BPMs market and products

Business Process Management System (BPMs) is an integrated set of software. Although many suppliers' products cannot implement all the features of BPM we define, they are moving in this direction. As a developing market, the BPM functions implemented by existing software are determined by the most critical requirements of the enterprise, the background of the supplier, and available resources. In fact, some important vendors do not provide an integrated system. They only provide mature software or services for one or two specific features of BPM.
Here, we will examine the suppliers in the market and their products. Next, we will discuss the main functions of BPMs. Finally, we will return to BPMs Technology and Business Process Analysis and Modeling (BPA/m), business intelligence (BI), Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), business activity monitoring (BAM), Business Rule Engine (Bres), and enterprise Event Management (eem) portal, B2B process, EAI, Enterprise Service Bus (ESBs), Web Service, and integrated development environment (IDE.
I. BPMs supplier Classification
We can divide BPMs vendors into several categories. Although classification is not necessarily accurate, it helps us understand the understanding of BPM by different vendors and what BPMs needs their products to address. Almost all BPMs vendors look at BPM from a technical perspective, so their products only indirectly meet the business management principles proposed by BPM. This is unfortunate because only a clearly defined process-oriented business management strategy can be used to successfully implement a BPMs. However, there are indications that the status is changing.
There are currently eight most important BPMs suppliers:
· Pure BPMs suppliers: Pure BPMs vendors have designed a BPMs product from the very beginning and use it as their flagship product.
· EAI suppliers: EAI suppliers naturally extend from their software products to process integration and process automation. From message flow to workflow management service, activity monitoring dashboards, and performance management, there is no great leap in concept. However, many EAI suppliers are still moving towards business processes.
· Workflow Supplier: similar to the EAI supplier, the workflow management system supplier can easily enter the BPMs market. A workflow can be seen as a well-structured business process.
· BPA and BPR suppliers: Existing Business Process Analysis providers rely on BPR to obtain the market. These suppliers generally have rich experience in process analysis, definition, and simulation. Some suppliers provide the process execution and process monitoring functions.
· EAs and IDE vendors: these suppliers find BPM market opportunities attractive. The first step they take is to add graphic rule-driven or process-driven functions and integration functions (especially integration with Web Services and JavaBeans) to the IDE for rapid development of process-based applications. To go beyond this technical process perspective, you must add a Process Engine driven by business process analysis and design and process definition.
· Enterprise application Supplier: enterprise application suites (such as ERP) contain embedded workflow management and some EAI features that help customers customize and integrate. Under current market pressure, they began to enhance this feature to better adapt to BPMs needs.
· Bre, bam, and eem suppliers: These suppliers' products play an important role in BPMs. Some vendors are expanding their products to provide more complete BPMs functions. Some vendors use the rule engine to implement rule-driven methods in process execution.
· Bi and OLAP suppliers: these suppliers are becoming BPMs suppliers as they develop in terms of business, enterprise, EPM, and dashboards. They began to realize that BPM or workflow management is required to meet performance management needs. They may support the process outside the analysis flow.
Ii. BPMs Functions
It is impossible to describe all vendors to implement BPMs. Therefore, we will describe the components that an ideal BPMs should have. In terms of concept, these components can be divided into six categories:
· User interface
· BPA/M features
· Runtime Components
· Bam and EPM
· Infrastructure
· System Management
The user interface and system management functions are very clear and will not be introduced below.
1. Functions of BPA/m
A BPMs contains a set of BPA/M tools. BPMs users use these tools to interact with the system. These tools should be seamlessly integrated for convenient use by business users. Definitions generated by these tools are stored in a knowledge base, which can be accessed directly or indirectly by the runtime system.
