Biztalk, workflow/business process, and WWF

In 1970s and 1980s, software mainly focused on data-driven applications, and most of information systems focused on data processing. With the development of information technology, management has gradually surpassed data processing to become the main processing object of Information Technology. Therefore, the demand for process management has gradually emerged, and the concept of workflow has begun to emerge. The emergence of the workflow system makes it possible to automatically flow or execute the entire process.
Workflow definition: "A workflow is a type of business process that can be fully or partially automatically executed, it can be transferred and executed between different executors based on a series of process rules, documents, information, or tasks ".
However, a workflow generally only solves micro-problems such as the production process layer and solves the business process management problem in one aspect of an enterprise. As the business process of an enterprise extends to the outside of the enterprise (suppliers and customers, the traditional workflow system cannot solve the problem of cross-enterprise process integration. Therefore, the business process management solution for enterprises emerged.
It can be said that Business Process Management (BPM) is an upgraded concept of WorkFlow Management (WFM). The core content of the two is the same.

Since the concept of workflow, after a long period of practice, people realize that a unified process modeling model is required to define a set of standards for workflow process design, Process configuration, process engine, process maintenance, and so on.

For a long time, workflows have formed two representative languages:
1. Web Service Stream language (WSFL)
WSFL is a workflow language designed by IBM based on the concept of Directed Graphs. It is a specification for how to implement business process models using emerging Web service architectures.
2. XLANG
XLANG is a block structured language designed by Microsoft. XML language introduced in Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 ). In biztalk, the Orchestration (Business Process) service is called XLANG/s, because its business process is described by XLANG.

The latest development of workflow language standards is that major vendors have jointly launched a Web Service-Oriented Business Process Execution Language (BPEL or BPEL4WS), which is built based on XML and Web services; it uses a Web-based language that supports the web Service technology series, includes SOAP, WSDL, UDDI, Web service reliability message, Web service addressing, Web service coordination, and Web service transactions. In October April 2003, BPEL submitted the Structured Information Standards Promotion Organization (OASIS) for standardization and established the Web Service Business Process Execution Language Technical Committee (wsbpel tc ). This effort has gained a wider range of recognition in the industry.

BPEL represents the intersection of two early workflow languages-Web Service Stream language (WSFL) and XLANG. It integrates the advantages of these two languages, but so far, the products of various manufacturers all claim to comply with the BPEL standard, but the implementation is not very good. Therefore, there is still a gap between the current BPEL and its practical use.

Business processes have two development directions:
STP (Straight Through Process) and CH (Case Handing ).
STP refers to the full automation of business process execution. The system automatically judges the process direction based on the various information sources available and the design of business processes, that is, no manual participation is required.
CH refers to a process that requires manual participation. The interface must be provided to the participants to display the current status of the process, and the participants can perform corresponding processing to determine the process direction.

Biztalk is mainly used for B2B and EAI. These two applications are generally STP applications, and manual intervention is not required after the process is designed. However, in biztalk 2004, HWS (Human Workflow Service) is introduced and combined with infopath forms to provide manual Workflow functions. However, the HWS function is not complete and it is very troublesome to use, so Microsoft intends to abandon it. Although HWS are still available in biztalk 2006, there is no improvement in functionality, but this function is simply retained. Microsoft introduced Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF) in Vista. As part of the operating system, WWF provides the lowest-level support for workflows, in the future, Microsoft's workflow-related products will be built on WWF. the next version of biztalk 2006 will delete HWS, and the business process will be built on the WWF engine.

References:
TJDLUT Business Process Management Overview
Matjaz Juric's BPEL instance tutorial