Functional Overview

Oracle BPM Suite 11gpacks many best-of-breed features to enable customers to realize the potential of BPM.
In this chapter, you'll see a brief summary of some of the key features of Oracle BPM Suite 11g.

Business-friendly modeling
Oracle BPM Suite 11gempowers business users through business-friendly modeling in the following ways:

A comprehensive set of business modeling tools seamlessly unified within one integrated modeling
environment. Different model types fit naturally to different types of business logic, and having
access to a broad set of model types provides for easier and more transparent expression of the
business problem.
A combination of zero-code and what-you-model-is-what-you-execute paradigms where a business
model becomes executable through progressive refinement instead of coding or some other
transformation.
Web-based process and rules, modeling, and change.
A collaborative workspace.

BPM Studio
BPM Studio is a comprehensive integrated modeling environment. It supports persona-based profiles,
allowing a process analyst persona to have access only to BPM modeling. However, a developer persona may
also have access to XML, web services, and Java development.
BPM Studio includes the following model types.

BPMN 2.0
Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) 2.0 is a standard from Object Management Group (OMG). BPM
Studio includes rich support for BPMN 2.0 modeling and simulation.
Oracle BPM Suite 11gsupports BPMN 2.0 natively (that is, no transformation to another language or
technology) and BPM Studio enables execution semantics to be associated with BPMN models via declarative
property specifications. Through the usage of BPMN 2.0 constructs, such as gateways (exclusive, parallel, and
complex) and events/event handlers, very complex process logics can be easily expressed.
The swim lanes in the BPMN process may be used as an assignment mechanism. They are logical process roles
that are mapped to physical users and groups in an identity store, such as LDAP.

BPM Studio also enables simulation

of one or more BPMN 2.0 processes
using modeled process scenarios.
Simulation enables what-if analysis
of various metrics including time
and cost metrics under different
scenarios. Queue build-ups are
visualized on the process model
itself and resources may be
dynamically changed to resolve
such build-ups.

In addition to BPMN 2.0, Oracle BPM Studio also includes support for Business Process Execution Language
(BPEL). BPEL is particularly useful for integration flows and for service orchestrations.

Business Rules:
Oracle BPM includes Oracle Business Rules, a RETE algorithm-based (see, for example,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rete_algorithm) true inference rules engine. BPM Studio includes businessfriendly modeling of rules, including both if-then and decision-table metaphors. A decision-table uses a
spreadsheet type arrangement for expressing business rules and supports conflict (or overlap) detection as
well as gap analysis. The gap analysis feature can also automatically create the table structure for the missing
conditions.

User interface (task forms)

Oracle BPM leverages Oracle Application Development Framework(ADF) for task for task forms (or user
interfaces). ADF is a framework based on the industry-standard Java Server Faces (JSF) and includes:

Visual drag-and-drop ADF designer

Rich palette of highly interactive controls as well as data visualization elements (charts, graphs, trees,
and so on)
Declarative specification of complex UI behavior
Consistent abstraction of backend data sources including BPM processes, databases, and web
services, enabling easy composition of mashed-up pages
A rich page-flow technology known as ADF Task Flows that not only provides for screen navigation
but also allows invocation of automated services, evaluation of conditionals, and save/restore of
state

Also, Oracle BPM Studio includes wizards for

generating the ADF views and Task Flows either
completely automatically or based on user
guidance. These generated UI elements may be
used as-is or can be further enhanced in the ADF
designer.

SCA Composite
The SCA (Service Component Architecture, refer to this link: www.osoa.org) The Composite model
provides a component-level wiring diagram. It is automatically created and maintained as part of BPM
modeling and its existence may be totally transparent to process analysts. Process developers would use
the SCA editor as it provides access to web services and application or technology adapters, as well as to
other Oracle SOA Suite components, such as Mediator. The services that developers create in this view
gets added to the business catalog and is available to be used by process analysts in their BPMN processes.

Process Composer
In addition to the BPM Studio,
Oracle BPM Suite 11gincludes a
web-based process (BPMN 2.0)
and business rules modeling
and editing environment.

