Developing an On Demand Workplace, Part 3: A custom design based on the Portal Composite Pattern architecture

Introduction

The IBM Patterns for e-business approach helps architects implement successful e-business solutions by reusing components and solution elements from proven experiences. It is based on a set of layered assets that can be exploited by any existing development methodology. The layered assets are structured so that each level of detail builds on the last.

There are four primary Business and two Integration pattern categories:

Business Patterns

Self-Service (user-to-business), Information Aggregation (user-to-data), Collaboration (user-to-user), and Extended Enterprise (business-to-business)

Integration Patterns

Access Integration and Application Integration

In addition to these high-level patterns, more complex Composite patterns and Custom designs have been defined that address many typical e-business architectures. (See Resources for a link to more details on Patterns for e-business.)

The On Demand Workplace for retail addressed in this series represents a custom design based on the Portal composite pattern. In Part 1, the major retail pain points and business drivers were discussed. Part 2 described typical retail business scenarios, using a restaurant example, with an overview of enabling technologies.

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Background

The Workplace implementation meets key business objectives:

• Increasing employee productivity through self-service and employee-to-employee collaboration
• Transforming the workforce by using technology to enhance employee effectiveness.

The portal meets these objectives by providing an aggregated user experience with access to information using self-service and collaborative functions within a personalized workspace.

The Portal composite pattern is a set of Business and Integration patterns that provide centralized access to appropriate information and existing systems to meet the business objectives of the company. Additional support for personalization, multiple client devices, presentation rendering, and business rules combine to provide a robust, easily customizable user desktop view. Typically, user collaboration is supported synchronously and asynchronously, and self-service applications offer immediate access to specific information. Support for content searching, expertise location, indexing, and enterprise content management with integrated workflow provides content aggregation within a collaborative environment. The Portal composite pattern is typically designed to aggregate multiple information sources and applications to provide uniform, seamless, and personalized access for users.

The portal leverages various functions (such as personalization, collaboration, content management, user interface formatting and display, and data aggregation) to bring together appropriate information and existing systems that support the goals of the business. Relevant information is obtained from various sources through the Application integration pattern, and user access is provided by the Access integration pattern.

The Self-Service business pattern focuses on user access to specific information from various data sources and business applications. The Collaboration business pattern supports synchronous (instant messaging, e-meetings) and asynchronous (e-mail, discussion databases) interactions between users. Extended collaboration support across organizations and departments may also be provided in the form of a workflow engine or comprehensive business processes. Also, the new concept of contextual collaboration is quickly becoming more prevalent. It provides the ability to apply context to a piece of content, such as associating online awareness for authors or owners of various content assets. Collaboration is definitely a core feature of the Portal composite pattern.

There are four mandatory patterns: the Self-Service and Collaboration business patterns, and the Access and Application integration patterns. Optionally, a portal may include the Extended Enterprise and Information Aggregation business patterns. The summary below and Figure 1 show how the patterns relate, and list the relevant Application patterns for each Business and Integration pattern.

Mandatory Business and Integration::Application patterns

• Access Integration::Web Single Sign-On, Personalized Delivery
• Self-Service::Directly Integrated Single-Channel
• Collaboration::Store and Retrieve
• Application Integration::Population Single Step, Index Population

Optional Business and Integration::Application patterns

• Access Integration::Extended Single Sign-On, Pervasive Device Access
• Collaboration::Directed Collaboration
• Application Integration::Population Multi-Step

For details on the Portal composite pattern, see the draft Redbook A Portal composite pattern Using WebSphere Portal V5 (you'll find a link in Resources). This version of the Portal composite pattern reflects the revisions to the Information Aggregation and data-focused Application Integration patterns, which can be found in the upcoming Redbook Portal Search Custom Design, SG24-6881. Additional revisions are also in progress for the Extended Enterprise and process-focused Application Integration patterns in the Direct Connections for Intra- and Inter-Enterprise Redbook, SG24-6933, but they will not be addressed in this article.

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Architecture

Some of the major functional components of the On Demand Workplace for retail are summarized in Part 1 of this series, and shown in Figure 2 below.

The business functions represented by these core components were implemented according to the following system architecture. As we continue, each major functional component will be represented as an architectural nugget. While each nugget is described in isolation, they are part of a larger relationship represented below in Figure 3.

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Access Integration

Extended Single Sign-On

Single sign-on provides seamless access to applications through a unified security framework. The On Demand Workplace for retail architecture supports the Extended Single Sign-On application pattern by extending the security and directory services to the back-end systems. For those systems that support the external security management system and LDAP application, a centralized authorization service was implemented in an environment of heterogeneous application servers. Otherwise, the credential propagation runtime pattern was implemented using a centralized identity management service integrated with the external security manager.

