of the business processes. As
processes and improvement opportunities change over time, the details can be documented
in IBM Blueworks Live so that there is a single source from where all users can access the
latest information. IBM Blueworks Live directly integrates with IBM Business Process
Manager so that business processes that are documented in IBM Blueworks Live can be
implemented, run, and optimized.
1

2 Process Discovery Best Practices: Using IBM Blueworks Live
1.1 Logging in
When you first log in to IBM Blueworks Live, you are automatically taken to the Library
window. In this window, you can find all of the artifacts that are associated with the IBM
Blueworks Live account, such as Spaces, Processes, Decisions, Policies, User Groups,
Glossary, Templates, and, depending on your account settings, the IBM Blueworks Live Blog.
The Work window is where you can find any active tasks that are assigned to you. Account
administrators also can view the work statistics in this window.
The Community window provides the centralized view of all collaboration activities across the
processes and spaces, including private activity streams, followed items, posts, and public
IBM BPM streams.
1.2 Creating a Space
After your account is set up and you are logged in to IBM Blueworks Live, you can begin by
creating a space for your artifacts. A Space in IBM Blueworks Live is synonymous to a folder
in your local file system. To create a space, browse to the Library section and click Create
New Space in the upper right, as shown in Figure 1-1.
Figure 1-1 IBM Blueworks Live Header
Enter the space name and location of the space (top of library or within an existing space).
Spaces can be nested in other spaces. As a best practice, it is important to keep the space
hierarchy well-organized because your artifacts can grow quickly within your organization.
The hierarchy is defined by your organization, as shown in Figure 1-2 on page 3.
Note: For more information about the core process discovery capabilities of IBM
Blueworks Live, see this website:
http://www.blueworkslive.com
New to Blueworks Live: For more information about Blueworks Live, see Chapter 12,
“Environment setup” on page 117.

Chapter 1. Getting started with IBM Blueworks Live 3
Figure 1-2 Create a New Space dialog
After the process is complete, the Space Overview window opens.
1.2.1 Space Details
The first thing to do and best practice is to complete the Space Details and Description fields.
Provide enough details so that new contributors can easily understand the context after they
open this space.
1.2.2 Space Level Goals
If you have any defined Business Goals that you want to achieve in this space, you can
enumerate as many as you need here. As with any initiative, you always want to make sure
that the goals are well-defined and understood. The best practice on how to document the
goals can be best described by the SMART acronym. SMART stands for specific,
measurable, assignable, realistic, and time-related. That is, the goal must be specific to a
target, the goal must be measurable by indicators, the goal must be assigned to someone or
a team, the goal must be a realistic result that can be achieved, and time bounded, meaning
by stating when the results should be achieved. Figure 1-3 shows an example and how you
see the different components that make up the goal statement.
Figure 1-3 Smart Goal

By using IBM Blueworks Live Space Details, you can capture the goals for every space you
create. After you capture the goal, IBM Blueworks Live gives you the option to weigh the
goals. Goals can be weighted high, medium, and low. Weighting is not defined in Blueworks
Live by default; therefore, the weight criteria is something you and your team must establish.
Best practice is to define or describe the weight in the space details immediately above the
goals. It is best to capture goals for at least the highest space if you have a space structure
that is defined and communicated to the rest of team for their finding and viewing (see
Figure 1-4).
Figure 1-4 Space Details
1.2.3 Activity stream
Below the Space Details is the activity stream, which lists all the activities within the space for
the last 30 days. You can order the information by Date or User and filter by Followed Items
and Posts. New informational posts can be added by clicking New Post. If you make many
changes, the system attempts to make this stream useful by collapsing it into a generic line;
for example, You made 37 changes to HR Onboarding Call Center Rep As-Is process, that
can be expanded to show the detailed changes that were made, as shown in Figure 1-5.
Figure 1-5 Activity Stream Details

1.2.4 Adding Tags
Tagging is a great way to classify and identify your spaces and artifacts within your space.
Click Edit Tags under the space heading to add tags to your space. To add multiple tags, add
a comma between each tag, as shown in Figure 1-6.
Figure 1-6 Tag Section
If you click the star to the right of the process name, the space is added to your favorites. The
Favorite Spaces view is the default place to which IBM Blueworks Live opens. If you select
Processes in the Library, it also defaults to the Favorites view.
1.2.5 Space stats
The space stats are intended to give space managers an idea of how their space is being
used. It includes data about the number of processes, decisions, policies, and the activity on
those artifacts. Space managers can access it by clicking Stats from the Space view, as
shown in Figure 1-7.
Figure 1-7 Space stats
In the Space Activity section, you can view all artifacts (as shown) or a single artifact type at a
time. You can also select the date range that you want to know about. The dates can range
from the past week to the past 12 months.
On the right side of the window, you can see the Space Artifacts stacked bar graph. This
section tells the space admin about the publishing that is occurring in this space. In this
example, most of the artifacts are unpublished. For more information about publishing, see
1.2.6, “Publishing and permissions” on page 6.

1.2.6 Publishing and permissions
The publishing feature for processes and decisions is a part of the permissions model in IBM
Blueworks Live. In addition to having permissions as part of the licensing model, you can
manage permissions at the space level. There are three user groups that are included in your
account by default: All Editors, All Contributors, and All Community. These groups are
populated based on license type, as shown in Figure 1-8. Also, users and user groups can be
individually added to or removed from a space.
Figure 1-8 Default participants for a space
To access the permissions section of any space, select the Users tab when you are viewing
the space overview. Here you can see a list of the participants in the space and what
permissions they have in that space, as shown in Figure 1-8. You can see that the All Editors
group was granted permissions to Blueprint Processes, Automate Processes, Compose
Decisions, Author Policies, and to manage and edit the space.
There is an option to inherit the permissions of the parent space (if there is one). This option
is available to make it easier to ensure that the people that need to have access can have that
access.
All of the permissions described concern write access. What if you want someone to have
read access? What if you know that there are people in your account that you want to share
your process with, but do not necessarily want them to edit it? These issues are what the
publish feature in each Process and Decision is all about. In the case of the permissions that
were listed in this section, the All Contributors group is a participant in the space, but they do
not have any write access to the space. If you want someone with a contributor license to see
your process, you must publish it and grant that group read access. The same applies to the
All Editors group. If you were to remove the Blueprint Processes permission from that group,
they do not see any processes in this space without it being published first.
For a slightly more complicated example, we configured the space with some more people
and updated their permissions, as shown in Figure 1-9 on page 7.
Cannot remove a user or group: If a user group or user can manage or edit the space,
they cannot be removed from the space.

Figure 1-9 Sample space participants with individuals added
In Figure 1-9, you can see that David Teran, Joshua King, Nachi, and Peter Lee are explicitly
named as participants in the space and have all of the available write permissions. Although
Jonas is a participant in the space, he does not have write access. Also, Jonas is licensed as
an Editor in this scenario, but he cannot see anything in the space that is not explicitly
published.
Because Jonas is specifically called out as a participant, whatever is selected on his row
overrides whatever group permissions he might have. If we wanted Jonas to see a process,
we must use the Publish feature to grant him access, as shown in Figure 1-10 on page 8. You
can publish your artifacts from the Snapshots menu, select the version that you want to
publish, and then click Actions  Publish.

Figure 1-10 Publish menu
All groups, All Editors, All Contributors, and All Community can be removed from the
participants list if you do not want them to see anything in the space, as shown in Figure 1-11.
Figure 1-11 Participants list without the default user groups included
Based on Figure 1-11, processes in this space can be viewed by David, Nachi, Joshua, and
Peter, but Jonas cannot view the process until the process is published. When published, only
David, Nachi, Joshua, Peter, and Jonas can see the process.

The last column in this view is somewhat different in nature than the others. It is asking
whether the person or group that is listed can Manage and Edit the space. This setting
determines who can edit the participants list, archive the space, move artifacts in and out of
the space, or add subspaces. In addition, the Space Stats page is specifically limited to those
users that have manage space permissions.
1.3 Summary
In this chapter, we described some of the basic concepts that are used throughout this paper.

Chapter 2. HR onboarding case study
This chapter describes the business scenario that we use within this paper to demonstrate
how to discover and document the current state, analyze the process, and define a future
state solution in IBM Blueworks Live. We introduce the scenario, describe the company and
people that are involved in this scenario, and explain the business processes. The business
scenario in this paper covers the hiring and onboarding of new call center representatives.
2

2.1 The company
Call Center Company C is a fictitious company that provides call center services to its
customers. The company is based in the United States and operates various call centers in
the US, India, and China. Because of an interesting business model, Call Center Company C
observes a large interest in its services and an increasing number of requests from existing
and new customers.
Call Center Company C offers the outsourcing of call centers and expects large clients to sign
a contract with them soon. If one or more of these significant deals is made, the company
must onboard approximately 500 call center representatives in a short time frame. With its
current staff, Call Center Company C cannot serve the huge number of requests and must
hire a significant number of call center representatives. The process for hiring and onboarding
new call center employees is manual and not documented.
For Call Center Company C, it is important to make the hiring of new call center
representatives as efficient as possible and to get the new employees productive in a short
time. Because hiring and onboarding new people is a core part of a Call Center Company C,
the improvement of this core process results in a direct improvement of the overall value
chain.
2.2 Employee roles
Call Center Company C employs a number of people with different roles. The spectrum of
roles ranges from administrative and technical roles to business-focused roles, including call
center representatives. The following people are part of the scenario and are involved directly
in the onboarding process. The onboarding process of call center representatives involves
employees of Call Center Company C also external people:
Recruiter
Call Center Company C must hire many new call center representatives. For this purpose,
they use professional recruiters to identify potential job candidates and to manage the
communication with the job candidates.
Job candidate
People who apply for a job at Call Center Company C and all people who are identified by
the recruiters take the role of a job candidate. Job candidates participate in a job interview,
must perform a test, and might be offered a call center job thereafter. If a job candidate
accepts the job offer, the role changes from job candidate to new hire.
New hire
New hires are people who successfully passed the hiring process in Call Center Company
C and who are working as a call center representative. New hires must attend call center
training before they start working as a call center representative. The training helps them
to become efficient in a short time.
Hiring manager
The hiring manager plays an important role in the overall scenario. The hiring manager
performs the interviews with the job candidates, decides whether to hire a job candidate,
negotiates the contract, and manages the communication with the recruiters. If the
probationary work period of a new employee was unsuccessful, the hiring manager
creates a performance plan for that employee.

Chapter 2. HR onboarding case study 13
Call center manager
The call center manager plans the work schedule for new employees and activates their
profiles in the system. The call center manager also runs a probationary review with the
new employee after 7 - 10 days of work.
Human resources (HR) administrator
The HR administrator welcomes new employees in the company and helps them to get
started with their first days on the job. The HR administrator makes sure that the new
employees attend the new hire orientation, complete various HR forms, and receive their
equipment. The HR administrator also enters the employee information into the employee
database.
2.3 The process
The process for hiring and onboarding new call center employees was manual and differed
slightly depending on the person who handled the case. The CEO of the Call Center
Company C commissioned a team of Business Analysts to redefine the hiring and onboarding
process by using IBM Blueworks Live. The CEO decided to use IBM Business Process
Manager for the implementation of this important business process to increase the process
efficiency and to handle the upcoming business.
In this section, we describe the high-level process that the IBM Business Process Manager
team of Call Center Company C implements.
The activities that must be performed to hire and onboard a new call center employee begin
with the selection of job candidates. The selection of a candidate involves several steps,
including a screening test that must be taken by the job candidate, a job interview, the hiring
decision, and, in case of success, the making of a job offer. The hire candidate activity is
modeled as a subprocess (which is indicated by the dotted lines around the activity) and
represents the only activity that is included in the first milestone (candidate selection).
Assuming that a candidate was selected based on the interview and test results and was
made an offer, then a background check for the person is started. Only candidates that pass
the background check are hired. In addition to the background check, the second milestone
(training) contains more activities that include orientation activities in the first days of
employment, a call center training, and the activation of a new hire in the systems.
2.4 Activate new hire
After all of these activities are complete, the call center employee is ready to start working. To
help them during the first days, a mentor is assigned to the employee and a probationary
review after 7 - 10 days of work is performed to ensure that there are no open questions and
that the new employee can perform their work efficiently. If there are problems with the work
efficiency of the new hire, a performance plan is created to resolve this situation. These
activities are included in the third milestone (probationary work).
The business process starts with the hire candidate subprocess, in which different activities
are included. The hire candidate activity can return with one of the following outcomes:
Rejection of a candidate
Decline of a job offer
Acceptance of a job offer

In the first two cases, the process ends. Only in the successful cases are other activities
performed. These activities include a background check and the facilitating the new hire
orientation activity. The background check involves a criminal background check, a credit
check, and a social media background check. The results of the three checks influence the
pass or fail decision on the background check. If a candidate does not pass the background
check, a termination process is started (terminate employee) and the recruiter is informed
(notify recruiter).
After completing the new hire orientation phase, the new employee attends several call center
courses to become familiar with the procedures, the equipment, and the call floor etiquette
(attend call center training). The new hire is now ready to start working and answering calls.
To do so, the call center manager must activate the new hire in the system (activate new hire).
After 7 - 10 days of work, the new hire, the mentor of the new hire, and the call center
manager meet in a probationary review to describe the new hire’s performance. If there are
problems, a performance plan for the new employee is created.
After investigating the call center representative onboarding business process at a high level,
we now describe the following subprocesses that are part of this process:
Hire candidate subprocess
Facilitate new hire orientation subprocess
Activate new hire subprocess
2.4.1 Hire candidate subprocess
This process includes activities that are related to the selection of candidates and to the
candidate interview. The following people are involved in these activities:
Recruiter
Job candidate
Hiring manager
The recruiter first identifies a job candidate whose profile matches the requirements of a call
center representative at Call Center Company C and schedules the interview with the hiring
manager and the job candidate. The candidate first must complete a screening test, in which
their language skills and typing skills are evaluated. After the test, the hiring manager
performs a 30-minute job interview with the candidate. After the interview, the hiring manager
decides whether to hire the candidate based on the interview, the test score, and the
candidate’s minimum asking salary. Depending on the hiring decision, a job offer is made to
the candidate.
The hire candidate subprocess ends after making an offer to the job candidate or deciding not
to hire the candidate.
2.4.2 Facilitate new hire orientation subprocess
This process includes various activities that are performed by the HR administrator. The HR
administrator welcomes the new employees in the company and accompanies them during
the first few days at the company.
First, the HR administrator identifies and assigns a mentor to the new call center
representative. The mentor must work in the same call center and should sit a short distance
from the new employee.

