Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI) has developed the standard Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). The primary goal of BPMN is to provide a notation that is readily understandable by all business users, from the business analysts that create the initial drafts of the processes, to the technical developers responsible for implementing the technology that will perform those processes, and finally, to the business people who will manage and monitor those processes. Thus, BPMN creates a standardized bridge for the gap between the business process design and process implementation.

Another goal, but no less important, is to ensure that XML languages designed for the execution of business processes, such as BPEL4WS (Business Process Execution Language for Web Services), can be visualized with a business-oriented notation.

This specification defines the notation and semantics of a Business Process Diagram (BPD) and represents the amalgamation of best practices within the business modelling community. The intent of BPMN is to standardize a business process modelling notation in the face of many different modelling notations and viewpoints. In doing so, BPMN will provide a simple means of communicating process information to other business users, process implementers, customers, and suppliers.