Bpm’online studio free is the next step in our long journey of developing a powerful low-code/no-code platform that will cover the entire life cycle of a business application - from gathering requirements to delivering and scaling a functional solution.

Right now, bpm’online studio free is a product for collaborative business process design, documenting, and sharing. This is the first free cloud-based product on the market of low-code BPM solutions. It enables you to create a library of all your processes, collaborate with your colleagues and stakeholders, and document your discuss process diagrams.

Bpm’online studio free will help you organize your company's processes in a single environment, simplify designing and documenting processes, and accelerate employee training if new regulations arise.

Registration in bpm’online studio free does not involve any charges or credit cards – all you need is a working email address (or Google/Facebook account).

Let’s have a quick look at what bpm’online studio free has to offer.

Building process diagrams

The studio’s Process Designer was built from scratch. Unlike previous versions, this one fully supports collaboration diagrams in BPMN 2.0. Drag-and-drop process elements, draw flows, export your designs as images or *.bpmn files.

All your processes are conveniently organized in “process library” – a tree-like set of folders that you can customize via drag-and-drop. The process library comes equipped with a search option, so that you can easily find the needed processes and folders.

Bpm’online studio free supports the industry-standard *.bpmn format, which enables you to import and export processes to other solutions. Upload previously created diagrams to bpm’online studio free and build a complete library of all your business processes. Export your business processes as *.bpmn files if you need to share or migrate them to a different solution.

Collaborative process design

Bpm’online studio free enables for real-time collaborative process design. Invite your colleagues to your team to quickly mobilize all efforts and create processes faster. A common environment for analysts and business users will ensure effective team interaction whenever you or your colleagues collaborate on business process design and optimization. Each member of your team will have access to the most current version of the team’s processes.

All changes made to the process are available in real-time to all team members, and save instantly and automatically.

Preparing process documentation

To implement a new business process in a business environment, you need to properly communicate the new workflow to the users who are expected to follow it. BPMN 2.0 collaboration diagrams are perfect for analysts and developers who are familiar with the notation, but actual employees may require additional details on different stages of their workflow. Bpm’online studio free lets you document processes by adding notes and descriptions of different process elements while on the process design stage.

Once the process is complete, you can export its documentation, which will organize all information available on the process elements, including your notes and descriptions, in a clear and comprehensive document.  As a result, you will receive a complete process specification that can be handed to the process users and used to train employees on the process implementation stage.

This is but the first step in a long journey. Make sure you check the new bpm’online studio free and leave your comments and feedback!

To make sure that the new features and shortcuts don’t slip under your radar, we’ve created a list to help you find your way around studio free faster.

Automatically connecting process elements

If you create an element using the process element context menu, it will automatically be connected to the previous element with a sequence flow. To do this:

1. Add a new element to the diagram
2. Select it to open its context menu
3. Create another element using the context menu as shown below

Using this method will help you speed up the process of building diagrams in the process designer.

Copying and pasting portions of the diagram

Since BPMN diagrams can take up a large portion of the working area in the process designer, and include similar elements and structures, repeatedly placing the same elements or groups of elements can slow down the process of creating a diagram. In the process designer, you can select multiple elements with the lasso tool, and use keyboard shortcuts to copy them either to a new spot on the same process diagram or to a different process altogether.

To do this:

1. Open a process and click  to select the lasso tool (or simply drag while holding down the Shift key)
2. Select the necessary process elements and press Ctrl + C, place your cursor in the location where you wish to paste the elements (i.e., a new process diagram) and press Ctrl + V

You can use this method to copy and paste all process elements into a new process:

1. Select all process elements (e.g., by pressing Ctrl + A)
2. Press Ctrl + C to copy them
3. Open a blank process diagram or create a new process
4. Press Ctrl + V to past all elements to the diagram

Copying a process using the import/export tool

To copy a process in its entirety, use the import/export tool. To do this:

1. Click  next to the process you wish to copy
2. Select “Export to *.bpmn”
3. Create a new process in the process library
4. Click  next to the new process and select “Import from *.bpmn”

As a result, the process will be copied with all the documentation and comments.

Working on multiple processes using tabs

Every time you open a process, it will displayed in a separate tab in the process designer, enabling you to toggle between multiple processes and work on them simultaneously.

Adding boundary events

You can add boundary events to your activities by dragging an intermediate/boundary event element from the element toolbar onto the activities border. To select the type of the boundary event, click  in its context menu.