Business-Driven Software Engineering Lecture 3 Foundations of Processes Jochen Küster jku@zurich.ibm.com
Agenda Introduction and Background Process Modeling Foundations Activities and Process Models Summary and References 2
Introduction and Background 3
Vision: Integration of Business and IT change of strategy Business Requirements Business Model Model refinement Model transformation Business Process Model Technology BPEL, Web Services EJBs IT Solution Business model captures business goals and provides overview of the enterprise IT level comprises components organized in a component-based or service-oriented architecture Business processes provide the bridge between business and technology 4
Processes are Everywhere in Our Lives Shopping processes when buying a book at Amazon. handling processes in an insurance company. Credit handling processes when applying for a loan in a bank. and many more How to document and automate processes? 5
Business Processes A process is[..] a specific ordering of work activities across time and place, with a beginning, an end, and clearly identified inputs and outputs. (Davenport 1993) We define a business process as a collection of activities that takes one or more kinds of input and creates an output that is of value to the customer. (Hammer and Champy, 1993) Grant Register Close Reject 6
Business Process Management Business Process Management: Business Process Management comprises concepts, methods, techniques for design, administration, configuration and analysis of business processes (Weske, 2007) Business Process Management System: A business process management system is a generic software system that is driven by explicit process representations to coordinate the enactment of business processes. (Weske, 2007) 7
Traditional System Architectures Application uses database management systems to access data Database management system realizes functionality on top of the operating system Interaction with the user is realized through a graphical user interface monolithic system architecture siloed enterprise applications GUI Application DBMS OS How to deal with changes? How to realize functionality across different databases? How to realize integrated functionality? 8
Enterprise Application Integration Enterprise Resource Planning System ERP System Supply Chain Management System Customer Relationship Management System Data Warehouse Integration Middleware CRM System New technical capabilities allowed to integrate applications for enterprises Point-to-point integration many connections Hub-and-spoke integration reduce the number of connections 9
Workflows and Workflow Management Systems GUI Workflow System Workflow System Application DBMS OS Application 1 Application 2 Application 3 To increase flexibility in EAI, workflows are captured and executed by a workflow management system Process logic is specified in workflow models, changes can be made without coding Standards for workflow technology evolved 10
Limitations of Workflow Systems Flexibility and human issues human workers might feel restricted by activity allocations Not always possible to have a workflow management system integration problems within/across enterprises remain existent New business trends and new technical trends modeling of organizations and business services, enterprise modeling concept of services, web services 11
Business Processes and Workflows Business processes describe processes across organizations at different levels of details Execution of business processes by information systems requires that business processes are described at a certain level of detail A workflow is a refined business process such that each activity can be executed within the context of one application system A workflow is executed by a workflow management system which provides support for defining, administrating and executing workflows Goal of workflow management: increase of efficiency in enterprises, reduction of costs in enterprises 12
Human Interaction and System Workflows Human interaction workflow: Interaction with human users required Workflow management must take care of these interactions Example: Workflow for entering Customer Data System workflow: Activities can be executed without human interaction Example: Workflow for saving data in different databases 13
Organization and Enterprise Modeling Enterprise Strategy Business & Financial Management/ Infrastructure Business Acquisition & Retention Policy Administration & Services Benefit Payments determines influences Implemented by People Processes IT Business Strategy Investment Strategy Market and Promotion Planning Operations Management And Planning s Management Strategy Miscellaneous Payment Planning Enterprise modeling for documenting enterprises and analyzing them Better understand changes of strategy and their effect on processes, people and IT Various approaches available, no single solution 14
IBM Component Business Model - Example Operational Levels Competency Direct Business & Financial Management/ Infrastructure Business Strategy Investment Strategy Business Acquisition & Retention Market and Promotion Planning Policy Administration & Services Operations Management And Planning Benefit Payments s Management Strategy Miscellaneous Payment Planning Record Control Investment/Capital Management Promotion Management Operations Management Controls s Litigation Handling Verify Execute Investment Operations Financial Reporting and Controls (GL) Illustrations Sales Support New Business Processing (Application) Processing Policy Changes Billing Handling Payment Processing (Disbursements) A business component is a part of an enterprise that has the potential to operate autonomously A business component offers services to its environment 15
Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) has several aspects a set of architectural principles which address characteristics such as modularity, encapsulation, loose coupling, separation of concerns, composable and single implementation. an architectural style which requires a service provider, requestor and a service description. a programming model complete with standards, tools, methods and technologies such as web services. a set of business aligned IT services that support an organization s business process goals and objectives using interface-based service descriptions that decouple the provider and consumer through open standards and protocols 16
Overview of layers of a Service-Oriented Architecture Presentation Architecture Portlets Business Process Layer Process Choreography Service Binding Composite Services Component Layer Enterprise Components CICS/COBOL Integration Architecture (Service Integration Bus) QoS Management & Monitoring Operational Systems Object-oriented CRM, ERP Business Intelligence 17
Conceptual Layers of Business Processes Business-to-Business Processes at Business Level Business Processes at Business Level Human Interaction Workflows at IT Level System Workflows at IT Level Process modeling required for all levels Methodology required for transitions between the levels Software engineering concepts required for IT levels and for transition and realization of SOA components 18
Lifecyle of Business Process Models Process Improvement Requirements BPMN Creation of a business-level process model BPMN BPMN Creation of a technical process model Process Deployment BPMN 19
