The Process Way: Business Process Management & SOA

I am glad to announce publication of my new Book : Business Process Driven SOA using BPMN and BPEL

Modeling business processes for SOA and developing end-to-end IT support has become one of the top IT priorities. The SOA approach is based on services and on processes. Processes are focused on composition of services and in that sense services become process activities. Experience has shown that the implementation and optimization of processes are the most important factors in the success of SOA projects. SOA is so valuable to businesses because it enables process optimization. In order to optimize processes, we need to know which processes are relevant and we have to understand them – something that cannot be done without business process modeling. There is a major problem with this approach – a semantic gap between the process model and the applications. This book will show you how to fill this gap. It describes a pragmatic approach to business process modeling using the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) and the automatic mapping of BPMN to the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL), which is the de-facto standard for executing business processes in SOA. The book will also cover related technologies like Business Rules Management and Business Activity Monitoring which play a pivotal role in achieving closed loop Business Process Management.

What you will learn from this book

• Modeling business processes in an SOA-compliant way
• A detailed understanding of BPMN standard for business process modeling and analysis
• Automatically translating BPMN into BPEL Executing business processes on SOA platforms
• Overcome the semantic gap between process models and their execution, and follow the closed-loop business process management life cycle
• Understand technologies complementary to BPM and SOA such as Business Rules Management and Business Activity monitoring Approach

The book provides a well-balanced mixture of theoretical discussion and real-world examples. It explains the concepts and approaches, and describes methodology and notation. It demonstrates these concepts on real-world examples and provides a step-by-step example tutorial that guides readers from business process modeling in BPMN through transformation into BPEL to execution on the SOA process server. It also discusses some key concepts using practical examples and business scenarios around Business Rules Management and Business Activity Monitoring with BPM and SOA. Who this book is written for This book is for CIOs, executives, SOA project managers, business process analysts, BPM and SOA architects, who are responsible for improving the efficiency of business processes through IT, or for designing SOA. It provides a high-level coverage of business process modeling, but it also gives practical development examples on how to move from model to execution. We expect the readers to be familiar with the basics of SOA.

Author(s)

Matjaz Juric Matjaz B. Juric holds a Ph.D. in computer and information science. He is Associate Professor at the University of Maribor. In addition to this book, he has coauthored Professional J2EE EAI, Professional EJB, J2EE Design Patterns Applied, and the .NET Serialization Handbook, published by Wrox Press. He has published chapters in More Java Gems (Cambridge University Press) and in Technology Supporting Business Solutions (Nova Science Publishers). He has also published in journals and magazines, such as Java Developer’s Journal, Java Report, Java World, Web Services Journal, eai Journal, theserverside.com, OTN, ACM journals, and presented at conferences such as OOPSLA, Java Development, XML Europe, OOW, SCI, and others. He is a reviewer, program committee member, and conference organizer. Matjaz has been involved in several large-scale object technology projects. In cooperation with IBM Java Technology Centre, he worked on performance analysis and optimization of RMI-IIOP, an integral part of the Java platform. Matjaz is author of courses and consultant for the BPEL and SOA consulting company BPELmentor.com. For more information, please visit http://www.bpelmentor.com.

Kapil Pant: Kapil Pant is an accomplished BPM consultant and Public speaker with extensive experience in Products and Professional Services consulting. He currently manages Wipro Technologies’ BPM/SOA practice in Europe, and leads consulting engagements including Business Process Improvement workshops, BPMS and SOA Tools Study & Recommendations, and BPM Architecture, Implementation & Governance. Over the years, Kapil has been extensively involved in conducting successful workshops on Process Improvement, Requirements Analysis, BPM/SOA and Enterprise Architecture for clients in Telecom, Banking, Securities and Insurance industry verticals. He has also worked closely with leading System Integrators such as Wipro, Tata Consulting, HCL and Satyam to conduct technology enablement programs for client projects across industry verticals. As a recognized Public Speaker, Kapil is known for his well-researched programs delivered in his high-energy, enthusiastic, and down-to-earth style. He has presented keynote speeches, workshops, seminars and over 40 road-shows across the Asia Pacific, Europe and the USA. He was also nominated by the Government of India to lead seminars as a part of a 25-member working committee for E-Governance Enterprise Architecture and Standards Taxonomy. He has a Masters Degree in Computer Applications, a Bachelors Degree in Business Studies, and a TOGAF Certification. Kapil presently lives in Hampshire, UK with his wife and enjoys blogging in his free time.

