Do & Don’ts of BPM The Full Stack 13/03/2008 Joram Barrez - Dolmen

About Software engineer at Dolmen Computer Applications Using jBPM from Monday to Friday Before january ’08  business processes on a small scale Since january ’08, in a team of 3 people  building a large scale back-end using jBPM for process orchestration in a departement of the Flemish governement Other fields of interest: Agile development & (J)Ruby on Rails 07/06/09 ı

Software engineer at Dolmen Computer Applications

Using jBPM from Monday to Friday

Before january ’08  business processes on a small scale

Since january ’08, in a team of 3 people  building a large scale back-end using jBPM for process orchestration in a departement of the Flemish governement

Other fields of interest:

Agile development & (J)Ruby on Rails

Goals jBPM in some real-life action Demonstration use case: PoC “ jBPM orchestration ” Revitalization of mainframe architecture PoC built to show feasability of project Using some “cool” technologies (jBPM, ESB, EJB3, …) 07/06/09 ı

jBPM in some real-life action

Demonstration use case: PoC “ jBPM orchestration ”

Revitalization of mainframe architecture

PoC built to show feasability of project

Using some “cool” technologies (jBPM, ESB, EJB3, …)

Content Customer Requirements JBPM Performance Proof of Concept BI/BAM Demo 07/06/09 ı

Customer Requirements

JBPM Performance

Proof of Concept

BI/BAM

Demo

Typical architecture 07/06/09 ı

Requirements Every application talks directly to its dependent applications Mediation required to keep it manageable Workflow logic is scattered across different applications Centralisation needed Reporting functionality is a must It must be “ fast enough ” 07/06/09 ı

Every application talks directly to its dependent applications

Mediation required to keep it manageable

Workflow logic is scattered across different applications

Centralisation needed

Reporting functionality is a must

It must be “ fast enough ”

Why jBPM? Previous experience Embeddable jBPM is “Yet Another Java Library” jBPM can be used in any application (web, desktop, enterprise, …) on any database Openness Extremely extensible, what often is needed in business processes Convenient for developers 07/06/09 ı

Previous experience

Embeddable

jBPM is “Yet Another Java Library”

jBPM can be used in any application (web, desktop, enterprise, …) on any database

Openness

Extremely extensible, what often is needed in business processes

Convenient for developers

Content Customer Requirements JBPM Performance Proof of Concept BI/BAM Demo 07/06/09 ı

Customer Requirements

JBPM Performance

Proof of Concept

BI/BAM

Demo

jBPM Performance We knew jBPM could tackle the workflow requirements But is it “fast enough”? Simple measurement used (e.g. no dedicated server) 2500 runs of an automated jBPM process (jpdl 3.2.2) Timings are average between start en stop time of the processes 07/06/09 ı Intel Core Duo 2 Ghz 2 GB DDR2 RAM 5400 rpm SATA HD MySQL 5.0.45 Database

We knew jBPM could tackle the workflow requirements

But is it “fast enough”?

Simple measurement used (e.g. no dedicated server)

2500 runs of an automated jBPM process (jpdl 3.2.2)

Timings are average between start en stop time of the processes

Intel Core Duo 2 Ghz

2 GB DDR2 RAM

5400 rpm SATA HD

MySQL 5.0.45 Database

Some performance numbers (sequential) 07/06/09 ı 2 ms 2 ms 3 ms 5-6 ms Non-optimized Hibernate config: 16 ms! From 1.800.000 processes/hour  225 000 processes/hour

Some performance numbers 07/06/09 ı 5 ms 12 ms

Realistic business process: Handling a hospital report 07/06/09 ı 3 ms Complete & archive report Remove report New Report created Check Report type Automatic checking Some reports need manual verification

Content Customer Requirements JBPM Performance Proof of Concept BI/BAM Demo 07/06/09 ı

Customer Requirements

JBPM Performance

Proof of Concept

BI/BAM

Demo

Proof of Concept (PoC) Goal : build a small scale application that proofs the feasibility of the project But easily can be mapped to a larger scale Only one business process (“ Handling a hospital report”) Only two applications need communication Report generator Client application 07/06/09 ı

Goal : build a small scale application that proofs the feasibility of the project

But easily can be mapped to a larger scale

Only one business process (“ Handling a hospital report”)

Only two applications need communication

Report generator

Client application

Application mediation Problem: applications talk to each other directly, resulting in a cobweb of dependent applications Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) problem Topic on its own Solution (for this PoC) Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) 07/06/09 ı

Problem: applications talk to each other directly, resulting in a cobweb of dependent applications

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) problem

Topic on its own

Solution (for this PoC)

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

What is an ESB? (without getting too technical) Best comparison: mailbox 07/06/09 ı Destination Protocol? “ ROUTING” Don’t care, as Long as the message Is delivered

Best comparison: mailbox

What is an ESB? (without getting too technical) 07/06/09 ı Destination Protocol? “ ROUTING” Don’t care, as Long as the message Is delivered TCP/IP SOAP(Webservice) JMS Products Mule ESB (customer pref) BEA Aqualogic JBoss ESB*  SOA platform (inc. jBPM) * http://parleys.com/display/PARLEYS/JBoss+ESB by Johan Kumps Advantage: applications only need to communicate with the ESB. They don’t need to use the ‘language’ of the destination anymore

Products

Mule ESB (customer pref)

