Workflow and BPM in the New Enterprise Architecture

Keith D Swenson
VP, Fujitsu Computer Systems
Technical Committee Chair, WfMC
Workflow and BPM in the New Enterprise Architecture
Welcome to Transformation and Innovation 2007 The Business Transformation Conference Welcome

Presentation Overview
Definitions of Terms
What is the Gap between Business and IT?
Humans vs. System Flow
How does Workflow bridge that?
Interfacing Humans to Systems
What Standards Exist to Support This?
BPMN, XPDL, BPEL

Considering your existing enterprise apps, how important are the following business problems? Source: Forrester Survey of 145 Business and IT decision makers
Inadequate support for cross functional processes
Mismatch between application functionality and business reqs
High cost compared to value
Limits on process change due to application inflexibility
Lack of visibility and analytic insight into process results
Slow upgrade to new functionality
Inability to support employees, partner, and customer collaboration
Lack of industry specific functionality
Inability to extend business processes to external partners

A Few Definitions
Business Process - A set of one or more linked procedures or activities which collectively realize a business objective or policy goal, normally within the context of an organizational structure defining functional roles and relationships.
Workflow - The automation of a business process, in whole or part, during which documents, information or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action, according to a set of procedural rules.
Ref: WFMC-TC-1011 http://wfmc.org/

A Few Definitions
Process Definition - The representation of a business process in a form which supports automated manipulation, such as modeling, or enactment by a workflow management system. The process definition consists of a network of activities and their relationships, criteria to indicate the start and termination of the process, and information about the individual activities, such as participants, associated IT applications and data, etc.

Relationships of Key Concepts

One Last Definition
Business Process Management – The practice of developing, running, performance measuring, and simulating Business Processes to effect the continued improvement of those processes. Business Process Management is concerned with the lifecycle of the Process Definition.

Unfortunately, Industry not Consistent
WS-BPEL has received a lot of attention recently to the benefit of a few key vendors.
Now people are learning the truth -- it handles only a small part of the space.
While clearly important for Orchestration, positioned as something business related only confuses the market.

What is “Human” BPM?
Because of all the inconsistent uses of the term “BPM” to mean only invoked web services, we now talk about “Human” BPM to stress the complete picture of both manual & automated activities.
Workflow also include the concept of manual & automated activities is used interchangeably with “Human” BPM.

What is the Gap Between Business & IT?

Business & IT -- Two Different Audiences Business IT Concerned with only those goals that can be translated into tested, reliable, secure systems Concerned with business goals both manual & automatable Social structures, working hours, vacation schedules, learning skills, changing positions System structure, 7x24, scalability System to system. platform independence robust & fully automated. User interface, choosing among list of tasks, reassigning, manual handling of exceptional occasions. Change processes in days Change processes in months ? ? ? ? ? ? Legacy CRM ERP Supply Chain Sales Marketing Finance Procurement

The Bridge Between Human & System CRM Legacy ERP Supply Chain Sales Marketing Finance Procurement Business IT Enterprise Service Bus Web Service Orchestration Presents the right user interface, to the right person at the right time. Notifies & reminds people Automated activities make calls to the ESB and Composite Services in response to user actions. EAI Composite Services WS-Orchestration Web Services Resources Adapters Forms GUI Roles Assignee Expressions Timers Human BPM / Workflow

What is the purpose of BPM / Workflow
Place in the hands of business professionals the ability to modify their processes, with no involvement from the IT organization
Michael Melenovsky, Gartner
... process changes are made by business professionals who need only limited knowledge of IT systems. In a growing number of cases, changes such as work item routing, business rule overrides, and parametric changes to approval levels, are made in real time to executing process.
Janelle Hill, Gartner

Where is it Going?
By 2009, 20 percent of business processes in the Global 2000 will be supported on BPMS[*]. These processes will be predominantly those that involve a lot of human work, that differentiate the company from its competitors and that are poorly supported by existing IT systems (0.7 probability).
Janelle Hill, Gartner
* BPMS is defined as a suite that handles both human and system processes.

How Does Workflow Bridge the Gap?

