VOSibilities

This time on CTO Tuesdays, the BPMS podcast, we discuss what persistence of state offers process developers and BPM users. Michael Rowely, host of the podcast and CTO at Active Endpoints discusses what persistence is, how it works and what the potential performance costs might be.

We hope you enjoy this podcast. We’d love to hear your feedback on the series. Just email us or leave a comment here.

Remember: sign up for next week’s CTO Tuesdays here. We will be expanding on persistence to talk about BPMS support for long-running transactions.

 CTO Tuesdays #16: The state of BPMS state: persistence for process [50:18m]: Download (46)

 

 CTO Tuesdays #16: The state of BPMS state: persistence for process [50:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (45)
 CTO Tuesdays #16: The state of BPMS state: persistence for process [50:22m]: Download (16)

If you haven’t been attending our CTO Tuesdays BPMS podcast, we’d like to invite you to become one of our “regulars” starting next week. We’re doing something a little different next week…more on that in a minute.

CTO Tuesdays is, we think, something unique for users of business process management technology. Every Tuesday at noon ET, 9am PT, 17:00 GMT, our CTO Michael Rowley, delivers a short talk on a broad range of topics spanning the BPMN diamond to complex event processing to an introduction to BPMN 2.0.

These talks are detailed and technical. (Come with the rubber band on your propeller-head hat wound up very tight.) These BPMS podcasts are not ActiveVOS commercials (though we do demonstrate the concepts Michael is discussing in ActiveVOS). Each week, we tackle a single topic and try to limit content to about 30 minutes. After, we have a panel Q&A with attendees to discuss the content Michael  — or our guest CTO — has presented. Personally, I can’t wait for the Q&A because I think it’s where I learn the most about BPM technology. The overall idea for the podcast is that in less than an hour, you can learn enough about some aspect of business process management and BPM technology to enable you to continue to explore BPM on your own.

So far, we’ve presented and recorded 15 episodes. And the response from the BPM community has been overwhelmingly positive. (Access replays at www.ctotuesdays.com and the feed at www.ctotuesdays.com/feed.)

Starting March 9 and continuing on March 16, we’re going to try something a little different. Michael will present, for the first time, two separate, but thematically related topics:

• On March 9: The state of BPMS state: persistence for process
• On March 16: How BPMSs support long-running transactions

The first topic is one I’ve nagged Michael to discuss: how does a BPMS persist long-running transaction state? The second takes this idea and builds on it by comparing a BPMS to a traditional transaction monitor (CICS, anyone?) and describing BPMS support for long-running business transactions.

No matter where you are in your thinking about BPM — a newbie, actively trying your first process project, a grizzled veteran — CTO Tuesdays is for you.

You can always register for the upcoming CTO Tuesdays at www.activevos.com/ctot. Registration is free.

Be sure to join us — and bring all your friends.

In this episode of CTO Tuesdays (our 15th!), Active Endpoints CTO Michael Rowley discusses an elegant way of bridging the world of BPEL and the Java world. Then, after the technical presentation, Rowley discusses in the Q&A how, when and why process developers might want to use Java in their processes and warns against “speaking BPEL with an accent.”

There are three formats of the webinar attached to this post. For iTunes and iPod touch/iPhone users, an .m4v is available. A Flash file that can be streamed from the blog and/or downloaded is attached and a Windows Media 9 .wmv is also available.

Please remember to register for next week’s CTO Tuesdays at http://www.activevos.com/ctot

 CTO Tuesdays #15: Using Java with business processes [36:51m]: Download (90)

 

 CTO Tuesdays #15: Using Java with business processes [37:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (133)
 CTO Tuesdays #15: Using Java with business processes [37:00m]: Download (41)

OK, I know…the title “preventing problems through static analysis” doesn’t exactly make you want to spend 40 minutes watching the replay of episode #14 of our weekly tech talk on BPMS technology.

But you’d be missing a really interesting and, dare I say it, fun topic. Trust me.

This week Michael Rowley tackles bugs in BPMSs. Bugs are just a part of life when creating business applications. But what about when you are creating process applications using a model-based BPMS? What happens then? How does the BPMS help you identify — even prevent and eliminate — bugs? Watch this episode to find out how standards like BPMN 2.0 and BPEL work together to help make designing and executing process applications more error-free.