Product Mapping

• Presentation Services: IBM WebSphere Portal Extend
• Application Servers: IBM WebSphere Application Server, IBM Lotus Domino Application Server
• External Security Management: IBM Tivoli Access Manager
• Identity Management: IBM Tivoli Identity Manager
• Directory Services: IBM Directory Server

Personalized delivery

Personalized delivery is a key function within the workplace architecture, providing customized access to applications and information based on the interests and roles of a specific user or group. Delivering tailored views prioritizes and minimizes the information presented to individuals, letting them perform their duties in a knowledgeable and efficient manner. It addresses the disorganized information access and information overload issues in the retail workplace today. This function is implemented by the portal using simple role-based access to applications, and participatory (customization by user), predictive (customization by inference with user activity data), and prescriptive (rule-based as defined by the enterprise) personalization. The portal includes a robust set of personalization services that supports all three of these functions.

Product Mapping

• Presentation Services: IBM WebSphere Portal
• Personalization Services: IBM WebSphere Portal

Pervasive Device Access

The Pervasive Device Access application pattern is required to provide consistent access to various applications using multiple device types. This includes both UI adaption and pervasive device service support. UI adaption includes client rendering based on the device's physical characteristics (for example, screen resolution and size), and the markup languages supported. This can be done dynamically with transcoding technology or statically with predefined, customized markup definitions. Our architecture focused on the latter, using the packaged wireless device support and custom SurePOS device definitions. Pervasive device services including connectivity, notification, synchronization, and basic device management were also provided.

Product Mapping

• Wireless Device Support: IBM WebSphere Everyplace Access
• Pervasive Service Support: IBM WebSphere Everyplace Access
• Custom Device Support1: IBM WebSphere Portal
• Transcoding Support: IBM WebSphere Portal
• Wireless Gateway: IBM WebSphere Everyplace Connection Manager

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Self-Service

Directly Integrated Single Channel

The Directly Integrated Single Channel application pattern provides one or more point-to-point connections with back-end applications, but only focuses on one delivery channel, which in this case is the Web delivery channel. If legacy mainframe systems are involved, the As-Is Host or Customized Presentation to Host patterns could be used. Also, if multiple channel delivery is required, the Router or Decomposition patterns are good candidates. The self-service functions implemented were mainly user-to-application (1:1), so a complex integration hub was not required. This instance of the On Demand Workplace used the Directly Integrated Single Channel, but could easily be extended to use any of the other patterns mentioned.

Product Mapping

• Application Server: generally an application such as SAP or PeopleSoft, a Web service, or data store
• Client Support: IBM WebSphere Portal (custom portlets built using IBM WebSphere Portal Application Integrator, the Portal Toolkit plugin for IBM WebSphere Studio Application Developer, Rational Rapid Developer, Bowstreet Portlet Factory, or other portlet development tool)

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Collaboration

Store and Retrieve

The Store and Retrieve application pattern supports simple user collaboration, similar to the Point-to-Point pattern, except that it supports both synchronous and asynchronous communications. It does not require knowledge of the contact's address, nor does it require the users to be online at the same time, which increases the event latency. This pattern is often implemented as an enterprise e-mail system. Alternatively, this pattern includes team room or discussion database implementations and e-Learning applications that use content management functions to share or collaborate on content creation.

Product Mapping

• e-mail: IBM Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange
• Team Workplace Application: IBM Lotus QuickPlace, IBM Lotus Collaborative Components
• e-Learning Application: IBM Lotus LearningSpace or LMS, IBM Lotus Collaborative Components

Directed Collaboration

The Directed Collaboration application pattern supports direct connections between users with synchronous communication. This type of communication requires that the involved parties are online simultaneously. A centralized configuration or directory service is required to resolve the user's addresses (location transparency). The communication itself is decentralized and is primarily suited for instant or temporary network messaging. This pattern is often implemented as an instant messaging and e-meeting service. More sophisticated applications include the ability to share applications, such as word processors or presentation software, and data, such as documents, video, and other rich media, in real-time across the network.

Product Mapping

• Instant Messaging and Web Conferencing: IBM Lotus Sametime, IBM Lotus Collaborative Components

Managed Collaboration

Managed Collaboration supports both synchronous and asynchronous communication, but extends the Directed Collaboration pattern by adding a workflow function to manage the collaboration between users. This is a complex collaboration implementation that generally supports simple, predefined flows, directed flows based on the event trigger, and dynamic flows based on message content or other business rules woven into the workflow component. Workflow support requires custom code or workflow rules, and often takes the form of a workflow template that can be defined using a proprietary editor. Most content management applications implement this application pattern. Also, this pattern is applicable to user-centric business processes, which may include a formal workflow layer to manage collaboration between organizations or departments within an enterprise.