· Business Process Modeler: a business process modeling tool is the main process design and process change interface of BPMs. In addition to the traditional process analysis function-capturing, designing, and modifying business processes and their attributes, you also need to solve the operational attributes and interface attributes of business functions. These include resource requirements. Although some process design methodologies must be adopted, the modeler should not be limited in capturing the process, whether in terms of complexity or structure. It should allow users to define and implement process standards to help transform between process designs. Various views of the process should be provided based on permissions, functional responsibilities, and the required level of detail. To support process independence and process extraction, the last requirement is very important.
· It preparation modeler/: It preparation modeler is used to define and maintain technical flows, such as message flows and data flows, data conversion, and transactional management of IT resources. In an ideal BPMs, it supports ing between business process definition and technical preparation. In addition, the business functions are mapped to the service class. The ing process can be explicit or implicit.
· Business Transaction modeler: for businesses, it is important to associate business transactions with business process events and define transactional attributes. The business transaction modeling component can meet the business needs of audit, consistency, and error recovery.
· Technical transaction modeler/: a business transaction must eventually be converted into an implementation model, this implementation model maps it to a group of coordinated streams, events, technical transactions with acid (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) attributes. This tool is used to create and maintain definitions and mappings.
· Business Standard modeler: It is useful only when business processes and business functions are associated with business standards or key performance indicators (KPIs. Therefore, a key feature of BPMs is to capture business standards and associate them with crude indicators (such as generated by a process engine or a specific business function. The difference between business standards and crude indicators is critical. For example, business personnel are interested in the completion time of a business transaction, while rough indicators such as average queuing time, average active service time, and the most likely path to completion are too technical and too detailed. The definition of business standards affects the formulation of coarse indicators.
· Technical indicator modeler/: A Business Standard or KPI must eventually be converted into a group of physical or technical indicators for obtaining these indicators. This tool is used to develop the required technical indicators and methods for generating business standards from technical indicators.
· Business Process Simulation: discrete business process simulation is of great value for business process design, optimization, and fault check. It should prompt the distribution of optional paths, adjust the cost in the activity-based cost analysis, and adjust the distribution of data values of the control flow path branches. It should also provide visual emphasis on potential bottlenecks or inconsistencies, and identify the best process design based on user standards. It should be able to simulate with user data or historical data. Users have high requirements on Visual Simulation and simulation results.
· Simulation engine: The effectiveness of simulation depends on the precise representation of the operational characteristics of the process engine. The higher the matching degree between the simulation engine and the target process engine, the more accurate the simulation results.
· Dashboards: this tool is used to monitor process instances and the standard data they produce. Dashboards can be roughly divided into three categories: BAM dashboard, EPM dashboard and process monitor dashboard.
· Dashboards designer: dashboard may be designed based on different users. This tool can use personalized technology and content management technology.
· Business Process Manager: users should be authorized to start, stop, pause, redefine or change a process or business function instance. They may need to modify a message or manually allocate resources. This function shows the flexibility of BPMs.
· Business analyzer and report builder: many problems of business personnel must be solved through a large amount of computing and analysis. Sometimes, analysis involves complex statistical models, and users do not need to understand these models, as long as they know what to use. You need to view the analysis results through reports. It is best to pass these reports over the network. These tools are common in an OLAP system, although the business analysis components of BPMs must be customized according to the specific business process environment. It is also good to provide an analysis help library to help you understand specific business processes. This type of tool is usually a component of BAM and EPM products.
2. runtime Components
The runtime component is the heart of BPMs. If there is no runtime component, BPMs cannot execute the process definition and manage the running of the process. The technical architecture, features, and functions of runtime components largely determine the operational availability, performance, efficiency, and flexibility.
· Process Engine: BPM is clearly a central component of BPMs. It aims to implement business processes, manage real-time calls, and terminate business functions. Ideally, it should not specify the form of the process or the nature of the business functions. We believe that the traditional workflow engine is a subset of the BPM process engine, so the process engine should be able to process structured workflows.
