Theory
BPM is not an IT term, and it is not the result of technological development, but rather, BPM is the term and concept of management from beginning to finish. Its focus has always been on efficiency, cost, profit, quality and other core issues.
BPM is a discipline and a methodology, but modern enterprise management is increasingly inseparable from it technology, and BPM software products is a construction tool, an extremely exciting tool, can provide faster, better, cheaper solutions. It transforms it conversations into business languages to address the long-standing problems of it-communication barriers between business and it, helping businesses improve efficiency, make processes visible, agile, and help businesses transform their business.
BPM related standards
- BPEL (Business Process Execution Language): SOA-based orchestration of SOA is itself an SOA that can be organized into business processes as activities in higher-level processes.
- Pros: Based on SOA, you have the ability to integrate powerful, cross-functional, cross-platform, heterogeneous systems.
- Disadvantage: Too close to a programming language, not a business language, and a lack of definition for human tasks.
- XPDL (XML process Definition Language): This is a developer-related, but implementation-agnostic, process description specification and switching interface.
- Pros: Better than BPEL in terms of business process integrity.
- Cons: Primarily for IT staff, lack of support for SOA, poor integration capabilities
- BPMN (Business process Modeling Notation): Defines a process flowchart that is based on a flowchart that is designed to create a graphical model of business process operations. Its main goal is to provide some symbols that are easily understood by all business users, from the business analysis that creates the process outlines to the implementation of these processes, until the end user's management monitoring.
- Pros: Closest to the business language.
- Cons: SOA not supported, poor integration capability.
BPMN works on a business level, BPEL is for it, and XPDL is somewhere in between. Currently the best solution is BPMN + BPEL.
IBM BPM integrates business-oriented WebSphere Lombardi and WebSphere process Server for IT staff in 7.5, including BPMN-based process designer processes Designer and BPEL-based integration designer.
The life cycle of BPM
Generalized life cycle
The generalized life cycle is illustrated from the point of view of business management, which covers almost all aspects of enterprise strategy management, strategic process definition, business construction, business process definition, business service definition and orchestration, business execution and monitoring, business process optimization improvement and strategic adjustment.
Narrow life cycle
The narrow life cycle is illustrated from the perspective of it implementation, which refers to the process of executable business processes from design modeling to deployment execution, monitoring and improvement in BPMS systems.
Future Trends in BPM
- Agility
- Smarter
- Community-based
- Mobile
- Virtualization of
IBM BPM Product Architecture
The core issue of BPM product design is that it must span two parts of business and it to support business users in building business processes in a business language, and it must be able to support it to integrate IT assets to implement business processes. This requires the BPM product to have both business design capability and it design capability, and the ability to unify the two models into a single complete model.
BPM can integrate this system, which requires BPM to have strong scalability, to accommodate, extend, integrate various enterprise applications, BPM-centric application ecosystem is not only isolated business problems and process problems.
The IBM BPM product consists of the following components:
- Process Center
- Process Server
- Process Designer
- Integration Designer
IBM BPM Project Development methodology
BPM is primarily business-driven, which determines that process development is "coarse-grained", meaning that BPM describes the main activities of the business through Business Week concepts that business people can understand, shielding technical details that the business unit does not care about.
Process development is a "coarse granularity" of the combined development process, but also a continuous iterative, continuous improvement process.
Basic principles of BPM "coarse-grained" development
- Develop processes and forms with standard, graphical, customizable process product development tools to avoid using code as much as possible.
- Try to encapsulate the parts that need to be developed in code as reusable components.
- First build the process platform, and then do the development of specific business processes.
- Plug in Business rules that can be customized by business people and become business components that can be changed by customizing the business.
BPM is a management concept that is not intended to replace existing systems, but rather to utilize or reuse existing systems to manage business processes at all levels of the enterprise.
From a technical point of view, the implementation of the manual workflow has three challenges: 1) process modeling and the state jump between processes, 2) Human task personnel assignment, 3) links within the form and form business logic.
Sequence of BPM project implementations
- Human Workflow
- Collaborative processes
- Monitoring process for Level three processes
- An automated process based on SOA
- The monitoring process above the second level process
Content and development principles of the process platform
What is a "process platform"? refers to the establishment of an enterprise-shared functional module platform, the process development can be reused in the module and services on the shared platform, so that a specific process development is simple.
Development content of Human workflow platform
- Define and establish a process platform and Enterprise Portal system. The logical relationship between business systems.
- Define and establish a standard API interface that is provided externally by the process platform.
