Achieving Business Agility with SOA/BPM: Enabling the Service Oriented Enterprise

Richard Mark Soley, Ph.D. Chairman and CEO

Service Oriented Architecture

Wikipedia: SOA is a perspective of software architecture that defines the use of services to support the requirements of software users. In an SOA environment, resources on a network are made available as independent services that can be accessed without knowledge of their underlying platform implementation.

SOA Solves All Our Problems?

Desperately Seeking SOA (Alan Zeichick, 30 December 2004!) n Zapthink: Why is SOA Taking So Long? (October 2005) n Gartner 18 July 2006: SOA is entering the trough of disillusionment
n InfoWorld:

Service Oriented Architecture

Heres a Thought
Perhaps we should focus on agility reusable design performance metrics expected change.

Some More from Gartner

n Organizations

implementing SOAs should pay close attention to the MDA standards and consider acquiring tools that automate models and rules. n By reinforcing the business-level focus and coupling MDAs with SOA concepts, you end up with a system that is inherently more flexible and adaptable.

Why Model Driven ?

n Modelsabstractionsare

ancient in

Engineering n Architecture n Ship-building n Traffic control n Workflow n Maintenance n

n

People Talk to Computers with Symbols while (x < 10) { printf (stdout, array[x]); x++; }

Whats wrong with this (non)-picture? This isnt how engineers design systems.

How to Build Inflexibility

First, fill your mould (requirements & schedule) with wet concrete (code):

Now React to Changes

When youve finished, you have a big, rigid, monolithic thing that has one very specific purpose, and there are no identifiable parts that can be reused for something else its incomposable its completely inflexible its difficult to change if you try, it breaks.

Heterogeneity is Permanent
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Programming languages
n n n

~3 million COBOL programmers ~1.6 million VB programmers ~1.1 million C/C++ programmers Unix, MVS, VMS, MacOS, Windows (all 8!), PalmOS Windows 3.1: it its still out there! Embedded devices (mobile, set-top, etc.) Ethernet, ATM, IP, SS7, Firewire, Firewire, USB Bluetooth, 802.11b, HomeRF

Operating systems
n n n

Networks
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The integration picture is always changing

Executive decisions, mergers & acquisitions have a way of surprising us

How Can We Deal with This?

Make adaptability the design center for your architecture. Design systems as collections of services.

Services add flexibility

n

Improve agility of the enterprise system by mirroring the enterprise

n n n n

Take an order Ship a product Report accounts Forecast sales

Each business process becomes a service

n n

Modularity leads to flexibility New processes can use old services

Service Oriented Architecture

n n

Service: a (generally) coarse-grained business function, some or all of which is automated Composable: may be orchestrated into a new business function without unexpected sideeffects Modular: each service represents a selfcontained business function with a welldefined interface Precisely defined: public metadata describes the functionality of the service, how it can be composed, and expected outcomes.

SOA is a Business Decision

n

The decision to structure the business around welldefined services is related to, but not the same as, an IT decision to use SOA The business decision is tougher than the technical decision.

Precisely defined metadata?

Back up a minute, what is that?

Modeling is the Focus

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Modeling, especially graphical modeling is

n n n

n n n

A natural human approach to design Thousands of years old Allows expression of design separate from implementation, as implementations change Allows for long-term maintenance & integration Is an accelerator of implementation Is technology-independent

18th century B.C. multiplication table

OMGs Mission Since 1989

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Develop an architecture, using appropriate technology, for modeling & distributed application integration, guaranteeing:
n n n

reusability of components interoperability & portability basis in commercially available software

n n n

Specifications freely available Implementations exist Member-controlled not-for-profit

Who Are OMG?

ABN Amro Adaptive BEA Borland Boeing CA Citigroup Compuware DaimlerChrysler EDS Ericsson Fujitsu General Electric Harris Hewlett Packard Hitachi IBM IONA io Software Kennedy Carter Kaiser Permanente KDM Analytics MITRE NASA NEC NIST NTT DoCoMo Northrop Grumman OASIS Oracle PRISM SAP SAS Institute Select Software Siemens Softeam Sun Unisys Visa W3C

OMGs Best-Known Successes

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Common Object Request Broker Architecture

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CORBA CORBA remains the only languagelanguage- and platformplatform-neutral interoperability standard UMLTM remains the world worlds only standardized modeling language CWMTM, the integration of the last two data warehousing initiatives MOFTM, the language-defining language XMITM, the XML-UML standard

n n n n

Unified Modeling Language

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Common Warehouse Metamodel

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Meta-Object Facility
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XML Metadata Interchange

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Going Up The Stack

n OMGs
n

history has been to address the technology stack from the bottom up:
Object orientation n Distributed middleware n Modeling n Vertical market models n Business management: process & rules

The Model Driven Architecture

n n n n n n n n

OMGs Model Driven Architecture (MDATM) initiative is aimed precisely at modeling up and down the stack You have an opportunity to increase your bottom line by integrating your assets Industry standards support that goal by future-proofing your application design The MDA will help you integrate the mix you have today, and give you an architecture to support the unexpected Focus on integrating legacy applications Ensure smooth integration of COTS applications Models are testable and simulatable The aim: a 20-year software architecture

What is Model Driven Architecture?

