Collaborative Business Processes. Dr. Lutz Heuser VP Corporate Research, SAP

Transcription

1 Collaborative Business Processes Dr. Lutz Heuser VP Corporate Research, SAP

2 CR s Record on Collaborative Business Processes 1990: DOCASE: The roots of Workflow German Telecom: Workflow-based Services 1996 World s first WFMS Interconnection with CORBA and MIME => Demo of the WfMC in Canada (With IBM, Microsoft, Staffware, ) European Union Virtual Enterprise Project => Integration Architecture for distributed Workflow Engines and Monitoring Direct Collaboration with product Groups in U.S. and Switzerland (Customer: Swisscom) Several Publications in Journals and Conference Proceedings SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 2

3 Problem Space Collaborative Business Processes require Cross enterprise workflow modeling and management Flexible to address individual business cases Adaptive to business scenarios and company rules Business-to-business integration by Standard message formats based on industry requirements Conversion services between message formats Security mechanisms that allow (!) collaboration Access to required resources Transparency of internal processes SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 3

4 Workflow Management

5 Review: Workflow Management Key Issue: Separation of Process Logic Process Logic WFMS Process Logic Process Logic Application Logic Data Application Logic DBMS Data Application Logic DBMS Data SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 5 Ref. Wasim Sadiq, DSTC

6 Workflow Management Systems Originate from Control systems Repetitiveness of processes usually with human interaction WfMS provides awareness for amongst workflows, tasks, roles, hierarchies, Subworkflows Tasks that belong together Self-contained entities Beginning and end: communication with outside workflow elements SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 6

7 Collaborative Business Processes Workflows that are executed by multiple WfMS in different Organizations Independently defined, pre-existing Heterogeneous meta models (Bussler 1999) Overall workflow and its execution are partial Access restriction Implications Maintenance, predictability, analysability difficult Workflow Gap SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 7

8 A B C Oil & Gas: Buy & Sell Process on the Marketplace Source: SAP SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 8

9 A B C Exchanging Quality Certificate Data Source: SAP SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 9

10 Requirement Analysis Collaborative (Cross-System and Cross-Organisational) Workflow Requirements, driven by SCM, CRM, emarketplaces, and Portals (Dynamic) composition of applications Fine-grained communication between workflow instances across workflow domains Redirection of task communication from Organisation A to Organisation B Flexibility as a design principle SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 10

11 Business-to- Business Integration

12 Praxisbeispiel Mannesmann Sachs Daimler- Chrysler Porsche VW Opel Audi BMW Abrufe Lieferscheine, Rechnungen Mannesmann Sachs SAP R/3 TCP / IP Business Transaction Store P1 Business Integration Server Pn Business Applications Abrufe, Bestellungen Template - Abrufe - Lieferavis - Rechnung Großer / Mittlerer Serienlieferant Standleitung Abrufe, Bestellungen OFTP OFTP Lieferscheine, Rechnungen Lieferscheine, Rechnungen Internet EDI-System Browser kleines Vol. 1 Browser kleines Vol. 2 SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 12

13 Supplier Das Integrationsproblem moderner Unternehmen Fulfilment/Logistics SAP EDI via FTP and XML EDI via VANS and EDIFACT Customers Customers ERP CRM Orders, Invoices via HTTP SCM Legacy INTEGRATION Orders in XMl via BUSINESS Sales Connecting via HTTP to legacy Apps. EDI via X400 and ANS IX12 Buyer Integrierte Geschäftsprozesse über BAAN die Grenzen der Anwendungen und Unternehmen hinweg SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 13

14 B2Bi/EAI core components Adapter 1. Geschäftsvorfall Adapt to various trifft auf systems Export data from ERP- / Backbone-/ Legacysystem Import data in ERP-/ Backbone-/ Legacysystem Administer and observer the connections Anwendung generiert eine Nachricht und sendet diese an den B2Bi/EAI Server Define the process B2BI/EAI Define the process Server rules Run the process Observe the process B2Bi-Server Administer process data Converter SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 14 Vereinbarung Transform Syntax Die Anwendung verarbeitet die Transform Semantics Communicate over Mappings Nachricht. (Nachrichten various protocols Handle different Message Guidelines) Workflows Types Handle communication Administer transformation rules and Message/Interface definitions via repository access 3. Der B2Bi/EAI Server generiert eine Nachricht gemäß Vereinbarung und sendet diese an den Empfänger Communication Administer partner data Observe communication Workflow/Process Rules Repository Quellanwendung Components Zielanwendung Der B2Bi/EAI Server überprüft die Nachricht und übergibt diese in dem von der Anwendung benötigten Format B2Bi/EAI Server des Empfängers B2Bi-Server