- Set up a common function module of process platform: Trigger, suspend, resume and terminate of process.
- Establish the basic mechanism and monitoring page of process monitoring
- Establish and service bus integration call mechanism.
- Establish the management of the process life cycle.
- Non-functional indicators to meet the process platform
- Build Liu Process Deployment environment: development, testing, production.
- Establish the operation and maintenance specification of the process platform.
Principles for the development of manual work processes
- The routing link of the process and the form logic in the link are loosely coupled.
- Process Routing and the execution of the link are loosely coupled with the task assignment rules.
- Process and background services are loosely coupled.
- Loose coupling between process data and business data.
External interface of the process platform
- Create and start a process instance
- Terminate the process
- To delete a process instance
- Hibernation Process Instance
- Activating process Instances
- Node jump
- Claiming tasks
- Submit a Task
- Get the participants for a task
- View Task Items
- Transfer
- Modeling tool Contributor Settings
- Mandatory settles
- Process Document Operations
- Performance data
Development steps and development principles of the specific process
- Define the business data structure of the process
- Define and draw a flowchart
- Specify the properties of the link and specify the execution role of the link and the assignment rules of the task
- Define the logic behind the forms and forms involved in the development process
- Give the performance indicators of process monitoring
- Work with business people to "replay" processes to improve process design
What is "link"? The link can be a simple human task, or it can be a sub-process already in the toolbox. Common link Type: 1) manual link, 2) Person trade union sign link; 3) business customization link; 4) automatic link; 5) control link; 6) decision-making session.
What is "process playback"? Refers to working with the business people, using the process tools provided by the process playback function to perform the scene playback of the established business process, during the discussion process personnel developed the process template and the business people's Process function development specification is consistent, there is no need to improve the place, but also to examine the process of the last class description of the business activities.
Process replay is a necessary step to ensure the health of the process, which must be performed on a regular basis during the process development process.
Process playback typically includes the following:
- The "granularity" of process development is the business content that business people understand, as much as possible to block it parts that the business people do not understand
- Whether the business data structure of the process is aligned with the business requirements
- Routing rules and jump rules between each link in the flowchart
- Execution roles and task allocation rules for each link
- Whether the form presentation and form logic in each link are consistent with business requirements
- Whether the performance indicators of process monitoring are consistent with business requirements
Process grooming and Design
What is process grooming? Process carding refers to the enterprise's internal elements and external factors, the business characteristics of the whole enterprise and management of the current situation of deep and detailed analysis and refinement, identify the status of the process and management of the key points, build the enterprise's process framework, classification and grading of the process to help enterprises better management transformation and business operations, and help managers to optimize organizational structure and balance the allocation of resources and so on.
Process Grooming processes: First through the collection, analysis of the enterprise's existing process documents and business events list, understand the overall situation of the enterprise and initially comb out the general framework of the process, and then through the business interview, workshop discussion, questionnaire survey and other ways, clear the process list and the process of stepwise decomposition and definition description, Finally, according to the results of the process combing, write the process requirements document, clearly define and describe the process, and make final confirmation with the user.
The construction of process architecture is the starting point of an enterprise's process management, a complete business system including organization, process and system, the principle is to build from the macro business level to the micro level of activity, from easy to difficult, simple to complex, complete coverage of the enterprise from business to operation of the entire content and details.
Steps of Process Architecture framework Design
- Define the business framework of the enterprise and determine the value chain with competitive advantage
- Identify core business and support business, and design an effective business management model for each process's module domain
- According to the management model under each business module, the whole process list is listed and the relationship between the processes is considered to form the process framework of the business module.
Process grading
- Value chain
- Process Chain
- Process
- Task
- Steps
After the process has been combed, it is necessary to define the process clearly, describe the input, output, activity steps and related personnel of the process, and answer questions such as why, what to do, how to do, and who to do.
At this stage, we need to export the flowchart and process documentation.
Commonly used flowchart definition tools:
What the process documentation needs to include:
- Process overview
- Process participation Positions
- Input/Output
- Process Activity Description
- Critical Control points
- Process KPIs
- Resources
- Version Management
One of the important purposes of flow carding is to comb, classify, and merge the process of analysis, and to combine the final course of the enterprise's general process for the latter to use in the development process.
BPM Process Design
The business process is designed to adapt the business process to the needs of the market and the requirements of the enterprise, including design, analysis and optimization processes. The purpose of the design phase is to set up the target process according to the analysis result and combine the enterprise goal, then implement it in the IT system, which will help to create the valuable target process for the enterprise in the future.