Alright, I have off late seen a barage of tool vendors coming out in the market proclaiming themselves to be a Business Process Management System. Tools which earlier used to be CRM tools suddenly add a workflow design and implementation capability and proclaim to be full fledged BPM tools. Quite frankly I have nothing against this, but what i get worried to see is a huge confusion out there of whats a BPMS and whats not.

I think a BPM system can be called good if it allows an organization to manage its end to end processes in a cross functional level to cover process modeling, analysis, orchestration, monitoring and reporting for the process using standards based techniques. In a utopic world if the BPM tool supports both human and system interaction equally well, it would be ideal. In my opinion strictly i do not see yet one single tool which can call its self the superstar, each is maturing. Some of the bigger ones are available from IBM, BEA, Pega etc.

But lets not neglect the smaller niche BPM players, i have seen some examples like clear technologies have tranzax doing case management and workflow for insurance, graham technologies providing crm+workflow/bpm, Advanced Work Distributor. Some of the tools i have seen are quite capable of providing process management and automation to address specific pains of a department in an organization. However, either these solutions will need to scale up or they should provide good service layer for linking to a macro orchestration layer implemented by a bigger/scalable BPMS.

The BPM market should also see a wider acceptance with some of the standards like BPEL/XPDL becoming production quality.

Having said that BPM as a concept and use of BPMS and SOA at a wider level is already showing positive acceptance in the indusrty. I would actually like to throw a small poll or a request for comment here from all readers to provide inputs on any BPM product you have used or using in your current organizations and what are the pros and cons you find in them. If you can also provide any inputs on what level or complexity of processes are being handled by the BPMS it would be of great value. It would then be a good idea to consolidate that information into one post for all’s benefit like a practical BPM product evaluation guide.

ciao!

Just got to know about a bid out there to take over Telelogic. There has been quite a consolidation happening in the tools space and it would be interesting to see how the story unfolds. I remember sometime about rumors of Oracle taking over Telelogic. I think only think Oracle would have been interested in Telelogic for would be System Architect which Telelogic bought a couple of years back from Mr. Jan Popkin. System Architect could have been a good fit into the Business Process Modeling and Analysis piece of Oracle’s Process Management capabilities. Infact SA has some good features and capabilities for e.g.exporting BPEL from BPMN, overall EA support etc. Infact i feel its a gem of a tool. But Oracle have recently tied up with Aris for providing the BPA piece. So, I guess oracle should be out of the game. Whatever is the output my main following would be the future of SA and do wish the product reaches the right organization which can do real justice to a tool which deserves more kudos and coverage. Watch this space as the story unfolds.

Let’s discuss a scenario involving Mr. Rodney an insurance customer, Mr. Stick a claims manager with insurance company and Mr. Knowitall the CTO of the insurance company.

Mr. Rodney moved from UK to US for a couple of years and bought a house near Florida beach side. He also bought himself a brand new BMW and a SUV for his wife. Now like everything he got his assets insured by a well know insurance firm “At Best Cover (ABC) inc.” unfortunately this year hurricanes played a major role and one fine morning he finds his roof blown over and cars parked on his neighbor’s balcony. Panicking he calls his insurance company and the real story starts.

He calls up ABC’s call center which routes his call to India, as his claims are for different product lines he ends up speaking to multiple representatives about each of his assets. The story is much worse at the insurer’s end. The insurer is currently processing these claims on legacy claim systems which can mean multiple claim systems within a department. So Mr. Rodney’s claim is entered into multiple systems and the situation is extrapolated with loads of paper based and manual activities to process these claims. The results:

1) Customer Dissatisfaction: Mr. Rodney is already fed up of speaking to multiple people on phones for different claims, it also seems that the customer relationship management system is not consistent hence he hears different stories each time. The back office processing of claims is slow and this is further frustrating Mr. Rodney due to delays and feeling of un-professionalism. Mr. Rodney is already considering a shift from ABC to someone more agile to respond to his needs.
2) Turnaround time for claims processing: It’s been a known fact that claim processing in most insurance companies can take more than 80-90% of total administrative costs. ABC is currently having more than 25 different claim systems and its taking a lot of time to resolve Mr. Rodney’s problem with most of Mr. Stick’s time is getting wasted in manual reporting, registering etc. instead of focusing on processing of claims.

