IBM WebSphere Business Integration

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IBM WebSphere Business Integration

IBM

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1 Product

Overview

IBM sells a suite of BPM products under the WebSphere Business Integration brand. The various products can be used separately or in combination to enable you to model, manage, and monitor your business processes and your company performance.

Several of the BPM Suite products described in this report situate their products on top of IBM’s WebSphere application server and will, increasingly, incorporate other of IBM’s WebSphere Business Integration products into their offerings. Thus, IBM is active in two markets. It is playing in the BPM Server space, supporting other vendors’ BPM products, and it is active in the BPM Suites space, offering a series of IBM products that can be combined to provide a company with a complete BPM suite. The key products in the IBM WebSphere Business Integration suite include:

• The IBM WebSphereBusiness Integration Modeler (WBI Modeler), Version 5.1, which can be used to define, model, analyze, simulate, and report business processes. It is an open standards-oriented product, operating on the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment. • IBM WebSphereBusiness Integration Server (WBI Server), Version 4.2.4. WBI Server is

a comprehensive software product used to implement scaleable business processes requiring process integration, workforce management, and enterprise application connectivity.

• IBM WebSphere( Business Integration Monitor (WBI Monitor), Version 4.2, is a

Real-Time Monitor that utilizes visual dashboards to provide a dynamic view of business processes for improved business decision-making.

Some of the products incorporated in the IBM offering, like IBM’s WebSphere MQ Workflow (formerly MQ Series Workflow), have been available for years. Others have been redesigned to function within a BPM environment, and still others are essentially new products developed for the BPM market. More important, IBM is defining an infrastructure that will tie all of its BPM offerings together. Simultaneously, it is working with others to create BPM standards that will assure that IBM partners can offer products that will integrate with IBM’s BPM products. Existing BPM Suites, to the degree that they define their internal infrastructure and interfaces, do so only in a causal way, since they really are not designed as a set of BPM components that a client might pick and choose. IBM has consciously designed a BPM environment with open, well defined programming interfaces and standards so that companies and partners can deploy a BPM Suite that addresses their specific needs and allows them to extend it as their needs change. Thus, IBM joined with BEA and Microsoft to propose the BPEL4WS (BPEL) XML business process language which it is now shepherding through OASIS. Similarly, IBM is working with other companies at the Object Management Group (OMG) to develop a business process metamodel and a business rules metamodel, and is working with BPMI.org to develop a BPMN notation that can be used with BPEL. In addition, IBM has developed an Events standard that it plans to submit to a standards body that will simplify the interface between BPM servers and BPM monitoring products. Thus, IBM is not only developing BPM products, but it is simultaneously developing the standards that companies will use to integrate various BPM products.

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Readers should also be aware that IBM is continuing to invest in its BPM offering. IBM executives have given several briefings over the past 6 months, and, in the course of those presentations, the list of products within the IBM BPM offering has increased. We have tried to use the latest list, but fully expect that some will change in the future, as IBM continues to work with customers to further define the benefits of a holistic BPM approach.

2 BPM

Engine

Figure 1 provides an overview of how the various IBM BPM products fit together. The Figure shows the three basic IBM WBI products we are considering in this report, as well as several related products that a company might use.

Infrastructure Services

Application and Data Access Services

Business Application and Data Services Business Performance Management Services

Development Platform

Enterprise Applications and Data Partner Services

Enterprise Service Bus

WebSphere BI Modeler WebSphere Studio

DB2 Information Integrator WebSphere BI Server WebSphere BI Server Foundation WebSphere Portal Server WebSphere BI Connect WebSphere Application Server

WBI Adapters HATS DB2 II Classic WBI Monitor

IBM Software Offerings

Process Services Information Services Interaction Services

Business App Services

Web Services Gateway WBI Event/Message Broker WebSphere MQ

Infrastructure Services

Application and Data Access Services

Business Application and Data Services Business Performance Management Services

Development Platform

Enterprise Applications and Data Partner Services

Enterprise Service Bus

WebSphere BI Modeler WebSphere Studio

DB2 Information Integrator WebSphere BI Server WebSphere BI Server Foundation WebSphere Portal Server WebSphere BI Connect WebSphere Application Server

