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Gateways (BPMN Executable)Locate this document in the navigation structure

Gateways control the sequence flow of the process, and can merge or split the flow as dictated by the gateway conditions.

To create a Gateway:
  • Select an object in the diagram and click (or click and drag) the Gateway tool in its context toolbar to create a new gateway after it in the sequence flow, or
  • Click the Gateway tool in the bottom toolbar and click in the diagram.

By default, an exclusive gateway is created. To change the type of gateway, click the Properties tool and select a type from the list. In BPMN 2.0 Executable, PowerDesigner supports these types of gateways:

Symbol Description
BPMN_20_GatewayBaseBPMN_20_GatewayExclusive Normal/Exclusive gateway - When splitting, routes the flow to one outgoing branch. When merging, waits for one incoming branch to complete before triggering the outgoing flow.
BPMN_20_GatewayParallel Parallel gateway - When splitting, activates all outgoing branches simultaneously. When merging, waits for all incoming branches to complete.
BPMN_20_GatewayInclusive Inclusive gateway - When splitting, activates one or more branches. When merging, waits for all incoming branches to complete before merging.
BPMN_20_GatewayEventBase Event-based gateway - Followed by catching events or receive tasks and routes the flow to whichever of these happens first.
BPMN_20_GatewayExclusiveEventBase Exclusive event-based gateway - Starts a new process instance for each occurrence of a subsequent event.
BPMN_20_GatewayParallelEventBase Parallel event-based gateway - Starts a new process instance for the occurrence of all subsequent events.
BPMN_20_GatewayComplex Complex gateway - Treats complex merging or branching behavior not covered by other gateways.

Gateways can have the following properties:

Property Description

Name/Code/Comment

Identify the object. The name should clearly convey the object's purpose to non-technical users, while the code, which is used for generating code or scripts, may be abbreviated, and should not normally include spaces. You can optionally add a comment to provide more detailed information about the object. By default the code is generated from the name by applying the naming conventions specified in the model options. To decouple name-code synchronization, click to release the = button to the right of the Code field.
Direction Specifies how the gateway may be used. You can select:
  • Unspecified - The gateway may have any number of incoming and outgoing sequence flows.
  • Converging - The gateway may have multiple incoming sequence flows but must have no more than one outgoing sequence flow.
  • Diverging - The gateway may have multiple outgoing sequence flows but must have no more than one incoming sequence flow.
  • Mixed - The gateway contains multiple outgoing and multiple incoming sequence flows.
Expression / Expression alias Specifies the condition that will be evaluated to decide which path the process follows following the gateway. The alias provides a short version of the condition which is displayed under the gateway in the diagram.