Chapter 2. HR onboarding case study 15
The HR administrator then ensures that the new hires attend the new hire orientation and
complete HR forms, such as the I-9 form, tax forms, and benefits forms. The HR forms
completion is a multi-step activity.
After completing and submitting the forms, the HR administrator provides a security badge, a
network ID, and work equipment (for example, a headset) to the new employee.
Finally, the employee information is entered into the employee database and the IT
equipment is requested.
2.4.3 Activate new hire subprocess
This process includes two activities that are performed by the call center manager.
The first activity in the activate new hire subprocess is to establish a work schedule/shift
activity. The call center manager discusses the work schedule with the new employee and
inserts the new employee into the work schedule of the call center by using a scheduling
system. In doing so, the call center manager might shift existing schedules. The call center
representative can start working only after the call center manager activates the profile for the
employee in the call center system. The new employee then can accept calls.
2.5 Summary
In this chapter, we described our HR onboarding case study, which we use throughout the
remainder of this paper.

Chapter 3. Current State (As-Is) Process
Discovery
IBM Blueworks Live’s flexibility allows the user the freedom to establish guidelines and best
practices that align with their projects goals. At IBM, the IBM Business Process Management
(IBM BPM) practice uses IBM Blueworks Live as the tool to capture process models. The best
practice is to first capture the current state process through discovery, then analyze the
process information, and, finally, design a future process for IBM BPM implementation.
3

3.1 Starting the blueprinting process
To demonstrate the discovery of the current state process, we use the HR Onboarding case
study that was described in Chapter 2, “HR onboarding case study” on page 11 and describe
the steps of documenting your current state process.
Assuming you established a space for your processes and other artifacts, you are now ready
to start blueprinting your process. Browse to the space that is relevant to the process and
click Create New on the right.
Select Process Blueprint and give your process a concise name that indicates to others
what this process covers as shown in Figure 3-1.
Figure 3-1 Create New Process Blueprint Selection
For our HR Onboarding case study, we create a process blueprint and name it Call Center
Rep Onboarding, as shown in Figure 3-2.
Figure 3-2 Blueprint a Process Dialog

Chapter 3. Current State (As-Is) Process Discovery 19
By default, IBM Blueworks Live generates a default process with two milestones and one
activity in the Discovery Map view. By using the Discovery Map view, you can list the
Milestones and Activities in a tabular format without the complication of events, flows, and
gateways. The abstraction away from these elements allows users to focus their attention on
what is the work instead of the how’s and when. We describe these facets after we switch to
the Process Diagram view (as described in 3.4, “Creating a Process Diagram” on page 26),
as shown in Figure 3-3.
Figure 3-3 Default Process Map View
3.2 Creating a Discovery Map
In 3.1, “Starting the blueprinting process” on page 18, we a described what is generated by
default when you are creating a blueprint in the Discovery Map view. We now describe the
best practices to begin the use of the Discovery Map before we move to the process model in
the Process Diagram view.
The Discovery Map is best used for having discovery sessions with the process owner and
subject matter experts (SMEs) identified. The facilitator is usually a Business Analyst, IBM
BPM Analyst, or a Business Stakeholder knowledgeable in IBM Blueworks Live.
Identify the start and end points of the process. This helps create a boundary for the process
so that the facilitation and process discovery effort can be more focused. The Discovery Map
is a first draft of the process and does not necessarily have to be right. During this time, the
facilitator listens to the stakeholders and adds milestones and the activities in the Discovery
Map view.
As a facilitator, try to focus on the Happy Path before getting into exceptions or error
conditions. A Happy Path is a scenario that features no exceptional or error conditions, and
comprises the sequence of activities that are run if everything goes as expected.
The order (or sequence) of activities does not have to be right while the Discovery Map is
used. The purpose of the Discovery Map is to devise a first draft of the process milestones
and activities.
3.2.1 Identifying milestones
There are points within a process where it is important to know whether a specific event
occurred or a condition was met. These events or conditions are referred to as milestones.
Milestones are also a group of activities that represent a phase to deliver an output.

A milestone is defined as a logical grouping of activities. Your process might have distinct
milestones that are easily defined, or it might be more amorphous. Generally, identifying the
milestones is a good starting point. Process analysis is not expected to be perfect from the
beginning; in fact, it is assumed that several revisions of your process definition are
necessary during your process analysis. IBM Blueworks Live is a business-friendly and
flexible tool that allows for quick changes and revisions.
Naming conventions are important. It is considered a best practice for activity names to start
with a verb followed by a noun. Milestone names are typically past tense or a noun.
In our HR Onboarding case study, on the first pass we can separate the requirements into the
following logical groups of activities, as shown in Figure 3-4:
Selection of candidates
Conduct interviews
Offer negotiation
Orientation
Training
Probationary work review
Performance plan initiation
Figure 3-4 Defining initial milestones
After another round of discussions and interviews with the stakeholders, we can drag the
milestones and convert them to activities, and vice versa. The results of the refinement are
Figure 3-5 Refining milestones

If milestones cannot be defined this early in the process discovery, create a first draft of the
milestones and then start documenting the tasks, as shown in Figure 3-6. The milestones can
be changed later after you have a better understanding of the process.
Figure 3-6 First pass of the Call Center Rep Onboarding process map
This process was mapped out quickly with the participation of all of the key business
stakeholders that are involved in the Call Center Rep Onboarding Process. IBM Blueworks
Live is designed with business users in mind. Often times, it takes only a few minutes for a
new user to start documenting the process.
Notice that there are no decision gateways or splits that are included in the discovery map.
This omission is intentional and you can first focus on the most common or happy path that
the process can take. You also can add all of the gateways and exception paths to the
Process Diagram later, as described in 3.4, “Creating a Process Diagram” on page 26.
Rule of seven: A good design approach to follow is the rule of seven, which states that
after you start reaching seven milestones or seven activities, you might want to consider
collapsing them together or converting them into subprocesses.
Keyboard shortcuts: Use keyboard shortcuts to map the milestones and activities by
using the left hierarchy panel. The Enter key adds new activities or milestones and the Tab
key moves the activity as a nested step. For more information, see 13.9, “Keyboard
shortcuts” on page 140.

There are instances in which you might not be able to define the milestones up front and you
can add, remove, and modify milestones at any stage of process discovery. If milestones
cannot be clearly defined up front, start documenting the activities in the process. Remember,
these activities must fall within the start and end points identified earlier and also belong to
the happy path (as much as possible).
Now that we have a good set of milestones that are defined, we start identifying the activities.
3.2.2 Defining activities
After the milestones are defined, you can document the activities under each milestone. An
activity is a generic type of work and can be atomic (task) or compound (process,
subprocess, and so on).
An activity is defined as an atomic unit of work that can be assigned to a single user or a team
of users and is represented by a rectangular box. An activity can be as granular, such as
Send email, or as macro as Create Project Documentation if it represents a unit of work that
must be performed by a user who is defined in the process. If the current process is not
well-defined, it might be simpler to go through the process mapping exercise at a more macro
level for the first pass. Getting too detailed from the beginning without a good understanding
of the current process can derail your analysis and get you mired in the details that are not yet
relevant.
3.3 Details tab
Now that you have a sense of the flow of the process, it is time to start adding details to each
of the processes and activities. It is important to do this before you move into the Process
Diagram view because the logic that generates the Process Diagram view takes into account
the information that is found in the details as it is programmatically traversing your Discovery
Map.
However, before we describe where the information should be captured, we review how some
of the fields came to be in IBM Blueworks Live.
IBM Blueworks Live is a discovering and documenting tool for process knowledge. As with
any process discovery, you first want to know the following information:
Who owns the process.
Who knows the process best or performs the process frequently.
What are the roles in the process.
Who wants to know about the process but does not participate in the process.
For this information, IBM Blueworks Live follows the responsible, accountable, consulted, and
informed (RACI) approach.
Next, you want to know the following information:
Who supplies the inputs
What are the inputs
What are the processes or activities
What are the outputs
Who are the outputs for

For this information, IBM Blueworks Live follows the supplies, input, processes, outputs, and
customers (SIPOC) approach. The tool is often used in Six Sigma and Lean manufacturing
and summarizes the attributes for analysis.
You can see the RACI and SIPOC attributes transposed as fields in the Details window. You
can open the Details window by double-clicking the process name in the outline, the activity,
or milestone, highlighting an activity and pressing Ctrl+D, or by right-clicking the activity and
using the menu.
Next, we describe how each RACI attribute is represented in the IBM Blueworks Live Details
window.
Participant
The participant is the actor that is responsible for the activity or task. This information is the
most important piece of information to populate before you move to the Process Diagram.
This value determines which swimlane the activity is placed in; therefore, the more complete
you can make this information now, the easier it is when you move forward.
As you enter information into the Participant field, Blueworks Live suggests options from other
processes that were documented in the IBM Blueworks Live account in which you are
working. You can continue with the value you are entering or use existing values. After the
value is entered, if you hover over the field, you see an Add Description pop-up window. If you
click this pop-up window, you can add more information about the entry, which can help
populate your Glossary and make it easier for other users to determine whether the
suggested term fits their need.
Based on our Call Center Onboarding case study, we know that the selection of the candidate
is performed by the Hiring Manager. Double-click the Select Candidates activity and enter
the Participant information, as shown in Figure 3-7.
Figure 3-7 Select candidates activity details: Participant

The participant can be a specific user or a team of users, but not both. You must designate a
single participant for an activity.
Business Owners
The business owners are people who are accountable for this activity. These people are
decision makers who have the final say when it comes to differing viewpoints of the task
requirements. It is important to identify the business owners early on in the process definition
stage because they help drive conclusions quickly and effectively.
Experts
The experts are individuals who are often consulted about this activity. These people are
considered highly skilled and experienced in completing this task and are the go-to person for
training and advice. These people are those who are working on the activity the most and
know the desktop-level instructions about how to complete the task.
Systems
In this section, you can list the external systems or applications that are required to complete
the activity. The context should be limited to within the selected activity. (Considering the
various kinds of system interactions or integrations help identify the systems required to
complete this activity.) Some systems provide read-only information, such as a source to
populate define sets of data, while some systems are considered as system of records where
data is transcribed as permanent or long-term storage. Capturing more system integration
information in the Documentation tab can be helpful for future references.
Also, systems that are identified as being used for tracking what is done in the process for
metric reporting and at the same time is used for completing the activity transactions are
called swivel chair activities. A swivel chair activity is when a person who is completing an
activity in the process is using more than one system at the same time.
Cycle time
The cycle time is the time that is spent on the activity, milestone, or process. The cycle time is
the work time and wait time. The units are in minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months.
Work time is the time that it takes to complete the activity. Theoretically, work time starts when
the activity is started by the participant and stopped when the activity is completed.
Wait time is the time that the activity is waiting to be taken and completed by the participant or
the activity is on hold.
It is a best practice to define these times even if it is an estimated value because this helps
determine the overall process and activity cycle times and helps in the identification of
bottlenecks during process analysis.
Cost
The cost is the monetary value that is associated with performing the activity. This information
can help to analyze and prioritize the work activities by cost. For example, if a high cost is
associated with performing an activity, it might be a good area to see whether process
improvements can be made specifically to lower the cost. Cost reductions can be in the form
of reduced cycle times, automation, resource management, and others.
It is a best practice to define these costs (even if it is an estimated value) because it can help
determine the overall process and activity cycle cost. It also helps in the identification of
process improvements.

IBM Blueworks Live embedded the SIPOC attributes in the Details pop-up window. In IBM
Blueworks Live, you are capturing all the same attributes; therefore, a SIPOC analysis is
feasible for an activity or a process. These fields exist except for the process.
The process attribute of the SIPOC analysis is captured in the Documentation tab. This is
where the process activities can be described. Depending on the type of process definition
exercise that is performed, the level of details in the documentation can vary. During a
process discovery workshop, a few sentences might be all that is needed to capture the
business value in an activity. Whereas, in a more detailed analysis, a much more thorough
level of details are captured, possibly going down to the granularity of the data model and the
intricacies of rules and variances that can be applied in different scenarios. Again, the context
is defined by the type of process definition that is performed.
Next, we describe how each SIPOC attribute is represented in IBM Blueworks Live Details
pop-up window.
Suppliers
The suppliers field is the first element of a SIPOC analysis and is the entity where the
information is provided in this activity. Typically, this field identifies an individual, group,
company, or even a system.
Inputs
The inputs field specifies the business forms and data that is required to begin the activity.
This field is not at the individual attribute level but more at a higher business object or entity
level. A Customer Profile, Account Details, or a Risk Profile Document are good examples.
Outputs
The outputs field specifies the business forms and data that is generated by the activity.
Similar to the inputs, this value is not specifically at the individual attribute level but more at a
higher business object or entity level.
Customers
The customers field is the last element of the SIPOC analysis and is the entity where the
outputs are used that are generated by this activity. Similar to the suppliers field, this value is
typically identified as an individual, group, company, or even a system.
Risk
The risk field is used to identify areas of concerns or issues that might occur within an activity
and is classified as controlled, low, medium, or high. Controlled risk is a risk that was
identified but a mitigation plan is in place that significantly reduces the effect or eliminates
such threats. The actual descriptions of the risk can be detailed in the Documentation tab.
Value add
The value add section is a good way to identify whether the activity is a unit of work that adds
value to the overall process. Manual tasks, such as drafting emails and assigning work, are
typical indicators of no value added work. This kind of task is a candidate for process
improvement. Therefore, the identification of this value can result in a quick win in process
efficiencies in the future.
Required value are units of work that do not add value to the process but are required for
regulatory or mandatory purposes. Typically, these are tasks that must be performed to show
due diligence for compliance reasons.

