How to Map BPMN with User Stories?

Creating a User Stories Layer

Instead of writing user stories directly on a BPD, we will write them on a separate diagram layer. This step is not required, but when you put the user stories in a layer, you can easily control their visibility by hiding and showing the layer. This can be important because you may not want the stories to appear all the time. When you are discussing the business process, you may want to focus on the business workflow without being distracted by other shapes.

1. Download Inventory-Management-System.vpp.
2. Open Inventory-Management-System.vpp by selecting Project > Open from the application toolbar and selecting the Inventory-Management-System.vpp file you just downloaded.
3. Open the business process diagram named Track Item.
   
4. Select View > Layers from the application toolbar.
5. In the Diagram Layers window, click on Create new layer and then enter User Stories as the name of the layer.
   
6. Click Close to return to the diagram. From now on, any shapes you draw in the diagram will be in the User Stories layer.

Drawing User Stories in a BPD

Assume that you are studying the process (diagram) with a stakeholder and come across the Find Item in Inventory task. After a discussion with the stakeholder, several user stories are identified:

• The user can search for an item with a serial number.
• The user can search on an iPad.
• The user can search on Android.
• The user can see the result on a virtual 3D map.

In this section, you will draw these stories on the BPD.

1. Select User Story from the diagram toolbar. You may need to scroll down a bit to find it.
   
2. Click on the diagram to create a story card and enter User can search item with serial number as the name.
   
3. The story card seems a bit large. Let's resize it to make it smaller.
   
4. Instead of leaving the story card floating on the diagram, let's connect it to the task to form a 'mapping'. Click on the Generic Connector resource at the top left of the user story and drag it to the Find Item in Inventory task.
   
5. Release the mouse button to create the connector. Drag the connector to adjust its turning points.
   
6. To prevent readers from confusing the generic connector with a BPMN sequence flow, let's give the connector a different look. Move your mouse pointer over the generic connector and click on Format Line.
   
7. Select the dotted line style.
   
   Up to now, your BPD should look like this:
   
8. Apply the same techniques to draw the other three user stories.
   
9. Let's say you have just finished studying the process with the stakeholder. Two more user stories, User can forward the result to teammate(s) and User can save the result, have been identified from the tasks Report Item Not Found and Report Item Found, respectively. Let's draw these user stories on the diagram and map them to the corresponding tasks.
   
10. The user story User can save the result also applies to the task Report Item Not Found. Let's map the user story and task with a generic connector.
    

Hiding the User Stories Layer

You're all done. Let's say you want to discuss the business process with a senior executive who is not interested in these user stories. In this section, you will hide the User Stories layer.

1. Select View > Layers from the application toolbar.
2. In the Diagram Layers window, uncheck Visible for the User Stories layer.
   
3. Click Close to return to the diagram. You will see that the stories are gone.