WBI Adapters HATS DB2 II Classic WBI Monitor

IBM Software Offerings

Process Services Information Services Interaction Services

Business App Services

Web Services Gateway WBI Event/Message Broker WebSphere MQ

Figure 1. IBM’s BPM offering

IBM’s BPM engine is the WebSphere Business Integration Server. IBM recognizes that different processes require different kinds of engines. Thus, IBM uses BPEL to execute Web-based processes that only call software modules. (The current version of BPEL does not directly support human interactions.) At the same time, IBM uses a restructured MQSeries Workflow engine to manage interactions with employees. The server can also support third party Rules Engines. Thus, IBM’s WebSphere Business Integration Server is, in fact, a combination of BPM engines that users can choose among, depending on their needs. The entire IBM WBI Server is based on IBM’s WebSphere application server, on J2EE, and on Eclipse.

2.1 Platforms

IBM products run on Windows, Unix, and Linux and work with all major databases. IBM’s products are designed to utilize the entire range of Web Service standards, including XML, SOAP, UDDI, WSDL, and BPEL, all of which it helped create. IBM supports J2EE containers, JMS and JSP.

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2.2 User Interface

Any BPM product must support a variety of interfaces. Some interfaces support employees, some support modelers or developers, and still others support managers or supervisors who monitor the execution of business processes. IBM’s different products have a variety of interfaces. Many, including WBI Modeler and WBI Server have recently been rewritten in Eclipse, an open J2EE development interface that provides a consistent environment. IBM’s Rational XDE is also based on the Eclipse platform, so developers moving from WBI Modeler to Rational XDE, for example, will experience a similar interface.

The WebSphere Business Integration Monitor is a server-based product (housed on a box) that closes the loop on Business Process Management. It is a Real-Time Monitor that enables users to view and take action on business processes as they happen live. Customers can utilize the real-time performance data pulled from WebSphere MQ Workflow; event flow data from WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker; and non-process data from database tables, and loop it all back into the front-end BPM Workbench (which is based on Lotus) for further manipulation and testing. Changes can be made on the fly, which provides a crucial time/cost advantage.

The WebSphere Business Integration Monitor is made up of two components:

• The Workflow Dashboard monitors not only the data and audit trail of WebSphere MQ Workflow, but also WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker event flows and non-process data from certain external databases. (Note that it is intended that the next release of WBI Server will extend coverage to support direct monitoring of event flows from the WebSphere InterChange Server component of IBM WebSphere Business Integration Server.) The workflow dashboard provides process administrators with a detailed operational console of the business process as it functions. Specifically, process managers are empowered to track and determine performance levels of employees, organization units or entire processes, and to perform load balancing, as necessary.

• The Business Dashboard provides a higher-level, more strategic view of business processes than the Workflow Dashboard. Custom reports can be generated utilizing current or historical activity performances, employee workloads and bottlenecks. The Business Dashboard is designed as a decision making tool for line-of-business management, allowing tactical problem solving on the fly. While the Workflow Dashboard provides intricate details on the business process, the Business Dashboard provides business statistics reporting by comparing comprehensive, actual metrics to established performance measures. Additionally, the Business Dashboard locates and measures the cost of work items that match particular criteria. Archived historical business metrics also play a valuable role in proactive decision-making in real-time.

Figure 2 illustrates a screen developed with WBI Monitor.

System Administration and Security. IBM has an extensive set of system administration and security utilities that are available to anyone using IBM’s BPM environment.

BPM Repository. Because IBM’s BPM environment is comprised of a number of separate products, there are a number of repositories involved, each repository maintaining data relevant to the product. Tivoli keeps event information in its own data repository. IBM’s WBI Modeler maintains data in its own repository. Similarly, any Business Rule Engine that a company might use will maintain its own rule repository. If a customer wants to create a common warehouse for, say, historical analysis, they can use DB2 Universal Data Base to create such a warehouse.

