December 2008, Geneva Dr Alexander Samarin Business Process Management (BPM) Context for testing

About me An enterprise solutions architect –From a programmer to a systems architect –Experience in scientific, international, governmental and industry environments: CERN, ISO, IOC, BUPA, Groupe Mutuel, State of Geneva, EDQM, Bund ISB –Have created systems which work without me –Current specialisation is improving business process management systems –How to use together BPM, SOA, EA, ECM and IT governance BPM: Context for testing 2

BPM as a tool for enterprise performance management Enterprise business performance improvement Service- and process-centric enterprise Continual process improvement BPM discipline –model, automate, control, execute, measure, optimise Enterprise BPM system –set of business processes as well as practices and tools for governing its design, execution and evolution BPM suite or Business Process Platform (BPP) –coherent set of software tools for facilitating the implementation of a BPM system BPM: Context for testing 3

The goal – easy evolution of a BPM system Experience shows that business wants separate requests for change to be implemented quickly These changes are typically small (from the point of view of the business) and unpredictable (from the point of view of IT) To carry out these changes easily and in a managed way, BPM systems must be properly architected & implemented & engineered BPM: Context for testing 4

Too many stakeholders of BPM Strategy –top manager Business –manager –process owner –super-user –user Project –manager –business analyst IT –manager –enterprise architect –architect –developer –operator 5 BPM: Context for testing

Modelling of business processes is communication between people Architecture (global) principles –Versionable artefacts –Digital, external, and virtual artefacts –All relationships are modelled explicitly –All models are made to be executable Diagramming style in BPMN A dozen practical patterns Structuring for better “executability” Modelling procedure Use a common tool for prototyping (e.g. Intalio) BPM: Context for testing 6

Service as white box Process Service as black box Processes and services 7 BPM: Context for testing

BPMN is a victim of its success Typical Internet age “standard” – a draft proposal with a collection of features already implemented by participants –Too many shapes Deliberate absence of execution semantic in version 1.x –Too simples to draw Each tool interprets BPMN in its own way (e.g. Intalio does it via BPEL) Battle around BPMN 2.0 is a fight between vendors BPM: Context for testing 8

Diagramming style in BPMN Pools –One or more explicit coordination pools –Human –Services –DISPATCH Naming convention Use of colours –Task meaning –Task performers 9 BPM: Context for testing

Practical patterns Automated, Human, Automated Man & Machine Decoupled Business Logic Initial Process Skeleton Error Recovery Loop Structure Your Process Decide, Execute, Control BPM: Context for testing 10

The modelling procedure Its purpose is –to analyse a building block (what it is supposed to do) –to synthesise its implementation (how it does this) as the explicit coordination of other building blocks (processes or activities) It is iterative – we can apply it until we have left only indivisible building blocks (i.e. activities) Artefacts are constructed recursively, like Russian dolls BPM: Context for testing 11

Four phases BPM: Context for testing 12

Testing in Intalio BPMN -> BPEL proprietary interpretation, but with explicit use of events Each process is a service (for unit testing) Manual trace for flow test (many clicks) Support for XSD and XML instances (good enough to define different test scenarios) BPM: Context for testing 13

Unstructured vs structured diagramming Unstructured Structured + explicit use of events for sync Actually, 2 pools for coordination BPM: Context for testing 14 Executed twice!

Ideal situation – BPMN for users, but for vendors Direct interpretation of BPMN –Standard and validatable execution semantic –Hide use of intermediate formats Different levels of BPMN Better understanding of BPMN events Extra standards maybe necessary, as for HTML –XHTML (structure and content) –CSS (presentation) –DOM-based API (dynamic modification) Vendors compete in compliance and performance BPM: Context for testing 15

Thanks Dr Alexander Samarin 16 BPM: Context for testing