VOSibilities

Western Governors University is an online university that was facing student management challenges as it continued to grow at a significant pace. The university is in a rapid growth state, and was looking for a BPM solution, one that would be based on standards and could incorporate human tasks with automated processes.

The IT organization at WGU launched a search for a BPM system that was standards-based, supported a services-oriented architecture and easily deployed and maintained on their own. After considering several of the other solutions (including JBoss jBPM and coding a solution themselves), WGU selected the ActiveVOS business process management system (BPMS) from Active Endpoints.

This Upside Research Implementation Brief takes a closer look at the university, its challenges, and its decision to select a model-driven BPMS over a set of non-integrated propriety tools as the foundation for its SOA architecture. It also examines the business impact of its BPM deployment.

Download the Active Endpoints Press Release below for more details.

 WGU Saves 80% with Active Endpoints BPM System: Download (90)

If you’ve been attending the live recordings of CTO Tuesdays, our BPM podcast, and/or watching the replays, you know that we have stuck to our knitting for the most part: detailed technical discussions of BPM technology.

Starting with last week’s CTO Tuesdays and continuing with the episode posted below, we have increased our range to crucial technical decisions for BPM users which may have very long-term effects.

We are, to put it bluntly, very concerned that the marketplace is receiving — and accepting — incorrect information about the real relationship between BPEL and BPMN 2.0. Last week, Michael Rowley dispelled this myth in the abstract. This week, Michael has gone further: he actually shows what a two-toolset, two-engine BPMS environment with only a fig-leaf of integration looks like, using Oracle’s BPM Suite 11g and SOA Suite 11g as the poster children.

Yes, Oracle is a competitor. And yes, we have a “dog in the hunt,” as they say. Therefore, for sure, we have an opinion.

None of that undoes the fact that users should consider alternative points of view — views based, as we attempt to do, on the exact text and meaning of the BPMN 2.0 specification. And the fact that we have an opinion — and a product based on that belief — doesn’t undo the fact that much of the argument that BPMN should execute directly and that BPEL is passe is as self-serving as anything we may say.

So, I urge you to watch the replay of CTO Tuesdays attached to this post and to consider the alternative arguments we make. We’re not going to convince everybody, but we truly believe that the people who do consider their long-term BPMS strategy will find that BPMN as notation with BPEL execution is the better alternative.

 

 CTO Tuesdays #29: Oracle: BPMN and BPEL [41:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (304)

 CTO Tuesdays #29: Oracle: BPMN and BPEL [41:20m]: Download (78)

 CTO Tuesdays #29: Oracle: BPMN and BPEL [41:20m]: Download (260)

 CTO Tuesdays #29: Oracle: BPMN and BPEL: Download (137)

BPM practitioners emphasize collaboration in the design and development of process applications.

Among the many benefits of using a BPMS to manage collaboratively designed processes are that the BPMS has abundant knowledge about those processes.

Take that data…couple it with the end user’s awareness of the process (because he or she helped design the automated process) and you have possibly the richest source of information imaginable for reporting and visualization.

In this webinar replay, you can see how the ActiveVOS BPMS uses Actuate BIRT to deliver integrated reporting. And, you will learn how it is possible to put even greater control of reporting and analysis directly into the hands of the same users who designed an organization’s automated processes.

 BPMS and BI: Better decision-making [76:31m]: Download (238)

 

 BPMS and BI: Better decision-making [76:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (214)

 BPMS and BI: Better decision-making [76:31m]: Download (94)

 BPMS and BI: Better decision-making: Download (138)

If you follow Active Endpoints and ActiveVOS on the web and/or in social media, you know we aren’t timid about…well…anything. We try hard, however, to make sure that as we forcefully make our points we are backing them up not just with emotion (a remarkably clarifying attribute often missing vendors’ discussions of technology) but also with hard facts.

You can see the very best of that loud-but-authentic aesthetic at work in episode 28 of CTO Tuesdays, the BPM podcast.