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Figure 2. A User Interface Screen

.Linking Everything Together. At several points we have suggested that IBM is supporting open standards to assure that its products and its partners’ products can be integrated without difficulty. When existing open standards are combined with new metamodels being formalized by the OMG and other open standards, like BPEL and the Common Base Events standard, are being formalized by OASIS, one can see that the IBM is working to create an environment that facilitates linking not only IBM tools and products, but a wide variety of different tools and products into a common BPM environment that a company can standardize to meet its specific needs.

2.3 Scalability

IBM’s BPM engine is based on MQSeries Workflow, which has been used in large enterprise environments for many years. IBM’s largest customers routinely deploy IBM BPM products in complex enterprise environments.

3 Processing Modeling

Over two years ago, IBM acquired Holosofx, a Business Modeling product vendor that had established a superior integration with IBM’s WebSphere MQ Workflow offering, and was respected for its superior process monitoring capabilities. Since then, IBM has enhanced the Holosofx product, increasing its functionality and has rewritten the product in the Eclipse software development environment. The new business process modeling product is renamed IBM WebSphere Business Integration Modeler (WBI Modeler).

Figure 3 pictures a WebSphere Business Integration Modeler screenshot with a process diagram. WBI Modeler supports portions of BPMI’s BPMN notation. WBI Modeler generates both BPEL and FDL. Thus, by changing a flow model in WBI Modeler, one can change the sequence in which the activities in a process occur, as managed by IBM’s WebSphere Business Integration Server or WebSphere MQ Workflow.

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Figure 3. A modeling screen from WebSphere Business Integration Modeller.

WebSphere Business Integration Modeler is used across large enterprises using version control and check-in / check-out functions. Modeler supports Smart Nodes and multiple instances of all nodes. It supports looping and an Expression Editor that allows runtime editing.

3.1 Sub-Processes

IBM WebSphere Business Integration Modeler supports subprocesses, which may be at various levels. There are specific objects that represent subprocess and the grouping of multiple activities. The overall processes provide a higher-level description of the models with the underlying details within the subprocesses. A high-level process can be decomposed to as many subprocess layers as necessary thus allowing users to group activities together in order to analyze and implement them as discrete components. Modeler supports chaining and both synchronous and asynchronous calls.

3.2 Shared Data Space

This may be best seen in the demonstration, particularly looking at the task timings and calendaring function of the WBI Modeler.

The WebSphere Business Integration Modeler has one shared data space that can be used to view not only the graphical representation of the process but also the information contained in the Resource, Organization, and Information models that are associated with any given business process. Modeler supports arrays on all object types, including other WBI Modeler objects such as groups, discussions, chat sessions, and others.

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3.3 Forms

In the next release of WBI Modeler, IBM plans to deliver, the ability to attach forms and documents to the model itself. both during the modeling time as well as through a web-based collaboration environment.

3.4 Time

IBM WebSphere Business Integration Modeler can track the timing of the tasks at both the node and the process levels. It supports multi-level escalation. The task objects are correlated with the resources assigned to complete the activity. The resources can be assigned to specific work calendars. These work calendars support flexible time schedules allowing an enterprise to model the resource constraints of an organization worldwide.

3.5 Process Optimization and Simulation

WebSphere Business Integration Modeler includes an integrated, Discrete Event simulation environment and sophisticated optimization capabilities that enable you to analyze the operational efficiency of business process and potential business results, all before committing resources to development and deployment. The simulation capabilities of the WBI Modeler allow for the ability to do powerful comparison analysis of processes to determine which processes provide the highest return on investment (ROI).

4 Business

Rules

WBI Modeler and WBI Server both support business rules. IBM’s BPM Engine supports constraints and rules within its MQSeries Workflow environment.

