Process Modeling with Appian

Business Process Model Notation (BPMN) is the standard by which anyone can graphically describe their business processes. With Appian, that model isn't just the starting point for building your process, it is the process. Appian translates your business workflows to executable processes automatically. Process models in Appian orchestrate the intelligent automation in your business applications.

This page explains the fundamental concepts behind process modeling.

Automate work across your business

Process modeling with Appian is a versatile capability. With it, you can:

• Execute business rules.
• Manipulate and write data.
• Integrate with other systems.
• Schedule and automate processes.
• Task users, AI agents, or RPA bots with work.
• Connect forms and interfaces wherever you need them.

Together, these capabilities make it easy to implement systems like Dynamic Case Management.

Model your business process

Your BPMN standard diagram is actually the perfect starting place for your Appian process model.

For example, you might have a simple process for reassigning an order where a user submits a form to request the change. The process then either reassigns the order and writes the updated order records, or cancels the change.

Here's what that process model might look like in Appian.

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The process model object isn't just a nice diagram of a process, it's the definition of how the actual process will run in Appian. You can easily connect it to your interfaces and databases to capture any business process and its associated data.

Match the process model to the workload

You can configure a process model to suit different workloads. Choose the configuration that fits the work your process handles.

Standard processes

Standard processes give you the entire palette of nodes and smart services. Use them for the full breadth of your business workflows.

Standard processes are the default configuration.

Autoscaled processes

Autoscaled processes let Appian Cloud dynamically adjust execution capacity based on demand. Autoscale is the right choice for high-volume, high-throughput automation. Autoscaled processes support a subset of the available nodes and smart services.

You must enable autoscaled processes. To learn more, see Autoscale Processes.

Run and monitor process instances

The process model is the definition of the process, but not the process itself. Whenever a user launches the process model, an instance of that model is created. Multiple order reassignment requests can be started at the same time. We can see all active instances of that process from the Monitor view. You can see their status, along with other helpful information. If we want to examine a particular instance, we can open it and see the workflow highlighting. For higher-level information, you have advanced reporting options, which can include process data, usage, performance, and tasks metrics, so you can learn how to optimize your processes and applications over time.

Launch processes in context

What really differentiates Appian is more than being able to easily capture your business processes, it's how they can be used specifically in the Appian platform to easily create contextual processes. One of the ways you can use them is to create contextual actions; you might have a record for your customers where you can see relevant information about them. When reviewing the record, you might want to take a related action like updating the record or launching a satisfaction survey. Rather than navigating away from that customer record to some other system to launch those processes, you can define a process to launch from the context of that record.

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Get started with process modeling

The process model topics are organized into four main categories so that you can easily find information based on your goals:

• Learn: Conceptual topics about process models and how to think about them in your Appian environment. If you aren't familiar with BPMN, review the process modeling concepts at the top of this page.
• Build: How-to's, tutorials, and examples for creating process models. Be sure to check out the Process Modeling Tutorial, which walks you through creating your first process.
• Best Practice: Best practices and guidance on building and managing your process models, including a handy page about testing your process models.
• Reference: Detailed information about the process model object and nodes and smart services.

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