Diagramming for
Business Process Management
Use graph visualization to boost efficiency, ensure compliance, and increase work quality.

In modern business, as in life, flexibility and individualization are key. To depict and manage your company’s unique processes, developing a customized software solution is highly advantageous. But this requires considerable effort.
Luckily, there’s a great alternative to doing it all yourself: A mature, highly customizable software library of ready-to-use components.

yFiles, our diagramming SDK, lets you create and visualize company processes, then analyze and improve them based on real-time insights. Business process mapping is easy – no clumsy spreadsheets – so you are free to focus on strategic and creative tasks.

Effortlessly create and visualize BPM lifecycle stages with yFiles —from modeling to optimization—empowering strategic decision-making and innovation while ensuring efficiency and clarity.

About yFiles: The graph visualization SDK

yFiles playground graph drawing example

yFiles is your go-to SDK for crafting advanced graph visualizations, whether you're working with Web, Java, or .NET technologies. Its unmatched flexibility and scalability enable you to convert complex data into clear, actionable visuals, fitting for both enterprise and startup needs.

With yFiles, you're equipped for the future—supporting any data source while maintaining strong data security. Getting started is seamless, thanks to over 300 source-code demos, thorough documentation, and direct access to core developer support. These resources are available even during your free trial.

Backed by 25 years of graph drawing expertise, yFiles is trusted by top companies worldwide for their most critical visualization tasks.

11 reasons why developers choose yFiles, the superior diagramming SDK

Powerful and Diverse Layout Algorithms

A wide variety of layouts, flexible configurations, and superior performance.

Advanced Visualization Capabilities

High-quality visualizations that clarify and inform.

Flexibility and Customizability

Fully customizable layouts and styles for any use case.

High Performance

Efficient handling and rendering of large graphs.

Integration with Various Platforms

Seamlessly integrates with existing systems and frameworks.

Interaction and Animation Features

Comprehensive components for dynamic, interactive graphs.

Universal Data Support

No restrictions on data sources or types—total flexibility.

Security and Data Privacy

GDPR compliant, no forced cloud use, full data control.

Fast and Competent Support

Quick responses, direct access to core developers.

Long-Term Market Presence and Expertise

25 years of experience, mature, future-proof solutions.

Comprehensive Documentation

Extensive docs, guides, 300+ demos, and tutorials.

Start building your graph application today!

- Download yFiles for free -

Why top companies rely on yFiles for superior graph visualization.

From southern Germany to Silicon Valley, yFiles is the choice of world-renowned companies, research institutes, universities, and even #innovative startups. They all rely on yWorks' expertise to accelerate the development of their business ideas and bring advanced graph visualization to life. Whether it's established enterprises or emerging startups, yFiles helps them efficiently create and optimize their visualization solutions, making it easier to turn ideas into reality.

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Well-known BPM diagramming models

Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN)

With BPMN, both technical and business users can intuitively model complex business processes - so-called collaborations, choreographies, and conversations. BPMN diagrams employ a small number of graphical elements that are easy to understand and remember.

The yFiles diagramming SDK supports the BPMN-DI standard out of the box. You can easily create BPMN tools or components to integrate into your own processes and applications. yFiles represents BPMN without manual work steps, depicts rich nodes, and enables intuitive interactions.

yFiles features efficient, highly customizable algorithms for automatic layouts. The BPMN layout calculates positions for the elements and their connections, creating a clear, clean look. Labels are placed where they are easy to see. With one click, you can create a beautiful BPMN diagram, even from a very confusing list.

Helpful links for BPMN

BPMN diagram visualization
Interactive BPMN demo
BPMN webinar

This BPMN diagram illustrates a collaboration between a customer and a service-providing company. It features two distinct pools representing each entity, connected by message flows to depict seamless communication and interaction between the two parties.

BPMN diagram that employs two pools: one for the customer and one for the company providing the service. The processes in the pools communicate with each other via message flows.

Explore the Appollo Digital Innovation Platform powered by yFiles, featuring advanced heatmap-based application monitoring and optimization capabilities.

Appollo Digital Innovation Platform – Heatmap-based application monitoring & optimization built with yFiles.
Read the case study. - Source: appollo-systems.com

Experience the robust capabilities of the yFiles BPMN Editor demo—a dynamic tool within the yFiles package. Visualize and interact with BPMN diagrams seamlessly, enhancing process management and optimization with advanced features and intuitive controls.

The interactive BPMN Editor demo is part of the yFiles package.

Visualize your process with yFiles: Build robust, automated BPMN-style diagrams integrated with Ardoq for comprehensive process documentation. Link data for advanced analysis and optimization, ensuring streamlined operations and informed decision-making.

yFiles is used to build an automated diagram representing a process loosely following BPMN. The process documentation captured in Ardoq is linked to other data to analyze and optimize processes. - Source: ardoq.com

Explore a robust BPMN visualization showcasing tasks for a new job posting, elegantly separated into swimlanes by responsible departments.

BPMN visualization showing the tasks of a new job posting separated in swimlanes according to the responsible department.

BPMN visualization showing the tasks of a new job posting separated in swimlanes according to the information system concerned.

Process Mining

The process mining approach is used in all major industries – from banking and insurance, to production and logistics, to transportation and healthcare. This approach seeks to turn event data into insights in order to improve workflows, identify performance issues, or address compliance problems.

A process flow diagram can show the various steps in a processing pipeline, and even how entities move through it. yFiles clearly depicts all processes, using an event log and automatic layout algorithms, so there is no need to manually create diagrams.

The visualization can be customized to focus on aspects of interest – for instance, using a heat map to show capacity limits, outliers or bottlenecks. The yFiles graph analysis algorithms can even identify clusters, shortest paths, cycles, and more.