Instead of offering a major Business Rule engine with its BPM offering, IBM partners with the various rule engine vendors. In this way customers can choose the rule engine that best matches their requirements. IBM is supporting the development of two OMG business rule standards, one for describing rules in English (the Business Rules Semantics metamodel) and one for describing rules for systems that use inference engines (the Product Rules metamodel). By mapping to these open standard models, any rule vendor can assure that rules developed in its tool can be stored or moved between tools. Thus, IBM will let users decide which rule engine to use, and will simply assure that a company can shift from one engine to another, or combine rules developed in multiple engines in a common business rule repository. Predictably, several of the leading rule vendors will work hard to be perceived as the rule tool to use with IBM’s BPM offering.

5 Integration

IBM’s EAI capabilities are generally combined with its WBI Server offering. Considering that diverse types of databases, packaged applications, and platforms that companies need to combine when they seek to create integrated enterprise applications, IBM, as the preeminent enterprise systems integrator, provides a rich set of application and technology adapters. It is safe to assume that IBM’s BPM engine will be able to access and manage almost any kind of software component or data source needed in the execution of a process.

In terms of creating new applications the WBI Modeling tools export UML to assist in the creation of applications -- for example, in Rational XDE.

In the case of interfacing to applications when the To Be model is to be run, WBI Modeler V5.1 exports a set of artifacts for WBI Server Foundation. These artifacts include the BPEL for the process definitions, XSD for all of the data definitions, and the WSDL for necessary Web Service Interfaces. . WBI Service Interfaces is very capable in terms of the interfacing to applications, and in the services approach to integration. This allows the process engine to choreograph multiple

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applications. In addition, the server is a J2EE application server, allowing further creation of application code.

As you would expect, IBM provides excellent support for transferring information from its BPM environment to IT software development tools when it is necessary to modify the underlying software components or databases being managed by the BPM engine. For years, IBM has been a leading sponsor of the Object Management Group, and has contributed significantly to the OMG’s UML (software development notation and metamodel), and to MDA (the Model Drive Architecture), a generic methodology for moving from one type of model to another. MDA’s success depends on a set of metamodels that are all mapped to a common metamodel, making it possible to move information about the models and instances of the models from one tool to another. We have already mentioned that IBM’s WBI Modeler was written in Eclipse, an open standards platform written in Java. In a similar way, IBM supports the OMG’s Business Process Semantics Metamodel, which makes it possible to shift from one process-modeling tool to another, or from a process model to a UML model for software development. Similarly, any product developed in compliance with these OMG metamodels, which IBM’s BPM environment will support, can shift information in XMI, an XML language supported by most process and software modeling tools, including IBM’s Rational Rose. Thus, whenever a company needs to create or modify an underlying software component to work with a business process, information can be easily moved from the IBM BPM environment to a software development environment, like the one provided by Rational Rose, with a minimum of difficulty.

6 Organizational Structure

IBM’s WBI Server has a built in directory system that can model employees and roles; the system is derived from its MQSeries Workflow product. It also provides bridges to LDAP.

7 Process

Adaptability

All work items share a single process description, or products that offer ability to bypass, redo, or rollback steps, or product that support case handling environment (a library of sub-processes embedded within parent process) or that end-users can use to create their own processes fragments and apply them selectively.

IBM WebSphere Business Integration Modeler and Server allow you to support a concept of error handling and fault handling. In your model, you can build different scenarios to handle exceptions that might occur without human intervention. A user can reassign tasks and edit the model underpinning a current process instance, as needed.

8 Process

Lifecycle

The product has an administrative console that supports control and deployment of process models, supports version control, and administrator has ability to overwrite existing published processes. The product records reasons why changes were made.

IBM WebSphere Business Integration Modeler supports Lifecycle Management through an administrative console that supports control and deployment of process models with version control. The product also allows you to compare multiple versions to determine impact of changes being implemented prior to updating or adding a new version ensuring proper visibility in the process design. The versioning capabilities for the Modeler are within the open standard CVS system.

