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Start Event

Start Event

As the name implies, the Start Event indicates where a particular Process will start. In terms of Sequence Flow, the Start Event starts the flow of the Process, and thus, will not have any incoming Sequence Flow. No Sequence Flow can connect to a Start Event.

Triggers

There are many ways that business process can be started (instantiated). The Trigger for a Start Event is designed to show the general mechanism that will instantiate that particular Process. There are ten (10) types of Start Events in BPMN 2.0: None, Message, Timer, Escalation, Error, Compensation, Conditional, Signal, Multiple and Parallel Multiple.

Marker Description
The modeler does not display the type of Event. It is also used for a Sub-Process that starts when the flow is triggered by its Parent Process.
A Message arrives from a participant and triggers the start of the Process.
A specific time-date or a specific cycle (e.g., every Monday at 9am) can be set that will trigger the start of the Process.
Escalation Event Sub-Processes implement measures to expedite the completion of a business activity, should it not satisfy a constraint specified on its execution (such as a time-based deadline).
The Escalation Start Event is only allowed for triggering an in-line Event Sub-Process.
The Error Start Event is only allowed for triggering an in-line Event Sub-Process.
Given the nature of Errors, an Event Sub-Process with an Error trigger will always interrupt its containing Process.
The Compensation Start Event is only allowed for triggering an in-line Compensation Event Sub-Process. This type of Event is triggered when compensation occurs.
This Event does not interrupt the Process since the Process has to be completed before this Event can be triggered.
This type of event is triggered when a Condition such as “S&P 500 changes by more than 10% since opening”, or “Temperature above 300°C” become true. The ConditionExpression for the Event must become false and then true before the Event can be triggered again.
A signal arrives that has been broadcast from another Process and triggers the start of the Process. Note that the Signal is not a Message, which has a specific target for the Message. Multiple Processes can have Start Events that are triggered from the same broadcasted Signal.
This means that there are multiple ways of triggering the Process. Only one of them will be required to start the Process. The attributes of the Start Event will define which of the other types of Triggers apply.
A Parallel Multiple Event indicates that that there are multiple ways of triggering the Event Sub-Process. All of them are required to actually start the Event Sub-Process.

Interrupting vs. Non-Interrupting

This attribute only applies to Start Events of Event Sub-Processes; it is ignored for other Start Events. This attribute denotes whether the Sub-Process encompassing the Event Sub-Process should be cancelled or not. If the encompassing Sub-Process is not cancelled, multiple instances of the Event Sub-Process can run concurrently. This attribute cannot be applied to Error Events (where it is always true), or Compensation Events (where it does not apply).

Boundary Description
For an Event Sub-Process that interrupts its containing Process, the
boundary of the Event is solid.
For an Event Sub-Process that does not interrupt its containing Process,
the boundary of the Event is dashed.