By using the Details pop-up window, you can add multiple items of each field that might be
involved for the entire process and for each activity. Entering this information as completely as
possible can pay dividends later when you want to understand your processes more
thoroughly, when you use the Analyze Mode, and when you use the Playback Mode.
3.4 Creating a Process Diagram
While populating the discovery map, we do not have to be concerned with the sequence of
the activities, the decision points in the process, the happy path versus alternative paths, and
so on. The Discovery Map is more of a first draft of the knowledge transfer from the subject
matter experts (SME). After we have an initial draft of the Discovery Map, it is time to move on
to the Process Diagram view.
IBM Blueworks Live generates an initial version of the Process Diagram automatically for you,
Figure 3-8 Creating the Process Diagram
3.4.1 BPM Notation 2.0
IBM Blueworks Live supports BPM Notation (BPMN) 2.0 and to an extent, the Process
Diagram that was created automatically from the Discovery Map is built by using BPMN 2.0
standards. However, there are several key BPMN details that a user needs must know to
model the process correctly.
Different views: All three views in Blueworks Live (Discovery Map view, Process Diagram
view, and the Documentation view) provide the same information. An edit that is made in
one view is reflected in the other two views. However, after a Process Diagram is
generated, it is a best practice to make edits to the process in this diagram view.

Activity
An activity is a logical, discrete unit of work that is performed by a human or a system, as
Figure 3-9 Activity unit of work
Sequence flow lines
Sequence or flow lines manage the sequence of activities within a process, as shown in
Figure 3-10.
Figure 3-10 Sequence flow lines
Pool
Pools that include milestones and swimlanes represent the organization of the entire process
set of milestones and swimlanes, as shown in Figure 3-11.
Figure 3-11 Pool
Milestones
Milestones are the vertical lanes in the process diagram view. They extend the entire height of
the process and represent the major milestones or phases of the process.
Swimlanes
Swimlanes (see Figure 3-12) are containers for the activities and events that are assigned to
a participant.
Figure 3-12 Swimlanes

Gateways
Table 3-1 shows the available gateways.
Table 3-1 Available gateways
Events
Events represent a unique situation in the process, as shown in Table 3-2. They can occur at
the process, milestone, or activity level.
Table 3-2 Events
Gateway icon Description
The Exclusive Gateway (XOR) represents a normal gateway. Only one path is
taken out of the gateway (for example, yes or no).
The Parallel Gateway (AND) represents a split, which indicates the beginning
of a parallel flow of activities. All paths out of the gateway are taken
simultaneously.
The Inclusive Gateway (OR) represents a split, which indicates the beginning
of a parallel flow of activities. As opposed to a Parallel Gateway, it is not
required that all paths out of the gateway must be taken; there might be logic
that chooses a subset of paths to take out of the gateway based on business
data.
Events icon Description
The Start event symbol is used to mark the beginning of a process. A process
(blueprint) can have one start event only.
The End event marks the ending point of a process. A process (blueprint) can
have multiple end events.
The Message event indicates that a process should send a message or wait for
a message from an external participant after the flow reaches this point. After the
message is sent or received from the external participant, the process resumes.
The Timer event indicates that a process should wait for a specific time or cycle
to proceed. For example, a timer event might be set to fire every weekday at
5 p.m. As a result, the flow of the process queues up at the timer event until
5 p.m. each weekday, at which point the flow resumes.
The Error event causes an exception to happen at that point in the process. The
process continues its flow after this point, but often this indicates that an event
occurred that an external participant or system must handle.

Next, we describe how you can add, move, delete, and label these elements.
3.4.2 Adding titles and labeling
In IBM Blueworks Live, limited text is available for the elements. This limitation is intentional
because it encourages concise descriptions. For example, each milestone or activity should
include a noun and a verb to make it easy to understand what is happening. Although you
want to make your idea clear, you do not want to use complete sentences here because your
diagram can become cluttered and difficult to understand if you include too many words. If
you must capture more information, you should use the appropriate tab in the details pop-up
window. With this process of only a few words per activity, you can quickly map out the broad
strokes of a process that can be refined later.
By using IBM Blueworks Live, you also can rename all of the elements you use in the process
(blueprint). You can rename everything from the space title, process title, milestones,
activities, events, gateways, color legend, labels, and so on. You click the title of the element
that you want to rename and enter the title or label. For example, we rename the Participant 1
to Submitter 1 and are about to rename the Activity A in Figure 3-13.
Figure 3-13 Rename Activity and Swimlane
You can add only one label per sequence flow line, as shown in Figure 3-14 on page 30.
Complete the following steps to add a label to a sequence flow line:
1. Right-click the sequence flow line.
2. Select Add Label from the options.
3. Enter your new label on the sequence flow line.
The Escalation event indicates that a condition was met and the process must
move onto another process or to another participant in the process. For example,
the condition might be a certain dollar amount that requires higher approval, the
expiration of a timer for a predefined number of times, or the number of times you
are relooped in the process.
Events icon Description

Figure 3-14 Rename Milestone and Sequence Flow Line
3.4.3 Adding and moving elements
In addition to adding BPMN artifacts in the Discovery Map view, you can add all elements to
the process while you are in the Process Diagram view. You can add anything from the
milestones, swimlanes, activities, events, gateways, different color scheme to activities, and
sequence flow lines. We describe this process next.
Adding and moving milestones and swimlanes
At the top of the pool next to the view menu you find two icons, Add Milestone and Add
Swimlane, as shown in Figure 3-15 on page 31.

Figure 3-15 Adding a milestone or swimlane
In the addition to the use of the two icons, you can add milestones and swimlanes by hovering
over the line that separates each milestone and swimlane. You see a circle with a plus sign
icon (+), as shown in Figure 3-16 on page 32.
Complete the following steps:
1. Move your cursor over the line on the milestone or swimlane where you want to add the
element.
2. When you see a circle with a plus sign icon, click the icon.
IBM Blueworks Live inserts the milestone or swimlane.

Figure 3-16 Adding a milestone and swimlane via the circle with a plus sign icon
If you added a milestone or swimlane in the wrong place, you can move them into place by
using a Select and Move action. Complete the following steps:
1. Click the Select and Move icon that is next to the view menu (the icon resembles the top
part of an arrow with a cursor).
2. Select the wanted milestone or swimlane by holding down the left mouse button and then
release it after you find the correct place.
IBM Blueworks Live adjusts all the sequence flow lines for you after you decide on your
final milestone or swimlane display, as shown in Figure 3-17 on page 33.

Figure 3-17 Select and move
Adding and moving an activity
Adding an activity to the diagram requires similar steps that are used to add a milestone or a
swimlane, as shown in Figure 3-18. Complete the following steps:
1. Move your cursor over the flow line where you want to insert an activity.
2. When you see a circle with a plus sign icon, click the icon to insert an object.
3. Select the activity icon (the rectangle with rounded corners).
4. IBM Blueworks Live inserts your activity into the flow line.
Figure 3-18 Adding an activity

As with the milestone and swimlane, you can move the activity to a different place by using
the Select and Move action. Complete the following steps:
1. Click the Select and Move icon that is next to the View menu.
2. Select the wanted activity by holding down the left mouse button and then releasing it on
top of the sequence flow line after you find the correct place.
You notice the sequence flow highlights in yellow, which means you can move the activity
there. IBM Blueworks Live adjusts all the sequence flow lines for you after you decide on a
final activity display, as shown in Figure 3-19.
Figure 3-19 Select and move an activity
Adding and moving gateways
Similar to adding an activity, we can add gateways, as shown in Figure 3-20 on page 35.
1. Move your cursor over the flow line where you intend to place the gateway.
2. Click the plus sign icon.
3. Select the decision diamond from the icon menu.

Figure 3-20 Adding a gateway
In you want to add a parallel or inclusive gateway, complete the following steps:
1. Add the exclusive gateway.
2. Change the type of gateway to the wanted gateway by selecting the type from the menu
when you right-click the gateway, as shown in Figure 3-21 on page 36.

Figure 3-21 Changing gateway type
After the gateway is inserted, IBM Blueworks Live places the gateway in the flow line and
adds another path. The paths are based on the decision or conditions that are met at this
point in the process. The default path when you add a decision gateway is the Yes path that
continues the flow you originally designated. A No path is created that ends the process.
Often, the No path is not intended to end the process but take a different route to bypass
activities. The following tasks must be complete to change the sequence flow line from this
default path to a new path:
Drawing a new flow line.
Deleting the former flow line.
Sequence flow lines
In IBM Blueworks Live, you must draw a new sequence flow line before you can delete a
sequence flow line in a decision gateway, as shown in Figure 3-22 on page 37. To draw a new
sequence flow line, complete the following steps:
1. Change your cursor type from selection to flow line by selecting the arrow icon that is
next to the icon with the top of the arrow and the cursor.
2. Left-click the gateway and hold the left mouse button.
3. Drag your cursor from the gateway to the activity to which you want to connect.
A new sequence flow line is created.
4. Release the mouse button after you select your wanted endpoint (in this case, the activity).

Figure 3-22 Adding sequence flow lines
At times, you might want to reorganize some activities and sequence flow lines. IBM
Blueworks Live provides an option to align parallel flows, which automatically organizes the
layout of the activities to the gateways, as shown in Figure 3-23 on page 37.
1. Right-click the gateway.
2. Select Align parallel flows.
Figure 3-23 Align parallel flows

3.4.4 Subprocess or linked process
A subprocess or linked process is something that you should always consider when you are
defining your overall process. However, before you consider these, you must have milestones,
activities, and gateways that are defined in your process.
After you have a process modeled, you might have defined activities that show only a high
level of granularity and that might be decomposed into more granular detail. There are two
different techniques that can be used to capture those details: subprocesses and linked
processes.
If you have an activity that should be further broken down into more granular details, and that
activity can be used in more than this process, a linked process is useful. By using this
approach, you can reuse your work across multiple processes without having to recreate an
activity and only link to it. For example, a Review and Approve activity can be mapped out to
be generic and used across many different processes.
However, if your activity is specific to this process, you can use the subprocess type to
capture the other details about how that activity is run; for example, the Hire Candidate
activity from the case study example. For this example, right-click the Hire Candidate activity
and select the Convert to Sub-process option, as shown in Figure 3-24.
Figure 3-24 Convert to subprocess option for the Hire Candidate activity
The activity border is changed to a dotted line. In the outline view, you can see an indented
activity description. After the details are added to the sub process, you see that the diagram
still shows the dotted line, but the outline contains the details that you entered. You can
capture the detail and still leave the Process Map in a readable state, as shown in Figure 3-25
on page 39.

Figure 3-25 Hire Candidate subprocess outline view
You can also add multiple linked processes to a subprocess to further include more detail, if
needed. For example, the Complete HR Forms activity can be a linked process that is
referenced from a separate process in the HR Space, which enables reusability across
multiple processes, as needed.
Right-click the Complete HR Forms activity and select Link to Process, as shown in
Figure 3-26.
Figure 3-26 Link to process menu option

The Link to Processes window opens, as shown in Figure 3-27. Here, you can search for and
select a process that you created.
Figure 3-27 Select Link to Processes window
After you linked the appropriate process, that activity contains a link icon on the lower left, as
shown in Figure 3-28. Different options are now available in the menu.
Figure 3-28 Linked Process other menu options
Many times during the initial discovery, you might not be able to identify the need for a
subprocess, which is acceptable. The purpose of the current state discovery process wherein
you collaborate with the SMEs is to model the processes as they explain them. It is a best
practice to review the modeled processes at the end of the day because it is then that the
subprocess patterns become more evident.
In our case study, we start modeling the Background Check process.
The background check involves a criminal background check, credit check, and social media
background check. The HR Admin conducts the background tests and sends the result to the
HR Manager for review. The HR Manager reviews the results of the three checks and makes
a final decision on the overall background check. If a candidate does not pass the background
check, the HR Manager informs the HR Admin, who then informs the Hiring Manager, who in
turn informs the recruiter, who ultimately informs the candidate. This process is shown in
Figure 3-29 on page 41.

Figure 3-29 Subprocess Candidate
This process is an ideal candidate to use subprocesses for the following reasons:
The background check is one high-level activity in the entire onboarding process.
There are multiple activities that are performed by different participant groups to complete
the background check.
The individual activities that are performed by the different participant groups are near
each other and allow for easy grouping.
3.5 Problems tab
Problems can occur at any time and you should capture them as they happen. You can
capture them at the process level, milestone level, or activity level. Ask the group of SMEs
how severe the problem is (low, medium, or high) and how frequently it can happen (low,
medium, or high). You do not need specific standard definitions for the low, medium, and high
terms, but it can be beneficial to agree to specific criteria, such as severity as a process cost
or processing time, and frequency as a certain percentage of occurrences by project for each
level. The definitions can be captured and shared in the space details or process details. You
must ensure that it is visible to anyone who must be aware of them.
In our case study, recall that Call Center Company C is experiencing some unique problems
that their organization has never seen before. Call Center Company C just won a large
amount of new business and must hire a significant number of call center representatives.

The process for hiring and onboarding new call center employees is manual and is not
documented. This problem, sometimes also called a pain point, is a problem that we want to
document at the process level in the Problems tab because this is a problem that is seen
throughout the entire process. If this problem was specific to a milestone or activity for a
particular role, you want to capture the problem at these levels only.
Problems are not always evident to the people who are performing the process because to
them, it appears as business as usual.
At times, you can discover problems by analyzing the information that you are capturing, as
shown in the following examples:
You might discover information about an activity for a specific role and find out that role
must use five different systems to perform the task. This is a problem of system
fragmentation.
You might find that one group is larger than another group, which might create bottlenecks
in the process. This is a problem on unbalanced teams.
You might discover that people upstream in the process are providing incorrect information
to people downstream in the process, which exponentially increases the number of times
that the different groups of people must communicate to fix the data or human errors. This
is a problem of rework.
Finally, remember the problems you capture can have different levels of impact. For example,
a problem you discover might occur only once every six months and cost the company little;
however, you might discover a problem that occurs 10 times a day and might be costly to the
company.
There are many types of problems and different levels of impact. The key is to document them
and highlight them because these can be the key points that you want to target when you are
designing and creating the future state process.