15 mysap TECHNOLOGY PRESENTATION COMPETENT FRAMEWORK PORTAL INFRASTRUCTURE UNIFICATION PORTAL FRAMEWORK INFRASTRUCTUR SERVICES SECURITY WEB APPLICATION SERVER GLOBALIZATION WEB APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT DEPLOYMENT AND OPERATION IT-LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT EXCHANGE INFRASTRUCTUR INTEGRATION REPOSITORY INTEGRATION DIRECTORY INTEGRATION SERVER INTEGRATION MONITOR FIGURE 4: BUILDING BLOCKS OF mysap TECHNOLOGY SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 15

16 INTEGRATION REPOSITORS DESIGN TIME CONFIGURATION TIME INTEGRATION DIRECTORY SCENARIO DESCRIPTIONS, BUSINESS PROCESSING LIVE PROCESSES Converter Engine ROUTING ROULES MAPPINGS MAPPINGS INTERFACE AND MESSAGE TYPE DESCRIPTION Repository AVAILABLE SERVICES LOGICAL COMPONENTS SYSTEM LANDSCAPE SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 16 FIGURE 6: SHARED COLLABORATION KNOWLEDGE AT DESIGN TIME AND CONFIGURATION TIME

17 Converter Engine Connector Framework -Administration -Design Access -Observation -Interfaces -Repository Converter Modules XML EDIFACT CSV Ansi X12... Provides message transformation infrastructure for syntax and semantics. Supports a broad range of message formats XML (all dialects) JDBC, CSV, INHOUSE, EDIFACT, ANSI X12, TRADACOM, SWIFT Design for maximum performance SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 17

18 Architecture: Converter Engine message editor reader XML INHOUSE EDIFACT ANSI X.12 TRADACOM BAPI BIC designer Mapping Java-Compiler BIC Converter Engine Externe Repositories z. B. Internet writer XML INHOUSE EDIFACT ANSI X.12 TRADACOM BAPI SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 18

19 Research Activities

20 Aspects of Collaborative Business Processes Collabo rative Models Integration Architecture Simulation & Verification Flexibility Collaborative Business Scenarios SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 20

21 Workflow-View Concept Coalition A 33 1/3 % Coalition Workflows 33 1/3 % Coalition-adapted views of Partner Workflows Partner Workflows 33 1/3 % Legend: Transformation Coalition B SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 21

22 SAP s Answer: Exchange Infrastructure: Process-Centric Collaboration (*) End-to-End Business Processes Open Integration Platform Components from different vendors can be integrated Business Processes that Cross Enterprises Homogeneous Infrastructure for Process Management Peer-to-Peer and Orchestration (central hub) Solving integration nightmare Research in Flexible Workflow (*) -> white papers Reference: SAP Technical Whitepaper. Exchange Infrastructure: Process-Centric Collaboration SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 22

23 Workflow Research at CR Focus: New workflow concepts that are of relevance for SAP groups Flexible Workflow Project with CRM: Call Centre Workflow IDEAS Interoperability Project with EU - > Next decade s research topics Cross-Organisational Workflow Models and Architectures Analysis of Collaborative Business Scenarios CR s Research Vehicle is Nehemia: Experimental Collaborative Workflow System SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 23

24 Literature Survey 100+ publications within last 5 years Categorization into: Workflow standards Virtual enterprises Workflow management systems Business process models Infrastructure technologies Use cases SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 24

25 Research Partners of SAP Corporate Research Prof. Dr. Maria Orlowska, Distinguished Researcher Transactional Workflow, Batch Processing, Wf- Models Dr. Wasim Sadiq Workflow Verification, Reduction Algorithms Shazia Sadiq, PhD Cand. Dynamic workflow adaptation and role-back Dr. Michael Rosemann, Dr. Peter Green Enterprise Ontologies, ARIS Karsten Schulz, PhD Cand., SAP CR Cross-System Workflow Architectures+Models, Wf-Monitoring, Event-Workflow SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 25

26 In Summary Collaborative Business Processes require A powerful inter-enterprise infrastructure to allow significant improvements Flexible and adaptive workflows Security to allow collaboration rather than preventing it SAP Australia Pty Ltd 2002, CRG Brisbane, Karsten Schulz 26