BPMN Timer Events

Intermediate Timer Events

BPMN Process

An intermediate timer event specifies a deadline (duration or date), how long to wait to continue with the process flow. The label is the human readable explanation of the executable value.

Date and Time

A specific date is specified in the time and date format from ISO-8601. It has the general form of <Year>-<Month>-<Day>T<Hour>:<Minute>:<Second><Offset from UTC time: ±[hh]:[mm]> (T is the separator to start the time specification). For example, 2025-02-25T13:37:00+01:00 indicates the 25th February in 2025 at 13:37 o’clock in the Central European Time zone (CET).

Timer events with date-time combination is only allowed for Projects (not for Processes).

<intermediateCatchEvent id="Event_0ndy65v" name="25.02.2025 at 13:37">
    <timerEventDefinition id="TimerEventDefinition_196e4hq">
        <timeDate xsi:type="tFormalExpression">2025-02-25T13:37:00+01:00</timeDate>
    </timerEventDefinition>
</intermediateCatchEvent>

Durations

A duration is specified in the time interval format from ISO-8601. It has the general form of P<n>Y<n>M<n>DT<n>H<n>M<n>S, where n is a value that specifies Years, Month, Days, Hours, Minutes and Seconds (T is the separator to start the time specification).

<intermediateCatchEvent id="Event_15hhytu" name="4 Month">
    <timerEventDefinition id="TimerEventDefinition_1tpnwvg">
        <timeDuration xsi:type="tFormalExpression">P4M</timeDuration>
    </timerEventDefinition>
</intermediateCatchEvent>

<intermediateCatchEvent id="Event_08uergq" name="3 days&#10;12 min">
    <timerEventDefinition id="TimerEventDefinition_0xjopsa">
        <timeDuration xsi:type="tFormalExpression">P3DT12M</timeDuration>
    </timerEventDefinition>
</intermediateCatchEvent>

<intermediateCatchEvent id="Event_1pal5bn" name="13 hours&#10;12 sec">
    <timerEventDefinition id="TimerEventDefinition_1xvk9zm">
        <timeDuration xsi:type="tFormalExpression">PT13H12S</timeDuration>
    </timerEventDefinition>
</intermediateCatchEvent>

<intermediateCatchEvent id="Event_1pal5bn" name="1 years&#10;1 month&#10;2 days&#10;3 hours&#10;5 min&#10;8 sec">
    <timerEventDefinition id="TimerEventDefinition_1xvk9zm">
        <timeDuration xsi:type="tFormalExpression">P1Y1M2DT3H5M8S</timeDuration>
    </timerEventDefinition>
</intermediateCatchEvent>

Boundary Timer Events

A timer event can be used on the boundary of a Script or User Task to interrupt the task or to start some work in parallel.

Restrictions

  • Until now, only intermediate timer events are supported (no timer start events)
  • no timeCycle expressions for repeating intervals are supported (for start or non-interruption boundary events)