For too long — and, frankly, for reasons that mystify me — some voices have spoken of a “conflict” between BPMN and BPEL. It has always seemed to me that those points of view — that BPMN 2.0 is somehow a “successor” or “replacment” for BPEL –  have an agenda that’s more about their preferred results in the marketplace than about the “best” or the “right” thing for users. IOW, politicking is at play.

But, as we all know, in politics, negative campaigning works. “BPEL is dead;” “BPMN 2.0 execution obviates BPEL.” These misstatements have gained far more attention than they deserve. They have escalated to the level of myth — or worse, conventional wisdom — both of which can have lives very separate from reality.

Our response: BPMN 2.0 is better with BPEL execution for users for a plethora of reasons. Far from dead, BPEL’s fundamental mistake of not specifying a visual notation is cured by BPMN 2.0. And BPMN 2.0 achieves its highest likelihood of success when coupled with BPEL execution.

Still, the myth that these two crucial standards are in conflict persists. Watch this podcast replay to see and hear Michael Rowley debunk these myths — passionately and accurately.

And be sure to join us next week for episode 29, titled “Oracle’s misguided approach to BPMN and BPEL” for even more myth-busting. Register at http://www.activevos.com/ctot.

 

 CTO Tuesdays #28: BPEL BPMN myths [56:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (156)

 CTO Tuesdays #28: BPEL BPMN myths [56:26m]: Download (39)

 CTO Tuesdays #28: BPEL BPMN myths [56:26m]: Download (222)

 CTO Tuesdays #28: BPEL BPMN myths: Download (90)

Recently, we’ve had a disagreement with Activiti over the value of what they call “standalone” BPMS. “Standalone” BPMS is a non sequitur, because by definition, BPMSs manage multiple people and systems. By virtue of what they actually do, BPMSs are the antithesis of standalone systems.

In Aciviti’s lexicon, however, an “embedded” BPMS is the answer to a set of problems involving cost. But the real answers to the cost issues Activiti raises aren’t primarily technological…because those issues come from BPMS vendors’ business models and their product design (or, in the case of BPMSs cobbled together by acquisition, lack of product design). Naturally, we believe we have licked these problems in ActiveVOS.

OTOH, there are some serious, fundamental problems with the embedded BPM approach Activiti promotes. And the webinar replay attached to this post explores these issues. We hope you enjoy it.

 Using BPM and ECM together [65:38m]: Download (251)

 

 Using BPM and ECM together: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (203)

 Using BPM and ECM together [65:38m]: Download (28)

Active Endpoints is honored to have its ActiveVOS BPMS recognized by SD Times for the second year in a row. Our BPMS has been selected for the prestigious SD Times 100.

The details are in the press release attached to this post.

 Active Endpoints Named to SD Times 100 for Second Consecutive Year: Download (238)

We are pleased to present the recording of the 27th episode of CTO Tuesdays, the BPM podcast from Active Endpoints.

In this talk, Michael Rowley, Active Endpoints’ CTO discusses how a business process management suite (BPMS) can provide the infrastructure necessary to survive serious disruptions.

There are several previous CTO Tuesdays episodes which are related to this topic and which you might also find interesting:

• CTO Tuesdays #16: The state of BPMS state: persistence for process
• CTO Tuesdays #17: How BPMSs support long-running business
• CTO Tuesdays #25: BPM 911 – how a BPMS calls for help

Together, these podcasts make a compelling case that BPM-style development has the features and capabilities necessary for enterprises to be comfortable placing their most crucial processes on BPM suites.

Please register for next week’s live recording of the podcast at http://www.activevos.com/ctot.

 

 CTO Tuesdays #27: BPMS and disaster recovery [35:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (238)

 CTO Tuesdays #27: BPMS and disaster recovery [35:04m]: Download (33)

 CTO Tuesdays #27: BPMS and disaster recovery [35:04m]: Download (237)

 CTO Tuesdays #27: BPMS and disaster recovery: Download (127)

Imagine you are the project lead on a crucial project to integrate an acquisition, update a core process or develop a new process to support the launch of a new product. What are the chances that you will not have to include data and information from a mainframe system?

