Intermediate event

How to read it

BPMN 2.0.2 says intermediate events occur between a start event and an end event: they affect the flow of the process but don’t start it or directly end it. The double line is required so that the circle can be told apart from start and end events. The marker inside says what kind of event it is. An intermediate event can catch a trigger (wait for it) or throw one (cause it), and the standard draws the marker unfilled for catching and filled for throwing.

Also searched as: bpmn intermediate event, double circle bpmn, intermediate event symbol.

In the flow or on the edge of a task

Politecnico di Milano’s BPMN exercise book describes two places it goes. Drawn in the flow between two activities, it makes the process wait there until the event happens. Drawn on the boundary of an activity, it is a boundary event, and if it happens it changes the path the process takes.

Look-alikes

A Start event has a single thin line and an End event a single thick one. A double circle with an envelope inside is a Message event; with a clock inside, a Timer event. In a UML activity diagram a filled dot inside a ring is the final node, an end.