1990  Workflow in the Brain Enterprise Application A “ Account Management” Background Check Conformance Guidelines Application Logic in Monolithic Program UI “Screens” list Accts new Acct update Acct delete Acct

1993  Workflow Assist in Sequence Enterprise Application A “ Account Management” Background Check Conformance Rules Application Logic in Monolithic Program UI “ Screens” list Accts new Acct update Acct delete Acct Launches UI User accesses original UI directly background check create account check guidelines Human BPM/Workflow:

1996  Distribute Work Enterprise Application A “ Account Management” Background Check Conformance Rules Application Logic in Monolithic Program UI “ Screens” list Accts new Acct update Acct delete Acct background check create account check guidelines Launches

2002  Integration thru Web Services Enterprise Application A “ Account Management” Background Check Conformance Rules Application Logic Service Oriented Architecture Exposed Web Services list Accts new Acct update Acct delete Acct enter info create account bg check rules Review UI connects user to process engine, not the back-end applications

2005  Composite Services = Agility Old Rules Enterprise Application A “ Account Management” Background New Rules list Accts new Acct update Acct delete Acct enter info create account call 1 Review ESB / BPEL Application Logic Exposed Web Services Composite Service

2005  Composite Services = Agility Old Rules Background New Rules list Accts new Acct update Acct delete Acct enter info create account call 1 Review ESB / BPEL Application Logic Exposed Web Services Composite Services

Human Activities Have Three Phases Review Automated phase before to prepare for the task Wait phase for Human to do the work, includes timers and escalation logic Automated phase after to take care of results of the task User Interface (while waiting)

2008  Simplify as “Human Steps” Enterprise Application A “ Account Management” Background Conformance Rules Application Logic Exposed Web Services list Accts new Acct update Acct delete Acct call 1 Review ESB / BPEL enter info Composite Service To People: Looks like two steps! Much simpler.

Separation of Responsibility
Business Retains Control of
Assignment of Responsibility
Groups, Roles, Skills
Deadlines
Alerts, Reminders, Escalations
Order of Tasks
Addition of Manual Tasks
User Interface
IT Retains Control of
Computational Logic
Data Representations
Scalability / Performance
Interoperability
Master Data Management
Enterprise Application A “ Account Management” Background Rules list Accts new Acct update Acct delete Acct ESB / BPEL call 1 Review enter info

Separation of Development
Business Retains Control of
Assignment of Responsibility
Groups, Roles, Skills
Deadlines
Alerts, Reminders, Escalations
Order of Tasks
Addition of Manual Tasks
User Interface
IT Retains Control of
Computational Logic
Data Representations
Scalability / Performance
Interoperability
Master Data Management
Depends strongly on who is in each organization. Changes on daily basis Organizational Culture Optimize for each team Respond to market or legislation Related to Training, Experience Requires expensive technical capabilities Very low or no dependence upon the organizational culture Knowledge of infrastructure Who? When? What? How?

Step 1  Draw Human Process Review enter info First: a business analyst draws the “human” process Business Analyst John

Step 2  Add Integration Enterprise Application A “ Account Management” Background Conformance Rules list Accts new Acct update Acct delete Acct call 1 Review ESB / BPEL enter info Second: Service Invocation Added by IT Expert IT Integration Expert Robert

Agility  Business Driven Change Enterprise Application A “ Account Management” Background Rules list Accts new Acct update Acct delete Acct call 1 Review ESB / BPEL enter info News Flash! Some other bank sued! Need to respond quickly to avoid risk! legal check

When done right, successful BPM initiatives (herein referring to projects involving both business process analysis and the implementation of business process management software) change the entire notion of applications, by allowing core systems to respond to process context, rather than driving processes around the limits of technology.
Nathanial Palmer, Laura Mooney, 2006

Benefit  Business Level Agility
Applications are no longer monolithic
UI is separated from the back end logic
The solution is built from “applications slices” sequenced by Human BPM
BPM determines the right person for the right task at the right time.
Business analyst is in control of this!
Business side can rearrange slices, and add in manual steps quickly

Standards Support

The Workflow Reference Model Process Definition Tools Interface 1 Interface 4 - Interoperability Interface 5 Workflow Enactment Service Other Workflow Enactment Service(s) Worklist Handler Interface 3 Interface 2 Invoked Applications Tool Agent Process Definition Import/Export Client Apps Typically Web Services Workflow Engine(s) see: www.wfmc.org/standards/docs/tc003v11.pdf BPMN XPDL Wf-XML SOAP BPEL Administration & Monitoring Tools Workflow Engine(s)