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9 Monitoring, Measurement and Management Information

Most of today’s BPM Suites either lack process monitoring capabilities, or do monitoring poorly. In essence, they present supervisors with data about what is happening as the process is executed. The data is usually only useful to process supervisors, not to senior managers, who need more context and data summarized in various ways. IBM sets out to remedy this deficiency on a grand scale. First, there is IBM’s WebSphere Business Integration Monitor, which can provide supervisors with information about a process. IBM supplements this with additional monitoring function and analytics.

IBM goes even further by integrating its Tivoli Business Systems Manager, which monitors the performance of software systems and uses analytic techniques to analyze and relate the effectiveness of IT support to process performance. Using Tivoli, IBM makes it possible for IT managers to quickly determine if process problems are related to underlying problems with IT software, middleware, or database functions.

IBM monitors also manage metrics. In some cases, a company will specify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and IBM’s monitoring tools can monitor and report when KPIs are achieved. In other cases, IBM’s monitoring tools, using data mining techniques, will identify KPIs from the data and bring them to the attention of managers.

Using IBM’s WebSphere Information Integrator, companies can federate information from throughout the enterprise. Thus, IBM can gather data about sales in stores, items returned, complaints filed, and dollar goals achieved to date, to provide a broader context in which to understand a given product production process. IBM’s DB2 AlphaBlox technology enables companies to analyze and present their data in summarized form and support drill down capability. Obviously, IBM is capable of providing more information than any one business manager could evaluate or use. Thus, IBM creates a foundation that can support various different manager dashboards and reports. In essence, one imagines a team of business and IT managers, with each able to view different dashboards, while working together to change or improve a business process. At the same time, IBM specifies APIs for its monitoring utilities so that companies can use other vendors’ analytic engines to analyze either business or IT data.

Monitoring a process, no matter whether you focus on the execution of activities during the course of the process, or on how efficiently activities are obtaining information from databases, depends on tracking events that occur during a process. Every time an employee presses “ENTER” to let the system know that a purchase order is complete, or whenever a software system initiates a message to a Credit Card agency that requires an evaluation of a cardholder, an event occurs. Every BPM product has some way of monitoring events. Unfortunately, different BPM products monitor and record events in different ways using different formats. IBM has defined a common set of event type, called Common Base Events (CBEs), with its partners and has submitted CBE as an open standard approach to OASIS. In time, OASIS will undoubtedly issue a Common Business Events (CBE) specification. At that point, any vendor that wants to interface with IBM’s BPM environment can do so by using the CBE standards, thus assuring that companies can mix and match a variety of BPM tools, depending on their needs.

Manager’s Interface. The various managers’ browsers that a given company might create can all be developed and presented via the IBM Workplace facility. This facility not only supports a clean browser interface, but also provides the tools necessary to represent data in any of a wide variety of ways, and provides a collaboration function.

The IBM Workplace screen is divided into a number of Portlets that can be used to display a variety of information based on various users’ roles. What is shown depends on the products being used in the specific company’s BPM suite. Assuming the company is using IBM’s WBI Modeler, WBI

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Monitor, and WBI Server, the monitor will be capable of showing the process model being managed, and a variety of information about the events taking place in the process. If the company were using Corticon’s Rule Engine, a Portlet interface would let the user access information on the rules being used by specific activities, and so forth. The key is that IBM has created a standard interface and a server to send the interface to users. As IBM or a partner’s products are added to the BPM environment, developers can add different panels to make more information available to the various user screens being used in the application.

10 Templates and Frameworks

IBM licenses a series of vertical industry templates that populate the WBI Modeling tools. One example of this is the Information FrameWork, which delivers a large number of template processes for Retail Banking. Descriptions of this may be found at

http://www.ibm.com/industries/financialservices/doc/content/component/software/397443103.h tml

There are other equivalent models available from IBM in other industries.

