OMG-OCEB2-FUND100 OMG-Certified Expert in BPM 2 - Fundamental Questions and Answers

InFragment A,Run Candy Productionis a subprocess with aboundary eventlabeledExtruder Stuck Onattached to it.

According to BPMN 2.0:

A boundary event attached directly to an activity/subprocess is evaluatedwhile that activity is executing.

When it triggers (here, when the “Extruder Stuck On” condition occurs), itinterruptsthe subprocess (for an interrupting boundary event) and the normal internal flow stops. Control is redirected along the boundary-event’s outgoing sequence flow (toward the alarm/handling path).

So, in Fragment A, the first time the extruder gets stuck during the execution ofRun Candy Production, that subprocess is interrupted and the alternate flow (e.g., cease production alarm, possibly skipping remaining steps inside the subprocess) is taken.

InFragment B, the “Extruder Stuck On?” is modeled as anExclusive Gatewayafter the internal tasks (afterConsume Excess and Substandard Candies). That means:

The condition ischecked only when the token reaches that gateway, i.e., after finishing the last internal task.

If “Yes”, we follow the alarm/cease path; if “No”, we continue to the normal completion/cleaning path.

This is exactly what optionDstates.

Options A and C say the fragments have the same or inverted behavior, which contradicts the execution semantics of boundary events vs. gateways.

Option B incorrectly assumes the boundary event is specifically an Error Event and misstates the validity of Fragment A. The fragment is valid BPMN; the key difference iswhen and howthe stuck-extruder condition is handled, captured correctly only by optionD.

Porter’s Five Forcesis a classicstrategic analysis frameworkfrequently referenced inbusiness architecture and BPMto understand the external environment that shapes processes and strategies.

The five forces are:

Barriers to entry / Threat of new entrants– How easy is it for new competitors to enter the market?

Threat of substitute products or services– Can customers switch to something different that satisfies the same need?

Bargaining power of suppliers– How much power do suppliers have over price, quality, and terms?

Bargaining power of customers (buyers)– How much power do customers have to push prices down or demand more value?

Competitive rivalry within the industry– Intensity of competition among current players.

OMG’sBusiness Motivation Model (BMM)and enterprise strategy views use these kinds of external assessments to drive:

Ends(goals, objectives).

Means(strategies, tactics).

Resultingbusiness processesmodeled in BPMN.

Why the other options are incorrect:

A, C, and Dmix in elements ofstrategic planning steps,value chain analysis, orgoal setting, but none of them match the canonical list of the Five Forces.

Thus, the correct set of Porter’s Five Forces is exactly what is listed inOption B.

Ablack-box Poolin BPMN:

Represents aParticipantin a Collaboration whoseinternal process is not shown.

It is used precisely to show that this external party exists and can exchange messages, while hiding its internal flow.

Therefore:

A. It indicates a participant.– Correct.

B. It can be partitioned using lanes – not in a black-box; the interior is intentionally not detailed.

C. It shows full process information – false; it shows none.

D. It cannot be used if messages should be exchanged – false; showing message exchange with a black-box pool is a very common pattern.

In the OMG BMM, the top-level categories are:

Ends(Vision, Goals, Objectives) – what the business wants to achieve.

Means(Mission, Courses of Action, Directives) – what the business will do to achieve those Ends.

WithinMeans, the BMM explicitly states thatMeans are organized into: Mission, Courses of Action, and Directives.

Mission: Describes the ongoing, core business of the enterprise – what the organization is fundamentally in business to do.

Therefore,Missionis a component ofMeans, not Objectives (which are Ends), not Assessment, and not Business Policy (which is a kind of Directive).

So, the correct choice isMeans.

In the diagram, a singlePoolis partitioned intolaneslabeled:

“System 123”

“Role A”

“GUI 123”

In BPMN,lanes are flexible partitionsused to organize and categorize activities within a Pool. They may represent organizational units, roles, systems, applications, or any other logical grouping that helps clarify responsibilities.

Therefore:

A. “Lanes are only allowed outside pools” – incorrect; lanes existinsidepools.

B. “Lanes must always indicate organizational units” – too restrictive; they can also represent systems, roles, etc.

C. “Lanes must always indicate systems but not GUIs” – also false; BPMN does not impose that limitation.

D. Yes, lanes can be used as shown in the model.– This matches BPMN’s flexible lane semantics.

James F. Chang states clearly that“Business processes are assets of the organization.”

This means organizations must treat processes asmanaged, optimized, and valuable resources, similar to financial or physical assets.

Option B is a reasonable statement butnot the specific principle defined by Chang.

Option C inverts the relationship—processes do not depend on IT, nor does Chang state that IT depends on processes.

Option D is the opposite of BPM thinking; BPM iscontinuous, not a one-time improvement event.