Concept of Business-Driven Software Engineering change of strategy Business Requirements Business Model Model refinement Business Process Model Model transformation Technology BPEL, WSDL, JEE, WebSphere IT Solution Software Engineering: Concepts, languages, techniques, methods and tools for building software systems Business-Driven: Taking into account business requirements Focus on modeling techniques for combining business level and IT level Focus on methods that combine business and IT level 20
Techniques of Business-Driven Software Engineering Business Process Modeling Organizational and Data Modeling Business Process Simulation Business Process Reference Model Customization Business Process Lifecycle Management (Versioning) Methodologies for developing SOA Applications and many more 21
Process Modeling Foundation 22
Views of Business Process Modeling Register Grant Reject Close Handling Process Process Models register Paul Senior Manager grant registered reject Linda Manager Kevin Manager granted settle settled close rejected closed close Organizational Models Data Models Object Life Cycles 23
Overview of Process Modeling Languages BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) UML (Unified Modeling Language) EPC (Event Driven Process Chains) BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) In this lecture: focus on the concepts of business process modeling overview of syntax and informal semantics of BPMN There are pros and cons of the different languages 24
Why is Modeling of Processes important? If process is to be executed by a workflow system or business process management system, process must be modeled in a language supported by the workflow system or business process management system. Modeling is a means of documenting processes Modeling of processes allows the manual or automated repetition their execution in a workflow system their simulation their analysis and comparison 25
Concepts, Languages, Methods, Tools Methods and Tools ARIS IBM WebSphere Business Modeler Languages BPMN UML Activity Diagrams EPC Concepts Activity Process Gateway Concepts provide the foundation, Languages are used to express concepts, Methods define how to use languages and tools help to deal with methods and languages 26
Activities and Process Models 27
Conceptual Model of a Business Process Core concepts of a business process different views on a business process using different modeling languages 28
Activity Modeling - Concepts Register Grant :Register ( 1, Mueller) :Grant ( 1, Mueller) An activity describes a set of similar activity instances An activity instance represents an individual work item of a business process During its lifetime, an activity instance goes through certain states 29
Activity Instances State Transitions initialize enable begin terminate init ready running terminated skip skipped Activity instances go through different states in their lifetime Technically, the runtime environment is responsible for triggering state transitions of activity instances State transitions can be modeled in an event diagram 30
Activity Instances Event Diagrams init ready running terminated initialize enable begin terminate event diagram shows the order of events for an activity instance time proceeds from left to right events are shown as bullets events 31
Process Modeling - Concepts A process model represents a blueprint for a set of process instances A process model consists of nodes and edges Edges connect nodes and establish orders of nodes There exist different types of nodes: Activity models a work unit Gateway represents a split or merge of control or data flow Events are used for expressing occurrences of states that are relevant for a process 32
Process Modeling Concrete Syntax Start Event Gateway Register Grant Reject Close End Event Representation of Activity, Gateway and Event Explanation of the process model: Process starts A claim is registered A decision is made whether to grant or reject a claim 33
Process Modeling Process Instances Process Model is a blueprint for a set of process instances Instantiation of a process model yields concrete process instances Process models place execution constraints on process instances Process instances are the running processes in the real world Process instances have a state, that is defined by the state of the activity instances it contains and their status Register :Register :Grant Grant Reject Close instantiation :Reject :Close 34
Process Instances Event Diagram Grant i Register s End Event Start Event i e b Reject t i e b t Abbreviated Notation: Register Reject Event diagram shows the events and causal relations between them Start event leads to initialization of all activities and to the enabling of the Register After Register terminates, it enables the Reject claim 35
Process Execution - Traces Grant Register Close Reject Traces show the activities executed in a particular run of the process Traces of all runs represent the traces of the process model A trace can be represented as sequences <Register, Grant, Close > <Register, Reject, Close > Traces of a process model can be infinite in case of loops or nonterminating processes 36
Process Data Modeling Grant Register Close Reject s Processes operate on data Activities use data while executing and produce data Data modeling is known from other disciplines (e.g. database design) In the process model, we represent data by data flow and by data repositories 37
Process Interaction Modeling Administration Register Grant Reject Close Customer Agent Record Details Notify Customer Interaction of processes can be modeled Messages can be used for starting execution of an activity Interacting processes are also called a process choreography 38
Organizational Modeling Concepts Organizational models are used for expressing organizational structures that are relevant to processes Meta model for organizational models Organizational models can be expressed in different languages such as organizational charts (free hand) 39
Organizational Modeling - Example Person Role Paul Senior Manager Billing Department Organizational Unit Linda Manager Kevin Manager Kim Employee Michael Employee Organizational chart may show roles and persons Can also show organizational units Roles and persons (representing resources) are used for perform activity instances (representing work items) 40
Process Modeling Roles of Organizations Customer Representative Grant Insurance Expert Register Close Reject Associate roles to activities rather than a specific person When process is instantiated, roles must be replaced with individual persons (role-based allocation, role resolution) Changes in the personnel structure do not require change of process model 41
High-Level Architecture of Process Execution Environment Process Modeling Environment deployment Process Engine calls Service 1 calls Service n 42
Summary of Lecture and References Business Process Management Foundations Business Process and Business Process Management Definitions Business-Driven Software Engineering Workflow and Process Process Modeling Foundation Views of Process Modeling Activity Concept Process Models and Organizational Models Further Reading: M. Weske: Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 43