Process-oriented System Automation

1. Process-oriented System Automation Executable Process Modeling & Process Automation

2. Poster at Berliner BPM-Offensive http://www.bpmb.de

3. BPM Lifecycle

4. Howtogetthisautomated?

5. BPMS

6. Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) • Groupware systems: • Enable users to share documents and information • E.g. IBM’s Lotus Notes. • Ad-hoc workflow systems: • Allow on-the-fly process definitions • E.g. TIBCO’s BusinessWorks or Comalatech’s Ad hoc Workflows or InConcert • Production workflow systems: • Work is routed strictly on the basis of explicitly defined process descriptions captured in process models. • E.g. IBM’s Business Process Manager or Bizagi’sBPM Suite • Case handling systems: • No tight and complete specification of a business process in a model. Rather, implicit process models • E.g. i-Sight’s Case Management Software or BPMOne

7. Typesof BPMS

8. Architectureof BPMS

9. Execution Engine provides • Ability to create executable process instances (also called cases); • Ability to distribute work to process participants in order to execute a business process from start to end; • Ability to automatically retrieve and store data required for the execution of the process and to delegate (automated) activities to software applications across the organization.

10. Process modeling tool provides • Ability for users to create and modify process models; • Ability to annotate process models with additional data, such as data input and output, participants, business rules associated with activities, or performance measures associated with a process or an activity; • Ability to store, share and retrieve process models from a process model repository.

11. Process modeling tool of Bonita Open Solution from Bonita Soft

12. Worklist Handler • Component of a BPMS through which process participants are • offered work items and • commit to these. • The execution engine that keeps track of which work items are due and makes them available through the worklist handlers of individual process participants. The worklisthandler of a BPMS can best be imagined as an inbox.

13. BizagiWorklist Handler

14. ExternalSerices • Some of these activities can be performed fully automatically, i.e. execution engine calls external application • The external application has to expose a service interface with which the engine can interact. • The execution engine provides the invoked service with the necessary data it will need for performing the activity for a specific case.

15. Administration and Monitoring Tools • Actual availability of specific participants. • Dealing with exceptional situations • Monitoring performance of the business processes

16. Questions on BPMS • Why would it not be sufficient to only create a business process model with the modeling tools, without any information on the types of resources that are available? • In what situation will the execution engine generate multiple work items on the basis of the completion of a single work item? • Can you provide examples of external services that may be useful to be invoked when a participant wishes to carry out a work item? • If it is important that a BPMS hands out work items to available resources, can you imagine other, relevant types of information on resources that are useful to be captured by an administration tool (apart from whether they are ill or on vacation)?

17. Advantages andChallengesof BPMS

18. WorkloadReduction • Workitemtransportation • Coordination • Information Provision

19. Flexible System Integration • From Data Centric Integration to • ProcessCentric Integration

20. ExecutionTransparency • Transparencyof operational information • Transparencyofhistoricinformation

21. RuleEnforcement • Order andcausality • Data constraints • Resources constraintslikeseparationofduty

22. Challenges • Technical Challenges • OrganizationalChallenges

23. TurningProcess Models Executable

24. Procedurefor Making Executable • Identify the automation boundaries • Review manual tasks • Complete the process model • Bring the process model to adequate granularity level • Specify execution properties

25. SpecifyActivity Markers • Identify automated, manual and user tasks: • Manual tasks are marked with a hand icon • User tasks are marked with a user icon (scheduled in worklist) • Automated tasks are subtyped in BPMN: • script (script marker), if the task executes some code (the script) internally to the BPMS. This task can be used when the functionality is simple and does not require access to an external application • service (wheels marker), if the task is executed by an external application, which exposes its functionality via a service interface • send (filled envelope marker), if the task sends a message to an external service • receive (empty envelope marker), if the task waits for a message from an external service

26. Specifying Markers forActivities

27. Review Manual Tasks • Implementit via a usertaskor • Implementit via an automatedtask

28. CompletetheProcess Model • Check forcoverageofexceptions • Specifydataobjects • Specifysplitconditions

29. AdequateGranularity • Aggregation oftasksequenceof same resource • Refinetasksthataretocoarse-granular

30. SpecifyExecution Properties • Process variables, messages, signals and errors • Task and event variables and their mappings to process variables • Service details for service, send and receive tasks, and for message and signal events • Code snippets for script tasks • Participant assignment rules and user interface structure for user tasks • Task, event and sequence flow expressions • BPMS-specific properties

31. Process modeling tool of Bonita Open Solution from Bonita Soft

32. XML Schema and Instance Data

33. Summary • BPMS Architecture • Advantages andChallenges • Making Process Model Executable