How to transform business requirements
- Use case model
- Service Use Cases
- Business Use Cases
- Documenting business scenarios and data requirements
What is BPMN? The full name is the business process modeling tag/Business Process Modeling Callout (Notation), a common modeling standard managed by the Object Management Organization (OMG), which provides many functions, such as process interaction, exception handling, and semantic replenishment. is widely accepted by the industry mainstream manufacturers of modeling standards.
BPMN consists of 4 parts: 1) Flow object; 2) connection object; 3) Swimlane; 4) utensils.
IBM BPM supports two ways of structuring a form:
- Coach-based forms
- Forms based on external pages, which are implemented through URLs, greatly enrich the extensibility of this part.
There are often some automatic links in the business process, or the invocation of some special interfaces in the human service, or even some parts of the external system need to be called, which requires the BPM system to provide rich interface support, BPM support way:
- WebService-based access
- Java-based access
KPI definition
KPIs (KPI, key performance Indicator) is a goal-based quantitative management indicator for measuring process performance by setting, sampling, calculating, and analyzing key parameters of the input and output of a process within an enterprise organization.
IBM BPM allows users to perform KPI-related actions as follows:
- Review the KPI properties and modify the owner.
- Open Alert Manager, and no KPI creates an alert.
- Open the history and forecast configuration options for the KPI.
- Send the KPI widget as a task to other dashboard users.
Process Portal
Types of process portals supported by IBM BPM:
- Default Process Portal
- Customized Process Portals
- External implementation of the process portal
Basic principles of process grooming and modeling
- Customize your job responsibilities by starting from the goal of your work, not the process.
- Eliminate activities that do not add value to internal and external customers.
- Make decision points as close as possible to where decisions are needed.
- As much as possible to enable the same person to complete a complete work.
- Communication, decision-making and problem solving between departments should be carried out at the level of direct participation in the work.
Basic principles of process design and development
- Basic functionality is modular and variable functionality is scripted.
- Process templates are categorized and customizable.
- Consider the mobility of the process system.
BPM Development Fundamentals and advanced
This section is the largest, but the fastest, because the daily work has been using IBM BPM to provide customers with solutions, but this part of the entire book is the most grounded gas content, the operability is very strong. Some of these things are not used at work, and are hereby recorded.
- When you define a coach, you can drag variables directly onto the page and automatically generate the corresponding controls based on the attributes in the variable.
- Two ways to deploy IBM BPM applications: 1) Online Deployment (TWX), 2) offline deployment (offline package).
- With regard to server-side scripting, IBM BPM uses the Mozilla JavaScript engine rhino to interpret the star script, the Rhino engine is a pure Java implementation, its studio bridge two different languages, In its implementation, Java methods can be called directly from JavaScript, or JavaScript can be invoked inside Java methods.
- The IBM user group is divided into: 1) system management level, physical group-security group; 2) application-level, logical group-Contributor group, or team.
- About team, divided into: 1) static teams; 2) dynamic team. Services used by dynamic teams include: 1) team retrieval service; 2) Team Filter Service.
- A good example of invoking an AJAX service is to call Ajax services in a restful way, or directly in a script.
Common coach Usage patterns
- Data synchronization mode, in which different parts of the coach are bound to the same variables.
- Asynchronous data Update mode, using AJAX services.
- Page refresh mode, refreshes the entire page, implemented inside the human service.
- Page template mode, which is equivalent to a parent page.
- Repeat attempt mode
- Role-based dynamic display, where you set the visibility property for each control and assign a value to the property in the script.
- Label page mode, using the tab control.
- Data list mode, using the table control.
- Data list listening mode, 1) handled in the Load event, 2) using the change data boundary event.
- Option Data Update mode for flexible use of bound variables.
Understanding and using the UCA
The full name of the UCA is the "covert (event) agent", the undercover agent, which is initiated by the event, which is usually triggered by a message or a specific time, thus initiating the UCA, and when the UCA starts, it calls the specific BPM service with which it is bound to fire the event back and forth. Therefore, you should use the UCA when you want to automatically trigger a BPM service or process when a certain type of message event occurs, or when you want a BPM service or process to be invoked as a result of a message event that occurs automatically for a certain class of timed events.
There are few places where you can use the UCA in your project, and there are scenarios where you start a specific bpd at a specified time of the month, typically using a UNIX cron script to launch the BPD via a URL.