Product Mapping

• Content Management: IBM DB2 Content Manager, IBM Lotus Workplace Web Content Management (formerly Aptrix), IBM WebSphere Portal Content Publisher
• Business Process Management: IBM WebSphere Business Integration Workbench, IBM WebSphere Business Integration Monitor, IBM WebSphere MQ Series Workflow

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Application Integration

There are two types of Application Integration patterns:

• Process-focused generally applies to the situation where multiple, automated business processes are combined to form a new business offering or consolidated view of some business entity.
• Data-focused is used when applications need to share information rather than coordinate processing.

If frequent data update is required, process-focused may be more appropriate to synchronize the requests across multiple channels. Our architecture includes several of the application patterns for each type of integration, as summarized in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Application Integration patterns

Direct Connection

The Direct Connection application pattern is used for direct communication between pairs of applications. This may be accomplished using a standard interface or message format, or through adaption using a technology-specific connector. The connection may be synchronous, asynchronous, or message bus format. This is appropriate for a few point-to-point integrations such as those used for the Directly Integrated Single Channel self-service application pattern. If a large system of these connections is required, a multipoint system is inefficient and an integration hub using the Aggregator or Broker patterns may be more appropriate.

Product Mapping

• Application Server: generally an application such as SAP or PeopleSoft, a Web service, or data store
• Client Support: IBM WebSphere Portal (custom portlets built using IBM WebSphere Portal Application Integrator, the Portal Toolkit plugin for IBM WebSphere Studio Application Developer, Rational Rapid Developer, Bowstreet Portlet Factory, or other portlet development tool)
• Messaging Support: IBM WebSphere MQ Series

Managed Process

The Managed Process application pattern supports processing requests executing as an extended business process coordinated by a Business Process Management component. This usually involves a requirement for long-running, stateful business processes. To address that requirement, this pattern extends the Broker pattern by adding a workflow component and process state persistence services. A business process management layer may be implemented as a separate layer on top of an integration broker to coordinate process execution, which uses the underlying routing and transformation capabilities of the integration hub. Without a separate broker layer, the integration can be implemented directly at the workflow layer using triggers to initiate separate processes outside the workflow engine. Our architecture focused on the latter implementation.

Product Mapping

• Business Process Management: IBM WebSphere Business Integration Workbench, IBM WebSphere Business Integration Monitor, IBM WebSphere MQ Series Workflow

Population Single-Step

The Population Single-Step application integration pattern is used when a data store requires population with data that requires little or no transformation. For example, we used a dedicated LDAP to house the employee profile information, which could be searched for contact information as needed (a self-service directory search function). This information was a subset of the information within the HR database for the company, so the LDAP was populated using a data integration application on a periodic basis to remain synchronized. Another example is content publication once it has been through the content creation approval workflow. The content generally does not require transformation, because it is previewed within the workflow in the same format as the one used for final publication. If the data requires significant transformation or originates from multiple source data stores, the Population Multi-Step pattern may be more appropriate.

Product Mapping

• Data Integration: IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator
• Directory Services: IBM Tivoli Directory Server, IBM Lotus PeopleFinder

An operational data store (ODS) is appropriate when there is a requirement for a centralized operational repository, and is an instantiation of the population or data movement Application Integration patterns. An example of this is a more extensive employee profile directory, populated with data from multiple sources to provide a consolidated view of the enterprise employee data as a superset of, or outside of, an HR application. Alternatively, the data repository may serve as a digital content repository or an analytical data store.

Product Mappings

• Data Warehouse: IBM DB2 UDB, IBM DB2 Data Warehouse Manager DataJoiner, IBM DB2 OLAP
• Digital Media Repository: IBM DB2 Content Manager

Index Population

The Index Population application pattern, formerly know as Population - Crawl and Discovery, provides a function that retrieves and parses data from multiple sources, forming a document index of results that match specific search criteria. This architecture provides access to Internet search engines that implement this pattern (self-service), but does not support this pattern directly. The knowledge management function uses this pattern indirectly by providing a unified query interface into isolated structured and unstructured repositories. See the Federation application pattern below for details.

