You can use Microsoft Visio
to create diagrams of business processes, and then import these Visio
documents into Process Designer as a starting point for creating workflow
processes.
The functionality described in this topic is available as
an extension to Process Designer. See the ReadMe file provided with
the IBM®
FileNet® P8 Connector for Microsoft Visio package for instructions
for enabling this functionality in Process Designer and installing
the Visio BPMN template and stencil to work with your Visio application.
For
Business Analysts familiar with Business Process Modeling Notation
(BPMN), a Visio stencil of BPMN shapes is provided with each shape
mapped to a corresponding Process Designer object—a step, route, text
annotation, data object, Workflow Group, submap, and so on. Shapes
in other stencils are also mapped to Process Designer objects, and
you can customize the mapping for shapes on existing Visio diagrams.
Preparing Visio diagrams for import
To prepare
an existing Visio diagram for import into Process Designer, use Visio
to save the diagram in Visio XML format (.VDX).
Process Designer
can import Visio diagrams with one or more pages. During the import
process, you can choose which pages to import. See Import Visio files
in the online Help for Process Designer.
If you are using
existing Visio diagrams that contain standard Visio shapes, many of
the shapes are mapped to Process Designer objects in the default mapping
file. If the default mapping is not appropriate for your application,
you can change the mapping for each shape during the import process,
and you can save your custom mapping for future use.
For best
import results...
- For each map, specify one step as the start step in the Visio
diagram by using a shape that will map to a Start step Process Designer
object. If you do not use a Start shape, you can map the appropriate
shape/text combination as the Start step during the import process.
- To create routes between steps, use the Sequence flow shape on
the BPMN stencil or any of the arrow shapes on other stencils that
are mapped to routes. Be sure to snap each end of the route to the
connection points on the preceding and next steps. To associate Data
shapes with a task, use the Association shape or map the shape you
use to Association during the import process.
- Be aware that some Visio shapes either map to Nothing, or they
map to an unexpected object in Process Designer. For example, text
in a Visio diagram is interpreted as a rectangle, which maps to a
General step in Process Designer. Always check the mapping for the
imported objects on the Mapping Specification page during import.