As always, we have three formats of the podcast posted. There’s an iPod touch/iPhone .m4v; a Flash file that can be streamed from the blog and a Windows Media 9 .wmv.

 CTO Tuesdays #14: Preventing problems through static analysis of business processes [37:12m]: Download (95)

 

 CTO Tuesdays #14: Preventing problems through static analysis of business processes [37:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (73)
 CTO Tuesdays #14: Preventing problems through static analysis of business processes [37:17m]: Download (52)

One of the most important — and useful — capabilities of a BPMS is its ability to view, alter and fix running processes. In this edition of CTO Tuesdays, Michael Rowley explores this topic and demonstrates what any good BPMS should be capable of delivering to BPMS users and developers.

There are three versions of the podcast attached to this post. First, an iPod touch/iPhone-formatted .m4v file (also available in the iTunes Store; seach for “vosibilities”). Second, a Flash .flv file which can be viewed here on the blog and/or downloaded. Third, a Windows Media 9-encoded .wmv file.

 CTO Tuesdays #13: Viewing and fixing running processes [43:23m]: Download (148)

 

 CTO Tuesdays #13: Viewing and fixing running processes [43:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (123)
 CTO Tuesdays #13: Viewing and fixing running processes [43:26m]: Download (111)

This episode of CTO Tuesdays features our first guest CTO. John Newton, CTO and chairman of Alfresco Software, joins Michael Rowley to discuss how enterprise content management systems (ECM) can be combined with business process management systems (BPMS) to create compelling end-to-end business applications. ActiveVOS and Alfresco implement the new Content Management Interoperability Standard (CMIS), enabling these two important technologies to work together to produce a new generation of business process applications.

Attached to this post are three versions of the webinar. First is an iPod-formatted .m4v file. Second, a Flash .flv. Third, we have attached a Windows Media 9-encoded .wmv. Finally, we have also attached a PDF of the presentation John delivered.

We hope you enjoy this episode of CTO Tuesdays. We hope, over time, to have additional guest CTOs on the podcast to talk about complementary technologies. And we’d love to hear your suggestions for topics as well as your comments and feedback.

 CTO Tuesdays #12: ECM and BPMS Working Together [47:22m]: Download (158)

 

 CTO Tuesdays #12: ECM and BPMS Working Together: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (175)
 CTO Tuesdays #12: ECM and BPMS Working Together [47:28m]: Download (82)
 CTO Tuesdays #12: ECM and BPMS Working Together: Download (77)

On this episode of CTO Tuesdays, we explore an important concept in software modeling: structured vs. unstructured modelers. Examples of both types are compared and contrasted. Also, the ActiveVOS BPMN 2.0 modeler, which blends the best of both types of modelers is demonstrated.

Three versions of the webinar are attached to this post: an iPod-formatted .m4v file, a Flash .flv file and a Windows Media 9-formatted .wmv.

 CTO Tuesdays #11: Structured and unstructured BPMN modeling [46:13m]: Download (180)

 

 CTO Tuesdays #11: Structured and unstructured BPMN modeling [46:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (179)
 CTO Tuesdays #11: Structured and unstructured BPMN modeling [46:14m]: Download (110)

This week, Michael Rowley presented “Using requirements gathering tools with a BPMS,” an interesting look at the relationship — and the possibilities — of using model-based BPMSs with requirements gathering tools.

We have posted three formats of the webinar replay. First is an iPod-formatted .m4v file. Also, a Flash file that can be played from the blog and/or downloaded. Finally, we have included a Windows Media 9-encoded .wmv file.

Please join us every week at noon ET, 9am PT and 17:00 GMT for CTO Tuesdays.

 CTO Tuesday #10 Using requirements gathering tools with a BPMS [40:59m]: Download (149)

 

 CTO Tuesday #10 Using requirements gathering tools with a BPMS [41:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (127)
 CTO Tuesday #10 Using requirements gathering tools with a BPMS [41:01m]: Download (127)

CTO Tuesdays is back for 2010!

In our first episode of the new year, Active Endpoints CTO Michael Rowley covers some basic theory of how complex event processing (CEP) works and makes the case for integrating a CEP engine directly into the BPM engine. Topics covered include the Event Processing Language (EPL), time windows as a method of correlating disparate events and event streams. In short, a fascinating — and accessible — introduction to a hot technical topic.