BEA Aqualogic

JBoss ESB*

 SOA platform (inc. jBPM)

07/06/09 ı Automatic Report Generation (XML) Proof-of-Concept overview

07/06/09 ı Proof-of-Concept overview Automatic Report Generation (XML) TCP MULE ESB

07/06/09 ı Proof-of-Concept overview Automatic Report Generation (XML) TCP TRANSFORMATION (XSLT) JMS MESSAGE MULE ESB JMS QUEUE

07/06/09 ı Proof-of-Concept overview Automatic Report Generation (XML) TCP TRANSFORMATION (XSLT) JMS MESSAGE JMS QUEUE EJB 3 MDB BPM Service (EJB 3 SLSB) MULE ESB

07/06/09 ı Proof-of-Concept overview Automatic Report Generation TCP TRANSFORMATION (XSLT) JMS MESSAGE JMS QUEUE EJB 3 MDB BPM Service (EJB 3 SLSB) MULE ESB

07/06/09 ı

Content Customer Requirements JBPM Performance Proof of Concept BI/BAM Demo 07/06/09 ı

Customer Requirements

JBPM Performance

Proof of Concept

BI/BAM

Demo

Business Intelligence (BI) / Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) BI ~ BAM BAM  real-time monitoring/analysing metrics BI  historical monitoring/analysing metrics e.g. stock trade  buy/sell according to metrics Extracting extra business information for taking “ business decisions” Simple example Car repair  Availability of car history (malfunctions,…)  Better judgement when fixing the car 07/06/09 ı

BI ~ BAM

BAM  real-time monitoring/analysing metrics

BI  historical monitoring/analysing metrics

e.g. stock trade  buy/sell according to metrics

Extracting extra business information for taking “ business decisions”

Simple example

Car repair  Availability of car history (malfunctions,…)  Better judgement when fixing the car

BI/BAM is an “art” Tailoring to business is always needed Research field on its own (even academical) Data mining, OLAP, KPI, data warehousing, slice/dice analysis, ETL, … Managers BI/BAM Business Intelligence (BI) / Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) 07/06/09 ı “ What you can’t measure, you can’t manage ”

BI/BAM is an “art”

Tailoring to business is always needed

Research field on its own (even academical)

Data mining, OLAP, KPI, data warehousing, slice/dice analysis, ETL, …

Managers BI/BAM

BI/BAM & jBPM BI/BAM often integrated in BPM products jBPM does not offer such functionality Discussions about BI/BAM and jBPM can be tracked online, so it will be only a matter of time (hopefully) So, why should we choose jBPM if BI/BAM is missing? BI/BAM is extremely business-specific, so there will always be need for custom implementations Openness of jBPM allows extremely business-specific BI/BAM, which could be impossible with pre-made BI/BAM solutions 07/06/09 ı

BI/BAM often integrated in BPM products

jBPM does not offer such functionality

Discussions about BI/BAM and jBPM can be tracked online, so it will be only a matter of time (hopefully)

So, why should we choose jBPM if BI/BAM is missing?

BI/BAM is extremely business-specific, so there will always be need for custom implementations

Openness of jBPM allows extremely business-specific BI/BAM, which could be impossible with pre-made BI/BAM solutions

PoC: BAM with SeeWhy* Young & enthousiastic, UK based software company Extremely well documented (hundreds of pages) 74 pages “SeeWhy with jBPM” SeeWhy Community/Enterprise Edition Realtime metrics, real time alerts, real time actions 07/06/09 ı * http://www.seewhy.com/

Young & enthousiastic, UK based software company

Extremely well documented (hundreds of pages)

74 pages “SeeWhy with jBPM”

SeeWhy Community/Enterprise Edition

Realtime metrics, real time alerts, real time actions

SeeWhy workings 07/06/09 ı Event Calculations/ Aggregations Event Queue (JMS) e.g. Show the average number Of reports processed the last hour

Combining jBPM & SeeWhy 07/06/09 ı Send an event to the queue on the SeeWhy server

Business Intelligence with jBPM All historical data is stored in the database by the jBPM engine So, BI is a matter of writing “the right queries” PoC Simple BI app (JRuby on Rails) 07/06/09 ı

All historical data is stored in the database by the jBPM engine

So, BI is a matter of writing “the right queries”

PoC

Simple BI app (JRuby on Rails)

PoC : Complete picture 07/06/09 ı 07/06/09 ı Report Generation (XML) TCP TRANSFORMATION (XSLT) JMS MESSAGE JMS QUEUE EJB 3 MDB BPM Service (EJB 3 SLSB) BAM BI

07/06/09 ı DEMO TIME

Lessons learned jBPM allows us to implement a wide range of business processes, since we have the power of Java at disposal Business analysts aren’t fond of jBPM at first encounter Building business processes is not a matter of drag-and-drop! Business processes can’t be built without programmatic logic! Transactions, performance, … BI/BAM sells! Defining a basic BI/BAM framework for jBPM 07/06/09 ı

jBPM allows us to implement a wide range of business processes, since we have the power of Java at disposal

Business analysts aren’t fond of jBPM at first encounter

Building business processes is not a matter of drag-and-drop!

Business processes can’t be built without programmatic logic!

Transactions, performance, …

BI/BAM sells!

Defining a basic BI/BAM framework for jBPM

07/06/09 ı