· Distributed BPM Coordinator: B2B, B2C, global, cross-region or cross-department business processes require a distributed process engine. This means that the process engine must have Remote Process calling, communication, and coordination functions. In some cases, the interaction between process engines is coordinated by a global process. Each participant in the dialog may have different process views and security policies. They may regard the external part of the process as a subprocess. The coordinator is also a supervisor and firewall.
· Resource Manager: In an ideal BPMs, a tool is required to implement the independence between business function definition and business function implementation. This resource Independence gives business users priority to their business goals, improves the robustness of Business Process definitions, and effectively manages available resources during runtime. Business functions may be implemented through mechanisms, electronic means, software, or manual methods. The resource manager must allocate appropriate resources for the execution of business functions. These resources should meet the definition-based and runtime requirements of business functions. When a business function is called or activated, the required resources must be available. After the business functions are completed, these resources are sent back to the resource library. Generally, a task can be executed in parallel and load balancing is performed in a group of resources. If the required resources are unavailable, the resource manager should automatically allocate an alternative resource. For example, you can use a manual method to complete a task that should have been executed in an automated way.
· Scheduler: In BPMs, business function scheduling is an important task. If there is no limit on the use of resources, if there is no limit on the time sequence, if there is no external constraints, then the business function can be executed immediately after the previous task is completed. But in fact, these conditions are rarely met. We must consider authorization, load, and capability issues, and some functions are executed by agents, but we do not have control over these agents. In addition, business processes and transactions are generally subject to external time constraints, or are triggered by external events. These factors make the scheduling of business functions a complicated technical problem. If BPMs does not have this component, it cannot run efficiently and the process cannot be executed in a timely manner.
· Rule Engine: a rule engine can enhance the functions of the Process Engine and resource manager. A rule can represent the allowed conversions of a process and control flow decisions between activities. The rule also indicates the initial conditions and completion conditions of the activity. You can use a Rule Engine manager to match the resource requirements and capabilities of business functions. The rule engine helps the resource manager optimize resource allocation. The rule engine is also important in EAM and EPM, especially when it comes to events, standards, and responsiveness.
· Hardware interface MANAGER: this component enables BPMs to control activities through computer numerical control, robot interface, flow control interface, and so on. This can achieve operations on cranes, Canal locks, manufacturing equipment, valves, etc.
· Interface MANAGER: if the process engine cannot communicate with business functions, BPMs has no value. It must communicate with data streams in a coordinated manner. If BPMs is integrated with a set of integrated components, the interface manager should be responsible for the integrated operations. The interface manager should process communications with the adapter and technical preparation engine.
· Work order MANAGER: interacting with human resources requires some task delivery methods. Generally, You need to log on to the system and select a task from the form for human-oriented workflow management. These forms are usually prioritized. Now, a task may call an automatically generated applet or form, or an interactive function in an enterprise application. The work order manager should support manual activities involving external resources.
· Knowledge Base: BPMs requires a mature DBMS or knowledge base to store data and metadata. There are many data objects to store in the knowledge base, including business process definition, integrity rules, instance logs, messages and data streams, business standard definitions and data, business analysis and report definitions, data retention, transaction definitions and data, security and policy definitions, access logs, simulated data, error events, and solutions.
If these technical runtime components are not correctly integrated, it will be inconvenient to use. However, if they can be integrated with a common architecture and programming interface, they can form a coherent and coordinated unit, enhancing the integrity of the enterprise.
3. Business Activity Monitoring and Enterprise Performance Management
For process management, it is critical to monitor events, analyze evaluation data, detect trends, and compute KPIs capabilities. Without these capabilities, you cannot intelligently optimize business processes or respond to strategic events to create effective new business processes. The Semantic layer, analysis engine, and rule engine are shared by BAM (focusing on detection and response to real-time events) and EPM (focusing on detection, response, and Prediction of business performance-related trends.
· Semantic layer: This layer handles the ing between views and technical descriptions required by business users. This is a concept layer that allows business users to monitor business processes from the perspectives of business standards, Business Objects, and Balanced Score cards.