3.6 Policies tab
Policies are a good way to capture information that is relevant to a decision or process in a
single shared area. You can create a policy the same way you create a blueprint, as shown in
Figure 3-30.
Figure 3-30 Creating a policy
For each policy that you create, there is a section to define the policy and provide more
information about what the policy is used for, upload a policy document, or link to a policy by
using a URL, as shown in Figure 3-31.
Figure 3-31 Policy creation

In addition, each policy includes the Where Used information by default, so that you can see
where the policy is being referenced. You can reference the policy from the details pop-up
window on any entity or from the root process or decision by clicking the Policies tab in the
Details window, as shown in Figure 3-32.
Figure 3-32 Policies window
3.7 Documentation tab
The Documentation tab is the free-form text area in which you can describe the process,
milestone, or activity.
When you are capturing the current state process at the process level, it is a best practice to
begin capturing information about the process. For example, capture a description of what the
process is about, how the process starts and ends, and any other information that describes
the context of the process and its scope.
When you are capturing the current state process at the milestone level, it is a best practice to
capture information about the phase, period, or status.
When you are capturing the current state process at the activity level, it is a best practice to
capture information about the activity in the form of user stories and a further description
about how the activity is completed.
3.8 Attachments tab
The Attachments tab is best used to capture content that can help explain the process,
milestone, or activity. The Attachments tab also can be used to capture information for the
current or future state process. You can capture this information at the process, milestone, or
activity levels. The attachments often consist of image files, documents, presentations,
spreadsheets, and so on. A text file attachment is shown in Figure 3-33 on page 45.

Figure 3-33 Attachments tab
In our case study, Call Center Company C is hiring and onboarding new call center
employees. Because this process is manual and has little to no automation, it is a perfect
candidate for many explanatory attachments to further explain the individual activities. The
types of content can range from snapshots of screens of the current systems that are used, to
the desktop instructions people are using to perform the activities, to presentations that might
contain rules, and even how the process currently flows.
Although Blueworks Live includes an Attachments tab with which you can attach almost any
type of content, it is not intended nor recommended to be a repository for documents. You
should work with your team to devise a plan to capture and store content and reference the
content in Blueworks Live via hyperlinks in the Documentation tab.
3.9 Comments tab
The Comments tab is best used to capture comments about the process. The Comments tab
can be used to capture information for the current or future state process. You can capture
them at the process, milestone, or activity levels. A user who has access to a process might
have feedback or a question regarding something that they saw in the process and want to
alert you. Blueworks Live does not allow the user to categorize or flag the comment if it is
feedback, a question, or something to which you must reply.
When someone enters a comment, the user who is entering the comment does not see any
change in the process. However, everyone else viewing the process notices a balloon type
icon that appears at the top of the element where the comment was entered. After the
comment is viewed, the balloon type icon disappears. As the person viewing the comment,
you can reply to or delete the comment, as shown in Figure 3-34 on page 46.

Figure 3-34 Comments tab
3.10 Summary
In this chapter, we described how to work through an As-Is process discovery exercise. We
showed you how to create a Discovery Map and a Process Diagram, and how to collect and
document necessary and helpful details in the different tabs and locations for each process
artifact.
This As-Is model is used in your follow-on steps to create an optimized To-Be process.

Chapter 4. Documentation view
Although the Discovery Map and the Process Diagram view are among the two most widely
used views because they are visual representations of the process, IBM Blueworks Live also
includes a third view, the Documentation view.
In this chapter, we describe the Documentation view and how you can customize what
information is displayed in the view.
4

4.1 Introduction
Just as the Process Diagram view transposes the Discovery Map view into a more meaningful
and logical representation of the flow of milestones and activities, the Documentation view
transposes the same information into a readable document, as shown in Figure 4-1.
Figure 4-1 Documentation view
The Documentation view displays all of the information that is captured in the Documentation
tab of the process, milestones, activities, gateways, and so on. While you are in the
Documentation view, you can add or edit the information as though you were directly in the
Documentation tab of the Discovery Map or Process Diagram view by clicking the pencil icon,
Figure 4-2 Pencil icon
You can select to show or hide the details pop-up window format by clicking the icon with the
table, as shown in Figure 4-3.
Figure 4-3 Table icon
You can select to show or add comments by clicking the chat bubble icon, as shown in
Figure 4-4.
Figure 4-4 Chat bubble icon

Chapter 4. Documentation view 49
You can select to receive a link to the item that you are referencing by clicking the chain icon,
Figure 4-5 Link icon
The Documentation view displays the information in a work breakdown structure (WBS)
format, as shown in Figure 4-6.
Figure 4-6 Documentation view work breakdown structure (WBS)
As in the Discovery Map and Process Diagram view, you can export this view. The export that
best reflects this view is the Microsoft Word format. Along with the export, you can also decide
to include a snapshot of the process model, as shown in Figure 4-7 on page 50.

Figure 4-7 Documentation view Microsoft Word format with process model
4.2 Details and comments
While you are in the Documentation view, you can show all of the details and comments
through the entire document view, as shown in Figure 4-8.
Figure 4-8 Show All Details and Show All Comments options
The following options are available:
Show All Details
When the Show All Details feature is enabled, the Documentation view displays all of the
information that was captured in the Details, Problems, Decision (if defined as Decision),
Policies, and Attachments tabs. As you can add and edit the documentation, you can also
do the same here. This view can be beneficial if you must edit and review information
without having to click through the various tabs if you were in the Discovery Map or
Process Diagram view, as shown in Figure 4-9 on page 51.

Chapter 4. Documentation view 51
Figure 4-9 Documentation view with Show All Details enabled
Show All Comments
When the Show All Comments feature is enabled, the Documentation view displays all the
comments that are captured. This view can be beneficial if you must review, add, or reply
to comments without having to click through the various tabs if you were in the Discovery
Map view or Process Diagram view, as shown in Figure 4-10.
Figure 4-10 Documentation view with Show All Comments enabled

4.3 Summary
In this chapter, we described the Documentation view, which is the third view of IBM
Blueworks Live. Just as the Discovery Map view and Process Diagram view have their
advantages, so does the Documentation view present advantages over the visual views.
Although the Documentation view is formatted differently, you can still show, hide, add, or edit
information that is captured without opening and closing several windows.

Chapter 5. Analyze Mode
The Analyze Mode in IBM Blueworks Live is a tool to use when you are reviewing the process
from a holistic point of view. It is intended to give you a view of the process in the Discovery
Map view or the Process Diagram view that highlights the information that you selected and
all of the activities that use it.
In this chapter, we describe this mode and how to use it in the context of our use case.
5

5.1 Before the Analyze Mode is used
The following concepts are important to understand before the Analyze Mode is used:
Analyze Mode option
Analyze Mode inputs
5.1.1 Analyze Mode option
The Analyze Mode option is always at the upper right of your window. When the Analyze
Mode is enabled, the Analyze Mode button displays a small red bar on the icon and a banner
across the top of the page, as shown in Figure 5-1.
Figure 5-1 Analyze Mode button enabled
When the Analyze Mode is disabled, it shows the Analyze Mode button without the small, red
bar, as shown in Figure 5-2.
Figure 5-2 Analyze Mode button disabled
5.1.2 Analyze Mode inputs
The Analyze Mode always works regardless of whether there is captured information. The
Analyze Mode is used effectively only when there is information that is populated in the fields
of the Details tab of the processes, milestones, or activities. When no information is
populated, the Analyze Mode returns a zero result and prevents you from selecting the Wait
Time property, as shown in Figure 5-3 on page 55.

Chapter 5. Analyze Mode 55
Figure 5-3 Discovery Map View with Analyze Mode and zero items captured
The same case applies when you are in the Process Diagram view.
5.2 Using the Analyze Mode
As shown in Figure 5-4 on page 56, many details are provided for the Call Center Rep
Onboarding As Is (Playback Zero) process. However, if you want to know what other activities
in the process have HR Manager as a Business Owner, this view does not provide that
information. This instance is where the Analysis Mode feature can help you.

Figure 5-4 Discovery Map view with the Analyze Mode disabled
In Figure 5-5, Analysis Mode is enabled and only Participants is selected from the pull-down
menu at the upper left side of the page. You can see that each activity that is using the
selected participant is highlighted in the Discovery Map. Looking at this information in the
Discovery Map view, you can see the different participant roles that are captured in the
activities. These details appear only if you captured this information in the Details tab.
Figure 5-5 Discovery Map view with the Analyze Mode enabled

When the Analyze Mode is enabled, you can use the drop-down menu in the upper left of the
window to review any of the details that are added to the activities and how they are spread
across the activities. You can see the options that you can select, as shown in Figure 5-6.
Figure 5-6 Discovery Map view with the Analyze Mode enabled with Participants selected for viewing
You can select multiple properties to show on the Discovery Map together, which is useful
when you want to analyze or answer a specific question. For example, if you are looking for a
participant with a specific cost across the process, you select Participants and Cost. You
can also select specific entries in the Participants; you do not have to show them all, as
Figure 5-7 Discovery Map view with the Analyze Mode enabled with Participant and Cost property selected

Analyze Mode works the same for the Process Diagram view, in which you can enable and
disable the feature and then select and clear properties to display. The only difference when
the Analyze Mode is used in the Process Diagram view is that you see the process flow rather
than milestones and activities, which are presented in the Discovery Map view.
Be careful when you use the Analyze Mode because it is possible to make the Discovery Map
view and the Process Diagram view all but unreadable if you captured much information in the
Details tab and you choose to show all of the properties. Figure 5-8 shows an example of how
it looks if you select all of the available properties in the Discovery Map view.
Figure 5-8 Discovery Map view with the Analyze Mode enabled with all Properties selected
5.3 Using the Analyze Mode for process analysis
In this section, we describe how you can use Analyze Mode to perform process analysis. The
Analyze Mode can help you answer questions regarding a process or even recommend how
to improve a specific area of the business in the current state process that might lead to the
justification for a future state design.
We expand our HR Onboarding case and include activity details for the purposes of
demonstrating how to use the Analyze Mode. The case study was expanded to demonstrate
how to use the Analyze Mode to perform process analysis. The details that are described
here are fictitious data points.
5.3.1 Use case example
As stated in our case study, the CEO of the Call Center Company C commissioned a team of
Business Analysts to perform process improvements across the company. The Business
Analysts decided to use IBM Blueworks Live for this purpose. As one of the Business
Analysts, you are assigned the Human Resource (HR) functional organization. The main
process the Director of HR decided to improve is the HR Onboarding process. The first step is
to investigate who are the Business Owners and subject matter experts (SMEs).
Because you know how to use the Analyze Mode, you can quickly answer this question. You
access the process in the Space that it is in. Click the Analyze button and select Business
Owners and SMEs from the properties, as shown in Figure 5-9 on page 59.

Figure 5-9 Process Diagram view with Analyze Mode enabled with Business Owners and Expert properties selected
Per the Analyze Mode, the process has the following Business Owners and Experts:
Business Owners:
– HR Manager
– Call Center Manager
Experts:
– Steve
– John
– Sam
– Adam
Now that you know who the Business Owners and Experts are, you can proceed to take a
closer look at the process. You use the Analyze Mode again to look for recommendations for
improving the current state process. You begin with exploring the roles in the process. You
clear the Business Owners and Experts selections and now you select Participants, as
shown in Figure 5-10 on page 60.

Figure 5-10 Process Diagram view with Analyze Mode enabled with Participant property selected
Per the Analyze Mode, the process has the Participants that participate in the number of
activities that are as shown in Table 5-1.
Table 5-1 Onboarding process participants and number of activities
You now determine that the process has some level of complexity because of the number of
participants and the number of activities the participants perform in the process. You decide
to have a meeting with the Business Owner in which you introduce yourself as the party of the
process improvement team that is responsible of improving the HR Onboarding process.
The Business Owner shares with you that they are looking for options to reduce cost and time
that it takes to onboard new employees because next year they want to onboard many
employees.
You return to the process model and use the Analyze Mode again. This time, you select Cost
and Participants because you are now interested to see the cost that is associated with each
activity and want to learn which activities cost the most to perform and by whom, as shown in
Participant Number of Activities
Hiring Manager 9 Activities
Candidate 8 Activities
Call Center Manager 4 Activities
Recruiter 4 Activities
HR Admin 3 Activities
HR Manager 3 Activities

Figure 5-11 Process Diagram view with Analyze Mode enabled with Participant and Cost properties selected
Per the Analyze Mode, you observe the process has the Cost, Participants, and Activities that
are shown in Table 5-2.
Table 5-2 Onboarding process cost, participants, and activities
Cost (USD) Participants Activities
25 Call Center Manager Assign Mentor
50 Call Center Manager Activate Call Center Profile
100 Call Center Manager Establish Work Schedule/Shift
100 Call Center Manager Probationary Review
25 Candidate Complete I-9 Form
25 Candidate Complete Tax Forms
25 Candidate Complete Benefit Forms
25 Candidate Submit Forms to HR
100 Candidate Attend New Hire Orientation
3000 Candidate Attend Call Center Training
50 Candidate Obtain Badge, Network ID, and Equipment
50 Candidate Take Screening Test
25 Hiring Manager Inform failed background check to Recruiter
25 Hiring Manager Inform Recruiter of Offer Rejection
25 Hiring Manager Inform Recruiter of Rejection
25 Hiring Manager Initiate Performance Plan
25 Hiring Manager Request Background check
25 Hiring Manager Request Equipment from IT

