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Microsoft and BPM: A Perspective
David ChappellChappell & Associates
www.davidchappell.com
Copyright © 2006 David Chappell
Defining Business Process Management (BPM)
A business view of BPM:– Viewing a business as a set of processes that
can be explicitly defined, optimized, and managed
A technical view of BPM:– Development using software designed for
creating, executing, and monitoring process logic
The Technologies of BPM
Workflow– System and human
Graphical tools– For business process modeling and design
Integration technologies– Such as adapters and data transformation
Business rules engines
Business activity monitoring
What’s a BPMS?An Aside
Several small firms have sold BPM Suites/Systems (BPMSs) for many years– None have an especially large customer base– But their offerings have largely defined the
BPMS category
As the big vendors enter this area, the definition of “BPMS” is changing– It’s hard to find a definition that everybody
agrees on
Microsoft’s BPM Offerings
BizTalk Server 2006
Windows Workflow Foundation
Windows SharePoint Services, version 3
The 2007 Microsoft Office system – Especially Office SharePoint Server 2007
Defining BizTalk Server 2006
BizTalk Server 2006 is a Windows-based business process and integration server
It’s the product’s fourth release– It’s built on the .NET Framework 2.0
BizTalk Server 2006Illustrating Its Components
Orchestration
Business Rules Engine
Business Activity Monitoring (BAM)
Health and Activity Tracking
Visual Studio 2005
Orchestration Designer
Other Software
Web Services OthersWebSphere MQMSMQFile ...
Adapters
Data Transformation
AcceleratorsHL7 SWIFT Others...
BizTalk Server 2006 The Orchestration Designer
PerspectiveTool Audiences
Many BPM products provide tools aimed at business users– Such as business analysts
The BizTalk Orchestration Designer targets developers– Microsoft also provides a Visio-hosted design
tool, but it’s not widely used– Would developers rather write code?
So far, Microsoft has chosen not to focus on business users as creators of BizTalk orchestrations
BizTalk Server 2006Business Activity Monitoring
Allows information workers to monitor in-process orchestrations
Can be accessed through:– Office applications
(e.g., Excel)– Other clients
PerspectiveProcess Modeling and Simulation
Many people view this as part of BPM– Although it can be useful even for manual processes
Microsoft doesn’t offer products in this area– Although several Microsoft partners offer modeling
and simulation tools– Those tools include:
• ITP Process’s Process Modeler for Microsoft Visio
• AgilePoint’s Envision (based on Visio)
• Simul8
Defining Windows Workflow Foundation
Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) is a framework for building workflow-based Windows applications– It’s targeted at developers, not information
workers or business analysts
WF is part of the .NET Framework 3.0
The goal is to provide a common workflow framework for Windows applications– Including a unified foundation for both system
and human workflow
WFWhat’s a Workflow?
A WF workflow is a set of activities
Each activity is actually a class– It can be reused in multiple workflows
Activities can be provided by:– Microsoft– Anybody else
Activities
Workflow
WFThe Role of the WF Runtime Engine
WF Runtime Engine
1) Execute first activity
2) Execute second activity
3) Execute next activity . . .
Host Process
WFIllustrating Its Components
WF Runtime Engine
Other Activities
Base Activity Library (BAL)
Activities
Workflow
Runtime Services
Visual Studio 2005
WF Workflow Designer
WFExample BAL Activities
IfElse
While
Sequence
Parallel
Code
Listen
Delay
FaultHandler
Compensate
CallExternalMethod
HandleExternalEvent
InvokeWorkflow
InvokeWebService
Terminate
PerspectiveMicrosoft’s Support for BPEL
WF will provide a BPEL Activity Library– It implements BPEL 1.1– Workflows built with this library can be imported from
or exported to BPEL
BizTalk Server 2006 also can import and export BPEL definitions– BPEL addresses system workflow, not human
workflow
Microsoft doesn’t display as much BPEL enthusiasm as some other vendors– Despite being one of the language’s creators
WFCreating Workflows
WF provides two built-in workflow types:– Sequential– State machine
WF provides options for defining workflows:– Graphical: the Workflow Designer– Code: C#, Visual Basic, or another .NET
language
WFThe WF Workflow Designer
BizTalk Server Engine
Web Services OthersWebSphere MQ
Other Software
MSMQFile ...
Adapters
Messaging and Transformation
The Future of BizTalk Server
Visual Studio
WF Workflows
WF Designer
Existing BizTalk 2006 Orchestrations
PerspectiveWF or BizTalk Server?
WF: – The right choice for workflow-driven applications– Especially useful for long-running processes
BizTalk Server:– The right choice for problems such as:
• Enterprise application integration (EAI)• Business-to-business (B2B) integration
– EDI, etc.
• Business activity monitoring
– Provides hosting, management, and scalability
PerspectiveHow Easy to Use is WF?
Graphical designers can make things look easy– Yet creating a WF workflow from scratch isn’t
simple– Writing activities that work with an existing
workflow is relatively straightforward, however
For some problems, using WF can be significantly simpler than not using WF– Since it provides support for persisting state,
compensation, and more
WFSpecifying Business Rules
Conditions, e.g., on an IfElse or While activity– Rules can be embedded in the workflow
The Conditioned Activity Group (CAG) activity– Allows creating rules-driven workflow logic
The Policy activity– Provides access to a straightforward rules
engine
Perspective BizTalk Server BRE or WF Rules?
