Ten Architectural Opportunities for Workflow John Evdemon Architect Microsoft Corporation

Session Objectives And Key Takeaways Session Objective: Awareness of workflow’s role in common architectural challenges Provide some tool-specific guidance Key Takeaways: Workflow improves agility WF and BizTalk Server WF and WCF BPEL Strategy

Assumptions Familiarity with Windows Workflow Foundation Familiarity with BizTalk Server

Fact Myth WF and BizTalk are not competing technologies Clarification: WF and BizTalk WF and BizTalk are complementary technologies that serve different needs: WF is a developer framework, workflow within an application BizTalk Server is a product, implement workflow across disparate applications WF is a replacement for BizTalk

Ten Architectural Opportunities In no special order…  Transactions  High frequency of change  Business Rules  Large data set in flow  Web services  Process Externalization  Long Running Processes  Auditing and analytics  Human intervention  UI Flow

1.Transactions BizTalk Three Transaction Types None Atomic (Short-Lived) Long-Running Transaction Type defined within Entire orchestration (global) Scope shape Orchestration to be long running or atomic Exception handling and compensation blocks Long-Running Scope Loan application received Request Credit Report Order Appraisal Sign Documents

1.Transactions WF Scope properties: Atomic Transaction Long-Running Atomic transactions Persistence at end of Commit Roll back to last known state of workflow Cannot be nested Exception handlers not permitted Long-Running Processes May contain atomic or other Long- Running Processes May be nested to arbitrary depths Long-Running Atomic Transaction Loan application received Request Credit Report Order Appraisal Sign Documents

Ten Architectural Opportunities In no special order…  Transactions  High frequency of change  Business Rules  Large data set in flow  Web services  Process Externalization  Long Running Processes  Auditing and analytics  Human intervention  UI Flow

2.High Frequency of Change BizTalk Business Rules BizTalk Server 2006 Orchestration Designer for Business Analysts (Visio) Windows Workflow Foundation Business Rules Embeddable design surface Business process analysts need a different class of modeling tools Partners Standalone DSL toolkits for business process design

Ten Architectural Opportunities In no special order…  Transactions  High frequency of change  Business Rules  Large data set in flow  Web services  Process Externalization  Long Running Processes  Auditing and analytics  Human intervention  UI Flow

BizTalk Rules and Orchestration Patterns Call Rules Engine to execute logic, instead of burying it in code Call Rules Engine and determine path Call Rules Engine to dynamically populate messaging routing information Use the Rules Engine for dynamic or variable delays 3.Business Rules

Rules or Orchestrations: Which to use when? Use Rules for: Discrete, point-in-time evaluations & calculations Large no of permutations to encode in a control flow Fact-based inferencing where control flow can not be predefined Use Orchestrations for: Formal workflows that require: Long-running semantics Transactions/ Compensations Messaging Known control-flow that needs to be rigorously managed for perf or scale Visibility & tracking are critical

WF: Two Categories Conditions on activities If-Else While Replicator (for-each) Conditioned Activity Group (CAG) Policy activity Contains and executes a RuleSet RuleSet execution provides priority-based, forward-chaining semantics RuleSet execution outside of a workflow 3.Business Rules

Windows Workflow Foundation will provide the core rules engine evaluator and developer tools in BizTalk v.Next BizTalk will continue to provide premium tooling and server infrastructure, e.g.: Business analyst tools RuleSet storage and management RuleSet analysis

Ten Architectural Opportunities In no special order…  Transactions  High frequency of change  Business Rules  Large data set in flow  Web services  Process Externalization  Long Running Processes  Auditing and analytics  Human intervention  UI Flow

Beware of CDATA wrappers! BizTalk Disassembler and Assembler stream data using XmlReader Entire string must be read into memory to process it Recommendations: Keep your messages small, if possible BTS 2004: Avoid the mapper for large XML messages or flat files BTS 2006: Large Message Transformation engine Avoid large message scenarios that require anything more than routing 4.Large data set in flow BizTalk