Process Portal Customization
The process portal allows users to customize the following scenarios:
- Modify the login page
- Customizing the navigation bar
- Modify Theme Elements
There is no requirement for a custom portal, because in a production environment, a BPM server serves multiple customers at the same time, and if the process portal is customized, it affects all users.
Manage business processes using the REST API
This part is familiar, and a lot of rest is used in the project.
Considerations when using the REST API:
- URL length limit, you can use the Post method to establish the request, while setting the Content-type HTTP header information to application/x-www-form-urlencoded.
- To create an HTTP method rewrite channel
- Toggle Data Format
IBM BPM integration with Web service
This part is seldom used at ordinary times, later has the opportunity to study in detail.
Some reusable assets
- Signed, dynamic plus minus sign
- Agent
- Custom implementation tree Structure
I understand that some reusable toolkit should be provided with the book, but it has not been discovered yet.
Considerations in BPM development process applications and toolboxes
- The dependencies of the process application and the Toolbox are statically bound.
- Version control is for process applications, not individual files in the process application.
- When a snapshot is generated for a process application, the version of the Toolbox contained in the process application is also determined in that snapshot.
Business Process Definition
- Define an appropriate amount of business activity in a business process definition.
- It is generally believed that there are no more than 7 business activities for the main process
- Avoid the system channel activity that defines the book order.
- In the process of orchestration definition engine execution, excessive sequential execution of activities, especially system channel activity, can greatly reduce the ability of the entire engine to process transactions and increase the load on the database side.
- Avoid defining multi-instance system channel activity
- Because this produces a lot of tokens, at the same time, only one token can be moved.
- Avoid defining a business flowchart for infinite loops
- Using the business process definition for polling operations consumes a certain amount of server processor resources.
- Consider using other communication mechanisms instead of polling, such as the Java Messaging service, whenever possible.
- If polling is necessary, you should use a secret agent, the UCA.
- Avoid deep nesting of processes or activities
- Understand the difference between timer and service level agreements (service levels Agreement, SLAs)
- Bare Metal for a service level agreement is only triggered when the associated activity starts or completes.
- We can use timer events to send notifications, but instead track and monitor historical trends with service level agreements.
Considerations for service development process
- Human task node definition, as far as possible to the same personal operation of the page encapsulated in the same human service.
- Avoid saving context
- Variable
- Number and size of variables
- When a variable is no longer needed, it is empty.
- Minimize the number and content of variables that are transferred between each active node.
- Differentiate process data from business data
- Do not define the entire business application data as process variables, and business application data should be maintained separately
- Interface design and scripting
- Avoid showing too much content on one page
- Avoid using large sections of JavaScript
- Tracking, for non-mobile phone and tracking KPI business process, can Jin Yong automatic tracking function.
- Exception handling
- Avoid global exception handling
- Business exceptions and run-time exceptions
- A business exception is an exception that has been defined in a business system and has a business meaning.
- Run-time exceptions refer to an IT-level exception.
- Naming conventions
- Process applications and toolboxes clearly rules
- Name control is within 64 characters
- In addition to the customary name, try to avoid using abbreviations
- Fill in the detailed description information in the Description field
- No version information in name
- Snapshot naming rules
- Provide snapshot date stamp
- Describe changes to this version, enhanced content
Run-time performance tuning
- Event Manager Tuning
- The main function of the event manager is to ensure that the code can be executed as planned
- Any task that is scheduled by the event manager is actually executed on a process server.
- Scenarios using the Event Manager: 1) UCA invocation, 2) handling notification of Business process definition (bpd), 3) executing system channel activity defined by the business process, 4) executing timer events defined by the business process.
- Synchronization queue
- asynchronous queues
Business operations Considerations
- Monitoring through the Process management console
- Search process instances through Process Monitor
- Troubleshooting errors and failures in a failed process instance through Process Monitor
- Mapping relationships for Contributor groups when new version snapshots are deployed on the process server
- Migrating current data, using policy files
- Regular cleanup
- Periodically purge process instances
- Data Backup Archive
- Administrator intervention
- The IBMBPM contains the Event Manager component, which is responsible for moving tokens in the Orchestration definition engine and the service engine, and the event manager continuously handles a looping event, knowing that the event manager is stopped or the loop terminates.
IT Operations considerations
- How to ensure the robustness of the system, keep track of the system and record
- Environment backup
- BPM Profile Directory
- Database
- IBM installation Manager
- Update the Process portal task index, using the Taskindexfullreindex script
High availability of BPM
From the point of view of system operation, high availability is divided into two categories: 1) process high availability; 2) high availability of data.