BizTalk Server 2006 Business Rules Engine (BRE):– Available only with BizTalk Server– Includes graphical tools, e.g., the Business
Rules Composer
WF rules:– A standard part of Windows – Includes simple graphical tools– The foundation for the future, says Microsoft
Defining Windows SharePoint Services
Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) is a standard part of Windows Server 2003– WSS version 3 hosts the WF runtime engine
Office SharePoint Server, part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system, adds more workflow capabilities– All of which are built on WF and WSS version 3
Windows Server 2003
Windows SharePoint Services
Site 1 Site 2 …
Web Browser
Internet Information Services
Site N
Microsoft Office
Document Library 1
List 1
Item A
Item B
Item C. . .
List N
Item A
Item B
Item C. . .
. . .
Document Library N
. . .
SQL Server
WSSIllustrating Its Components
List
Item A
Item B
Item C. . .
Document Library
Windows Server 2003
Windows SharePoint Services
Site 1 Site 2 … Site N
SQL Server
WF Runtime Engine
Internet Information Services
Workflow Instances
Associations
Workflow Templates
WSSIllustrating WF Workflows
WSSInteracting with Workflows
A WSS-hosted workflow places tasks on a user’s task list– A user can access this list via a web browser or
Outlook 2007
WSS defines several WF activities, including:– CreateTask: adds a task to a task list– OnTaskChanged: informs the workflow that a
task has been modified
Windows SharePoint Services
SiteWorkflow Templates
Document Library
Workflow Initiator
Workflow Participants
Task List
Approve
. . .
4) Add task to task list
1) Select document and association
Workflow Instance
2) Create workflow instance
3) Customize and start workflow instance
5) Check task list
6) Complete task
An Example WSS Workflow
WSSStarting a Workflow
WSSCompleting a Task
WSSCreating Workflows
Developers: WF Workflow Designer
Information workers: Office SharePoint Designer– Allows defining workflows by specifying
conditions and actions for each step– Users can now add application logic to WSS
sites
WSSIllustrating Office SharePoint Designer
PerspectiveUsing WSS and BizTalk Server 2006 Together
Microsoft provides a BizTalk Server 2006 adapter for Windows SharePoint Services
A BizTalk Server system workflow still remains distinct from a WSS human workflow, with:– Separate execution engines– Separate design tools
Some would argue that this misses the point of BPM
What Office SharePoint Server 2007 Adds
The ability to interact with workflows directly from Office applications using InfoPath workflow forms– WSS alone mostly supports interacting with
workflows through a browser
A group of customizable pre-defined workflows– Approval, Collect Feedback, etc.
A range of content-management capabilities– Such as document templates and broad search
capabilities
Office SharePoint Server Starting a Workflow in Word 2007
Office SharePoint ServerCompleting a Task in Outlook 2007
- BizTalk Server data mapping, adapters, etc.Integration technologies
- System workflow: BizTalk Server Orchestration Designer- Human workflow: WF Workflow Designer and Office SharePoint Designer 2007
Graphical tools for defining processes
Microsoft and BPM: Summary
SolutionProblem
- BizTalk Server BAMBusiness activity monitoring
Supporting human workflow- WF-based workflows in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Office SharePoint Server 2007
- BizTalk Server orchestrationsSupporting system workflow
- BizTalk Server BRE- WF rules
Business rules engine
For Further Reading
Understanding BizTalk Server 2006– http://download.microsoft.com/documents/
australia/windowsserversystem/biztalk2006/
Understanding_BTS06.pdf
Introducing Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation– http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?
url=/library/en-us/dnlong/html/wfintro.asp
Understanding Workflow in Windows SharePoint Services and the 2007 Microsoft Office System – http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/A/B/1AB1AC93-
13A4-4001-A757-A340A211A06F/ Understanding%20WF%20in%20WSS%20and%20Office%202007%20v1.doc
About the Speaker
David Chappell is Principal of Chappell & Associates in San Francisco, California. David Chappell is Principal of Chappell & Associates in San Francisco, California. Through his speaking, writing, and consulting, he helps IT professionals Through his speaking, writing, and consulting, he helps IT professionals understand, use, and make better decisions about enterprise software.understand, use, and make better decisions about enterprise software.David has been the keynote speaker for dozens of conferences and events in the David has been the keynote speaker for dozens of conferences and events in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America. His popular seminars have been attended by U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America. His popular seminars have been attended by tens of thousands of developers, architects, and decision makers in forty countries. tens of thousands of developers, architects, and decision makers in forty countries. David’s books have been published in ten languages and used in courses at MIT, David’s books have been published in ten languages and used in courses at MIT, ETH Zurich, and many other universities. He is Series Editor for Addison-Wesley’s ETH Zurich, and many other universities. He is Series Editor for Addison-Wesley’s award-winning award-winning Independent Technology GuidesIndependent Technology Guides, and he has been a regular , and he has been a regular columnist for several publications. In his consulting practice, David has helped columnist for several publications. In his consulting practice, David has helped clients such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Stanford University, and Target clients such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Stanford University, and Target Corporation adopt new technologies, market new products, train their sales staffs, Corporation adopt new technologies, market new products, train their sales staffs, and create business plans.and create business plans.David’s comments have appeared in The New York Times, CNN.com, and various David’s comments have appeared in The New York Times, CNN.com, and various other publications. Earlier in his career, he wrote software for supercomputers, other publications. Earlier in his career, he wrote software for supercomputers, chaired a U.S. national standardization working group, and played keyboards with chaired a U.S. national standardization working group, and played keyboards with the Peabody-award-winning Children’s Radio Theater. David holds a B.S. in the Peabody-award-winning Children’s Radio Theater. David holds a B.S. in Economics and an M.S. in Computer Science, both from the University of Economics and an M.S. in Computer Science, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.Wisconsin-Madison.