You aggregate the data that is provided and observe the details, as shown in Table 5-3 and
Table 5-4.
Table 5-3 Number of activities by participant
Table 5-4 Total cost of activities by participant
50 Hiring Manager Initiate New Hiring Request
100 Hiring Manager Conduct Interview
100 Hiring Manager Make Offer
60 HR Admin Enter Information into Employee Database
300 HR Admin Conduct Background Check
25 HR Manager Inform background check OK to HR Admin
25 HR Manager Inform failed background check to Hiring Manager
Admin
25 HR Manager Inform failed background check to the HR Admin
25 HR Manager Review Background check results
25 Recruiter Inform Candidate of Rejection
25 Recruiter Inform Candidate of Rejection
25 Recruiter Schedule Interview with Hiring Manager
100 Recruiter Identify Job Candidates
Participants Total Number of Activities
Hiring Manager 9
Call Center Manager 4
HR Manager 4
Recruiter 4
Candidate 5
HR Admin 2
Participants Total Cost (USD) of Activities
Call Center Manager 275
Hiring Manager 400
HR Admin 360
Recruiter 175
HR Manager 100
Candidate 3300
Cost (USD) Participants Activities

You observe that the Hiring Manager is responsible for a high number of activities compared
to the other participants. You also observe that the total cost of all the activities that are
performed by the Candidate are higher compared to the rest of the participants even though
the Hiring Manager has more activities.
You report your findings back to the Business Owner and provide recommendations for next
steps. You recommend taking a closer look at the activities that are performed by the Hiring
Manager and the cost that is associated with the activities that are performed by the
Candidate.
You return to the process model and use the Analyze Mode again. However, this time you
clear the Cost option and select Work Time, Wait Time, and Participants. You are interested
in finding any bottlenecks in the process, as shown in Figure 5-12.
Figure 5-12 Process Diagram view with Analyze Mode enabled

You first look at the Hiring Manager and observe the work and wait times, as shown in
Table 5-5.
Table 5-5 Hiring Manager activities work and wait time
You observed that the Hiring Manager has a Wait Time of 13 days before they perform the
Conduct Interview activity. Your recommendation to the Business Owner is to shorten the
time to perform the Conduct Interview activity. You also might recommended improving the
Make Offer and Request Equipment from IT activities. These steps meet the objective to
reduce time for the Hiring Manager.
You return to the process model and use the Analyze Mode again. However, this time you
want to focus on the activities that are performed by the Candidate. You clear the Work Time
and Wait Time selections and select Cost and Participants. You are interested in finding
potential areas for savings, as shown in Figure 5-13.
Figure 5-13 Process Diagram view with Analyze Mode enabled with Cost and Participants properties selected
Activities Work Time Wait Time
Conduct Interview 1 day 13 days
Inform failed background check to Recruiter 15 minutes 0
Inform Recruiter of Offer Rejection 15 minutes 0
Inform Recruiter of Rejection 15 minutes 0
Initiate New Hiring Request 1 day 0
Initiate Performance Plan 2 hours 0
Make Offer 1 day 2 days
Request Background check 15 minutes 0
Request Equipment from IT 1 day 1 day

You now review the Candidate and observe the information that is shown in Table 5-6.
Table 5-6 Candidate activities and associated costs
You observe that the Candidate has a Cost of USD $3000 for attending the call center
training. Your recommendation to the Business Owner is to improve the cost to perform the
Attend Call Center Training activity. This recommendation meets the objective of reducing
cost for the Candidate.
5.4 Summary
By using the Analyze Mode, you analyzed the process and details and made
recommendations about where the Business Owner can improve to reduce cost and time.
You learned that the Analyze Mode in IBM Blueworks Live is an effective way to view process
details in the Discovery Map and Process Diagram view. You also learned about the inputs
that are required to use the feature effectively.
Finally, you learned that the Analyze Mode can help you answer questions about the process
or help with performing process analysis. However, remember the Analyze Mode and its use
is only as good as the process model and the information that you capture in it.
Activities Cost (USD)
Complete I-9 Form 25
Complete Tax Forms 25
Complete Benefit Forms 25
Submit Forms to HR 25
Attend New Hire Orientation 100
Attend Call Center Training 3000
Obtain Badge, Network ID, and Equipment 50
Take Screening Test 50

Chapter 6. Process automation
Process automation in IBM Blueworks Live is a lightweight capability with which you can
perform different types of automation, including checklist and workflow. By using the checklist
automation, you can perform activities in no particular order. By using workflow, you can
specify an order to the tasks that must be completed.
In this chapter, we describe the steps to create a workflow and a checklist.
6

6.1 Workflow
To create a workflow type automated process, browse to the Work tab and select Automate a
Process, as shown in Figure 6-1.
Figure 6-1 Work tab home
In the next window that opens (as shown in Figure 6-2 on page 69), you name the process
and select the type of process. In this case, you create a Simple Workflow process. This
type of process is best suited for review and approval processes.
You can include a number of approvals for multiple levels, but not every step is required to
include an approval. In addition, this process type facilitates the use of parallel and sequential
activities that are built in so that you can have multiple reviews occur at the same time.
Here, you also need to select the Space Name in which you want to store the process. To
finish this step, click Create.

Chapter 6. Process automation 69
Figure 6-2 Automate a Process window
Next, you provide instructions to the user who starts the process. Keep these instructions
concise because there are limited characters available for this field. These instructions are
displayed when the process is started. The Work Subject and Details fields are completed at
start, so you do not have to complete them now.
The Workflow Tasks section represents the bulk of this process and the order here is
important. In this automation type, the tasks are sent out one at a time for sequential tasks.
For example, if you have three tasks that are defined, the second user in the workflow does
not know that the process was started until the first activity is complete.
As you create the workflow tasks, action label, and start instructions, you want to ensure that
you keep these items as generic as possible so that the process can be reused in as many
instances as possible.
After you are satisfied with the information you entered, select Publish to make the process
available for participants in the space to start. A finished workflow process is shown in

Figure 6-3 Workflow process overview
In this example, Participant 1 is notified, and if that participant approves, Participant 2 is
notified. If that participant approves, Participants 3, 5, and 6 are notified of their tasks.
However, only Participant 5 is required to approve. Therefore, when that participant approves,
Participant 4 receives an email about their task to complete.
6.2 Checklist
The checklist process application is similar to the workflow, with one important difference. The
checklist sends all tasks out at the same time and can be completed in any order.
Checklists can be used in a scenario in which you must get approvals from many people, but
the order in which the approvals are received is unimportant.
In another scenario, you want to notify a group of participants about a review and receive an
acknowledgment when they completed their task. A sample checklist is shown in Figure 6-4
on page 71.

Chapter 6. Process automation 71
Figure 6-4 Checklist process overview
6.3 Summary
Workflows and checklists provide two powerful means to automate your processes. By using
these automations, you can use linear or parallel flows that might require approvals or
acknowledgements.

Chapter 7. Governance
IBM Blueworks Live includes a Governance feature that is aimed at gathering reviews or
approvals before publishing an artifact for non-editors to view. By using this feature, you can
document your process or decision, submit the workflow, and then publish that particular
version.
The Governance process includes the following overall steps:
Defining
Launching
Participating
Publishing
In this chapter, we describe these overall steps.
7

7.1 Defining
Defining a governance process app is the same as defining an automated process. For
Governance, Blueworks Live has parallel and sequential activities within a single process
app. Some example activities are shown in Figure 7-1.
Figure 7-1 Process review

Chapter 7. Governance 75
7.2 Launching
To launch a Governance process while inside the Process Diagram, go to the Snapshots
menu and select the version of the process you for which you want to launch the Governance
process. Next, click Actions  Launch a Process App, as shown in Figure 7-2.
Figure 7-2 Launch a Process App

As shown in Figure 7-3, a pop-up window opens in which you are prompted to select the
Process App you want to launch. Make your selection (in our example, we chose Review
Process in Redbook), then clicked Launch Process App.
Figure 7-3 Choose governance process

As shown in Figure 7-4, you must populate the subject and details sections as necessary to
inform the participants, then ensure that the tasks are correct, they are assigned to the proper
person, and the due date is accurate before you click Launch. If you must modify any tasks,
assignees, or due dates, you must do so before you click Launch (you can always reassign
tasks at run time).
Figure 7-4 Initiate governance process
As the person who configures the governance process, you can be notified when the process
is completed by selecting Email me when this process is completed or cancelled.
The arrows at the left side of the workflow tasks indicate the flow of the process (there are
parallel and sequential tasks in this process). You can see that in this process that we have
two parallel reviews for the SMEs, then user Brian receives a review and approval activity, and
user Josh receives the final review and approval if Brian approves.
7.3 Participating
If you are a participant in a governance process, you receive an email that indicates that a
governance process was launched. This email provides you with a link to your activity and
you see the Work in Progress icon if you open the process, as shown in Figure 7-5.
Figure 7-5 Work in Progress icon

When you start IBM Blueworks Live from the provided link, you are on the instance page
where you can follow a link to the artifact on which you must work. When you open the
artifact, it brings you to a read-only view of the artifact for which the review was requested,
unless you are an editor and have the correct permissions in the space.
If you are a participant that is involved in a review step, you see a Complete button on the
right side in the yellow bar, as shown in Figure 7-6.
Figure 7-6 Governance review task
If you are a participant that is involved in an approval step, you see a yellow bar at the top of
the window with two buttons: Approve and Reject, as shown in Figure 7-7.
Figure 7-7 Governance approval task
Both roles can create comments before submitting their response; the link in the email does
not expire.
7.4 Publishing
The publishing part of governance is the same as described in 1.2.6, “Publishing and
permissions” on page 6. An editor can opt to publish without a governance process or at the
end of one.
After an artifact is reviewed, the person who originated the governance process can publish
the artifact from the Snapshot menu by selecting the reviewed version, going through the
Actions menu and selecting Publish. You do not have to wait until the governance process is
approved to publish it. You can see in Figure 7-8 on page 79 that the process is published
even though it is not yet approved.

Figure 7-8 Governance review approval published
7.5 Example
For our HR Onboarding process example, you documented the process As-Is. Before you
launch the To-Be, you want to ensure that what you have is accurate. For this purpose, the
business analyst created a Process App that is named As-Is Approval that must be used to
have the As-Is version of processes approved before moving on to the To-Be state. The
workflow tasks for the As-Is approval app are shown in Figure 7-9.
Figure 7-9 As-Is approval app
First, you want the SME (in our example, Nachi) that helped you create the process to
approve it before it goes anywhere else. After Nachi approves it, you want the first line
manager of the SME (in our example, David) to approve it. Next, you want the Director (in our
example, Jonas) to approve it at the same time that the executive sponsor (in our example,
Philipp) is notified of the review and given the ability to see the process.
We have three levels of approval that happen sequentially, but two that are happening in
parallel. You do not have to define the persons that the tasks are assigned to at this point, but
if you know who it is, it saves you time later. Select Publish and the approval app is available
for you to launch from your process for governance.
Go to the HR Onboarding As-Is process, open the Snapshots menu, select the version that is
ready for review, and then, in the Actions menu, select Launch a Process App. In the pop-up
window that opens, you select the As-Is Approval App that you created. If you selected the
Current Version in the snapshots menu, you can keep future edits separate from the review
version. This creates a new snapshot to perform the review on while you continue updating
the latest version.

When you click OK, you are presented with the As-Is Approval App in runtime mode. Here,
you can provide a title and description so that your reviewers know what they are about to
look at, set the task due dates or adjust the participants, and then launch the governance
process.
As the person that submitted the review, you now have a new menu on the process diagram,
called Work in Progress. This menu shows you who was informed of their task, who
completed their task, who did not complete their task, and who is still waiting for their task to
be sent to them. When the process is complete, if you opted to receive an email before launch
time, you do receive an email. At that point, you can open your process and publish the
approved version.
7.6 Summary
By using the Governance feature, you can capture the review, commentary, or approvals on a
process or decision. Launching a process on a specific version of the artifact enables you to
continue modifying and improving your artifact while still reflecting that a particular version
was officially reviewed or approved.

Chapter 8. Playbacks
The Playback mode in IBM Blueworks Live is accessible only when you are in read-only mode
on the Process Diagram. By using this configuration, users can create scenarios in which the
process flows for demonstration purposes.
In this chapter, we describe the Playback mode and how it can be used to perform some
analysis on a particular flow of a process.
8

8.1 Overview
It is often easy to review a process and think it looks correct, but after you are taken through it
in a specific series of steps, you can see errors or shortcomings. By using the Playback
mode, you can take people through the process and attempt to find the problems.
In addition, you can select an analysis property to be shown throughout the playback. If you
select cost, for example, you can track the cost of each activity in the process. You can use
this to show the least expensive possible route through a process if you wanted to perform
some analysis on the process paths.
Another great feature is that you can change the Analysis property during Playback Definition
and Playback Execution. Because of this ability, you can select the path with a certain role
that is attached and then run it with costs or work time enabled. Unlike the Analysis Mode,
you can select only a single property at a time.
When you enter the Playback mode, the appearance of IBM Blueworks Live is slightly altered
to minimize headers to make it easier to present and use more of the window for the diagram.
The headers of these modes are shown in Figure 8-1 and Figure 8-2 for comparison.
Figure 8-1 Default IBM Blueworks Live header
Figure 8-2 Playback mode header
8.2 Playback definition
When you first enter Playback mode, you are in Playback Definition mode. This is where you
define the flow of the playback. You can create a happy path, an exception path, or whatever
it is that you must demonstrate.
We use the HR Onboarding Call Center Rep As-Is process to show the playback happy path.
This can be helpful in showing other people in the organization how each process can work in
the ideal state. We begin by naming the playback Happy Path, as shown in Figure 8-3 on
page 83.