If the visualization app is linked to real-time data, yFiles lets you monitor or even adapt processes by adjusting the graph. In addition, simulations can be created to test planned changes.

Whether you have a few or tens of thousands of process entities, yFiles is able to render them at the same time in a smooth animation.

Helpful links for process mining

Process mining component
Process mining demo

Decision Trees

A decision tree is incredibly versatile. It visualizes options and their probable outcomes, thus enabling more informed decisions. It can also be a guide for processes with conditional flow, or a way to trace problems back to their source.
Decision trees can be used in many different areas of an organization, and are an important tool of Business Process Management.
See for yourself: Explore the sample use cases in our slideshow.

yFiles automatically transforms simple graphs into interactive decision trees, so that anyone can click through processes step by step. Company systems can be connected and controlled using a decision tree.
Our layout algorithms clearly display the processes and options, and the integrated analysis algorithms automatically highlight critical paths and best options.
All of this can be customized to your individual requirements.

Helpful links for decision trees

Decision tree demo
Example: Feature planning
Example: Support hotline
Example: Patient risk identification
Example: patient classification

This decision tree helps to effectively trace problems to their source, enabling corrective actions, identifying weaknesses, and preventing future occurrences.

This decision tree helps to trace problems back to their source in order to correct them, identify weak points and avoid them in the future.

Visualize a decision tree designed for employees of a strong support hotline to guide customers through the problem identification process, ensuring efficient and effective issue resolution.

A decision tree for employees of a support hotline to help customers through the problem identification process. (Open this graph in yEd Live)

This decision tree illustrates beginning with a clear decision and its available options. Automatically calculated are associated costs, outcome probabilities, and financial results for each path. Optimal choices are highlighted for informed decision-making.

This decision tree starts with the decision to be made and the options that can be taken. The associated costs, outcome probabilities and financial results for each outcome are automatically calculated and the best option ist highlighted. (Open this graph in yEd Live)

A decision tree visualizes criteria and outcomes to effectively identify patients at high risk for hospital readmission. This graphical representation simplifies complex data into actionable insights, aiding in targeted healthcare interventions.

A decision tree to identify patients at high risk for readmission to the hospital. (Open this graph in yEd Live)

Explore a decision tree designed to efficiently triage patients experiencing severe pain based on predefined criteria.

A decision tree that helps to triage patients with severe pain according to defined criteria. (Open this graph in yEd Live)

Flowcharts, swimlanes, graph analysis and many more

Of course, there are many other ways to depict, analyze, and improve business processes. Our diagramming SDK supports them all.

yFiles lets you map workflows with flowcharts, make business decisions with the help of decision trees, divide processes into swimlanes, record sequences in a Gantt chart, view material flows in a Sankey diagram, or analyze existing processes automatically.

Below, you’ll find interactive live demos that show some good examples. By the way, the source code for them is included in yFiles – even in the free trial!

The strength of yFiles is that it can be used for any model, method, and scenario. Yes, even the ones we didn’t think of.
Just contact us, and we’ll discuss your use case and how yFiles can help.

Interactive live demos

Flowchart demo
Flowchart wizard demo
Swimlane editor demo
Gantt chart demo
Graph analysis demo
Sankey diagram demo

The efficiency of this robust flowchart editor is evident, with its intuitive wizard-like interface, enabling rapid visualization and management of workflows with ease.

This Flowchart editor offers a wizard-like interface to visualize workflows in no time.

Advanced graph analysis algorithms to uncover new business insights and opportunities with precision and clarity.

yFiles advanced graph analysis algorithms enable the discovery of new business insights and opportunities.

Augment process visualizations with swimlanes and tables, essential tools that effectively structure information. These elements ensure clarity and organization, making complex processes easier to understand and manage.

Swimlanes and tables help to structure information and are therefore significant for many process visualizations.

Seamless business process visualization with our intuitive drag-and-drop Flowchart editor. Effortlessly create and customize flowcharts to visualize and optimize your business processes with clarity and precision.

A drag and drop Flowchart editor to visualize business processes.

Explore how Timelines and Gantt charts from yFiles empower efficient schedule management and dependency tracking.

Timelines and Gantt charts help to keep track of schedules and dependencies.

yFiles offers advanced graph analysis algorithms. Uncover valuable business insights and opportunities through powerful data analysis and visualization capabilities.

yFiles advanced graph analysis algorithms enable the discovery of new business insights and opportunities.

Did not see your type of diagram?

Have questions? Contact our Customer Success Team for assistance with technical support, licensing, or evaluations at hello@yworks.com or +49 7071 9709050.

Ask our Customer Success Team!

You will receive assistance from our Customer Success Team, whether you require technical support or have questions about our licenses or your evaluation.

Email: hello@yworks.com
Phone: +49 7071 9709050

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Recap

Business process management (BPM)

Business process management (BPM) is the systematic approach to designing, documenting, analyzing, and optimizing business processes to increase organizational efficiency, ensure compliance, and maintain high work quality. Standard models such as BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation), process mining, and decision trees are widely used to visualize operations, reveal bottlenecks, and enable data-driven decisions at every stage of process improvement.

The yFiles SDK provides a powerful platform for BPM by offering advanced diagramming features, automatic layout algorithms, interactive modeling, and seamless integration with platforms like Web, Java, and .NET. With yFiles, users can create, visualize, and analyze complex process models—including BPMN diagrams, flowcharts, swimlanes, and more—all with highly customizable visuals. yFiles simplifies the mapping of workflow, eases compliance tracking, enhances collaboration, and supports automation of repetitive process tasks, making it ideal for modern BPM needs.

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business process management?