Product Mappings

• Internet Search Clients: various ISV and custom portlets
• Knowledge Management: IBM Lotus Discovery Server, IBM Lotus Extended Search

Federation

The Federation application pattern is appropriate when there is a need to integrate data sources without the requirement for propagation or an additional repository. It supports unified information access and is useful where relational data and text data need to be accessible through one common Web search interface, and includes the finding of tacit and tangible knowledge within the workplace. It is also applicable for the structured data-only solutions where the frequency of change of application data would prohibit an ODS solution.

Product Mappings

• Knowledge Management: IBM DB2 UDB, IBM DB2 Information Integrator (formerly known as IBM Enterprise Information Portal), IBM Lotus Discovery Server

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Information Aggregation

User Information Access

The User Information Access application pattern helps structure a system design that provides read only access to aggregated information. This includes access to both structured and unstructured data populated by one or more of the Population application patterns. Internal or external users may use this information for decision-making purposes. The application may provide drill-through capability, letting users track the performance of individual sales representatives against their individual targets. This architecture focused on internal access by trusted users from a self-service portal client. Optionally, some drill-through function may be provided at the data application level, which required data consistency between the data mart and source databases. Alternatively, no data is stored at the mart level and is only available by drill-through, depending on which data application is used.

Product Mappings

• Database: IBM DB2 UDB
• Business Intelligence: IBM DB2 OLAP server and Intelligent Miner for Data, Business Objects, Brio

User Information Access with Update

This variation lets users write data back to a local data store. A typical example would be saving the results of queries or of data manipulation. The query results are saved even after system refresh. Alternatively, a local history may be saved in a defined area of the warehouse. Another example is the employee profile self-service search function, which was extended to support user profile and password self-registration and updates. So, the bulk of the data is populated from the HR application database, but employees and their managers can update certain information that is then propagated back to the original database. This is intentionally limited to prevent major synchronization issues.

Product mappings

• Database: IBM DB2 UDB
• Business Intelligence: IBM DB2 OLAP server and Intelligent Miner for Data, Business Objects, Brio

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Extended Enterprise

Often enterprise business processes cross organization boundaries, and therefore may require externalization of company assets to allow exchange of partner information and services. This can be achieved at a basic level by using the Document Exchange application pattern, at a more specific level by externalizing an enterprise application (Exposed Application application pattern) or service (Exposed Business Services application pattern), or by exposing an intricate business process that spans multiple partners (Managed Public and Private Processes application pattern). The user interaction cardinality is typically a single user to the accessed information, so this architecture treated information from outside the enterprise as additional applications or data sources, and did not really use any of the Extended Enterprise patterns.

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How this architecture exploits the Portal composite pattern

The architecture described in this article represents a custom design based on the Portal composite pattern; it supports all of the mandatory and several of the optional patterns as defined in the Redbook A Portal Composite Pattern Using WebSphere Portal V5, as well as additional patterns.

The On Demand Workplace architecture supports single sign-on, personalized delivery of information and pervasive device access and services. Single sign-on lets the user more quickly access information and applications without needing to sign on to each system individually. It also enhances maintainability, and provides a more consistent implementation of security policy, by consolidating the administration of user identities. Personalized delivery enhances the efficiency of information access (information request or pull), and supports user alert functions that notify the user of important information in a proactive manner (information push). Finally, the pervasive access and service support provides access to information anytime and anywhere, which is a key characteristic of the On Demand environment.

Architectural nugget: Security and identity management

Security and identity management is a core component for On Demand Workplace for retail. It provides the foundation of role-based access to the workplace. This nugget is responsible for providing the requirements determined by the Access Integration pattern.

Functions:

• Authorization and authentication centralized management of user services
• Enterprise single sign-on
• Credential management
• Privacy management
• Directory integration

Patterns involved: Access Integration

Self-service applications simplify access to back-end applications or services. By providing portlet client support, they aggregate the user experience at the glass instead of requiring multiple clients with separate logins. See Figure 7 above for an example. In practice, the speed of implementation of a portal is very often an overriding concern, so this architecture focused on the Directly Integrated Single Channel pattern, which used direct connections to the enterprise applications. If an integration tier is planned or already exists, then a more generalized solution with location transparency may be appropriate. Self-service access is an important component of the portal implementation because it lets users access specific and relevant information proactively, within the context of an enterprise application or service.

Collaboration is a key component of the Portal composite pattern. It lets the user be more effective in accessing shared information from other portal users through both synchronous and asynchronous communication. As shown in Figure 8 above, it complements the self-service function, resulting in a robust workplace environment that enhances employee productivity and responsiveness.

Architectural nugget: Collaboration

Collaboration is a key On Demand Workplace component, providing the requirements that are mandated by the Collaboration pattern.