WfMC Reference Model
Interface 1 – Process Definition Tools
Definition of a standard interface between process definition and modeling tools and the work flow engine(s).
Interface 2 – Workflow Enactment
Definition of APIs for client applications to request services from the workflow engine to control the progression of processes, activities and work-items.
Interface 3 – Invoked Applications
A standard interface definition of APIs to allow the workflow engine to invoke a variety of applications, through common agent software.
Interface 4 – Other Workflow Enactment Services
Definition of workflow interoperability models and the corresponding standards to support interworking.
Interface 5 – Administration and Monitoring Tools
The definition of monitoring and control functions.

Industry Standards Stack Process Definition Process Execution Process Orchestration Choreography Definition WS-C (concrete) WS-BPEL (abstract) Monitoring & Audit WfMC IF5 Process State Notation WfMC Process and Activity State Models BPRI Wf-XML ASAP Notation UML AD BPMN Repository & Discovery UDDI Assurance WS-Security SAML Formats BPDM XPDL BPSS CPA/CPP BPR Transport Reliability ebXML-RM WS-RM ... Transport Layer HTTP JMS ... Data Format XML Encoding SOAP / Attachments WS-Addressing Data Definition XML-Schema End Point Definition WSDL Runtime Interaction Wf-XML ASAP WfMC WAPI Presentation X-Forms (concrete) WS-BPEL (abstract) XPDL BPMN

Timeline November 1998 October 2002 1997 XPDL 1.0 October 2005 May 2004 BPMN 1.0 1995 XPDL 2.0 WFMC BPMI 1993 OASIS OMG Reference Model Glossary XML WPDL 1996 1994 2000 BPEL Wf-XML Wf-XML 2.0 ASAP

BPMN - Modeling Notation

XPDL: Process Definition Interchange
Allow tools to exchange process models between
components in a Workflow/BPM Products
different BPM/Workflow Products
Process Modeling / Simulation tools and BPM/Workflow Products
Implemented by commercial products
Full support for BPMN
Interoperability demonstrated by WfMC member organizations at public events

BPEL For BPM?
“ From day one, BPM has sought to make process design directly accessible to business analysts, but today’s BPEL process models are for the most part undecipherable to non-programmers.”
- Bruce Silver, “The 2006 BPMS Report: Understanding and Evaluating BPM Suites”

Design Interchange vs. Executable XPDL Design Tool A Execution Engine A BPEL, XPDL, or some engine specific format Design Tool B Execution Engine B BPEL, XPDL, or some engine specific format X This path generally not possible to support

How BPEL and XPDL Relate
BPEL is an “executable” language
Includes only executable operations
Does not contain the graphical diagram
Many Engines have proprietary formats
They have a design tool
Even BPEL engines have proprietary extensions
XPDL is a design interchange format that represents the graphical diagram
Includes metadata about executable aspects
It is generally not possible to design a process with a tool from one vendor and execute it in another vendor’s engine
But exchange between design tools is possible

Process Design Ecosystem Design Tool Design Tool Modeling Tools Optimization Tools Simulation Tools Execution Engine Execution Engine BPEL or some engine specific format BPEL or some engine specific format Repository (XPDL) Vendor A Vendor D ASAP Wf-XML Vendor B Vendor C

Process Design Ecosystem
An ecosystem of process tools at design level:
Business oriented and developer oriented modelers
Simulation tools & optimization tools
Analysis tools
Professional business modeling tools
Conversions to/from other formats like Visio
XPDL is a common standard interchange format between these tools
Each tool extends XPDL for its use
Tools understand a common subset of each other
All tools understand basics; the graphical diagram

