Business Process Driven SOA using BPMN and BPEL

From Business Process Modeling to Orchestration and Service Oriented Architecture

Matjaz B. Juric

Kapil Pant

PUBLISHING BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI

Table of Contents Preface

Chapter 1: SOA and Business Processes 5 Why Care about Business Processes? 7

Examples of Business Processes 8 How Business Processes Emerge 11 How Business Processes and IT Relate 12 IT Flexibility 13

Heterogeneous Architecture 14 Traditional Software Lifecycles 16

Why Do We Need SOA? 16 Why Should We Believe This? 17

SOA Approach to Business Processes 19 Major Improvements in the SOA Approach 21 Focus on Content, Not Technology 24 Management Support 25 SOA Competency Centre 26

SOA Inception 26 SOA Forces 28 Value of SOA for IT Departments 29 Changes in the Development Approach 30 Reduced Complexity 32

Technical Introduction to SOA 32 BPMN 34 BPEL 34

Features 36 Services 36

Service Interfaces 38 Messages 38 Synchronicity 38 Loose Coupling 39

Table of Contents

Quality of Service 39

Other Important Parts of SOA 39 Enterprise Service Bus 40 Registry and Repository 42 Rules Engines 43 Business Activity Monitoring 44 User Interactions 45

How SOA, BPMN, and BPEL Fit Together 47 Agility 50 Resilience 50 Alignment Between Business and IT 50 New Business Models 51 How the Puzzles Fit Together 51 SOA Vendors 52

Summary 53

Chapter 2: Modeling Business Processes for SOA 55 Business Process Management 56

IT and BPM 56 SOA and BPM 58 Business Process Lifecycle 59

BPM and SOA—A Perfect Fit for the Lifecycle 60 Business Process Modeling 62

Modeling Method and Notation 63 ARIS 63

Modeling Notation 66 BPMN 66

Process Design 69 Results of Process Modeling 71

Process Map 71 Roles and Relations Structure 72 As-is Process Model 73 Publishing and Communicating Process Models 82

Process Simulation 82 Tools for Simulating Processes 83

Modeling Principles 84 Common Problems in Process Modeling 85

Process Implementation 87 Classic Software Development 88 Standardized ERP Solutions 90 Service Oriented Architecture 91

Process Implementation Phase with BPEL 92

Table of Contents

Process Execution and Control 93 SOA for the Process Execution and Control Phase 93 Business Activity Monitoring 94

Process Optimization 96 The To-be Process Model 98 Key Performance Indicators 99 Typical Problems in Process Optimization 100

Summary 101

Chapter 3: BPMN for Business Process Modeling 103 The Need for Standards in Business Process Modeling 103 Business Process Classification and BPMN 104 Business Process Diagrams—Core Elements 108

Business Process Diagrams—A Deeper Analysis of the Key Elements of BPMN 111

Events 111 Activities 115 Task 118 Gateways 120 Sequence Flow 123 Message Flow 124 Association 125 Pool 126 Lanes 126 Data Object 126 Group 127 Text Annotation 128

Introduction to Oracle Business Process Analysis Suite 128 Developing an Example Process Using BPMN and the Selected Tool 132

Summary 137

Chapter 4: BPMN—Advance Constructs 139 Business Process Modeling General Guidelines 139

Rule #1: Process Models Should Provide Aid in Process Understanding 139 Rule # 2: Match Each Split with a Join 140 Rule #3: Have a Well-Defined Start and End Event 143 Rule #4: Look Out for Orphan Tasks 143

BPMN Attributes and Tools Support 144 Business Process Diagram 147 Process 149 Sub-Process 151 Events in Detail 152

Table of Contents

Start Events End Events Intermediate Events

Process Modeling Patterns and BPMN Basic Control Patterns

Simple Sequence

Branching and Synchronization Patterns Multi Choice Structured Synchronizing Merge Multi Merge

Iteration Based Patterns Arbitrary Cycles Structured Loop

Termination Implicit Termination Explicit Termination

Multiple Instance Pattern Multiple Instances without Synchronization Multiple Instances with a Priori Design-Time Knowledge Multiple Instances with a Priori Run-Time Knowledge

State-Based Patterns Deferred Choice

Summary

Chapter 5: Process Analysis and Transformation—From BPMN to BPEL

152 159 165

172 172 173

177 177 178 179

180 180 181

182 183 184

184 185 186 187

188 188

189

191 Business Process Analysis Using Simulation 192

The Business Process Model and Data input 192 Simulation and Scenario Analysis 197 Model Target Process 202

Business Process Transition: Bridging the Business—IT divide 203 BPMN to BPEL—Key Considerations 204

BPMN Specification for BPEL Mapping 204 Tools to Support BPMN-BPEL Transformations 204

Oracle BPM Suite: Oracle BPA and SOA Suite for BPMN-BPEL Mapping 205 Process Detailing for Transition—A Look into Oracle Extensions for BPMN and BPEL 209

Business- IT Synchronization using Process Blueprint 220 Transformation Case Study 226

Business Process Overview—What is 'Portfolio Account Opening?' 226 Business Process Transformation—Modeling and Analysis 228 Business Process Detailing for Transformation 230 Model Validation before Transformation 234 Automatic Mapping of BPA Elements for BPEL 235 Generate Business Process Blueprint 236

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Table of Contents

Retrieve the Business Process Blueprint 239 Create a BPA Connection for Importing the Blueprint 239 Create a BPEL Project 241 Blueprint View and BPEL View 244

Add Implementation Details 249 Deploy and Test 250 Updating the BPA Server 251

Summary 252

Chapter 6: Business Process Orchestration for SOA 253 BPM Architecture and Role of Business Process Orchestration 253 Executing BPEL Processes in BPEL Process Manager 256

Initiation of the Process Instance 256 Accessing a Human Task through the Worklist Application 260

Task Invocation from BPEL Process Manager and its Integration with Worklist Application 265

Introduction to Business Rules Management 275 What are Business Rules? 275 Business Rules Anatomy 276 Automating Business Rules 276 Automating Business Rules for Business Issues 277

Business Rules Management, BPM, and SOA 278 Key Considerations for Selecting a BRMS 281 Key components of a BRMS—A Brief Look into Oracle Business Rules 281 Implementing Business Rules—The Business Rules Development Process 284

Introducing Business Activity Monitoring 294 What is BAM? 294 BPM, SOA, and BAM 295 Oracle BAM 297 Oracle BAM and BPM 300

Summary 305

Index 307