We have attached several formats of the webinar replay to this post. First, for iTunes subscribers, we have a .m4v file, perfect for taking along on your iPod. RSS feed subscribers will automatically receive this file. Also, there’s a .flv file which can be played directly on the blog (click where it says “click here” to play it). Also, we have attached a Windows Media 9-encoded .wmv file. Finally, the slides Michael presented are attached as a .pdf.

Be sure to join us live every Tuesday at noon ET, 9am PT, 17:00 UTC for a new topic. You can always register for the upcoming CTO Tuesdays webinar at http://www.activevos.com/ctot. Replays are usually posted here on our blog within 48 hours.

We have an exciting agenda of upcoming episodes, and later in the first part of Q1, we hope to guest CTOs join us for their perspectives on technical topics. We hope you will join us live each week.

 CTO Tuesdays #9: BPM as an event source for CEP [42:59m]: Download (189)

 

 CTO Tuesdays #9: BPM as an event source for CEP [43:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1)
 CTO Tuesdays #9: BPM as an event source for CEP [43:15m]: Download (104)
 CTO Tuesdays #9: BPM as an event source for CEP: Download (99)

We are pleased to make available content from the eighth episode of our weekly technical webinar CTO Tuesdays.

In this episode, Active Endpoints CTO Michael Rowley gives what might be the most concise, “digestable” overview of BPMN 2.0 available on the Web. If you are new to BPMN and want to see what it can do for you and your organization, this content is for you. In this webinar, Rowley discusses basic BPMN notation, including activities, events and gateways. And, in an expansive Q&A following the presentation, Rowley answers questions about the use and capabilities of BPMN.

There are four attachments contained in this post. First, an iPod-formatted .m4v recording of the webinar. This is for subscribers to the podcast in iTunes (search on “vosibilities”). Next, is a Flash .flv file which is intended to stream from the blog, though at the small size I have to limit the player to on the blog (416×312), it’s not the best experience. The .flv file itself is at 640×480, so feel free to download it if you want to play it locally. Next we have the original-sized Windows Media 9-encoded .wmv file. Finally, a PDF of the slides Rowley presented are attached.

We hope you find this content useful. You can always access the replays of CTO Tuesdays here on our blog, www.vosibilities.com in the “CTO Tuesdays” category, in our podcast on iTunes and via www.ctotuesdays.com or, for an RSS feed, www.ctotuesdays.com/feed. We’re trying to make it easy to find and use this content, so if there’s a method you prefer we haven’t accounted for, please let us know.

CTO Tuesdays will return to our every-Tuesday-at-noon-ET schedule in early January, 2010.  Next year we have some exciting additions planned, including guest appearances of CTOs from other leading technology companies. Make sure you sign up to attend every week. You can always sign up for the next episode at www.activevos.com/ctot.

Finally, in answer to a question we had in the Q&A, here’s a link to the OMG specification for BPMN 2.0. In Annex A of this document, you can find the differences between BPMN 1.2 and BPMN 2.0.

 CTO Tuesdays #8: An Introduction to BPMN [61:06m]: Download (379)

 

 CTO Tuesdays #8: An Introduction to BPMN [61:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (582)
 CTO Tuesdays #8: An Introduction to BPMN [61:06m]: Download (265)
 CTO Tuesdays #8: An Introduction to BPMN: Download (259)

Attached to this post is a reply of the December 8, 2009 edition of CTO Tuesdays. CTOT is a weekly webinar presented by Active Endpoints CTO Michael Rowley which presents a technical topic of interest to BPM users. CTOT discusses the “how” and “why” of technologies like BPMN and BPEL at a detailed technical level and is of interest to enterprise architects, developers and managers who want to understand the latest in BPM technology.

This episode takes a look at how it is possible to meld the “Wild West” control flow of BPMN 2.0 with the more buttoned-down control flow of BPEL. Rowley gives an example of a BPEL extension that effectively marries these two standards in a way that preserves the best of both BPMN modeling and BPEL execution.

There are two versions of the webinar replay file attached. First is an iPod-formatted .m4v. Also available is a Windows Media 9-encoded .wmv file.

You can always register for the upcoming CTO Tuesdays webinar at http://www.activevos.com/ctot. Registration is free. Access replays on the Wednesday following the webinar at http://www.ctotuesdays.com or via RSS feed at http://www.ctotuesdays.com/feed.

