With a Data Association, you can connect a data item to other elements of the BPMN Process diagram.
To create a data item
Warning
Business Analyst perspective provide most popular SubProcess types. Full list ofSubProcesses types you can have only in Business Modeler and Full Featured perspectives.
On the Process diagram pallet, click Data Object and select needed Data item.
To create a new Data Object, which is typed by a classifier
Select the classifier in the Containment tree and drag it to a BPMN Process or BPMN Collaboration diagram.
To specify a type of Data Item, do one of the following
In the Containment tree, select an element and drag it on the Data Item.
Right-click the Data Item, from the shortcut menu, select Type and choose the needed type.
Open the Specification window and select a Type.
To mark a Data Object as collection, do one of the following
Right-click the Data Object and from the shortcut menu choose Is Collection > true.
Open the Data Object Specification window, Is Collection property set to true.
To create a Data Association between two data items
On the Process diagram pallet, click the Data Association button.
On the diagram pane
Click an element, which will be the source of the Data Association.
Click an element, which will be the target of the Data Association.
Note
The source or target of a Data Association can only be a Data Object, Data Store, Data Input, or Data Output.
The other end of the Data Association should always be an activity or event.
To display a Data Object directly connected to a Sequence Flow
Note
A Data Object connected to a Sequence Flow is a visual shortcut of two Data Associations.In the model, the Data Associations still exist, and the Data Object connecting to the Sequence Flow will be displayed.
Draw a Data Association from an Activity to a Data Object.
Draw another Data Association from the Data Object to another Activity.
Draw a Sequence Flow from the first to the second Activity.
Right-click the Data Object and select Show Connected to Sequence Flow from the shortcut menu.