In Quality Management (TQM, Six Sigma, ISO 9001),commonly used quality toolsinclude:

Run chart

Control chart

Pareto chart

Fishbone diagram

Histogram

Scatter diagram

Check sheet

Among the options:

Run chart→ Correct, a standard quality analysis tool

Gantt chart → Project scheduling tool, not quality-specific

Quality cost baseline → A document, not a tool

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) → Project decomposition tool, not used in quality analysis

Therefore, the correct answer isA.

Within the OMG BPMN framework,Level 3 – Executable modelingrepresents a process definition that is detailed enough to bedirectly executed by a BPM engine. This level includes:

Implementation-specific details (data mappings, transaction boundaries, technical error handling)

Engine- or vendor-specific extensions and attributes

Bindings to services, message formats, and integration mechanisms

Because these details depend on how a specificvendor toolorexecution platforminterprets BPMN,executable models are somewhat vendor-tool dependent. Different engines support different subsets of BPMN and add their own extensions, making the executable level less portable than descriptive or analytical models.

The other options do not represent OMG’s three levels of BPMN:

Pattern modelingandsource-code modelingare not standard BPMN levels.

Descriptive modelingis tool-independent and used for communication, not execution.

Thus,executable modelingis the level that is somewhat vendor-tool dependent.

TheSarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX)of 2002 was enacted to restore public confidence in corporate financial reporting after major accounting scandals.

Itskey objectiveis:

To ensureexecutive accountabilityfor accurate financial reporting

CEOs and CFOs mustcertify the accuracyof financial statements

Internal controls must be documented, tested, and auditable

Thus, the correct answer isD.

In BPMN, apublic (abstract) processshows only theexternal, message-based interactionsbetween a private (internal) business process and another participant. It hides the internal detailed flow and exposes just the communication behavior. That is exactly what optionBdescribes.

The scenario says:“a human performer performs a taskwithout the aid of any application.”

According to OMG BPMN 2.0.2 and related OMG material:

AUser Taskis “a typical workflow task in which a human performer performs the taskwith the assistance of a software application.”omg.org

AManual Taskis “a task that is expected to be performedwithout the aid of any business process execution engine or any application.”Visual Paradigm+1

The icon inOption Acorresponds to theManual Taskmarker in BPMN.

Options B, C, and D are markers for Script Task, Service Task, and User Task respectively, all of which involve either an engine or an application.

Because the description matches exactly the OMG definition of aManual Task, the correct choice among the icons provided isOption A.

The APQC Process Classification Framework (PCF) groups enterprise processes into two high-level categories:

Operating Processes– the value-creating core operations of the business.

Management and Support Processes– processes that manage, direct, or support the operating processes.

So option B reflects the official enterprise-level split.

In the given collaboration diagram:

Thetop collapsed pool(e.g., “pizza supplier”) is ablack-box pool. Even though its internal process is hidden, itstill represents a participant.

Themiddle pool(e.g., “pizza delivery”) is awhite-box poolshowing its internal process — a second participant.

Thebottom pool(e.g., “pizza receiving”) is anotherwhite-box pool— a third participant.

BPMN defines thatevery pool (black-box or white-box) corresponds to one participantin the collaboration. Therefore, the collaboration showsthree participants, and answerDis correct.

The diagram shows two Participants (A and B) connected by adashed line with an open circle at the source and an arrow at the target. In BPMN this is aMessage Flow.

Semantics of a Message Flow:

It indicates thatone participant sends a message to another(cross-pool communication).

Mapping options:

A. “Pushes data”describes data association, not a BPMN message flow.

B. “Associated with”refers to BPMNAssociation, which is also dashed, but used between artifacts and flow objects without the open circle/arrow message notation.

C. “Performed before”would be asequence flow, which is solid, not dashed.

D. “A sends a message to B.”exactly describes a Message Flow.

So, the correct interpretation isD.

In OMG-aligned BPM architecture,SOA decouples processes from specific application technologiesby exposing system functions as standardized services.

This allows BPM processes to:

Orchestrate services regardless of underlying technology

Promote reuse, loose coupling, and interoperability

Increase agility and maintainability

OptionBis correct because SOAremoves the tight dependenceof process logic on the specific technologies used in back-end systems.

OptionAdescribes a possible outcome, not the core benefit.

OptionCcontradicts SOA’s goal of standardization and reuse.

OptionDincorrectly implies forced tight integration; SOA actually promotesloosely coupledintegration.

Thus,SOA benefits BPM by separating business processes from application-specific technologies, enabling flexible orchestration.

The diagram shows:

ActivityA

Followed by agateway(a plain diamond – the defaultexclusive data-based gatewayin BPMN)

With two outgoing flows, one toBand one toC, and no join afterward.

