BPM Integration

Business Process Management (BPM) is probably the killer Enterprise Application as email was the killer Internet Application. Every business small or large has a business process however in most cases it is informal and business process automation is fragmented across many Enterprise Applications. As email revolutionised the way we communicate toady I expect BPM to revolutionise the way workers, managers and partners cooperate in the Enterprise.

BPM and SOA

A good explanation of Service Oriented Layered Architecture (SOA) is provided by Object Management Group (OMG) here (a local copy is here)

In a nutshell:

• Business Process Layer exposes IT systems functionality to business users and business process designers
• Business Services is the Enterprise Integration (EI) Layer for Enterprise Applications (Components)
• Components Layer is the Enterprise Applications Suite
• Operational Resources Layer are the Databases and Legacy Enterprise Systems

SOA Enterprise Implementation

Legend:

BPM

Business Process Management

ESB

Enterprise Service Bus

SCA

Service Component Architecture

MF

Manufacturing

SCM

Supply Chain Management

PM

Project Management

HR

Human Resources

CRM

Customer Relationship Management

DW

Data Warehouse

Business Process

Workers and Managers use the BPM application to execute the business processes. BPM includes:

• manual steps - the business user interacts with the system
• automated steps - Enterprise Applications colaborate to execute the particular function

The Business Process Designers use a BPM Graphic Design tool to describe the process. She uses BPM Graphic Notation (BPMN) that