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A Better Way to Specify and Design & Develop

n n n

n n

Based on modeling standards like UML, MOF Is extensible to all modeling problems Supports full lifecycle: analysis, design, implementation, deployment, maintenance, evolution & integration with later systems Builds in Interoperability and Portability Lowers initial cost and maximizes ROI

Model Driven Architecture

n n n

An initiative of the Object Management Group (OMG) A brand for tools based on OMGs UML and MOF open standards A set of specifications defined by OMGs open, worldwide process.

Modeling: Key Concepts

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Emphasis on transformation techniques

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n n

Based on a standard metamodeling framework; there will be many metamodels, and plenty of modeling languages (including UML) Clear semantics, expressed consistently Potentially many levels of abstraction Maintenance and integration arent pretty, but they are the main job of IT Some generic, some domain-specific, just like the textual language world

Enduring architectures are the focus

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Graphical languages as well as textual ones

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Model Driven Architecture

Shared Languages are Important

n n n n n

The Unified Modeling Language is the successor to the dozens of OO A&D notations of the early 90s UML is broadly adopted, as are other key OMG modeling languages: BPMN, CWM, MOF, XMI Initial UML 1.x standardized in 1997 Vendor-neutral worldwide certification easily available Standardization primed the market
n n n

Hundreds of books Dozens of commercial tools Widely available training UML 2.0 updates came from 54 companies

Supported by an open process

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UML & MDA Books Proliferating

UML Certification Program (OCUP)

OMG/UTI UML Certification Program Started November 2003 Worldwide (English & Japanese) Books available in Japanese & German Three levels of accomplishment Focused on UML 2.0 New Realtime/Embedded on the way OMG Endorsed!

MDA is Proven
n Many
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excellent proofs-of-concept:

Banks, railroads, trading, insurance, manufacturing, healthcare, etc. n Adopted by UN/CEFACT, SWIFT, ACORD, HL7 and other key standards players
n Careful
n

studies prove the point

The Middleware Company (TMC) n Electronic Data Systems (EDS)

MDA is Fractal
n There
n

is a general pattern to MDA:

Discover multiple syntaxes for a single semantic n Derive & design a model which underlies that semantic n Develop transformations between those models.

Back to BPM
n Business

process management is gaining attention due to the need to organize, outline, implement and measure business processes n Central tenet of the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) movement is managing processes (and related IT) to increase agilitythat requires process management

Modeling is Pervasive
om C ss ts n e pon

Bu

e si n

BPMN, etc. UML

ic e v r Se

-O

Arc d nte r ie

ure t c hite

MOF, CWM, etc.

Merger of OMG and BPMI.org

n

Natural combination of groups that had been working together for years Pulled together metamodeling, modeling & notation Integrates business process management, process modeling & business rules

OMG Business Modeling Activity

n n n n n n n

Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Rules

n

Adopted OMG standard Adopted OMG standard Adopted OMG standard (2.0 underway) In process; expected completion shortly In process; expected completion shortly In process; expected completion shortly

Business Motivation Metamodel

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Business Process Modeling Notation

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Business Process Definition Metamodel

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Organization Structure Metamodel

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Production Rule Representation

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Business Process Maturity Model under discussion

Business Process Definition Metamodel (BPDM)

n Defines

an abstract language for specification of executable business processes (with or without human involvement) and may collaborate between otherwise-independent business processes executing in different business environments
BP Language BPDM BP Language

Business Semantics of Business Rules (BSBR)

n Allows

business people to define policies and business rules in their own language and to capture those rules in an unambiguous language that is readily translatable to other representations

An Underlying MOF Model

BPMN: A Core Example

BPMN was designed to bridge the gap between business process design and process implementation
To support both abstract and executable processes: not just automation

BPMN is supported by more than 40 vendors

Process engines support BPMN natively Tools map BPMN to BPEL and other execution langauges Also in use by BPM practitioners in the end user community

Status of the Standard

BPMN 1.0 originally released by BPMI in May, 2004 Fast-tracked by OMG, adopted in only 90 days Specification & information at http://www.bpmn.org/

Simple & Straightforward

Circling Back: SOA, BPM & MDA

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Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an executive decision that requires commitment to discovering, mapping, and executing repeatable processes Business Process Modeling (BPM) is a requirement for mapping, executing and measuring repeatable processes Model Driven Architecture (MDA) is a way to share concepts, designs and languages in a world of constantly changing infrastructure and requirements Tools supporting that stack are in use today.

Sneak Peek: SOA Consortium

n The
n

SOA Consortium is

An advocacy group helping CIOs and lineof-business managers make the transition to SOA n A community of practice helping architects share best practices, success & failure stories

To Get More Information

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BPM Activities Pages

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http://bmi.omg.org/ http://www.omg.org/mda/ http://www.omg.org/ http://www.soa-consortium.org/ soley@omg.org

MDA Information Page

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OMG General Information

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SOA Consortium Information

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Contact the Author

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