Be sure to join us next Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at noon ET, 17:00 UTC, 9am PT for a very special CTO Tuesdays in which Michael Rowley will deliver an introduction to BPMN 2.0. If you are interested in BPM and BPMS technology, you won’t want to miss this episode.

 CTO Tuesdays #7: Adding Looping Links to BPEL [45:01m]: Download (387)
 CTO Tuesdays #7: Adding Looping Links to BPEL [45:01m]: Download (249)

I am very pleased to post a recording of what I personally think was the most interesting CTO Tuesdays talk we’ve had yet. This time, Active Endpoints CTO Michael Rowley discussed BPMN 2.0 and BPEL control flows, pointing out the “trap doors” in BPMN 2.0 notation that can, for example, lead to unintended simultaneous downstream process execution and how BPEL (still using BPMN 2.0 notation) can effectively prevent hard-to-understand and -debug process applications in a BPMS.

CTO Tuesdays has been getting great feedback from our growing audience, and I’d like to offer this week’s episode as a good example of why. The discussion of BPMN 2.0 and BPEL flows is something you might not find elsewhere, delivered in an objective way and surrounded by stimulating questions and discussion with attendees. I hope you will join us every Tuesday at 17:00 GMT and participate as well. You can register at http://www.activevos.com/ctot. The replays are always available at http://www.ctotuesdays.com or via our RSS feed at http://www.ctotuesdays.com/feed

 CTO Tuesdays #6: Diamond patterns in BPEL and BPMN [51:17m]: Download (377)
 CTO Tuesdays #6: Diamond patterns in BPEL and BPMN [51:17m]: Download (255)

In episode #5 of our continuing webinar series on technical topics of interest to developers, architects and business analysts working with SOA-based business process management systems (BPMS), Dr. Michael Rowley, CTO, Active Endpoints compares and contrasts two different styles of message correlation. In episode #4, Michael outlined message correlation as defined by the BPEL standard. In this episode, Michael illustrates a different style of correlation, which relies on the execution engine to correlate incoming messages to specific processes. Michael also describes when and how each style (BPEL-managed vs. engine-managed) can be used and notes some pros and cons for each style.

There are two attached versions of the webinar replay (an iPod-formatted .m4v and a DivX-encoded .avi). As always, you can register for the next episode of CTO Tuesdays at http://www.activevos.com/ctot. We look forward to your comments, suggestions and feedback.

 CTO Tuesdays #5: Engine-managed correlation [30:10m]: Download (375)
 CTO Tuesdays #5: Engine-managed correlation [30:10m]: Download (338)

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we (finally) have replays of episode #4 of CTO Tuesdays, our regular weekly webinar on BPM topics of interest to process designers and developers. The subject of this webinar is message correlation, an interesting topic that details how systems match up running processes and the messages for those running processes.

The bad news is that due to a technical issue, the audio for the host, our own Sonal Rajan, wasn’t recorded. This is shame because at the end of each topic, we always have an open Q&A session on the current topic to amplify the technical discussion. Unfortunately, these replays won’t have that Q&A because there’s no audio for the moderator. However, the actual presentation about message correlation was recorded just fine.

In the two attached versions of the webinar replay (an iPod-formatted .m4v and a DivX-encoded .avi), I have edited most of the silent introduction and the Q&A.

As always, you can register for the next episode of CTO Tuesdays at http://www.activevos.com/ctot.

 CTO Tuesdays #4: Message correlation [35:53m]: Download (423)
 CTO Tuesdays #4: Message correlation [35:53m]: Download (450)

This week on CTO Tuesdays Active Endpoints CTO Michael Rowley presented how events are represented in BPMN 2.0 and BPEL.

I think you will find Michael’s explanation of BPMN 2.0 event notation especially valuable.

I have attached two versions of the recorded webinar to this post. The first is an iPod-formatted .m4v. Also attached to this post is a Windows Media format .wmv file.

We have also made signing up for CTO Tuesdays and accessing the replays much easier. You can always sign up for the upcoming session of CTO Tuesdays at http://www.activevos.com/ctot. Replays are always available at http://www.ctotuesdays.com. And, an RSS feed of the replays is available at http://www.ctotuesdays.com/feed.

 CTO Tuesdays #3: BPMN and BPEL events [43:57m]: Download (444)
 CTO Tuesdays #3: BPMN and BPEL events [43:57m]: Download (4470)