A flow conveys data between processes, external entities, and data stores and represents data in motion, such as computerized components, messages or bits, or non-computerized components, such as eggs or cake.
Flows are based on standard flows (see Flows (BPM )) or resource flows (see Resource Flows (BPM)) with a Flow stereotype. Flows incoming to and outgoing from data stores must be created with the Resource Flow tool in the Data Flow Diagram toolbox.
A flow cannot directly link two data stores or two external entities without going through a process or a split/merge.
Flows to data stores are interpreted as write, update, or delete access, while flows outgoing from data stores are interpreted as read access
The Data tab in the property sheet displays the data transported by the flows.