Transformation of BPMN to YAWL

Model transformations are frequently applied in business process modeling to bridge between languages on a different level of abstraction and formality. In this paper, we define a transformation between BPMN which is developed to enable business user to develop readily understandable graphical representations of business processes and YAWL, a formal workflow language that is able to capture all of the 20 workflow patterns reported. We illustrate the transformation challenges and present a suitable transformation algorithm. The benefit of the transformation is threefold. Firstly, it clarifies the semantics of BPMN via a mapping to YAWL. Secondly, the deployment of BPMN business process models is simplified. Thirdly, BPMN models can be analyzed with YAWL verification tools.