Abstract: A modeling system for the visual presentation of business applications (process, information, control, and channel), composed of multiple plan elements, is disclosed. The modeling system consists of a modeling language organized around a small set of defined pictograms each capable of representing elements of the application in progressively finer levels of detail. Each element primitive, be it a plan, step, data object, translation map, or control element (such as a business rule), is independently adjustable. Each element can be modified or enhanced without damage to the overall process because they are functionally decoupled and each represents a delegation of a task primitive (including data storage). All of the other, connected primitives are aware simply of what is passed into or taken out of a neighbor primitive, not how that primitive accomplishes its task.