Being widely accepted by industries and academia, Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is the de facto standard for business process modeling. However, the large number of notation elements it introduces makes its use quite complex. This work investigates the usage of the BPMN notation by analyzing 54,500 models harvested from seven online collections. The study considers different model types introduced by the standard, such as process collaboration, choreography, and conversation. The analyses focus on the syntactic dimension of BPMN, investigating the usage of BPMN elements and their combinations. Syntactic violations of the standard, and of good modeling practices, are also investigated as well as possible relations with BPMN elements and modeling tools. The results of the study can guide further activities of educators, practitioners, researchers, and standardization bodies.

业务流程模型和表示法（BPMN）被业界和学术界广泛接受，是业务流程建模事实上的标准。然而，它引入的大量符号元素使得它的使用相当复杂。这项工作通过分析从七个在线集合中收集的 54,500 个模型来研究 BPMN 表示法的用法。该研究考虑了该标准引入的不同模型类型，例如流程协作、编排和对话。分析重点关注 BPMN 的句法维度，研究 BPMN 元素及其组合的用法。还研究了对标准和良好建模实践的语法违反以及与 BPMN 元素和建模工具的可能关系。研究结果可以指导教育工作者、从业者、