According to Dr. Matjaz B. Juric, the most important benefits of a process-centric SOA approach are better alignment between business and IT, fewer errors, and faster development cycles. These benefits are outlined in a case study he covers as part of the "Enterprise Solution Cookbook" article series hosted by Oracle. His writing focuses on process-driven SOA development and how to develop end-to-end business process support following the full SOA life cycle.

Juric lists four phases of the SOA lifecycle:

• 1). Process modeling is the phase in which process analysts work with process owners to analyze the business process and define the process model.

• 2.) Process implementation is the phase in which the developers work with process analysts to implement the business process with the objective to provide end-to-end support for the process.

• 3.) Process execution and control is the actual execution phase, in which the process participants execute various activities of the process.

• 4.) Process monitoring and optimization is the phase in which process owners monitor key performance indicators (KPI) of the process using BAM (Business Activity Monitoring).

These phases are cycled through over and over again. Once optimizations have been identified and selected, the process returns to the modeling phase to apply the optimizations. Then the process is re-implemented and the whole lifecycle is repeated. This is referred to as an iterative-incremental lifecycle, because the process is improved in each stage, Juric explains.

In his piece, Juric covers the organizational aspects of SOA development as well as the technology ones. He then looks at a real-world case study of an end-to-end procurement process from Elektro Slovenija, Slovenia's state-owned power distribution company. The procurement process implemented the full set of Oracle tools: Oracle Business Process Analysis PA Suite for the modeling, SOA Suite (this includes BPEL Process Manager, ESB, Rules Author, WS Manager, Application Server) with JDeveloper and Service Registry for the implementation, and Oracle BAM for the business activity monitoring.

Juric outlines the process implementation, development of Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) executable process and business services, round-trip changes between the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) model in BPA Suite and BPEL in the JDeveloper blue-print representation, process execution, and process monitoring using BAM and optimizations.

As an aside, Juric also offers guidelines on BPMN to BPEL mapping.

He concludes, "The benefits of the complete SOA process life cycle, spanning modeling, implementation, execution, monitoring, and optimization, are numerous and well worth the necessary investment in the required knowledge and products. ... The main message of this case study is that it is possible to develop a complete end-to-end process for a complex real-world process. The process-centric approach to SOA development with full lifecycle support encompasses enormous opportunities for companies to improve and optimize not only their IT support but also their operational efficiency through process automation."

More Information

Process-Driven SOA Development - Juric's article

Enterprise Solution Cookbook [...read more...]

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