Chapter 8. Playbacks 83
Figure 8-3 Playback that is named Happy Path
Next, we define the path of the process. The tool is open for you to select any starting point;
however, after you select a starting point, you can select only legitimate next steps, you
cannot jump from the Inform background check OK option to the HR Admin to the Inform
failed background check to Hiring Manager Admin option because they are not connected, as
Figure 8-4 Improper playback flow

We begin at the Start event and take the process through the path to the split after Activate
Call Center Profile, as shown in Figure 8-5.
Figure 8-5 Playback process flow split
You can see that the process splits and can go one of two ways. We can take the happy path
to the Assign Mentor activity, or the Probationary Review activity. Although this split is simple
and the process often can take both paths at the same time, the playback feature cannot split
the flow. You are always required to select a single pathway through the process. Because we
are still on the happy path, we take it through the Assign Mentor activity.
Now that we are ready to show everyone how the process works when everything goes as
planned, we describe how we can show our team what happens when things go wrong.
Select the 2 under the playback naming window and name it Rejected Candidate, so that you
can demonstrate to the people of the HR department how the process flows when the
candidate is rejected in the interview process.
Again, begin with the Start event and move through the process. But this time, instead of
selecting the Hire Candidate subprocess, expand it and step through that subprocess to
include the rejection steps, as shown in Figure 8-6 on page 85.
No loops in Playback mode: The Playback mode does not allow you to run a loop in the
process to demonstrate rework or approval type activities. In this case, you might want to
use two or three different playbacks to get to show the process flows that you want.

Figure 8-6 Playback through subprocess
Now that we defined the two processes, we are ready to run through the playback to
demonstrate how the process flows and get their agreement.
8.3 Run the playback
Start with the happy path to ensure that what you captured so far is what the process
resembles in reality, as shown in Figure 8-7 on page 86.

Figure 8-7 Playback execution start
When you click the Play button, the buttons and the mode of the playback switch to run, and
the menus and buttons at the bottom of the window change, as shown in Figure 8-8.
Figure 8-8 Playback run that is started
The system is calculating the cost of this path for you. If you change to another property that
can be accumulated (for example, Wait Time), the system adds that up and provides you with
a total.
As you can see in Figure 8-9 on page 87, the costs are accumulating as we step through the
process.

Figure 8-9 Playback mode costs
For many business people, this exercise is enlightening and demonstrates that it cost the
company $4,385 for each candidate that makes it through the process, as shown in
Figure 8-10.
Figure 8-10 Playback happy path total costs
If we take the other defined playback route, Rejected Candidate, through to the end, we see
that it costs the company $375 for each applicant that makes it to an interview, but does not
move on, as shown in Figure 8-11.
Figure 8-11 Playback Rejected Candidate Costs

8.4 Summary
The Playback mode can be a useful tool for stepping others through the process map, or
performing some analysis on a particular flow of the process.

Chapter 9. Future state (To-Be) Process
Model
There are always plenty of things that work well in the As-Is process. There also are things
that do not work that well, which are documented as problems in the As-Is process flow.
Precisely for this reason, we do not want to lose track of what happens in the As-Is process,
and we should be using the As-Is process as a baseline to create the To-Be process.
In this chapter, we describe the future state (To-Be) process model and how it can be useful.
9

9.1 Overview
To create the To-Be process, copy the As-Is process (as shown in Figure 9-1) and rename it
appropriately (as shown in Figure 9-2). It is also recommended that you keep the As-Is and
the To-Be processes in separate spaces to avoid any confusion.
Figure 9-1 Copy a process
Figure 9-2 Rename a Process
Watch your comments: All of the details that are documented during the As-Is discovery
(such as problems, SIPOC, RACI, and value add) are copied over except the comments
section. Start reviewing these details one activity at a time.

Chapter 9. Future state (To-Be) Process Model 91
9.2 Using the value add analysis
You want to check whether a certain activity adds value by referring to the value add section
in the details. This level of analysis should be completed already.
9.2.1 Value add
If an activity adds value, it means the activity as it exists in the As-Is state is good enough and
contributes to the overall goal of the process. But, it certainly can be improved. Consider the
following points:
Can this activity be automated through a system?
Can this activity be done by a different group (or a swimlane) that can promote workload
balancing, free up resources, or might cut labor costs by having this activity done by a less
expensive resource.
For example, regarding our case study (as shown in Figure 9-3), the HR Admin enters the
information into the employee database. After this information is entered, the Hiring Manager
requests equipment from IT group.
Figure 9-3 Value add activity in the As-Is process
Although it is clear that someone must inform the IT department that equipment must be
ordered for the employee (which is why this activity is categorized as value add), why should
this be done by the Hiring Manager? Can the system take the information from the employee
database and directly communicate the request to the IT group?
We assume that there is a potential to automate this task. Therefore, move the activity from
the Hiring Manager swimlane to the System swimlane, as shown in Figure 9-4 on page 92.

Figure 9-4 Automate value add activity
9.2.2 Non-value add
If an activity does not add value, it means the activity in the As-Is state does not contribute to
the overall goal of the process and must be eliminated. In reality, not every non-value add
activity can be eliminated, but we can at least reduce the effect of such activities on process
cost and efficiency. Consider whether this activity can be eliminated completely.
If the activity can be eliminated, ensure that it does not have any effect on the upstream and
downstream activities and delete the activity from the process flow. When you are deleting an
activity in Blueworks Live, ensure that the flow lines that are connecting the preceding and
succeeding activities do not change.
If the activity cannot be eliminated, can this activity be automated through a system? If we
can go this route and automate a non-value add activity, the cost of automating must be less
than the current cost of performing this activity over a period. That is, our return on investment
(ROI) must be high to justify automation. It is best to challenge why a non-value add activity
cannot be eliminated rather than going this route.
Regarding our case study (see Figure 9-5 on page 93), when the candidate fails the
background check, it is the company’s responsibility to inform the candidate.

Figure 9-5 Non-value add activity in the As-Is process
To do so, the HR Manager informs the HR Admin, who informs the Hiring Manager who then
informs the Recruiter. The Recruiter informs the Candidate. There is no value that the HR
Manager, HR Admin, or the Hiring Manager add to this process.
We eliminate the activities that do not add value by deleting them. Before we delete the
activities, ensure that it does not have any affect on the upstream and downstream activities.
For example, we deleted the activity where the HR Admin informs the Hiring Manager that the
Candidate failed the background check. Although this sounds acceptable in the context of the
Recruiter informing the Candidate, does the Hiring Manager perform any actions downstream
in the process as a result of the failed background check? If so, we must ensure that the
Hiring Manager is informed somehow (an email notification from the system) so that we do
not negatively affect the process by deleting such activities.
The To-Be process now looks much more efficient after the non-value added activities are
deleted, as shown in Figure 9-6 on page 94.

Figure 9-6 Non-value add activities that are eliminated in the To-Be process
9.2.3 Required value add
An activity adds value when it meets compliance requirements, regulatory requirements, or
supports a value add activity. If it does not add value, it is a non-value added activity. This
activity is required in the process and cannot be eliminated. Consider the following points:
Validate if this activity is required. For example, there can be a compliance requirement
from a few years ago that warranted the requirement of this activity. However, this
compliance requirement might no longer be required.
If this activity is required, can this activity be automated through a system?
Regarding our case study (see Figure 9-7 on page 95), there are three forms that the
candidate completes. Although this activity does not add any direct value, this activity
supports requirements that are imposed on the company from the regulators, such as state or
federal governments, or these activities support a value add activity downstream in the
process.

Figure 9-7 Required value add activities in the As-Is process
9.3 Using the problem analysis
As a result of the use of the value add analysis, the process flow is modified by deleting
activities, moving activities from one swimlane to another, or by adding activities that are
critical to the process. It is time to move on to see what is working and what is not working
inside each activity. To perform this analysis, we use the problems that we documented during
the As-Is discovery.
Use the Analyze view to display a heat map of where the problems lie. Start with activities
with the highest distribution of high severity and high frequency problems because that is
where the maximum opportunity for improvement lies. If the problems are somewhat
distributed evenly or if the process does not have many activities, it is also acceptable to start
with the first activity’s pain point and walk your way through the other activities in a linear
fashion.
For every problem, discuss how this problem can be eliminated from a process standpoint. If
the pain point cannot be eliminated, discuss how you can at least reduce the effect of this
problem on the process. This is the first time where discussing solutions is acceptable.
Restrict this discussion on solutions to the process flow level. Remember, you are still in the
To-Be process flow definition and not in the functional requirement (or user story) definition
phase.
Consider the following points:
Should you add activities in the process to eliminate (or reduce) the problem?
Should the system perform more steps upstream or downstream in the process to
eliminate (or reduce) the problem?
Should you modify certain activities upstream in the process to eliminate (or reduce) the
pain point it is causing later in the process?
The following points are not discussed here:
IT solution design on how systems must be integrated with each other to eliminate (or
reduce) the pain points.
Changes to the data model that can eliminate (or reduce) the pain points.
Changes to the UI design that can eliminate (or reduce) the pain points.
These three points are valid requirements for a future state design and are discussed later.
No matter how the categories change, the process flow is the same and our goal now is to
define the To-Be process flow.

9.4 Identifying reusable processes (linked process)
After the first draft of the To-Be process flow is ready, review the flow and identify reusable
processes. If there are patterns within the process that look similar, ask the team if the
activities can be modified slightly to make the pattern the same. Challenge the team why they
are different in the current state. This process promotes consistency and standardization and
the development effort is reduced if you decide to implement this process by using IBM
Business Process Management software. After a reusable pattern is identified, create a
linked process.
The To-Be process flow does not have to be developer-ready (for more information, see
Chapter 10, “IBM Business Process Manager implementation-ready model” on page 99). The
main purpose of this process flow design is that it should be easily understandable by
business people and is used to build consensus among the business stakeholders on the flow
of activities and the swimlanes.
9.5 SIPOC and RACI
After the To-Be process is reviewed and agreed upon, define the suppliers, inputs, process,
outputs, and customers (SIPOC) and the responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed
(RACI) for every step.
The SIPOC in the To-Be process becomes more important than the SIPOC that is defined in
the As-Is process. This step must be done to gain a thorough understanding of the To-Be
process.
For every activity in the process, starting from the first activity, complete the following overall
steps:
1. Document the output (or outputs) of the activity.
2. Name the customer (or customers) who are expecting the output.
3. Document the input (or inputs) that are needed to generate the defined output.
4. Name the supplier (or suppliers) who are supplying the input.
The customer and the supplier might not always be human participants; they can be systems.
For example, an output must be stored in a document management system for compliance
requirements. There might not be any human participant who is expecting that output. In that
case, the customer for the output is the document management system. Similarly, an input
can be passed from another system through integration. In that case, the supplier is the
system that provides the input that is needed for that activity.
When the SIPOC is documented for every activity, document RACI and any other information
in the Details tab in Blueworks Live.
Input sources: An input to a process step must be an output from a previous step or must
come from another system (through integration).
Changing details after copy: If the As-Is process was copied over and renamed as a
To-Be process, the RACI, SIPOC, and any details that were documented in Blueworks Live
previously is also copied over. Remember to replace the RACI and SIPOC with the new
details as pertinent to the To-Be.

It is a best practice to playback the To-Be process flow with the SIPOC information to the
business stakeholders to gain consensus.
9.6 Summary
In this chapter, you learned how to move your process flow from the As-Is to the To-Be
process. From here on, out we can think about real implementation details.

Chapter 10. IBM Business Process Manager
implementation-ready model
An IBM Business Process Manager (IBM BPM) implementation-ready model is a process
model that was discovered and modeled by using best practices in IBM Blueworks Live and is
considered ready for implementation. Ready for implementation implies the process model is
ready to be exported to a development tool for execution. The best practice and most
common development tool to use is IBM Business Process Manager (IBM BPM).
Both products operate on IBM BPM for process definitions, which means that they use the
same patterns and best practices. Because IBM BPM is an actual execution engine, a
software application is built that is based on the process model that is imported from IBM
Blueworks Live.
Ideally, IBM BPM imports the IBM Blueworks Live process model and can be run instantly. In
actuality, most imports require some adjustments. The more accurately a process model is
defined in IBM Blueworks Live according to best practices, the lower the adjustment effort is.
In our HR Onboarding case study, the IBM BPM implementation ready model is identified
when the IBM BPM Analyst for the Call Center Company C completed modeling the To-Be
process while using best practices. The IBM BPM Analyst engages with the IBM BPM
Developer and the IBM BPM Solution Architect to review the process and have them import
the process model to IBM BPM. The IBM BPM Developer then adjusts the IBM Blueworks
Live model into an executable Business Process Definition (BPD) in IBM BPM.
In this chapter, we describe the correct way of moving your IBM Blueworks Live process into
the deployment phase by using IBM Business Process Manager.
10

10.1 User stories
Envisioning the implementation of a process application that is based on the IBM Blueworks
Live model, the IBM BPM Analyst captures business requirements for the process.
How requirements are captured depends on the standard that is defined by the organization.
The two most common approaches are the Plan-Driven (waterfall) and the Change-Driven
(agile) approach. Waterfall approaches often use something like a Business Requirements
Document (BRD) to document functionality. The Blueworks Live best practice and
methodology follows the Change-Driven (agile) approach. If a BRD is used, it can eventually
be broken down into User Stories while the agile methodology uses User Stories from the
beginning.
User Stories have the following structure:
As [a person or role] I need to [perform some function] so that I can [some
benefit is achieved].
This helps the developer to implement a requirement properly because the who, what, and,
most importantly, why are clearly defined. The “why” is important because the developer now
can begin to understand fully how the user expects to use this feature. This helps ensure that
the solution developed is what is needed.
For example, the Submit Candidate activity in the Call Center Representative onboarding
process can be expressed as the following User Story:
As a recruiter I need to find/screen/identify a candidate so that I can submit a
hirable candidate to the open requisition.
The IBM BPM Developer now knows that this task must be routed to the Recruiter and that
they need to provide a functionality to search and find a candidate. The recruiter specified the
“what” of the function, but it is up to the IBM BPM Developer to figure out the “how”. Only they
know which controls and patterns are suited the best.
Eventually, all business requirements are consolidated and prioritized based on the business
value they provide and the implementation complexity they have. As a result, the iteration and
release backlog can be created.
In an IBM Blueworks Live model, every activity should have at least one User Story that is
associated to it.
As you can see in Figure 10-1 on page 101, most of the time, the IBM BPM Analyst
documents the user stories in the Documentation tab of the IBM Blueworks Live activity.