IBM is also offering a number of frameworks or templates that can be used to assist companies in the development of specific types of business processes. To cite only two examples: IBM has worked with the insurance industry consortium, ACCORD, to create an IBM ACCORD Package that provides insurance industry specific process knowledge for insurance companies that use IBM’s BPM offering. Similarly, IBM supports the international, de facto ITIL standard, which companies can use to define and rapidly develop IT service processes.

11 Vendor

IBM is the largest computer technology vendor in the world with some 330,000 employees, and a wide range of hardware, software, and consulting service offerings. Its revenue in 2003 was 96 billion dollars. Its corporate headquarters is in New York and it has research, manufacturing, and support offices throughout the world.

Other BPM vendors must worry about their ability to support the wide variety of different BPM initiatives. IBM’s capitalization and its active participation in all leading standards initiatives assures that IBM’s offerings will be among the leading BPM products in any foreseeable future.

12 Cost

The licensing structure is such that the modeling products are licensed to users. IBM offers a discounting structure to IBM software users, based on volume.

The WBI Modeler Entry Edition is $1,250 (in USA).

The Servers (BPM engines) are licensed per processor, not per user. The specific system configuration (and therefore the price for the solution) depends on the specific solution required. For example, list prices for WBI server foundation per processor is 49 thousand US dollars, and the AD tools (WebSphere Studio Application Developer Integration Edition) around 8 thousand dollars. Depending on the nature of the users a specific configuration may support the 8 or 32 users. First year maintenance is included in the price

For a very broad indication, a 2 processor system, which may support the 32 users above, is around $110,000 at list, and therefore lower for an existing IBM user.

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IBM : IBM WebSphere Business Intégration

Product Overview IBM offers a number of different products that can be used together or separately

for BPM, including WebSphere Business Integration (WBI) Modeler, WBI Server, and WBI Monitor.

BPM Engine IBM WBI Server supports multiple BPM engines and provides support for

process integration through both BPEL and a workflow engine. WBI Server Foundation is based on IBM’s WebSphere application server and J2EE and Eclipse.

Platforms Most IBM WBI products run on WebSphere and J2EE. They run on Windows,

Unix, Linux, and all major databases.

User Interface Developer interfaces are based on Eclipse. User interfaces are browser based and

utilize WebSphere Portal.).

Scalability IBM’s largest customers routinely deploy in complex enterprises.

Processing Modeling Web-based BPMN modeler; Smart Nodes; Expression Editor; Multiple instances

of all nodes; Looping

Sub-Processes Independent sub-process objects; Chaining; synchronous and asynchronous calls

Shared Data Space Sophisticated process workspace; arrays on all object types; including other WBI

Modeler objects such as Groups, discussions, chat sessions, etc.

Forms Integrated portlets; HTML, JSP, PDF and InfoPath

Time Node & process level; multi-level escalation

Process Optimization &

Simulation Integrated Discrete Event Simulation environment

Business Rules Rules supported by WBI Modeler and WBI Server. Other vendors provide

Rule-Based engines that can be integrated with WBI Modeler or WBI Server.

Integration Smart Nodes; JCA Connectors/Adapters; Web Services;

Organizational Structure LDAP/AD; sophisticated security model supports entire product;

Process Adaptability Re-assign tasks, edit model underpinning current process instance

Process Life-Cycle Version control; utilizing the product itself, one could develop a fully functioning life-cycle management tool that captured all related discussion, attached documents, release authorizations, etc.

Monitoring &

Measurement IBM offers a very sophisticated monitoring package based on WBI Monitor, IBM’s Data Warehouse, analytics and BI, Tivoli, and its BPM Workplace dashboard.

Templates &

Frameworks IBM provides a number of frameworks. IBM Global Services packages IBM BPM products with various industry specific templates and frameworks.

Vendor IBM is a leader in hardware, software and consulting. It has 330,000 employees

and earned $96 billion in 2004. It has plants and offices throughout the world.

Cost Varies widely, depending on customers’ relationship with IBM. A typical 2