In addition to providing an
easier to use interface,
especially for users not wanting
to install a tool on their
desktop, Process Composer is
also a role-based collaborative
application. The role based
access feature of Process Composer enables the Business Analyst to share the process definition with
various stakeholders, many of whom may just have view-only access.

Modeling Space:
Modeling Space is an out-of-the-box collaborative Oracle Web Center Space that facilitates team work and
collaboration around the process model definition and evolution. The modeling team can use features
such as discussions, documents, issues, Wikis, and blogs to collaborate more effectively as a team.

Process analysis
As discussed earlier, one of the big benefits of adopting BPM is the ability to continually analyze and
optimize the processes. Oracle BPM Suite 11gfeatures rich process analytics and change-edit features to
enable this benefit.
The first aspect of process analysis is process simulation. Oracle BPM Studio enables specification of
various scenarios for a given process, where a scenario includes probability distributions for various
process events as well as a \resourcing and costing model. Multiple processes can be simulated
simultaneously based on these scenarios. Various metrics including cost, unit, and time can be charted and
analyzed. Also, queue build-ups are displayed overlaid on the process model and resources can be
dynamically changed during a simulation run, to do what-if analysis. (See the screenshot in the BPM Studio
section).

The second aspect of process analysis is to monitor and analyze interesting business indicators during
process execution. Oracle BPM Suite 11gincludes many out-of the-box dashboards to analyze common
business indicators such as cycle time, work distribution, work performance, and so on. In addition,
process-specific business indicators may be specified by business analysts along with the process models.
End users can create their own dashboards using these process-specific business indicators as well as
standard indicators.
The dashboarding capability is also well integrated with Oracle Business Activity Monitoring (BAM). Oracle
BAM is an events-based, real-time monitoring product that can aggregate events from a variety of sources,
including Oracle BPM Suite 11gand supporting backend applications, correlate them, and present true endto-end dashboards.
BPM Suite 11ghas a STAR schema, called Process Cubes, underlying the dashboarding capabilities. Oracle
BI EE and other business intelligence tools can easily work against this schema.

Also, Oracle BPA Suite, a complementary product for detailed business process analysis, enables modeling
of various aspects of processes and their supporting environments, including objectives, risks, strategies,
business capabilities, business services, applications, standards, and their inter-relationships. Rich reports
and analyses can be produced based on such modeled information.

Productive work management

BPM should not only deliver efficiency through streamlined business processes and intelligent resource
allocation, it should also help process participants in doing their job better. Oracle BPM Suite 11gincludes
many features to facilitate the performance of work from an end user's perspective, and thus not only
increases their productivity but also makes them more enthusiastic in adopting BPM.

Process Spaces (Social BPM)

Process Spaces is an out-of-the-box collaborative

and social application with composite and

tailored interfaces that makes end users more productive through better collaboration.

Process Workspace
Process Workspace is a collaborative space composed of BPM task lists and other components such as
dashboards, and Enterprise 2.0 functionalities such as discussions, documents, and so on. Using the builtin Page Composer, business users can customize the space and its pages, rearranging components as well
as including other components available in the catalog. Other Oracle products such as Oracle BI may
populate the catalog with their components; customers can add custom/external portlets as well as ADF
applications to the catalog. Everything in the catalog is available to the business user editing a page in Page
Composer, enabling them to compose mashed-up interfaces.

Process Workspace makes end users more productive in the following ways:

Integrated document manager ensures that relevant policies and best practices are always
available to process participants
Best practices, tips, techniques, and issues can be discussed leveraging the integrated discussions
forum
Ability to compose mashed-up interfaces mean that process participants have, at the point of
action, all the insights and information needed to make the best decisions

Process instance space

Some processes are very collaborative and ad hoc in nature. In typical BPM products, the collaboration
and ad hoc interactions happen outside of the BPM product, creating a rich shadow process that
unfortunately is not traceable or auditable.

