a comparison of xml interchange formats for business process management
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A Comparison of XML Interchange Formats for Business Process Management. Jan Mendling, Gustaf Neumann Dept. of IS and New Media, WU Wien, Austria. Markus Nüttgens Chair of IS HWP Hamburg, Germany. Agenda. The problem of heterogeneity in BPM - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
A Comparison of XML Interchange Formats for Business Process Management
Jan Mendling, Gustaf NeumannDept. of IS and New Media, WU Wien, Austria
Markus NüttgensChair of ISHWP Hamburg, Germany
LV 1734 - Vertiefungskurs Neue Medien - Collaborative SystemsFolie 2
Agenda
1. The problem of heterogeneity in BPM
2. Interchange format specification – why and how?
3. Which metamodel concepts are used in BPM?
4. Comparing BPM specifications
5. Conclusions and outlook
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Agenda
The problem of heterogeneity in BPM
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Lack of Standard-Interchange Formats for BPM
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Standardization Bodies
• Object Management Group (OMG)
• Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC)
• Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI)
• Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) (+ UN/CEFACT)
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• academic initiatives
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Agenda
Interchange format specification – why and how?
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Effects of Interchange Format Specification
• Pragmatic effect: moving models between tools
• Economic effect: reduced lock-in, more competition
• Conceptual effect: consolidation of concepts
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Metamodels and Interchange Formats
Metamodel Interchange Format
ModelInterchange Format
Instance
instantiates instantiates
represents
maps to
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Interchange Format Design Criteria
• Simplicity not too complex, focus on essentials
• Completeness include all major concepts
• Generality applicable in various scenarios
• No ambiguity precise terms and clear semantics
• Extensibility additional information, future development
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How to specify Interchange Formats
• Interchange Format Only e.g. BPEL4WS
• Mappings Only e.g. XMI
• Joint Specification e.g. PNML
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Agenda
Which metamodel concepts are used in BPM?
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Methodological Remarks
• Schema integration approach
• Identification of high level concepts of BPM specs
• Identification of superset of these concepts
• Use list of concepts as a benchmark
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BPM Specifications
• {Business Process Definition Metamodel (BPDM) by OMG}
• Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS) by OASIS
• Business Process Modeling Language (BPML) by BPMI
• Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) by BPMI
• Business Process Specification Schema (BPSS) by OASIS + UN/CEFACT
• EPC Markup Language (EPML) by academia
• OWL-S by academia
• Petri Net Markup Language (PNML) by academia
• UML ActD by OMG
• WS-Choreography Description Language (WSCDL) by W3C
• WS Choreography Interface (WSCI) by W3C
• WS Choreography Language (WSCL) by Hewlett-Packard
• WS Flow Language (WSFL) by IBM
• XLANG by Microsoft
• XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) by WfMC
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Metamodel Concepts in BPM
• Task I/O
• Task Address/URI
• Quality Attributes
• Task Protocol
• Control Flow
• Data Handling
• Instance Identification
• Roles
• Events
• Exceptions
• Transactions
• Graphical Position
• Statistical Data
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Agenda
Comparing BPM specifications
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Comparison based on Concepts
BP
DM
BP
EL
4WS
BP
ML
BP
MN
BP
SS
EP
ML
OW
L-S
PN
ML
UM
L A
ct.D
.
WS
-CD
L
WS
CI
WS
CL
WS
FL
XL
AN
G
XP
DL
Task I/O
Task Address
Protocol
Control Flow
Data Handling
Instance Identity
Roles
Quality Attributes
Events
Exceptions
Transactions
Graphic Position
Statistical Data
? + + + + - + - + + + + + + +? + + + - - + - - + + + + + +
? + - + - - + - - + + + + + -? + + + + + + + + + + + + + +? + + + - - - - + + - - + - +? + + - - - - - - - + - + + -? + + + + - + - + + + - + + +
? - - - + - + - - - - - + - -
? + + + - + - - - - - - + + +? + + + + - - - + + + - + + +? + + + + - - - - + + - - + -? - - + - + - + + - - - - - -? - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
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Remarks on Comparison
• BPEL4WS, BPMN, and WSFL support the most concepts
• But, different choices HOW to support a concept
• compare Workflow Patterns for control flow constructs (v.d.Aalst)
• Patterns needed for each concept
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Agenda
Conclusions and outlook
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Conclusions
• Identification of superset of metamodel concepts
• Pattern analysis for each concept needed
• Conceptual framework towards a BPM reference model
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Further information
Thank you for your attention!
Jan Mendling, Gustaf Neumann
Dept. Of IS and New MediaWU Wien, Austria{jan.mendling | neumann}@wu-
wien.ac.at
Markus Nüttgens HWP Hamburg, [email protected]