Towards system testing#
Below is a slightly derived version of a real system test orchestrated with BPMN. Next, we look into a selected BPMN features used in detail.
Pools and lanes#
Pools and lanes within pools is a purely visual feature of BPMN and it does not affect execution of the process in Operaton engine.
Pools and lanes can be used to separate different roles or organizations in the process, and visualise communication between systems.
In the example, pools are used to separate the process engine driven orchestration from the systems under test, and highlight the possible manual steps required by QA team.#
Event sub processes#
Event sub processes with interrupting start events could be used to handle process wide events.
In the example, event subprocesses are used to#
limit test execution time by cancelling test cases with a timer event.
handle test case failures by catching an any unhandled error event.
User tasks and compensation#
In the real world system tests especially when involving 3rd party or legacy systems, not all tests can be automated. BPMN orchestrated test processe may contain manual steps when required. Also manual test setup teardowns can be orchestrated with compensation tasks.