Zero is probably the correct answer. It doesn’t matter whether or not you think mainframe technology is cool or not (I happen to admire it, but that’s another story). The chances are overwhelming that you will have to include mainframe systems in your deployed processes.

So, watch the replay of a webinar we presented with Active Endpoints partner and mainframe technologists extraordinaire GT Software to see how easy and accessible including mainframe technology into your processes can be.

 Levergaing mainframes in BPM [69:16m]: Download (255)

 

 Levergaing mainframes in BPM [69:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (242)

 Levergaing mainframes in BPM [69:16m]: Download (47)

 Levergaing mainframes in BPM: Download (81)

This summer, Active Endpoints CTO Michael Rowley and industry analyst, blogger and BPM expert Sandy Kemsley are presenting a series of webinars focusing on the “human aspects” of BPM.

On Wednesday, June 9, we presented How to Explain BPMN to Business Users, which featured an overview of proposed subsets of BPMN 2.0 designed for specific roles, a demonstration of the ActiveVOS BPMN modeler and an interesting discussion of the future of BPMN. A replay of this fascinating presentation is attached to this post below.

Our third and final session of BPM Summer Camp is titled Five Things You Should Never, Ever Try in Process Development and will be presented on Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 12pm EDT / 9am PDT / 16:00 UTC. Please register for this free webinar here.

You can also watch a replay of the first session here.

 BPM Summer Camp session 2: BPMN [72:01m]: Download (378)

 

 BPM Summer Camp session 2: BPMN: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (548)

 BPM Summer Camp session 2: BPMN [72:01m]: Download (173)

 BPM Summer Camp session 2: BPMN: Download (359)

Episode 26 of CTO Tuesdays, the BPM podcast, is a must see.

Michael Rowley discusses how WS-HumanTask, coupled with capabilities provided by JSON and AJAX make it possible to eliminate presentation tier services on application servers for worklist management and process initiation in BPMSs.

It’s a look into how the browser, courtesy of AJAX techniques, has become so powerful for presentation logic that it has obviated the need for extra server-side work. While that may not be the latest news, what is fascinating is the application of these capabilities to BPM — and the inside look at the protocol enabled by the move of presentation logic to the client.

A note: I had a problem with the recoding of this podcast. The bad news is for the first couple of minutes, you’ll hear me give my welcome and introduction to the webinar, but you won’t see my PowerPoint slides. The good news is, once Michael begins his talk, you will see everything perfectly.

Update: During the Q&A in this episode, a user asks about parsing JSON on the server side. One of our engineers, PJ, heard that question and offers this answer:

Here’s a link to the JSON specs and libs and links to for parsing in Java, C, C++, ASP, PHP, etc.: http://json.org/

In ActiveVOS, you do not need to parse JSON because it is automatically converted to XML by the ActiveVOS engine and passed into the Receive (or onEvent) activity in your process. So, in ActiveVOS, one works with XML using XQuery & XPath.

For those using REST based services and want to parse JSON or respond with JSON, they can use the following extension functions:abx:jsonToXml(jsonStr) -> returns XML element
abx:xmlToJson(xmlElement) -> return JSON string

For more information, in ActiveVOS’s Expression dialog picklist, see Functions->BPEL->ActiveVOS->JSON

PJ also notes that we have documentation on using JSON in ActiveVOS at http://www.activevos.com/dev/sdks/XML-JSON-Binding/docs/Part1-ActiveVOS-XML-JSON-API.html and sample code in our SDKs at http://www.activevos.com/developers-sdks.php.

Thanks, PJ.

 

 CTO Tuesdays #26: Eliminating the presentation tier [44:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (244)

 CTO Tuesdays #26: Eliminating the presentation tier [44:00m]: Download (48)

 CTO Tuesdays #26: Eliminating the presentation tier [44:00m]: Download (254)

 CTO Tuesdays #26: Eliminating the presentation tier: Download (148)

Wir freuen uns, den ersten Teil unserer deutschsprachigen Video-Podcast-Reihe – Geschäftsprozessmanagement (BPM) mit ActiveVOS – präsentieren zu können. Die Demonstration wurde von unserem deutschsprachigen Partner iTransparent GmbH entworfen und erfolgreich durchgeführt.

