The reference feature enables you to add external file and URL references to model elements. When you try to open a reference, Visual Paradigm will open it with system default application (or browser for URL reference). If you want to use another application or command to open certain kinds of file and URL references, read this article to learn how to make it work.
Additional file can be attached to a model to elaborate it through its resource icon References. After that, you can open and view the inserted file through References. This page will show you how to add an external file to a model.
The file reference feature provides a handy way for you to associate your design with whatever kind of external files, to aid in the explanation and studying of design. You can make a UML use case link to a set of requirement specification, make an entity in ERD link to a scanned copy of order form, make an activity in business process diagram link to a document of instruction, etc.
Knowing that different people may store the same files in different places, in order to make the referenced files accessible in any environment, one can define a user path to the folder where the files are stored. Users can replace the user path themselves to make the file reference accessible in their own environments. Read more
When you are modeling business processes with business process diagrams, you may find that although the business processes are different and yield different goals, many of them are indeed sharing the same set of workflow. For example, both the process of ordering and returning goods share the same packaging and delivery processes. These common workflow share the same behaviors and activities, so it is wise to “draw once and re-use everywhere”, not just to save time, but to ensure the consistency of business process by keeping one and only one copy of unique workflow. Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) supports grouping related process flow to sub-process. With BPMN sub-process, you can easily re-use the common process flows in different business processes by incorporating the sub-process shape, which contains the common workflows, into those business process diagrams.