· Bi/analysis engine: complex and rule-driven analysis is usually required when computing business standards and KPIs based on underlying or technical standards.
· Portal management and personalization: each business user may require personalized display of business evaluation data. If you configure dashboards as a portal, you can achieve this through portal management.
· Event Management: BAM requires monitoring of business events and technical events, interaction with the Rules Engine and analysis engine to classify events, determine proper responses, and ultimately implement responses. Response execution may involve process initialization, event initiation, and warning triggering.
· Enterprise information integration: enterprise information integration and Bam require access to a wide range of data. Conceptually, this function is an enterprise information integration product, but most BPMs products provide access to data source integration.
· Content management: most business data is embedded in documents. Bam's content management feature enables it to monitor more data events.
4. Infrastructure
The following technical interfaces can be simple or complex, but BPMs must have these components.
· System Manager: BPMs requires it support components for installation, configuration, and system management. System Manager should have general functions of enterprise-level Software System Manager. The work of a System Administrator is very complex, so the availability and reliability of the system manager is very important. It aims to eliminate manual management tasks.
· Audit Manager: most enterprises require audit of business processes. The audit manager is responsible for tracking what the process has done, what decisions are made, when, WHO, and what resources are used. Once the audit conditions are defined, they should be strictly enforced. Audit points should be closely integrated with transaction boundaries. The audit manager must support tracking query and report generation.
· Error MANAGER: although many errors can be predicted and business processes can be established to respond to them, there are always some errors that cannot be foreseen. Therefore, you must use a consistent and auditable method to manage errors, even if you need to handle them manually. The error manager should define error categories and related responses.
· Security and Policy Manager: As mentioned above, not all agents are authorized to execute any task or activity and use any resources at any time. BPMs cannot violate business policies and must ensure security. It may have to support encryption, digital signatures, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), single-point logon, and so on. BPMs must have a secure mode involving access, use, and management, because business processes may be the most valuable intellectual property rights.
· Integration infrastructure: from the underlying perspective, the integration infrastructure is composed of a set of directly connected adapters that provide point-to-point integration between BPMs and methods for implementing business functions. To a minimum, BPMs needs to provide a human communication method for manual processes. From the perspective of the highest level, the integrated infrastructure may be a complete business integration component. Obviously, BPMs can run well at a fully integrated level. This infrastructure may be a traditional EAI and Web Services architecture on the ESB.
· Ide: with the maturity of BPMs, users will certainly want to develop software that fully utilizes BPMs. To achieve this, we need a set of development tools. The simplest ide should be able to develop new adapters and Web services. You need an IDE that provides process-driven design and development to build event-driven, rule-based applications or application components. Before using these ide tools, you need to learn the integrated process object methodology. Sometimes application servers and application platform products provide process-driven IDE.
3. Development Trends and predictions
Early BPMs products only had simple workflow-like functions. A few years ago, they developed into products that have the minimum support for BPA/m and bam, now it supports more complex processes that contain manual and automated activities. Its support for BPA/m has been greatly improved, and the support for BAM and EPM is also being improved.
In the next 4 ~ 5. There are still many development prospects for BPMs. The following development predictions are particularly important:
· Wider scope of business processes, without the need to convert them into highly structured equivalents
· Separation of business view and technical view in design and monitoring
· Integrated solutions for unexpected handling
· Improved joint and distribution capabilities to better support enterprise-level applications and B2B applications
· Collaborative business processes
· Interconnected business processes
· Strong business transaction support
· Intelligent resource manager, better resource independence
· Verified standardized design and development methodology
· Specific implementation methodology
· Integrated BAM/PEM, optimized through closed loop
· Higher levels of performance, reliability and availability
· Standard but easier-to-Customize Business Process Definition (Template) Library
BPM and related technologies are promising, and there are many potential business benefits. However, its implementation can be successful only after careful research and quantitative control.