Der Video-Podcast gliedert sich in drei Teile:
1. Übersicht über die Einsatzmöglichkeiten von ActiveVOS
2. Demonstration der BPMS-Kernfunktionalitäten (Live-Demo)
3. Frage und Antworten

Für die vereinfachte Wiedergabe bieten wir vier verschiedene Multimediaformate an. Falls Sie ein iPhone, iPod touch und/oder iPad besitzen, empfehlen wir den Download des mv4-Formats. Alternativ steht das Video selbstverständlich auch als Flash-Datei, bzw. WMV für die Wiedergabe im Windows Media Player 9 zur Verfügung. Die Folien der Präsentation können zusätzlich zu den einzelnen Videos als PDF heruntergeladen werden.

 Deutschsprachige Demonstration von ActiveVOS [38:42m]: Download (254)

 

 Deutschsprachige Demonstration von ActiveVOS [38:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (238)

 Deutschsprachige Demonstration von ActiveVOS [38:42m]: Download (33)

 Deutschsprachige Demonstration von ActiveVOS: Download (94)

Neil Ward-Dutton of MWD Advisors says in the webinar Making the Right Connections Between BPM and SOA that sometimes, depending on what your business focus is, SOA and BPM can be like ships passing in the night.

If that’s happening in your enterprise, it’s a real shame. Watch the replay of this webinar in which Neil and Active Endpoints CTO Michael Rowley make a business and technology argument for linking BPM and SOA initiatives in your organization. It’s a compelling case…and one we hope you will consider adopting in your organization.

 BPM and SOA: making the right connections [72:03m]: Download (276)

 

 BPM and SOA: making the right connections: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (374)

 BPM and SOA: making the right connections [72:03m]: Download (95)

 BPM and SOA: making the right connections: Download (152)

On CTO Tuesdays #25, Active Endpoints CTO Michael Rowley discusses BPMS alert monitors and services which can be used when the BPMS detects issues in running processes.

 

 CTO Tuesdays #25: BPM 911 - how a BPMS calls for help [33:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (269)

 CTO Tuesdays #25: BPM 911 - how a BPMS calls for help [33:28m]: Download (73)

 CTO Tuesdays #25: BPM 911 - how a BPMS calls for help [33:28m]: Download (303)

 CTO Tuesdays #25: BPM 911 - how a BPMS calls for help: Download (109)

This summer, Active Endpoints CTO Michael Rowley and industry analyst, blogger and BPM expert Sandy Kemsley are presenting a series of webinars focusing on the “human aspects” of BPM.

Sign up for Sessions 2 and 3 here. Watch the replay of Session 1, Team Dynamics in BPM Projects, below. You can watch the replay of Session 2, How to Explain BPMN to Business Users here.

 

 BPM Summer Camp session 1 [80:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (546)

 

 BPM Summer Camp session 1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1001)

 BPM Summer Camp session 1 [80:35m]: Download (231)

 BPM Summer Camp session 1: Download (294)

On episode #24 of CTO Tuesdays, the BPM podcast, Michael Rowley delivers a very interesting talk on how to manage services that might be unavailable when your process is running. A modern BPMS consists of web services running “all over the place” — which might make you think given the vicissitudes of networks and applications, building a robust BPM process application would be difficult, if not impossible.

But in this BPM podcast, you’ll see how well-thought-out BPMSs tackle this very fundamental problem — and how easy it can be to manage “problem” services. In fact, there’s so much choice in both design and deployment of BPM applications, next week’s CTO Tuesdays will expand on the ideas presented in this episode.

Be sure to watch this episode if you are working with a BPMS — and join us for part 2 next week. Register at http://www.activevos.com/ctot.

 

 CTO Tuesdays #24: How to be prepared for services that might go down [45:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (288)

 CTO Tuesdays #24: How to be prepared for services that might go down [45:45m]: Download (62)

 CTO Tuesdays #24: How to be prepared for services that might go down [45:42m]: Download (309)

 CTO Tuesdays #24: How to be prepared for services that might go down: Download (98)