16.3 Create Inter-Process Links

Inter-process links, or IPLs, are created when users must link a BPMN Shape from one process to a BPMN Shape in another. IPLs originate from the Source of the link (End Events) and are connected to the Target of the link (Start Events).

1. Identify the processes and shapes you want to link. In this exercise, we want to link the end event of the process “Develop Job Description” to the start event of the process “Select Candidates.”

2. Select the sub-process “Develop Job Description;” navigate to the Graph View, and click on the button to navigate to the mapping canvas.

3. Right-click on the end event shape, and choose the Edit IPL box from the drop-down menu.

4. A window will be generated where you will type the name of the target process “Select Candidates.”

5. Select the target flow object “start”, and click on the button to finish the creation of the IPL.

6. An IPL annotation is now displayed on the relevant start and end event. The annotation contains a hyperlink with the name of the linked process.

*IPLs may also be used to link shapes within a single process; used mainly to reduce clusters of connectors. Intra-Process Links are set up the same way as Inter-Process Links.

8. Click on the button to save the changes and exit the edit mode.

IPL Navigation

Let’s start by enabling IPL expansion. To do so, navigate to the Graph View of the “Develop Job Description” process, and click on the Options button . A window with the Map Options will be generated. Make sure “Enabled” is set for “Expand IPL.”

1. Now navigate to the icon, once you click on it, the name of the linked process appears inside of an annotation.

2. Click on the annotation to expand the IPL.