Department of Computer Science

BPMN Layouter

The BPMN-Layouter was a tool for modeling and layouting processes in BPMN (business process modeling notation). It was a prototype tool developed for researching advanced layouting techniques for BPMN diagrams. Despite its focus on research, we put quite some effort on usability and stability in order to make BPMN-Layouter usable also for modeling specialists and process analysts.

Features

  • Modeling of BPMN diagrams
  • Export to common image formats and XML (based on GraphML)
  • Layout of BPMN diagrams:
    The layout algorithms are based on Sugiyama and the Topology-Shape-Metrics- (TSM-) Framework. The techniques are adapted for the support of Swimlanes and Partitions in general.
  • Layout using sketches of diagrams (Sketch-driven layout). When a BPMN diagram is layouted and changed afterwards e.g. a new element is inserted, this approach layouts the new diagrams while leaving the old diagram as unchanged as possible (Tagline is: keeping the user's mental map)
  • Visualization in 2.5D (2.5 dimensions) of BPMN diagrams using a 3D-Navigator