Abstract modelling elements

Abstract modelling elements are used as placeholders for operations and events in the process diagram. You use abstract elements to represent steps in the process in the early stages of process modelling:

When you have not yet decided which operation or event to use in the process
When the service that provides the operation or event is not yet deployed

Later in the development cycle, you define the abstract elements, which means to specify the actual service operation or event type to use for the step. Defining an abstract element does not disrupt any other part of the process diagram.

For information about how to add and define abstract elements, see Adding, defining, and deleting abstract modelling elements.

The following table lists the abstract elements that are available and describes when to use them.

Abstract element	Usage
Activity	Represents any activity that is performed in the process. You define Activity elements with any operation that an available service provides. Tip: If you are representing activities that are performed by a user or another process, you can use the User and Subprocess elements. The icons on these elements indicate their intended purpose. (See the information for the Subprocess and User elements in this table.)
Event	Represents an event type that is being thrown, received, or caught, or used as a start point. You define Event elements with any event type that an available service provides.
Subprocess	Represents the invocation of another process. You define Subprocess elements with the invoke operation of the service that is created for a process.
User	Represents an activity that a user performs. You define the User element with the Assign Task operation that the User service provides, or a custom service operation that you have developed for involving people in processes.

Each abstract element has a different appearance on the process diagram so that its purpose can be easily understood:

Activity elements appear as rounded rectangles with no icon inside.
Event elements appear as round icons.
Subprocesses appear as rounded rectangles with a plus sign icon.
User elements appear as rounded rectangles with the silhouette of a person as an icon.

Abstract elements are for use at design time only and provide no run-time functionality.

Abstract modelling elements

See also