3) Operational bottlenecks: With such complex and pain staking procedures the insurance companies face an issue of inefficient staff performance, increased staff turnovers and obviously very high cost to process claims. ABC is facing touch challenge in making the claim process smooth for its customer and employees.

4) CRM? : With so many different systems, there is bound to be data inconsistencies and redundancy. This also results in ABC having very low visibility on trends, patterns related to customers like Mr. Rodney. A well oiled CRM system should have been able to pinpoint Mr. Rodney’s dissatisfaction by now or better should have been able to prevent it to some extent.

5) These systems also place a huge challenge on ABC to confirm to various compliance requirements. These are increasingly making it difficult for ABC to rise up to the requirements.

This scenario looks grim for ABC and without doubt they are suffering from both customer dissatisfaction and employee turnover. What they need is a fresh look at their claims ecosystem.

They need a Process Magnifying Glass to understand the gaps and take corrective actions. Now!

This is what they need in a nutshell:

1) They need to bring their customers closer and give them a rich user experience
2) They need robust claims processes and systems to reduce turnaround times
3) They need to provide claim systems which automate mundane tasks and paperwork and allow smart employees like Mr. Stick a fulfilling job.
4) They need flexibility to change their processes to keep in alignment with the insurance regulations.

Mr. Knowitall (CTO) decided to work on moving their existing claims landscape online in a web based environment. The new claim system will allow ABC to achieve:
1) A flexible feature rich claims platform: In this case ABC is going forward with a combination of known claims systems which have inbuilt business process management capability with pre-built facilities for known processes/functions like First Notice of Loss, Litigation management etc.
2) Integration Architecture: the new system will provide an open framework for integrating existing systems into the new system. This will also be the common layer to bring customers, partners/agents, and insurer together. Mr. Knowitall is convinced that SOA would be their design philosophy right from defining the business process services to integration services with various underlying systems.
3) Rules Driven Approach: traditionally insurance products are driven by multiple rules and decision points working for each insurance product. Typically these policies are hardcode in existing claims systems, hence makes the system difficult and time consuming when a change occurs. Mr. Knowitall knows that its time for moving these rules and policies from application to a central repository which is modifiable by the claims business analysts as need occurs. For e.g. if maximum duration for claim turnaround needs to be modified the same can be done by a business user on a Business Rules Engine rather than going to the code each time.
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I wanted to add another dimension to this site by bringing Enterprise Architecture in our discussions about BPM and SOA as I feel that for a successful enterprise roadmap its an essential element to consider.

One of the biggest challenges for today’s enterprise is to efficiently align their business needs to their IT investments enabling higher profits, efficient enterprise, happy customers, agile businesses etc. If we look around, businesses are constantly looking for answers like “Does my IT systems perform as per my business needs?” or “What are the systems which needs to be automated in priority considering the changing business environment?”.

Continuation of current business challenges like inefficient processes, duplication of data, redundant systems, obsolete information will result in poor productivity, complex process automation and integration issues, missed business opportunities etc. In this scenario a sound Enterprise Architecture practice will differentiate a organization with its competitors in terms of strategic advantage and an upper hand due to availability of critical knowledge points for quick decision making.

Enterprise Modeling and Architecture tries to answer some of these business issues by enabling visualization, analysis and communication of the “Enterprise” Information.

Lets first define an enterprise as a complex system consisting of people, process, information and technology working within socio-cultural boundaries to achieve the defined organizational goals.

Subsequently Enterprise Architecture is defined as a set of descriptions and modeling methods describing the blueprint of organization’s information structure; classified around a given framework, enabling the stakeholders to use it as a strategic tool for decision making and management support.

