FlowDiagramme

FlowDiagramme is a formal notation and accompanying tooling for modeling processes, workflows, and data flows. It emphasizes clarity, modularity, and the separation of control flow from data transformation, enabling both human-readable diagrams and machine-processable models. The notation is designed to express sequences, parallelism, choices, subprocesses, and data dependencies within a single diagram.

Core elements of FlowDiagramme include nodes that represent actions, events, data stores, or external actors; directed connectors that indicate process flow; swimlanes to designate responsibility; subprocess blocks for hierarchical decomposition; and annotations or constraints that attach data types, conditions, or execution notes to diagram components. The model is designed to be serializable, with exchange formats such as an FDML-based JSON or XML variant to support versioning and integration with tooling ecosystems.

Semantics in FlowDiagramme distinguish control flow from data flow and provide constructs for decision points, parallel branches, and synchronization. Execution semantics can be attached to model elements to enable simulation, validation, or orchestration workflows. Subprocesses can be expanded for detail or collapsed for overview, supporting scalable documentation. The notation is designed to interoperate with other modeling standards through import/export bridges and by mapping FlowDiagramme constructs to equivalent elements in related formalisms.

History and adoption: The concept originated in the FlowTech Initiative in the early 2010s, with the first formal specification released as FlowDiagramme Specification 1.0 in 2014. Since then, editors and tooling—ranging from open-source projects to commercial products—have grown, with ongoing efforts to align FlowDiagramme with BPMN and UML activity diagram practices while preserving its emphasis on modular, readable designs.

Usage and limitations: FlowDiagramme is used in business process modeling, software architecture, and data engineering to document workflows and execution plans. It favors readability and exchangeability but lacks a single universal runtime standard, which can lead to interoperability challenges without proper mappings and training.