1. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Presenter drrwebber@acm.org Chair OASIS CAM TC Presentation November 17 th XML 2004 Washington DC Visually Modelling Business Processes

2. Copyright OASIS, 2004 ebXML BPSS – mission profile n Ability to create sharable industry process definitions n Neutral approach not tied to specific middleware or transport systems n Suitable for business analyst designers n Support internationally agreed business process definitions and methods n Provide the process details to instruct implementation systems n Support a variety of modelling methodologies

3. Copyright OASIS, 2004 ebXML BPSS in a nutshell n BPSS schema defines components used to define the process models n Original foundation derived from UML techniques and theoretical base n Support for workflow as well as activity diagramming n Foundation around business transaction definitions and interchanges n Layered approach using a Business Service Interface (BSI) to link to deployment environments n Binary-collaboration and Multi-party exchanges n Support for context and variables linkage

4. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Agenda n Part 1 – How BPSS fits into a Service Oriented Architecture l Components and Needs Overview n Part 2 – Building a BPSS – (binary collaboration) l Documents / Transactions; Transport layer coupling l Applying Context; Modelling the process flow n Part 3 – Implementation Considerations l Supporting versioning and tool integration l Targetting deployment engines; Sharing Models n Summary

5. Copyright OASIS, 2004 components and needs overview Part 1 – How BPSS fits into a Service Oriented Architecture

6. Copyright OASIS, 2004 n Business Agreement n Participant Profiles n Collaboration Roles and Interaction Management n Industry Domain and Business Semantics n Managing Participant Context n Information Exchange n Process Flow and business service linkage n Exception handling, signals, and state conditions n Application Integration / Information Purposing Overall Needs for Business Process

7. Copyright OASIS, 2004 BPSS key to eBusiness SOA n SOA l provides technology foundation and open interchange model and specifications n BPSS l formalizes this with business process control l captures the business exchange details l provides business agreement model for participants l provides facilitation for components in the SOA l XML template script sharable across an industry domain l context driven enables localization of standard models

8. Copyright OASIS, 2004 ebXML Solution Architecture Capture Process Details with Participant Roles / Context and Message Exchanging Definitions Reference – Domain Ontology and Semantic Information Reference - Domain Transactions + Business Process Models References Business Agreement Templates 11 Messaging System Drives Messaging System Partner A Partner B Exchanges 22 Enveloping + Routing Transactions + Validation Handles Queue Integration Agent Controlled by 33 Processes – state management, linking and switching Integration – application system interactions Manages44 BPSS + Workflow – Models of Interaction Service / Actions CAM XML templates – Business Exchange Formats and Rules CPA – Exchange Agreements Produces

9. Copyright OASIS, 2004 ebXML SOA component options Business agreement Drives document exchanges Participant Profiles Domain Semantics Information Purposing Information Exchange

10. Copyright OASIS, 2004 ebXML CPA / BPSS functions ebXML BP identifies Business processes including multi-party, multi- step exchanges Roles an organization must play Business transactions Messages being exchanged Context variables Business rules of edge conditions Transaction handling services Error handling ebXML CPA provides: Service name and parameters Endpoint for invocation Role of an organization in the context of a service Organization demographic information Failure scenarios Business process scenario and business transaction activity step Link to partner responsibilities Transaction Messages being exchanged Transport level QOS parameters Certificate and Encryption configuration Business status of agreement

11. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Binary Collaboration Documents / Transactions Transport layer coupling Applying Context Modelling the process flow Download example model from: http://visualscripts.net/#ebxml Part 2 – Building a BPSS

12. Copyright OASIS, 2004 What do I need to do? n A pplication – define the business purpose n B usiness interchanges + documents – itemize n C ollaborations, Content, Context – collect n D ocument exchanges – paint activity picture n E xceptions – succeed / fail / signal conditions n F low control – branching and choices n G o! – agree with your partners and distribute

13. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Application – define business purpose n Business analysis – scope, goals, participants n Domain experts and users provide use cases n Information flows n Security needs n Application integration needs n Success criteria n Deployment community – eGov, Industry, Financial.. n Technology needs

14. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Business Transactions and Documents n Determine the exchanges involved in your business process n Label those transactions accordingly n Link to a specification for the detail of the actual document formats involved n Determine success and failure criteria and how these get notified n Note any context parameters that might apply from those business interchange details n Select the transport profile model to use for each exchange

15. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Building the BPSS model Supply Chain Supply Chain Grants Application Grants Application

16. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Multiparty Model with BPSS V2 Automotive Supplychain Automotive Supplychain Financial Marketplace Financial Marketplace

17. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Step by Step Tutorial This summarizes the actions in the live demonstration

18. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Build interchange details n Create headers for each of your transaction exchanges

19. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Enter the document formats needed n Create document definitions and select type of identification n Specify location of document rules, and rules type

20. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Add document links to transactions n In Transactions area add initiating and responded documents Initiate Transaction Provide Responses

21. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Configure Fail / Succeed conditions n BPSS provides set of default conditions that marry to transport layer (ebMS) responses and outcomes

22. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Choose / Configure Signal conditions n You can add a set of signals to your BPSS, these can be used to indicated pending process steps and intermediate events

23. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Setup Business Exchange Profiles n Convenient profiles – pre-configured with typical interchange characteristics, and linked to the failure / success outcomes

24. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Summary – configuring Transactions n Select behaviours from profiles, conditions and transport needs Configure Exchange Details

25. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Summary – covered so far ü Application – define the business purpose ü Business interchanges + documents – itemize n Collaborations, Content, Context – collect n Document exchanges – paint activity picture ü Exceptions – succeed / fail / signal conditions n Flow control – branching and choices n Go! – agree with your partners and distribute

26. Copyright OASIS, 2004 How do we provide standard industry domain processes, but then be able to apply local criteria to those? Collaborations, Content, Context

27. Copyright OASIS, 2004 n Context is the pervasive driver to effective engineering n Drives dynamic process configuring and control n Ensures accurate information capture, packaging and delivery n Key to correct relationships between partners in a collaboration Lack of context control mechanisms is the most prominent reason why legacy e-Business systems are difficult and complex to extend and support Date: circa 1568 1 : the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning 2 : the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs Understanding about Context

28. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Generating a Context Instance n Add parameter value rules and document value rules Check a document and change a BPSS Parameter value Create a rule and set a value Configure Context Instance header

29. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Context Summary n Context variables and values defined as needed n Business Partners review and Agree to its terms and outcomes n Registry can provide storage for the artifacts involved – business process script, XML context instance, CPA instance, CAM template – in a catalogue entry that therefore defines a reusable complete industry process package that can be context driven.

30. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Worked example – completing the BPSS template Modelling the Process Flow

31. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Summary of steps required n So far we have defined the: l Transactions l Documents l Success / Fail criteria l Transport exchange profiles l Context parameters n Now we have to complete the picture by building the actual activity flow

32. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Start the Action Processes n Add Start block and beginning Transaction action Assign Transaction Assign Roles to participants Configure BPSS header

33. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Next add responding action details n Responding block consists of success / fail actions Select associated responding document Group Possible Responses Configure outcomes and flow control Transport layer return settings

34. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Decide next action details n Request continues based on what responder does Next action Fork on outcome and pick next action (conditions gated by external “beginsWhen” events within Transaction definition) Process Completes

35. Copyright OASIS, 2004 The Complete Business Process n from the model – VisualScript generates actual XML instructions

36. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Sharing Models Supporting Versioning and Tool integration Targetting deployment engines Download example model from: http://visualscripts.net/#ebxml Part 3 – Implementation Considerations

37. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Sharing Models n The BPSS models can be shared in a variety of ways – l Save As : JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, etc graphic l Generated to XML l Published to web via a web folder system l Saved in Registry l Can create library of pre- built components for a community or industry

38. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Supporting Versioning and Tools n The XML syntax used to generate the BPSS model should be stored externally from the model itself n “include” instructions then retrieve the syntax when the model is generated n Then replacing the XML syntax files and regenerating the model automatically creates latest syntax, or a modified tool specific syntax

39. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Targetting Deployment Engines n Whenever BPSS functional behaviour can be simulated by equivalent syntax used by a deployment engine – that syntax can potentially be output from the BPSS model n The BPSS model and approach is neutral to the middleware layer n If the middleware layer is using ebMS transport this emulation is likely to be especially straightforward n Some limited integration to WSDL based steps also is available in BPSS V2

40. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Summary – covered so far ü Business interchanges + documents – itemize ü Collaborations, Content, Context – collect ü Document exchanges – paint activity picture ü Application – define the business purpose ü Exceptions – success / fail conditions n Flow control – branching and choices n Go! – agree with your partners and distribute

41. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Resources and Planning Summary

42. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Providing Agile Information Systems n Ability to automatically configure business processing using neutral XML based scripting. n Lesson learned - three needs are paramount: l the ability to design transactions and processes consistently, l the ability to document their usage in a clear way and then l the ability to instruct software that can apply rules and test information context to dynamically manage those business processing exchanges

43. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Next Steps n Work in progress: l Formal Publication of OASIS Specification V2 l Library of BPSS templates by industry l Integration with OASIS Registry semantics l Integration with execution engines and ebMS l Development of BPSS models involving WSDL based exchanges and services

44. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Get involved in OASIS ebXML-BP n Download the specs from www.oasis- open.orgwww.oasis- open.org n Encourage your industry group to adopt BPSS templates for their standards n Specify BPSS-compliance from providers

45. Copyright OASIS, 2004 Some Available Components / Resources n VisualScript editor for BPSS templates l http://www.visualscript.com http://www.visualscript.com n jBPM JBOSS middleware l http://www.jBPM.org http://www.jBPM.org n Hermes open source ebMS transport l http://www.freebXML.org http://www.freebXML.org n ebXML-dev developers (http://ebxml.org)http://ebxml.org n ebXMLforum News and Articles l http://www.ebxmlforum.org http://www.ebxmlforum.org

46. Copyright OASIS, 2004 www.freebXML.org www.ebxml.org www.oasis-open.org www.ebxmlbook.com/interop www.ebxmlbook.com/benefits Resources: