Process Modeler for Microsoft Visio™ provides more than just a bunch of shapes and objects. It supports the full BPMN standard, which process definitions can be validated against the BPMN standard as well as several export formats to bridge the "Business - IT divide".

Before the advent of business process management systems (BPMS), there was a clear distinction between business process modeling and BPM application design. “Modeling” involved a set of tools for business analysts used to discover, diagram, analyze, and optimize business processes, often in concert with some formal methodology. The ultimate output of this effort, if used to create an automated BPM solution at all, served mainly as a “requirements document” that would (hopefully) be referenced by IT in the solution specification and design.