XPDL Support in Market

Over 60 XPDL Implementations…
Adobe – Adobe LiveCycle Workflow
ADVANTYS - WorkflowGen
Amazonas Workflow
Appian - Enterprise
Arachnea - EverSuite
Ascentn - AgilePoint Server
Aspose Pty Ltd - Aspose.Workflow
BOC - ADONIS 3.7
BEA - Fuego
Brein BV - InProces
Bonita v2.0
Box UK - Amaxus
Canto - CanFlow
CapeVisions
CARNOT - Process Engine
CHALEX - BPM Framework
ComActivity
Cubetto Toolset
Dessault Systems - ENOVIA
Eclaire Group – Lynx Flow Designer
EMC Documentum - ApplicationXtender Workflow
Empresa Solutions - Kinnosa Workflow
Enhydra Shark
OpenPages Oracle - 9i Warehouse Builder Pentaho Projekty Bankowe Polsoft – BPB Workflow Proforma Corporation - ProVision Rodan Systems - OfficeObjects® Workflow Simprocess Software AG- crossvision BPM SpeechCycle - LevelOne TIBCO® - Staffware Process Suite Together Workflow Editor Transware - Ambassador Vignette – Process Workflow Modeler W4 - BPM Suite WfMOpen Workflow::Wfmc Workflow4r ZAPLET 3 - PROCESS BUILDER Zynium - Byzio Enhydra JaWE Finantix Studio (FXS) Fujitsu - Interstage BPM FileNet - Process Manager GA Communications Global 360 – Business Optimzation Server HOGA.PL IBM - FileNet IDS Scheer – Business Architect Integic – e.POWER WorkManager Interwoven - WorkRoute MP Infor - SSA Baan, SSA BPCS, SSA MANMAN, SSA Masterpiece ITP-Commerce – Process Modeler Professional IT Pearls jawFlow Jenz & Partner GmbH Kaisha-Tec - Avantage Metoda S.p.A - OpenMet BPMF Mindfire Solutions Nautica Open Business Engine

Future
BPMN
BPMI has become part of OMG
BPMN will be further developed within OMG.
XPDL
WfMC will continue to maintain XPDL
Will update based on
BPMN evolution
Implementers comments
BPEL
Soon ratified standard from OASIS

Reuse Existing Process Infrastructure
Sales Process on Server A
Legal Review Process on Server B
Draft Aprove Legal Review Close Contract Specialist Tort Specialist Exec Analyst Wf-XML & ASAP based on SOAP Standard Protocol between process engines allows one process to reuse another across technologies.

Finding BPMN, XPDL and BPEL Info
WfMC Website
http:// www.wfmc.org
http:// www.wfmc.org/standards/XPDL.htm
OMG Website
http:// www,omg.org
http:// www.bpmn.org
OASIS Website
http://www.oasis-open.org /

Finding XPDL-Related Information
Workflow Handbook 2003:
XPDL and BPMN
XPDL in Action
Workflow Service Provider with XPDL
A Comparison of XML Interchange Formats for Business Process Modelling
XPDL 2.0: Integrating Process Interchange and BPMN
BPM and Service-Oriented Architecture Teamed Together
CDROM Companions
XPDL 2.0 specification with xpdl samples

Summary
New structure for enterprise applications
Separate “who” & “when”
From “what” & “how”
Key Benefits:
Business Level Control & Agility
Visibility: Monitoring & Tracking
Reuse & Adapt
Standards are key to interoperability
BPMN – the graphical notation
XPDL – the file format for design interchange

Thank Y
Kith D Swenson
VP Fujtisu Computer Systems
Technical Committee Chair, WfMC
Contact Information:
+1 408 859 1005
[email_address]
ou Process Thought Leadership Thank Y ou

BPEL 4 People
A “White Paper” from IBM and SAP suggests
A new activity called a “people activity” with deadlines, user interface forms
A “people link” which associates people with this activity
A couple roles, like process initiator and stakeholder
An “accept” like capability
What is missing?
Ability to change processes while running and to do running process migration
Precise definition of expression language for people
No separation of business processes from IT processes
Multiple Instance (Voting) Activities
Still no graphical information
Not yet even a proposed specification, still just concepts

XPDL and BPDM
BPDM (Business Process Definition Metamodel)
OMG’s effort to provide an interchange format between all possible process languages
Still in early stages; first spec due in Dec 2006,
months or years before a spec will be ratified.
XPDL 2.0
Full support for all BPMN constructs
Focus on the process diagram
Ratified Oct 2005
Implementations available today

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Workflow and BPM in the New Enterprise Architecture

by Nathaniel Palmer

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Workflow and BPM in the New Enterprise Architecture Presentation Transcript