4.Large data set in flow WF WF is far less complex Keep pointers to messages stored in a database or filesystem for messages larger than what you would want to keep in RAM

Ten Architectural Opportunities In no special order…  Transactions  High frequency of change  Business Rules  Large data set in flow  Web services  Process Externalization  Long Running Processes  Auditing and analytics  Human intervention  UI Flow

5.Web Services Coordinating Services Workflows exposed through services Workflow

WF and ASMX Web Services WF and WCF (prototype)

Worth a look… Service Activity Generator x?id=dd88e6eb-e889-4ed5-bc98-2e4e Easier to remember: Reads in a WCF service contact and generates a set of custom activities to consume the service. It does not support receiving messages in workflows

Ten Architectural Opportunities In no special order…  Transactions  High frequency of change  Business Rules  Large data set in flow  Web services  Process Externalization  Long Running Processes  Auditing and analytics  Human intervention  UI Flow

6.Process Externalization Workflow Interop Businesses orchestrate their private processes Choreography represents publicly observable behavior

Import/export support in BizTalk 2004 and BizTalk 2006 BPEL 1.1 activities under development for Windows Workflow Foundation Multiple workflow industry standards can be supported by WF BPEL, XPDL, BPMN, others… 6.Process Externalization Workflow Interop: BPEL

Ten Architectural Opportunities In no special order…  Transactions  High frequency of change  Business Rules  Large data set in flow  Web services  Process Externalization  Long Running Processes  Auditing and analytics  Human intervention  UI Flow

7.Long Running Processes WF Runtime services dehydrate/rehydrate the workflow Set UnloadOnIdle prior to starting the workflow Code or config WF does not impose a specific persistence service. Define/customize your persistence architecture for specific types of hosts Other runtime services: Tracking Transactions Threading Host Process Windows Workflow Foundation Runtime Engine Workflow Activity Runtime Services Base Activity Library Custom Activity Library Visual Designer

Ten Architectural Opportunities In no special order…  Transactions  High frequency of change  Business Rules  Large data set in flow  Web services  Process Externalization  Long Running Processes  Auditing and analytics  Human intervention  UI Flow

How many units are waiting to be shipped right now? What is the total value of my finished goods inventory today? How much does it cost to produce one unit today? What is the average throughput time for special orders right now? BizTalk Server 2004/2006 Engine Tracking Monitored Events and Messages Excel Other Clients Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) 8.Auditing and analytics BizTalk

No BAM components here Roll your own via WF Tracking Track history of instance execution (running/suspended/terminated) Predict execution paths of future instances Counters for KPI calculations Log data, events and instances Recognize limitations 8.Auditing and analytics WF

Ten Architectural Opportunities In no special order…  Transactions  High frequency of change  Business Rules  Large data set in flow  Web services  Process Externalization  Long Running Processes  Auditing and analytics  Human intervention  UI Flow

9.Human Intervention BizTalk BTS2004: Human Workflow Services (HWS) HWS is deprecated in BTS2006 Use BizTalk with WF instead Partners Office 2007 Windows SPS Adapter for SharePoint

Ten Architectural Opportunities In no special order…  Transactions  High frequency of change  Business Rules  Large data set in flow  Web services  Process Externalization  Long Running Processes  Auditing and analytics  Human intervention  UI Flow

Workflow traps UI events Workflow state drives the user experience See WF State Machine sample 10.UI Flow WinForms (control flow)

“Smart Parts” 10.UI Flow Composite UI Application Block

10.UI Flow Page Flow in ASP.NET Determine which page to serve up based upon state of the workflow Configure WorkflowWebHostingModule (HTTP Module) in Web.Config Start workflow runtime and instance Communications between workflow and controller Samples at ASP.NET team working on integration of WF into web projects

Ten Architectural Opportunities  Transactions  High frequency of change  Business Rules  Large data set in flow  Web services  Process Externalization  Long Running Processes  Auditing and analytics  Human intervention  UI Flow

A Workflow Manifesto Workflow is everywhere Workflow is expressive Workflow is fluid Workflow is inclusive Workflow is transparent

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