ORACLE TUTOR BUSINESS PROCESS CONVERTER

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1 ORACLE TUTOR BUSINESS PROCESS CONVERTER Organizations frequently find that their Visio based business process diagrams have become artifacts. Deploying these models effectively to employees can be difficult, and their lifespan and utility is therefore limited. Mature organizations are finding benefit in developing business process models using formal modeling tools for process architecture and orchestration purposes. Again, disseminating this content to the business community can be a challenge. The Oracle Tutor Business Process Converter transforms Visio and XPDL diagrams into text based procedures and exchanges content with Oracle s process modeling tools, BPA and BPM Suite. Process documentation is accelerated and IT oriented models are integrated with the documentation requirements of the organization. Increase the working life of process model content The Oracle Business Process Converter (BPC) is a significant enhancement to Oracle Tutor which enables importing and exporting of business process models between diagram and text based modeling tools. Models developed in Visio or any tool which provides an XPDL export can be imported into the Oracle Tools: Oracle Tutor, Oracle Business Process Architect 11g (BPA), and Oracle Business Process Management Suite 11g (BPM). In addition, models can be exchanged between Tutor, BPA, and BPM. The capabilities of the Oracle Tools provide a scope of process model development, management, and deployment, which is beyond the typical usage of stand-alone diagramming tools. Oracle BPA has significant enterprise process model architecture capability. Oracle BPM enables process model software development and execution. Oracle Tutor is used to create easy-to-understand procedures with text and diagrams for end user training and productivity purposes. When used together, especially as enhanced by Tutor s model conversion capability, the tools provide significant value to an organization s management of its business processes. Accelerate process model development Tutor s model conversion capability has significant benefits during two phases of business process management. The first is during process discovery, the initial phase of developing process models or procedures. Many organizations have a large number of Visio diagram artifacts, which describe the way the organization does (or would like to do) its business. These can be imported directly into Tutor to accelerate the procedure development cycle. Whether new procedures are being used for end user training in an implementation or for process documentation in general, importing existing Visio diagrams can provide a significant acceleration. This is also true for any process model artifacts created in a modeling tool, which has XPDL export capability, such as Provision or Bizagi. Improve communication between IT & the business community Additional benefits apply during a second phase of business process management: using a formal process modeling tool for generating executable process driven applications or integrations. Importing Tutor, Visio, or XPDL models into BPA or BPM provides an initial process framework for developing executable models. It also allows IT oriented and end user process models to be kept in sync from a single source of truth.

2 Supported Oracle Tool Content Exchange Process model conversion capability is provided between Oracle Tutor and Oracle BPA, and between Oracle Tutor and Oracle BPM. Tutor Procedure to BPA Tutor Procedure to BPM BPA Model to Tutor BPM Model to Tutor Supported non-oracle Tool Content Conversion Process model conversion capability is provided for Microsoft Visio models and for models created by tools which are capable of exporting content in XPDL format. Models are only converted into Oracle tools formats; no export to Visio or XPDL is provided by BPC. Visio Model to Tutor Visio Model to BPA Visio Model to BPM XPDL Model to Tutor XPDL Model to BPA XPDL Model to BPM Converting a Visio Diagram to a Tutor Procedure Visio models contain a wide variety of symbols which conform to a varying degree to standard process modeling notation. A non-standard symbol in an incoming Visio or XPDL model can be added to a customer mapping file for accurate transformation. The two diagrams below show a source Visio model and the Tutor procedure created by the conversion. Figure 1. Source Visio Diagram 2

3 Note that among several symbol-to-text transformations, Intermediate Events are converted to Tasks. Conversion notes are provided to document such transformations. Figure 2. Target Tutor Procedure 3

4 Converting a Tutor Procedure to a BPM Model Organizations may have a catalogue of Tutor procedures which they want to use as baseline processes for process models in Oracle BPM or BPA. The diagrams below show how a procedure is converted into a BPM model. Figure 3. Source Tutor Procedure Conversion notes are provided for the transformations here as well. Figure 4. Target BPM Model 4

5 Approach Organizations have a spectrum of requirements for managing business processes. On one end is the technical orientation which supports process driven development and execution. On the other end is the need to communicate approved business process information for training and guiding the business end user community. The Tutor Method recognizes three phases in Business Process Management. Business Process Discovery Process Discovery is the early part of the business process management cycle. Organizations may have existing model artifacts in a variety of formats, as well as undocumented processes. The objective of this phase is to define the current state of process in the organization: the way we do our work today. Oracle Tutor is an effective tool for developing the current state model for two reasons: Tutor is easy for business people to learn and use, accelerating the capture of the current state. The BPC component of Tutor provides the means to rapidly convert a variety of existing process diagrams, especially Visio content, reducing rework. Business Process Design and Orchestration Process Design and Orchestration address the future state model, or the way the organization wants or needs to do business in the future, based on the implementation of new systems, reorganizations, process improvement projects, or other forces driving redesign. During a new systems implementation, the current state models have to be tailored to match the new workflow demanded by the applications. When process models are being used to create executable applications, the current state models form the baseline for the process flow. Or when process models are being assembled into an Enterprise Process Architecture, all model content must be brought together and standardized. The conversion from Tutor to BPA or Tutor to BPM is a rapid and efficient means to pull current state models into the formal modeling tool. Business Process Readiness Process Readiness demands that end users be effectively trained in how they will do their jobs in the new environment. Complex symbols from BPMN based diagrams are difficult for end users to understand. The conversion of content from BPA to Tutor or BPM to Tutor makes deployment to end users significantly easier. The text based process information, deployed by Tutor in a linked body of content, is easy for users to access and consume, enabling a rapid ramp up to productive work in the new environment. Contact Us For more information about Oracle Tutor, visit or call ORACLE1 to speak to an Oracle representative. Copyright 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is provided for information purposes only and the contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document and no contractual obligations are formed either directly or indirectly by this document. This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior written permission. Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. 5