Enterprise Architectures would typically include a baseline architecture, a target architecture, and a transition plan to reach the target from the baseline. Enterprise Architecture is at the minimum documented using the following architectural models:

• Business architecture – The idea here is to document and visualize the business aspects like vision, mission, goals, strategies, underlying tactics and associate the same to the business process models, roles and business functions.
• Information architecture/Data Architecture - defines what information needs to be made available to accomplish the business mission.
• Application architecture - focuses on the portfolio of applications required to support the business mission and information needs of the enterprise. The next level of abstraction would be to identify the business components and services which can be associated to multiple applications in the enterprise.
• Technology architecture - defines the technology services needed to support the application portfolio of the business.

Key ingredients for a sound Enterprise Architecture practice would require use of:

• Standard based Modeling methodology : BPMN(Business Process Modeling Notation), UML(Unified Modeling Language) etc.
• Central Repository to store all modeling information
• Enterprise Architecture Framework : Zachman,TOGAF, FEAF, DODAF etc.
• EA tools viz. Telelogic System Architect, Aris, Casewise etc. which provides framework support, multiple method support and centralized information repository.

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Lets start with some definitions first :

Business : The occupation, work, or trade in which a person is engaged: e.g. the wholesale food business.

Process : A series of actions, changes, or functions bringing about a result: e.g. the process of digestion; the process of obtaining a driver’s license.

Model : A schematic description of a system, theory, or phenomenon that accounts for its known or inferred properties and may be used for further study of its characteristics: e.g. a model of generative grammar;

“cited from : process. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved April 30, 2007, from Dictionary.com website”

So Business Process Modelling can be defined as a schematic representation of activities and functions performed by an organization to achieve success in their trade and services offered to the market and customers.

I am sure that there would be a lot of gaps in above definition, if we attempt to make it complete but one thing can be inferred clearly : For a Business to go about doing its business and provide the right services and products to its customer, its understanding and control on how they perform and operate is essential and infact in current age, a competitive edge.
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I wanted to lay down the components of a typical BPM system and how they all work together to provide the concept of process management to the organization.

Business Process Management is both a business and a technology concept depending upon the perspective and roles we perform in an organization.

In this post, I want to target the operational and technical aspects of what constitutes within the realm of BPM.

Operationally speaking Business Process Management is all about achieving efficiency and efficacy for the organization. (Best Practice Note : All process related activities from operational level should be aligned to the value increase for the end customer for maximum results). In Operational terms typically BPM will start with :

1. Business Process Discovery and Analysis : This phase would be all about identifying and envisioning the right process to focus for BPM. Organizations should consider performing Business Process Transformation exercises through series of improvement cycles (use of Lean,Six Sigma to be considered) to achieve the target process map. Having said that its always essential to realize that the aim of BPM is to allow flexibility in incorporating process changes  and organizations should avoid the “Paralysis by analysis” pitfall. Common activities to consider in BPA stage for readers understanding can be :
   • Business Process Discovery workshops
   • Business Process Modelling and setting up Key Process Indicators
   • Business Process Analysis using static analysis (gap analysis metrics, process traceability analysis etc.) and dynamic analysis (simulation using discrete events etc.)
   • Business Process Communication/Publishing : Publish the target process maps for the stakeholders

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Starting the blog by using the content written earlier regarding BPM (Business Process Management)

I would like to start by raising a question to all, What do you think is BPM?. To make the discussion specific, lets start by narrowing down the debate for BPM in two dimensions:

1) BPM from Business view
2) BPM for Technology view

Most of us will probably answer and would agree that BPM is both a Business and a technical concept and depends on the context of discussion can be defined separately. For me the definitions can be as follows (very generically)

BPM for Business can be defined as a way of thinking and an approach which allows the organization to focus and manage its business processes with the aim of deriving efficiency and excellence in its way of working across multiple levels of business to achieve defined corporate objectives

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I am looking at this blog to be a consolidation effort of thoughts out there around Business Process Management and Service Oriented Architecture both from business and technical perspective. Looking forward to starting a series of debates and discussions around topics which are essential to bring us all to on the same page. I would deeply appreciate everyone involved in this field to chip in and provide valuable inputs and resources to make it a successful endeavour. 

 Some on my other posts regarding BPM can also be found at :

http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/erp/bpm

Best Regards

Kapil Pant