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From a Blueriq point-of-view, it is not mandatory to use preconditions and ad-hoc tasks exclusively, nor is it mandatory to use flow exclusively. One of the unique aspects of Blueriq is that both approaches are available and can be intertwined to get the best of both worlds. So whenever there is an activity that may only be performed when another activity is completed, it can be modeled with flow. Many discussions in the field are about the difference between static and dynamic processes. By allowing both, we allow for a hybrid approach if you need that.

Design

Some people are concerned that - when using ad-hoc tasks - the business process model becomes more difficult to understand and maintain than when flow is used. In situations where no good design is made upfront, they might very well be right! If a process with a lot of activities is modeled by simply dumping all these activities in one single batch and just create (complex) preconditions for all of these activities, this will have, at model time at least, no benefit over a flowchart.

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Secondly, this design is much easier to read for business users. Flowcharts tend to be seen as 'technical' or 'IT-like', although that was never the intention of BPM. A process diagram containing phases with activities is much easier to read by business users. Instead of being responsible and accountable for dozens or even hundreds of process diagrams containing complex flow, business users are delighted to see their processes narrowed down to a few simple designs, where the complxity complexity is not in the process itself, but in the activities. 

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