Oracle BPM Suite 11gsupports the creation

of a collaboration space specific to a
process instance. In this space, process
participants can not only see and manage
the process instance as modeled and
executed in the BPM Suite process
execution engine, but also use its team
collaboration capability to collaborate on
the process completion. For example, a
sales team working on a specific
opportunity can create a collaboration
space tied to the process instance (Request

Quote process) and use that space to manage all the documents, discussions, and events associated with
closing the opportunity.

Work organization and management

In addition to the collaboration features described earlier, Oracle BPM Suite 11g includes features enabling
process participants to organize and streamline their work.

Views
Views enable organization of work. A view is essentially a search criteria; it can also have display attributes
including columns to include and sort order. Views can be used not only to organize one's work but also as
a delegation mechanismentire views may be delegated.

Personal and group rules

Oracle BPM Suite 11gfeatures rulesdriven work management. Using a very
simple-to-use interface, end users can
write rules to handle work assigned to
them. These rules may reassign,
delegate, or automatically complete
the work. Users managing groups can
also write rules handling work assigned
to the group. In this scenario, out-ofthe-box as well as custom load
balancing algorithms may be used.

Dashboard-driven filtering
Earlier in the chapter, we discussed Oracle BPM Suite 11g's support for out-of-the box as well as custom
business indicators and dashboards. These dashboards may also be used to filter the process instances.
For users dealing with a large work load, who need some intelligent analysis on what to focus on, the ability
to drill down from process dashboards to a filtered list of instances is very helpful.

Built for change

Agility, or the ability to respond with speed, is an important benefit of BPM. Agility comes from at least the
following three aspects of BPM:

BPM projects can be rapidly developed and deployed using tooling discussed earlier.
BPM processes have optimized cycle times, both through streamlining of the process as well as
through enhanced productivity of end users as discussed in the previous section.
Once the operating environment changes, a BPM process can rapidly react to that change. This
section describes how Oracle BPM Suite 11gsupports rapid change.

The first aspect of being able to react to change is to build the processes to be resilient to change. The
most common way this can be accomplished is by leveraging business rulesrules that can be changed
independent of the process as needed.
Oracle BPM Suite 11gnot only integrates business rules seamlessly into process definitions but also
leverages rules more pervasively to provide more resilience to change. Some such usages beyond a process
using business rules as a decision activity include:

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A process activity can be dynamically bound to its implementation based on business rules. This
is an elegant pattern to handle variance in processes arising from differences in geographies,
products, and so on.
Business rules can drive task assignment and routing.
End users can define their own work management rules as discussed in previous section.

In spite of building the process to be resilient to change, it may not be possible to foresee all possible
variances or exceptions. In such scenarios, Oracle BPM Suite 11genables an appropriately privileged user
to change the process in an ad hoc fashion.
Such changes include:

Reassignment of current task

Re-routing of current task, including adding additional participants
Re-routing of future task, including adding additional participants

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Finally, there are situations where the process definition needs to be changed.
Process Composer (discussed earlier) enables rapid change to process definition. By enabling business
users or analysts to change the processes themselves and deploy without requiring any IT engagement is
a key enabler of agility. While addressing the need to change rapidly, Process Composer also features
governance mechanisms governance mechanisms to protect from bad changes. These mechanisms
include:

The ability to specify in the process model what can and cannot be changed
Support for change approval workflows

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Summary:
Oracle BPM Suite 11gincludes a rich set of features in a very complete and unified product. These features
deliver on BPM's promise of efficiency, visibility, and agility in the following ways:

Business-friendly modeling tools that allow the business users to model and manage their business
processes
Rich process analysis capabilities that enable the discipline of continuous process improvement as
well as allows the process initiatives to be aligned with business drivers and IT landscape
Easy to use, collaborative, and social interfaces that enable end users to be more productive as
well as make better decisions leveraging more enterprise knowledge and insight
The ability to handle anticipated and unanticipated changes

References:
Book Getting Started with Oracle BPM Suite 11gR1

A Hands-On Tutorial

Authors
Heidi Buelow
Manoj Das
Manas Deb
Prasen Palvankar
Meera Srinivasan

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