Recently Mark Nelson from the Visio team sat down with Harry Miller (off-screen) to discuss some of the improvements in Visio 2010 related to process diagrams. The video includes explanations of our Process Management investments as well as demos for Cross-functional Flowchart, BPMN diagram and Validation features.
The conversation is the latest in a video series titled “Visio: Drawing on Experience” posted on Microsoft TechNet. Other videos featuring some of our Visio MVPs can be found here: http://edge.technet.com/Tags/Visio/
Nice video. Most BPM diagrams have swimlanes and pools. Is there a way to have the BPMN Diagram template come up with the cross-functional swimlane options during creation?
Basically I want the Cross-Functional Flowchart with the BPMN symbols and functionality. I guess I am just one of those users that just wants it all <g>.
Hi Bill,
Yes, you can create a BPMN-style cross-functional flowchart. Start with the BPMN template and drag out the Pool/lane shape. This creates a cross-functional flowchart that you can continue to manipulate on the drawing surface or through the Cross-functional tab in the ribbon.
Mark Nelson – Visio Team
I give up… How do I group swimlanes into pools?
There are a couple of ways to add a swimlane to a pool. First, it may be worth looking at the post on Cross-functional Flowcharts (CFFs):
http://blogs.msdn.com/visio/archive/2009/09/01/cross-functional-flowcharts-in-visio-2010.aspx
This post explains how you can add a new lane to a pool. You can also select any lane and drag it into a pool. As you drag the lane, you will see the blue arrow mentioned in the CFF post: this arrow tells you where the lane will be inserted. Using this same technique, you can also drag a lane to re-order it within a pool. With BPMN lanes, dragging one lane on to another will automatically create a pool around them.
Thanks for reading the blog!
Cool features!thanks for your great works.
Currently we are using one Viso plug-in(http://www.itp-commerce.com/index.php?pageid=A_000_1) to create some BPMN diagram, seems no longer need it if we have Viso2010, right?
Also I’m working on one project base on SOA architecture, using Oracle SOA suite: BPMN Studio –> BPEL(JDeveloper), would you tell any similar process in your company?