Anexclusive gateway(XOR) means:

Exactly oneoutgoing branch is taken based on a condition.

So the semantics:

First doA,

Then evaluate a condition,

Then executeeither B or C (but not both)depending on that condition.

Mapping to the choices:

A. Wait for an event→ would require anevent-based gateway, not shown.

B. B and C in any order→ would require aparallel gateway.

C. B or C depending on a condition→ matches anexclusive data-based gateway.

D. B or C or both→ that is aninclusive (OR) gateway, which uses a circle marker, not shown here.

Thus, the correct scenario isC: First do A, then B or C depending on a condition.

In theBusiness Motivation Model (BMM), aGoalis a high-level, long-term, qualitative statement of a desired future state of the enterprise.

“A large energy company is striving to be a process-driven organization and support lean and efficient operations.”

This describes afuture state the organization wants to achieve(process-driven, lean, efficient), not a specific short-term target, policy, or evaluation. That is exactly what BMM calls aGoal: an overarching desired condition the organization aims for.

It isnotaTactic(B), because tactics are concrete, actionable ways to implement strategies.

It isnotaDirective(C), which would be policies or rules governing behavior.

It isnotanAssessment(D), which is an evaluation of influencers (e.g., “current operations are inefficient”).

So, the description is modeled in BMM as aGoal.

Management documents without any External Links or URL:

In theBusiness Motivation Model (BMM):

Courses of Action(Strategies and Tactics) representhowthe organization intends to achieve its Ends (Goals and Objectives).

Directives(Business Policies and Business Rules)governandconstrainhow those Courses of Action are carried out.

So:

Directivesspecify what is allowed, required, or prohibited in implementing strategies and tactics.

This is why BMM explicitly states thatDirectives govern Courses of Action.

Why others are incorrect:

Objectives(B) are measurable targets (Ends), not governing elements.

Internal Influencers(C) affect assessments and motivation but donotdirectly govern Courses of Action.

Business Processes(D) are operational implementations, not governance elements in BMM terminology.

Thus, the correct governing elements for Courses of Action in BMM areDirectives.

Process topology refers to thesequence and structureof activities—the flow of tasks.

The only option that directly discoversprocess flow and orderingis:

✔C: Discovering the previous and next tasksfor each task.

This is a classic method in BPM to reconstruct the end-to-end process and map dependencies.

Other options focus on metrics, decisions, or data—not thestructural topology.

AnExpanded Sub-Process without Sequence Flows between its Tasksis interpreted as anAd-Hoc Sub-Process, provided it is marked as such (with the ad-hoc tilde marker). In BPMN / OMG terms, an ad-hoc sub-process:

Hasno predefined execution orderbetween its contained activities.

Allows activities to be performedin any order, possibly

multiple times,

not at all,

or in parallel.

Continues until somecompletion conditionis satisfied or the process decides to end that sub-process.

This is exactly what optionCdescribes.

OptionAandDimpose ordering or “exactly-once” semantics that BPMN doesnotdefine for an ad-hoc sub-process.

OptionBis incorrect because BPMN explicitly allows ad-hoc subprocesses where tasks are not connected by sequence flows.

Therefore,Cis the correct interpretation.

In BPMNmessage flowsshowwho communicates with whom, butthey do not define temporal order. Ordering is defined only bysequence flows inside each participant’s process(inside the Producer pool and the Consumer pool).

The diagram shows three message exchanges (Message 1, Message B, Message A) between Producer and Consumer, butno internal sequence flowsthat would say which send/receive happens first.

Therefore:

You can seewhich directioneach message goes,

But youcannot determine the orderof sending and receiving them from this diagram alone.

So the only correct statement is:

C. The order of sending and receiving Messages cannot be determined from the diagram.

“Repeat for Each Customer” means thewhole sequenceof activities (Request → Receive → Update) must be executed once per customer. In BPMN this is modeled as amulti-instance activity/subprocess(the three vertical bars marker), which represents “for each element in a collection.” Option B shows exactly that. Option A is a simple loop, C loops each task separately, and D is just a manual cycle in the flow.

ActivityBhas the envelope marker, meaning it is aReceive Taskin BPMN. The sequence flow goes A → B → C. Between A and C, the process reaches B andwaits to receive a message from an external participantbefore continuing on to C. It does not send a message to C or receive one from A; the envelope indicates interaction with an external party.

The BMM aligns directly with theZachman Framework.

Specifically:

TheOwner’s perspectivecorresponds to thebusiness view(row 2).

TheWhy columnof Zachman represents motivation:EndsandMeans.

The BMM’s purpose is to document:

Ends(Goals, Objectives)

Means(Strategies, Tactics)

The influence of external/internal factors

This exactly corresponds to theOwner’s view of the “Why” column.

Thus,Option B is correct.