The high-availability construction goal is to provide continuous service by eliminating single points of failure, the main means is to eliminate single points of failure through redundant components and clustering techniques.
The high availability of the system is not calculated by the high availability of the most reliable components, whereas the high availability of the entire system depends on the components of the system with the least high availability. That is the cask theory.
BPM High Availability Architecture
- The front desk has two Web servers, either active-active mode or Active-standby mode
- High availability of the BPM layer through WebSphere embedded clustering technology for high availability of cluster members
- The high availability of the LDAP server tier is achieved by configuring one or more standby LDAP servers, and then defining those servers in WebSphere
- The high availability of the database server can be solved by clustering technology or the HA technology of the database itself
- A single store itself has done a lot of work, such as using RAID to protect data
The methodology of management and control of BPM
Enterprise adoption and trial business process management is a long-term, continuous, continuous improvement, continuous maturity of the process.
The ability of an enterprise to apply BPM can be divided into 5 levels:
- Initial level, explore and try
- Mastering level, best practice application and accumulation
- Standardized level, from BPM project development to BPM project group
- Process optimization level, BPM is fully implemented at the enterprise level
- Business transformation level, business process-based corporate culture
Enterprises adopt business process management to solve their own management problems and business problems, enhance their business value and management efficiency, and ultimately improve their own market competitiveness and achieve their own strategic objectives.
Before deciding to adopt business process management, enterprises should have both short-term and long-term planning, and should adopt the principle of " want to make small, rapid expansion " in the early stage.
Enterprise adoption of BPM problems
- Lack of business process implementation and management capabilities
- But opposed to the correct understanding of business processes
- Lack of keen insight into business processes
- Lack of long-term planning with business processes
- Lack of rapid delivery capabilities for business processes
- Lack of resources and technology for business process implementation
- Lack of business process platform at enterprise level
- Business process repositories at the enterprise level
- Integration capabilities with other systems in the enterprise
- Enterprise-Class standardization
- Enterprise-Class Security mechanisms
- Enterprise-Class monitoring mechanisms
- Continuous expansion of the enterprise business
- Lack of support for enterprise organizational structure
- Strategic-level guidance and monitoring
- Business process lifecycle management and control
- Management and maintenance of best practices
- Description of the enterprise-class business model
- Business-level and it-level coordination
- Support and management of shared platforms
Successful implementation of the first business process project
The first business process project should first consider the choice of running in the enterprise is already more mature, consensus, easy to comb, small complexity of the process to implement.
Should pay attention to avoid the misunderstanding:
- Wrong project scope leads to unclear demand
- Business processes do not yield an effective return on investment (ROI)
- Lack of effective communication and expression of business requirements
- Frequent changes in demand, affecting timely delivery of projects
- Business teams and IT teams are isolated and need to be playback together
- Lack of effective coordination between departments, resulting in inconsistent implementation strategies in different sectors
BPM Process Control mechanism
The basic concept of business process control is an enterprise-level framework in which the strategic objectives of an enterprise can be successfully implemented at the business process level, and the framework also ensures that the business value of the enterprise can be reflected through business processes.
Elements of the BPM control framework
- Define the overall principles of BPM governance and interaction with other control layers
- Establish standards, norms, guiding principles or basic frameworks for activities
- Define all relevant roles and their responsibilities. Full and communication channels
- Define the organizational structure that manages the business process lifecycle
- Define basic procedures for sharing and reusing information about business processes
- Defining a funding model for BPM projects
- Define criteria for evaluating and measuring business process business value
- Define business-level and it-level collaboration guidelines and communication channels
Operational model of BPM control mechanism
- BPM Executive Steering Committee, responsible for adjusting direction and funding
- BPM Project Review Committee, responsible for planning, sequencing and preaching
- BPM design team, responsible for building and reusing
- BPM Solutions Team, responsible for delivering process solutions
- Bpmsoa and Platform team, responsible for building and managing infrastructure
BPM Center of Excellence
What is the "BPM Center of Excellence"? This is an entity organization, specifically responsible for enterprise BPM related strategic planning, behavior rules, implementation guidance, project monitoring, it planning and other matters, to ensure that BPM control mechanism in the enterprise effective implementation and continuous improvement.
Three key areas of the BPM Center of Excellence
- Strategy
- Delivery
- Shared platform
"IBM BPM Practical Guide" reading notes