Chapter 10. IBM Business Process Manager implementation-ready model 101
Figure 10-1 User Story
This configuration becomes useful for a IBM BPM Developer because this documentation is
imported into IBM BPM. Figure 10-2 on page 102 shows how the documentation looks after
the import.

Figure 10-2 Process Designer User Story documentation
However, as we know, discovery, improvement, and implementation of business processes is
supposed to be an agile process. That means, requirement details can change frequently. To
avoid having outdated requirements information in the documentation of your business
process, it makes sense to include a link to an agile requirements management tool, such as
IBM Rational® Team Concert™.
A User Story can be tagged to a particular activity, milestone, or even a Coach. Based on
that, the Documentation tab of an IBM Blueworks Live activity can also contain a link to that
collection. With that, the IBM BPM Developer does not have out-of-date information, but stays
on top of their requirements.

10.2 Patterns and anti-patterns
In this section, we describe patterns and anti-patterns of IBM Blueworks Live process design
regarding the ability to implement the process in IBM BPM.
10.2.1 Process complexity: Rule of Seven
It is important to remember that a process model is the documentation of the business
process for the line of business that owns it. This applies for the IBM Blueworks Live and the
process model in IBM BPM, which means that it must be understandable by every business
user who participates in it.
A common misconception is that a process model is only implementation detail, or intended
to be used by IT, that is, as a development requirement. However, every business user is
provided with the functionality to see the business process definition in which they are
participating. They are shown the diagram with a highlight of the particular step they are
performing at the moment.
In the process portal (the “one-stop shop” to interact with processes and human tasks), every
user who is entitled to perform a task can see the process diagram as you can.
In the Inbox/Tasklist, click the drop-down icon on the task and select View Process Diagram,
Figure 10-3 Portal - View Process Diagram
In Figure 10-4 on page 104, you see how the process diagram opens in the same window,
with the current active task highlighted by a yellow frame.

Figure 10-4 Portal: Process Diagram
Also, managers are provided with information about process performance and how many
tasks are in each status (on time, due, overdue, and so on). All of these functions and more
are built around the BPD; it is the core of every process application.
Now that we know about the importance of a well-defined process model, the question is:
what is a well-defined process model? It must be powerful enough to possess all of the
necessary functionality, minimize cost, provide the most possible business value, and still be
easy to understand for every participant.
To implement this kind of well-defined process model, we apply the Rule of Seven, which
states that every dimension of a process model must not have more than seven elements.
Although this rule is not a hard rule, experience shows that if there are more than seven
elements in any dimension, the likelihood of a process model being too complex to be
understood or implemented increases.
For more information about the Rule of Seven, see the following websites:
http://wiki.bpmwiki.com/display/commwiki/Rule+of+Seven
https://www.blueworkslive.com/index.html#!posts:20000863d816e01
If the process is complex and requires more elements, use linked processes or subprocesses
to reduce complexity. There is no harm in nesting processes. In most cases, breaking down a
complex process into multiple simple processes can be beneficial because it aids in the reuse
of common process patterns.
In Figure 10-5 on page 105, the process model is too complex and shows how a process
model must not be defined. (The figure is not easily readable intentionally.)

Figure 10-5 Too complex process model
IBM BPM Developers often operate under the following paradigm:
If you cannot model it without crossing lines, it is too complex.
If it does not fit in your window without scrolling, it is too complex.
In contrast to Figure 10-5, Figure 10-6 shows a process of adequate complexity and a
reasonable modularization on substructures.
Figure 10-6 Call Center To-Be
At any time, business users must understand the process and their participation within it.

10.2.2 Subprocesses and linked processes
To create the necessary structure that was described in 10.2.1, “Process complexity: Rule of
Seven” on page 103, the usage of subprocess and linked processes is recommended. For
more information, see In Chapter 3, “Current State (As-Is) Process Discovery” on page 17.
However, there are several implications from an implementation point of view.
After the model is downloaded into the IBM BPM Process Designer, the difference becomes
easily visible, as shown in Figure 10-7.
Figure 10-7 Process Designer artifacts
Under Business Process Definitions, you can see that separate BPDs are created for linked
processes, while subprocesses remain tied to the actual super process. The same applies for
IBM Blueworks Live. Although you can use linked processes in any other process definition, a
subprocess exists only once.
Therefore, it feels natural to use only linked processes. However, as you can see from
Figure 10-8, subprocesses can be expanded with the main diagram and provide an easy way
to see what is happening inside.
Figure 10-8 Subprocess and linked process
Linked processes are independent and stand-alone. They cannot be expanded in the diagram
to where they are linked. To see them, you must open the respective blueprint. A little less
convenience for much more reusability and structure.
Figure 10-8 also shows the difference between these two in IBM Blueworks Live. Under the
Hire milestone, you can see an expanded subprocess. Under the Onboarding milestone, you
see a linked process.

10.2.3 Timers
In 3.4, “Creating a Process Diagram” on page 26, the “when” and “how” of timer use is
described. The same applies for the implementation with IBM BPM.
However, timers are often used incorrectly. Figure 10-9 shows how a timer must not be used.
Figure 10-9 Timer event in flow
A timer means that something must not happen before the expiration of a certain amount of
time.
In this case, the design says that the probationary review will not happen until 7 - 10 days
after the new hire was activated. It does not mean that the probationary review must happen
within 7 - 10 days from the activation of the new hire.
A timer implies that the process waits until a certain time is expired, as shown in the following
examples:
The task before the timer was completed.
The task after the timer does not start until the timer expired.
Timers often are used in a way that was not intended by IBM Blueworks Live or IBM BPM.
Inexperienced process modelers create wait for feedback or SLA types of timers. However,
the correct way to model these timers is with the properties in the task.
Next, we examine the wait for feedback example.
In our example, the following functionality is intended:
The candidate is given three days to accept a job offer. If after the expiration
of that time, no response has been provided, the process terminates, otherwise the
Recruiter will process the acceptance.
An incorrect design for this functionality is shown in Figure 10-10.
Figure 10-10 Timer bad example

This example is poorly designed because the process waits three days after the recruiter sent
out the offer. Only then, it allows the candidate to accept the offer.
The correct design is to have an expiration within the task, as shown in Figure 10-11.
Figure 10-11 Timer good example
In this implementation, the candidate receives the offer immediately after the recruiter sends
it. The candidate then is given three days to accept or deny the offer. In the cases where the
candidate denies or three days expire without an action, the process goes to the Terminate
end event.
10.2.4 Intermediate Message Events
In 3.4, “Creating a Process Diagram” on page 26, we described what Intermediate Message
Events (IMEs) are for and how they are to be used.
In this section, we describe further the “do’s and don’ts” when you are using IMEs with an eye
on implementations.
IMEs are artifacts that often require rework to bring an IBM Blueworks Live model into a state
where it can be imported into IBM BPM. Mostly because many people do not know what IMEs
are exactly.
First, IMEs do not mark email notifications, send postal letters, or represent any sort of
interactions between humans.
IMEs are purely of a technical nature. They are points of interaction within processes or even
across processes. Although standard flows are 1:1 connections, an IME marks a 1:n
connection, where the number of receivers is unknown. There are IMEs that mark the
sending of a message, and others that mark the receiving of a message.
The sender does not know the number of recipients. It is often referred to as a fire-and-forget
or publish-subscribe pattern. Both concepts apply. One sender publishes a message and
many receivers can subscribe to it. Events are of asynchronous nature, which means, a
sender does not wait for the receiver to do anything. As its name implies, it fires the message
and then forgets about it.

For the receiver, the message usually triggers or continues a waiting process flow. This
process can be the start of a BPD or a certain path within a process. Attached to an activity, it
can also interrupt the existing task and progress towards an alternative path, as shown in
Figure 10-12.
Figure 10-12 Incorrect IME is an example of a message IME that is used incorrectly
Good practices are the use of IMEs, as you can see in Figure 10-13.
Figure 10-13 Correct IME use
The IME marks the start event of the process, meaning that the process does not get started
by a user in the process portal. Instead, it is another system (process or application) that
triggers the start of this process.
In another common pattern, the Candidate can call back via phone or the performance of the
task. The Candidate should not do both.
Figure 10-14 shows an attached IME, which means that if the IME is triggered, the task
closes and the flow continues. However, if the task is performed first, the IME does not wait
any longer, but the flow continues.
Figure 10-14 Attached IME

In this scenario, if the Candidate calls the Recruiter, the Candidate performs a task that
triggers the IME in our process.
10.2.5 Teams and participants
By using a process, you can select by which team a task is performed. When a process is
imported into IBM BPM, each team is created as a definition for a swimlane, as shown in
Figure 10-15.
Figure 10-15 Process Designer artifacts
In our use case example of the Call Center Company C, the company has six team definitions
that were imported: from the Call Center Manager to the System lane.
Teams are groups of one or many people who participate in a process. In a process model,
each team is a swimlane. IBM Blueworks Live creates these swimlanes automatically, based
on the participant property of an activity. To avoid the duplication of teams, make sure to
reuse defined teams by using the type ahead feature, as shown in Figure 10-16 on page 111.

Figure 10-16 Task property participant type ahead
Common mistakes include the use of Admin HR and HR Admin. Although they mean the
same, they are two different names; therefore, the IBM BPM Developer must consolidate
them if it made it into IBM BPM. This issue can be rectified in IBM Blueworks Live by merging
the terms in the Glossary.
10.2.6 Sequential activities
Although IBM Blueworks Live can support many different levels of process modeling, a best
practice is to import IBM Blueworks Live APQC’s level 3 or 4 models into IBM BPM.
Another best practice is to import models at the Human Activity Level (this might be APQC’s
level 3 or 4) and stay away from models that contain business logic or depicted screenflows
(beyond APQC’s Level 4).
However, there might be cases in which it makes sense to model at this degree of detail, even
if it is to create only a common understanding between Business and IT, as shown in the
example in Figure 10-17.
Figure 10-17 Screenflow sub process
It is important to remember that we are modeling a screenflow at this point.

The general rule is to never have two activities in a sequence in the same swimlane. Even if
we model it as shown in Figure 10-17 on page 111, the IBM BPM Developer consolidates all
of these activities into one human task that provides the functionality of all four modeled
tasks.
Sequential activities indicate that the same person does two things in a row. And, the process
behavior results in a scenario where a user (for example, the Recruiter) completes a task and
immediately has another task for the same case in the inbox. A better user experience is to
open the second task right away and not have the user return to the inbox to open a task.
10.2.7 IBM Blueworks Live task properties
Standard properties are imported into Process Designer from IBM Blueworks Live. They
appear on the documentation property of the respective artifact, as shown in Figure 10-18.
Figure 10-18 Process Designer documentation
The properties that are included in the details view of an activity in IBM Blueworks Live and
everything that is in the Documentation tab is imported as text and is visible for the developer.
At this point, the documentation in terms of Business Owner, Inputs, or Outputs should be
finalized. More detailed requirements can be referenced with a link, as described in 10.1,
“User stories” on page 100.
No updates: There is no mechanism to update this documentation from IBM BPM to IBM
Blueworks Live; the integration is one way, from IBM Blueworks Live to IBM BPM.

10.2.8 Subscription to IBM Blueworks Live processes
As described in 10.2.7, “IBM Blueworks Live task properties” on page 112, the easiest way to
start the implementation of a IBM Blueworks Live model is to subscribe to the process model.
By clicking the (+) next to Blueworks Live Processes in the Process Designer navigation, you
can subscribe to any process that was shared with you. You can browse to the wanted
process through a selection of accounts and spaces to which you have access. As shown in
Figure 10-19, a window opens in which you select the wanted process, click Finish, and the
download begins.
Figure 10-19 Process Designer Blueworks Live subscription

Figure 10-20 shows how all information was imported and is now visible in the project
structure of the process application.
Figure 10-20 Process Designer Blueworks Live artifacts
10.3 Summary
In this chapter, we explained the correct way of moving your IBM Blueworks Live process into
the deployment phase by using IBM Business Process Manager.

Chapter 11. Rules discovery
Rules discovery in IBM Blueworks Live is described in the recently released IBM Redpaper
Discovering the Decisions within Your Business Processes using IBM Blueworks Live,
REDP-4993, which is available at this website:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp4993.html?Open
To aid in your decision to use IBM Blueworks Live, we outlined the features of the decision
discovery process in this chapter, which includes the following topics:
Decision services
Decision Management Notation
11

11.1 Decision services
Each of the activities in the Process Diagram or Discovery Map views can have a specified
type that is associated with them: Normal (default), User, Decision, or Service.
In general, there should be a decision type in front of any gateway that is indicating a process
flow split. The decision is not being made in that gateway, but upstream in the activity with the
decision type that is specified. The gateway indicates the logical split in the process at the
correct point.
11.2 Decision Management Notation
Decision Management Notation (DMN) is the decision equivalent of Business Process
Modeling Notation (BPMN) for processes. It was developed in an attempt to standardize the
way that decisions were documented across multiple products.

