ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters, we discussed data-and application-focused technologies that are the building blocks of Business Process Management Systems (BPMSs). These technologies are integration components that can be coordinated to form a business process management solution. The platform to design and deploy the business process management solution is the BPMS. Database-integration components offer BPMS the ability to interact directly with data sources. As unglamorous as data integration might seem, analysis of a process is impossible without data. The flow of data is central to the execution of any business process. Applicationintegration components provide BPMS with the ability to integrate and control applications that are part of a business process management solution. If data is the source for analysis, applications are the workhorses of a business process. Applications perform calculations needed for the business process to provide its output. These calculations include supply chain optimization, customer pricing, work order scheduling, etc. Applications also record transactions that happen as part of a business process. Transactions are often necessary for bookkeeping purposes. Other times, transactions serve as input for further calculations needed for the business process. Because applications are the workhorses of a business process, the ability to control and integrate applications is critical to business process management (BPM). Some applications interact with other systems using messaging. Other applications interact using interfaces exposed through a standard component model (Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Microsoft XML Web Services platform (.NET), Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), etc.). The various application integration
components we discussed in Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 provide BPMS with capabilities to control these applications when executing business process management solutions. Workflow is the other key technology component essential to BPMS. From workflow management system (WfMS), BPMS obtained a process design tool that allows business process management solutions to be modeled. In addition to design functions, workflow also gives BPMS the ability to integrate people into business process management solutions. In this chapter, we will discuss the WfMS in detail.
