{
  "id": "COMP-BPMN-001",
  "slug": "bpmn",
  "status": "Normative Comparison",
  "subject": "OCOM",
  "target": "BPMN",
  "targetShort": "BPMN",
  "summary": "OCOM and BPMN are complementary, not competing. BPMN models how work flows — the activities, gateways and events of a process. OCOM models the objects that work acts upon, together with their identity, governance and lifecycle. BPMN describes the verbs of an organization; OCOM describes the governed nouns. A BPMN process typically operates on objects that OCOM can define and govern.",
  "scope": {
    "compared": [
      "Whether each models process flow or the objects work acts on",
      "How each treats state and lifecycle",
      "How governance is expressed"
    ],
    "notCompared": [
      "BPMN execution semantics or engine conformance",
      "Notation and diagram interchange (BPMN DI)",
      "Specific process modelling tools"
    ]
  },
  "mappings": [
    {
      "ocom": "Object",
      "target": "Data Object",
      "equivalent": "Partial"
    },
    {
      "ocom": "Capability",
      "target": "Task / Activity",
      "equivalent": "Partial"
    },
    {
      "ocom": "Contract",
      "target": "Collaboration / Choreography",
      "equivalent": "Partial"
    },
    {
      "ocom": "Policy",
      "target": "Gateway condition / business rule",
      "equivalent": "Partial"
    },
    {
      "ocom": "Lifecycle",
      "target": "Process / activity state",
      "equivalent": "Partial"
    },
    {
      "ocom": "—",
      "target": "Sequence flow / event",
      "equivalent": "None"
    }
  ],
  "differences": [
    {
      "aspect": "Centre of gravity",
      "ocom": "Object-centric — what is governed",
      "target": "Process-centric — how work flows"
    },
    {
      "aspect": "Time",
      "ocom": "Object state over the whole lifecycle",
      "target": "Ordering of activities within a process"
    },
    {
      "aspect": "Governance",
      "ocom": "First-class: ownership, policy, constraint",
      "target": "Expressed indirectly through rules and gateways"
    },
    {
      "aspect": "Scope",
      "ocom": "Spans many processes acting on the same object",
      "target": "Bounded to a single process definition"
    }
  ],
  "capabilities": [
    {
      "capability": "Process flow",
      "ocom": "—",
      "target": "✓"
    },
    {
      "capability": "Object identity",
      "ocom": "✓",
      "target": "Partial"
    },
    {
      "capability": "Lifecycle",
      "ocom": "✓",
      "target": "Partial"
    },
    {
      "capability": "Governance",
      "ocom": "✓",
      "target": "—"
    },
    {
      "capability": "Ownership",
      "ocom": "✓",
      "target": "—"
    },
    {
      "capability": "Evidence",
      "ocom": "✓",
      "target": "—"
    },
    {
      "capability": "AI retrieval",
      "ocom": "✓",
      "target": "Partial"
    }
  ],
  "interoperability": [
    "A BPMN process MAY operate on OCOM Objects; the process supplies the flow, OCOM supplies the governed objects and their state.",
    "OCOM MAY record the object states that a BPMN activity transitions, giving the process a governed, auditable substrate.",
    "The recommended composition is BPMN for the verbs and OCOM for the nouns, each referencing the other rather than duplicating it."
  ],
  "references": [
    {
      "label": "OCOM Object",
      "url": "/vocabulary/object"
    },
    {
      "label": "OCOM Capability",
      "url": "/vocabulary/capability"
    },
    {
      "label": "OCOM Contract",
      "url": "/vocabulary/contract"
    },
    {
      "label": "BPMN 2.0 (Object Management Group)",
      "url": null
    }
  ],
  "canonical": "https://ocom.uno/comparisons/bpmn",
  "url": "https://ocom.uno/comparisons/bpmn"
}