Chapter 12. Environment setup
After you activate your IBM Blueworks Live account and you are the Administrator for the
account, you should consider devising guidelines and customizing the account to easily
manage the account.
For example, you should consider devising a naming convention guideline for your processes,
decisions, and policies to easily find the artifacts. These guidelines might exist for other
artifacts in your organization.
Another item to consider is the space structure. Do you want to organize by project? Do you
want to organize to match the organization chart? These are questions that each account
must answer, but should be considered before you put too many artifacts in your account. If
you decide later to change the structure, you can always use the Copy Space feature to move
spaces. Individual artifacts can be moved from one space to another.
These are just some examples on items to consider for you account. IBM Blueworks Live
does not enforce or recommend certain guidelines over other because every organization
works and operates differently and each account should organization to fit your needs.
12

12.1 License types
Another issue to consider is the licensing for each of the users you plan to invite. How do you
intend to use the product and share information? Do you want someone that can see the
process but not modify it? Will you have users that you do not want modifying artifacts?
The following main licenses are in use for paid IBM Blueworks Live accounts:
Viewer
Contributor
Editor
Community members are no-charge accounts that can be created, but these users are limited
to the Activity Stream, Spaces, and Blogs.
12.1.1 Viewer
The Viewer license type is self-explanatory in that the people that have these rights can see a
process and print it out, but they cannot modify the process or comment on it. There is a
custom home page for Viewers that shows them the processes that they recently viewed, or
the ones that they marked as a favorite.
On a Viewer’s first visit, the page has no processes. Instead, the page features a video
tutorial about how to find and open the processes they want. For a Viewer to view a process,
they must be granted explicit access to that process or space under the Users tab. The
Viewer license type is useful when IBM Blueworks Live is expanded to the entire company
because the licenses are inexpensive and it provides you with a mechanism to allow a review
from people outside of the process mapping group.
12.1.2 Contributor
Users with the Contributor license type can open processes and spaces that are marked as
shared and participate in automated processes. The Contributor can view and comment on
processes that are shared, but they cannot modify the process map or diagram.
If you use the process automation features in IBM Blueworks Live, they also can be
participants in that process. Contributors have the same look and feel to the product as do
Editors. Contributors are useful for collaboration and offline commenting on processes while
they are still being discovered.
12.1.3 Editor
Editors are the main workers in IBM Blueworks Live. They can create spaces, processes,
automated processes, edit the data, share the processes, create snapshots, and export data.
These licenses are the most expensive licenses, but they also are the licenses that are going
to get the most out of IBM Blueworks Live.
This book is intended to help people that are set up as an Editor to their IBM Blueworks Live
account.

Chapter 12. Environment setup 119
12.1.4 Community
Community users do not have access to any of the artifacts within an account, but it is
possible for them to be account administrators. If they are a participant in a space, they have
the ability to see the Activity Stream of changes, but they cannot open any of those artifacts.
If you need someone that can maintain user access, file attachments, and the security for the
account and customize the look and feel but do not want them to be documenting processes,
the Community user is what you want to use.

Chapter 13. Functions
In this chapter, we describe some of the functions in Blueworks Live that are useful to know,
but not necessarily required o use the product. There are some administrative features and
some useful features, such as the color legend and activity numbering that are described in
this chapter.
13

13.1 Administrative features
If you are an administrator for an account, you have a link next to your name to access the
admin pages. After you are logged in, you can access the following tabs, as shown in
Figure 13-1:
User Management
File Management
Properties
Account Information
Billing Details
Customization
Security
Figure 13-1 Admin tabs
The tabs are described next.
13.1.1 User Management tab
User Management is the tab with which the Admin can view all active or archived users and
export it to a CSV file. You can give a user Admin privileges, view and edit what license type a
user has, see whether someone is locked out for password infractions, the date of their last
login, or archive the user, as shown in Figure 13-2.
Figure 13-2 User Accounts
In Figure 13-2, Connor has a Contributor license and is not an Admin, but Brian is an editor
and has Admin privileges. To edit, click the name of the user and a pop-up window opens in
which the Admin can change the user’s license type, name, email address (and login
information), and send a password reset email and expire the current password so that a user
is required to update the password at the next login attempt, as shown in Figure 13-3 on
page 123.

Chapter 13. Functions 123
Figure 13-3 Update User Settings window
13.1.2 File Management tab
By using the File Management tab (see Figure 13-4), the Admin can manage the storage
space of the account. Each account is granted 50 MB of space for file attachments upon
signup. The Admin can see the file name, size, type, location, upload date, and who uploaded
it. To manage the space in the account, Admins can remove file attachments from the
account.
Figure 13-4 File Attachments tab

13.1.3 Properties tab
By using the Properties tab, the Admin can manage the visibility of the default properties for
Processes and Decisions, as shown in Figure 13-5.
Figure 13-5 Properties Admin View tab
In this section, you can turn on or off the default properties that are listed in the details tab of
an activity, or you can specify up to five text and five numeric properties. Each of these
custom properties appears on the details page as an enumerated list of items, as shown in
Figure 13-6.
Figure 13-6 Custom Properties tab

You can add the property name and information that is displayed as a tooltip if a user hovers
over it in the details pane, as shown in Figure 13-7.
Figure 13-7 Details Pane custom property
13.1.4 Account Information tab
By using t Account Information tab, the Admin can view the number of licenses that were
purchased, the features that are available on the account, add licenses, or use the application
programming interfaces (APIs), as shown in Figure 13-8 on page 126.

Figure 13-8 Account Information tab
13.1.5 Billing Details tab
In this tab, you view the next payment cycle or update the credit card information that is on
file, as shown in Figure 13-9.
Figure 13-9 Billing Details tab

13.1.6 Customization tab
In the Customization tab, the Admin can specify a custom branding for their account,
including a color and logo, email notifications, and a logo for the Microsoft Word export, as
shown in Figure 13-10, Figure 13-11, and Figure 13-12.
Figure 13-10 Logo and color
Figure 13-11 Custom email
Figure 13-12 Custom logo on Microsoft Word export

In addition to granting the Admin the ability to customize the look and feel of the account,
Admins can specify a range of account level preferences, such as, who can invite new users,
if chat should be enabled, if the work page should be shown, whether users can see the
Public IBM BPM Stream, and who can post to the activity stream, as shown in Figure 13-13.
Figure 13-13 Account preferences customization
There is a section in which the Library can be customized. In this section, Admins can specify
account-wide Library permissions, as shown in Figure 13-14.
Figure 13-14 Library customization
In addition, the Admin can specify custom help content that is shown to all users of the
account when they select the Help link in the upper right corner. The Admin can specify the
account administrators that users can contact for help, in addition to adding text and attaching
documents that can be helpful for their users, as shown in Figure 13-15 on page 129.

Figure 13-15 Custom help
13.1.7 Security tab
In the Security tab, the Admin can specify the password policy for the users to follow and add
security restrictions. The extra security restrictions can limit where users can access IBM
Blueworks Live from by a set range of IP addresses. The Admin can also restrict the account
so that only users with an email account in the wanted domain can be invited, as shown in

Figure 13-16 Account Security
13.1.8 Unlock and Allow Changes
The Customization and Security tabs include a feature with which an account Admin can
specify a password that is required to modify these settings. If an Admin user wants to update
some of the information on those tabs, they are presented with a pop-up window in which they
enter the password that was set, as shown in Figure 13-17 on page 131.

Figure 13-17 Admin password
After the password is entered and the user is validated, all of the features on the page can be
edited. To lock those pages again, the Admin must select the Lock Changes icon at the
upper right.
The exception to the settings lock on those pages is the section in which the look and feel for
the product can be customized. Even when the account is locked, those settings can be
modified, as shown in Figure 13-18.
Figure 13-18 Branding
The Help options are grayed out and are not modifiable, but all of the branding options are still
available.

13.2 Color Legend
When you are working with the Process Diagram or Discovery Map view, it is often helpful to
add context to the diagram by adding some color to certain activities. If you are adding color
to an activity, it is important that you inform anyone who is viewing the process as to what that
color means. Otherwise, people see the colors but do not understand what message you are
trying to convey. To that end, the Color Legend was created.
In the example of the HR Onboarding Call Center As-Is process, there is a good use of color.
To the left of the zoom feature is the option to toggle the Color Legend on or off (see
Figure 13-19). If a color is yet to be defined, click no label and enter the text.
Figure 13-19 Color Legend example
You can see that the colors are used to show that those activities are out of scope or are a
place for a potential integration. This designation makes it easy to see the effect of (in this
case, integrations) on the process that is designed.
There are eight colors that are defined that can be added to the activities by using the action
menu, as shown in Figure 13-20 on page 133.

Figure 13-20 Action menu
The Color Legend is also included in the header of all of the exports if you defined the colors.
13.3 Activity numbering
The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) that is visible in the Documentation tab makes it easy
to reference a section of the document. But how do you tie the numbering back to an activity
on the Process Diagram?
You right-click anywhere in the background of the Process Diagram to open the menu, and
select Show Activity Numbering, as shown in Figure 13-21.
Figure 13-21 Activity Numbering toggle

An example with Activity Numbering enabled is shown in Figure 13-22.
Figure 13-22 Activity Numbering that is turned on
As you can see, each milestone, activity, and gateway is given a number that corresponds to
the information that is provided in the documentation view, as shown in Figure 13-23.
Figure 13-23 Documentation view Activity Numbering

13.4 Where Used function
Where Used is a handy way to understand how processes, policies, and decisions are used
as shared resources across your account. It shows you how many spaces, processes, and
activities are linked to that particular entity. You can access the Where Used function from the
library by clicking the chevron to the right of the name or from the policy page, as shown in
Figure 13-24.
Figure 13-24 Where Used

13.5 Work Stats view
The Work Stats view is an admin-only view of the process app usage and stats within the
account. You can access this view by clicking Work Stats from the Work section, as shown in
Figure 13-25.
Figure 13-25 Work Stats
This view shows the top processes that were started within the selected date period, user
participation by process, and on-time completion by process app. The more process apps
that you have and run, the more complete this picture becomes.

13.6 Glossary
The Glossary is a section of the library in which all of the terms that are used in process
details are stored. It is split out by section according to the activity properties, as shown in
Figure 13-26.
Figure 13-26 Glossary Collapsed
You can use this part of the product to specify preferred terms, add a description, or merge
terms. If necessary, you can export your glossary to Microsoft Excel. In addition, for each
term in the Glossary that is used in some process, policy, or decision, you can click the Where
Used icon to find each place that it occurs in the account, as shown in Figure 13-27.
Figure 13-27 Glossary Where Used

When you open the Where Used section, a pop-up window opens that shows you the number
of times it appears in a space, process, decision, and the number of total occurrences, as
Figure 13-28 Where Used occurrences
13.7 Templates
The templates in IBM Blueworks Live were created to jump-start your usage and application
of IBM Blueworks Live to model your business processes. These templates intentionally
violate the Rule of Seven to get the whole process on one blueprint. They include various
kinds of information and examples of how to create a process flow that accurately depicts
your business process, as shown in Figure 13-29 on page 139.

Figure 13-29 IBM Blueworks Live Template Library
The Template Library can be browsed as a whole, or you can filter the library processes by
using the drop-down menu on the right. You can to filter by industry to get a process as close
as possible to what someone in your industry might consider a good process. Some
examples are shown in Figure 13-30.
Figure 13-30 Template Library Filter

13.8 API
IBM Blueworks Live includes several APIs for use by anything that can submit https requests.
For more information, see the Help section of the IBM Blueworks Live site, which is available
at this website:
https://www.blueworkslive.com/scr/help/api/
The page also included a sample Java program that you can use as a base to begin parsing
the data that is returned, as shown in Figure 13-31.
Figure 13-31 API
13.9 Keyboard shortcuts
The following keyboard shortcuts are most often used:
Decisions:
– Ctrl+i: Add Data Input
– Ctrl+s: Add Subdecision
– Ctrl+d: Delete Selected Subdecision/Data Input
– Ctrl+c: Copy decision table row (or rows)
– Ctrl+x: Cut decision table row (or rows)
– Ctrl+v: Paste decision table row (or rows)
Process:
– Tab: Indent process outline item
– Shift+Tab: Unindent process outline item
– Ctrl+d: View selected item details pop-up
General:
– Ctrl+z: Undo
– Ctrl+Up: Move list item up
– Ctrl+Down: Move list item down
– Shift+Delete: Delete list item

Rich Text Editor
When you are in the Rich text editor in the Documentation tab, you can use the following
shortcuts:
– Ctrl+i: Italics
– Ctrl+b: Bold
– Ctrl+u: Underline

Related publications
The publications that are listed in this section are considered particularly suitable for a more
detailed discussion of the topics that are covered in this paper.
IBM Redbooks
The following IBM Redbooks publications provide more information about the topic in this
document. Note that some publications that are referenced in this list might be available in
softcopy only:
Discovering the Decisions within Your Business Processes using IBM Blueworks Live,
REDP-4993
Leveraging the IBM BPM Coach Framework in Your Organization, SG24-8210
Business Process Management Deployment Guide Using IBM Business Process
Manager V8.5, SG24-8175
You can search for, view, download, or order these documents and other Redbooks,
Redpapers, Web Docs, draft, and other materials at the following website:
http://www.ibm.com/redbooks
Online resources
For more information about BPMN, see this website:
http://www.BPMN.org
Help from IBM
IBM Support and downloads:
http://www.ibm.com/support
IBM Global Services
http://www.ibm.com/services

®
REDP-5111-00
INTERNATIONAL
TECHNICAL
SUPPORT
ORGANIZATION
BUILDING TECHNICAL
INFORMATION BASED ON
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE
IBM Redbooks are developed
by the IBM International
Technical Support
Organization. Experts from
IBM, Customers and Partners
from around the world create
timely technical information
based on realistic scenarios.
Specific recommendations
are provided to help you
implement IT solutions more
effectively in your
environment.
For more information:
ibm.com/redbooks
Redpaper™
Process Discovery
Best Practices
Using IBM Blueworks Live
Use IBM Blueworks
Live to better
understand how your
business runs
Uncover hidden
potential in your
business process
Use analysis features
to eliminate process
waste
Business processes and decisions are the backbone of every company,
from the small to the Fortune 50; it is how the business runs. It is these
processes and decisions that can create competitive advantage, help a
company react more quickly to changing trends, or drag them down
because the processes do not serve the business and allow agility. The
first step in building business agility is to understand how the business
works today; What are my processes? What are the decisions we are
making and how do we make them? Understanding these processes
and decisions can allow a company to improve, streamline, and
increase efficiency.
Capturing business processes can be a daunting task. Adding to that
burden is learning the tool of choice for capturing those processes.
This book helps the audience ramp up more quickly to a fully functional
process analyst by explaining all of the features of IBM Blueworks Live
and how best to use them.
This IBM Redpaper was written with a non-technical audience in mind.
It is intended to help business users, subject matter experts, business
analysts, and business managers get started with discovering,
documenting, and analyzing the processes and decisions that are key
to their company’s business operations.
Back cover

Bwl red book

More Related Content

What's hot (18)

Viewers also liked (7)

Similar to Bwl red book (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Bwl red book