Functions:

• Screen sharing
• Person-to-person communication
• Instant messaging
• Person-to-group instant messaging
• Retrieval of e-mail
• Retrieval of documents from team spaces

Patterns involved: Collaboration

Information access is critical to meeting the needs of the business in a timely and effective manner. The Integration patterns -- Access Integration combined with Application Integration -- provide integration points that enable interaction between the Business patterns. Specifically, Access Integration is used to support a unified user experience from a client aggregation perspective, while Application Integration brings together multiple applications and data sources to provide a unified view of the business. In other words, Access Integration supports the front end of the user experience, while Application Integration supports the back end from an application and data-source perspective.

Again, the Portal composite pattern emphasizes efficient and accurate information access to empower the employees to better meet the company's business objectives. Often, the data is aggregated to optimize the business logic mechanisms. This is accomplished with various data population methods. Once the data is aggregated, it must be accessed, possibly by self-service clients, to query enterprise analytics and other business intelligence data. This is the basis of the Information Aggregation application patterns used in this architecture, as shown in Figure 12 above.

Table 3 summarizes the pain points, business scenarios, and related pattern mappings we've covered so far in this series.

Table 3. Pain points, business scenarios, and pattern mapping

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Summary

The custom design, based on the Portal composite pattern implemented by the On Demand Workplace for retail, is summarized in Figure 13 and in the lists following it.

Mandatory Business and Integration::Application patterns

• Access Integration::Extended Web Single Sign-On, Personalized Delivery, Pervasive Device Access
• Self-Service::Directly Integrated Single-Channel
• Collaboration::Store and Retrieve, Directed Collaboration, Managed Collaboration
• Information Aggregation::User Information Access, User Information Access with Update
• Application Integration::Direct Connection, Managed Process, Population Single Step, IndexPopulation, Federation

Optional Business and Integration::Application patterns

• Self-Service::As-Is Host, Customized Presentation to Host, Router, Decomposition
• Application Integration::Aggregator, Broker, Population Multi-Step
• Extended Enterprise::Document Exchange, Exposed Application, Exposed Business Services, Managed Public and Private Process

Resources

• Read IBM Patterns for e-business: A Strategy for Reuse (IBM Press).
  
  
• Examine the IBM Patterns for e-business Web site.
  
  
• A Portal composite pattern Using WebSphere Portal V5 Redbook, SG24-6087, January 2004, Michele Galic, David Janson, et. al.
  
  
• Patterns: Applying Pattern Approaches Patterns for e-business Series Redbook, SG24-6805, July 2003, Michele Galic, Jonathan Adams, et. al.
  
  
• Direct Connections for Intra- and Inter-Enterprise Redbook, SG24-6933, October 2003, Filippo Diotalevi, Wolfgang Dostal, et. al.
  
  
• Portal Search Custom Design Redbook, SG24-6881.
  
  
• Visit IBM On Demand Workplace at IBM Consulting Services for more details about the On Demand Workplace, or go to IBM On Demand Workplace for Retail to learn more about IBM's retail flavor of the On Demand Workplace.
  
  
• Browse for books on these and other technical topics.
  
  

About the authors

Lori Small is a member of the WebSphere Portal Content Management development team. Previously Lori worked for the SMB Emerging Technologies group, where she researched how development and operational tools are used in the mid-market of SMB and, prior to that, the IBM Software Group On Demand Solution Center (ODSC) as a solution architect of reference implementations showcasing IBM and its partner products within typical industry scenarios. She has also worked in event management (IBM and Tivoli), and prior to joining IBM, Lori worked in the telecom industry.

James Appleyard is an IT Architect in B2E e-business on demand at IBM's Global eBusiness Solution Center. His current focus is to architect and develop IBM On Demand Workplace solutions. You can contact James at jappleya@us.ibm.com.

Sam McHan is a senior software engineer with the On Demand Solution Center in Research Triangle Park, NC with focus on building large enterprise and SMB mid-market vertical industry solutions. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family. You can contact Sam at srmchan@us.ibm.com.

John Medicke is the chief architect of the On Demand Solution Center in Research Triangle Park, NC. He has worked in industry solution development for last seven years across various industries, including financial services, retail, health care, industrial, and government. He is the author of the book Integrated Solutions with DB2 as well as multiple articles in various journals. You can contact John at medicke@us.ibm.com.

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Trademarks

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Background
• Architecture
• Access Integration
• Self-Service
• Collaboration
• Application Integration
• Information Aggregation
• Extended Enterprise
• How this architecture exploits the Portal composite pattern
• Summary
• Resources
• About the authors
• Comments

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