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
