Level: Intermediate Marc Fasbinder (mfasbind@us.ibm.com), BPM Integration Solution Architect, IBM
05 Dec 2007 Learn about the new features of WebSphere® Business Modeler V6.1 that enhance business user productivity, support BPM interoperability, and improve business modeling.
Introduction
In this article, you'll learn about the new features of WebSphere Business Modeler Version 6.1 (hereafter called Modeler V6.1) that offer improvements in the following areas:
- Business user productivity
- BPM interoperability
- Process definition
- Analysis
- Model management
Business user productivity improvements
Modeler V6.1 features several improvements to enhance the productivity of business users. In previous versions of Modeler, the cut-and-paste function for process elements could act on only one object at a time. In Modeler V6.1, you can now cut and paste multiple model elements, as well as cut and paste within a single process, or between different processes.
When defining the data types within a business item, the terminology used in previous versions was targeted towards technical users. In V6.1, the terminology for the data types has been updated to eflect the usage of a non-technical business analyst, as shown in Table 1. For example, a business user might not know that double means a double-precision decimal. The new terminology is more precise and easier to understand.
Table 1. Updated terminology
| Previous Terminology | New Terminology |
|---|
|
String
|
Text
| |
Byte
|
Integer (byte)
| |
Long
|
Integer (long)
| |
Short
|
Integer (short)
| |
Double
|
Decimal (double-precision)
| |
Float
|
Decimal (single precision)
|
In previous versions of WebSphere Business Modeler, report output could be sent to a printer, or to a PDF document. These output formats weren't editable. In Modeler V6.1, you can generate editable Microsoft™ Word™ documents as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Export formats
Modeler V6.1 introduces the concept of states for business items. For example, in a loan process, the loan application can be in various states such as approved, rejected, reviewed, and so on. You can now define the states for a business item, and optionally associate different icons with the states. As the business item changes state in the flow, these changes display in the diagram, as shown in Figure 2:
Figure 2. Business item states
Business Process Management interoperability
Modeler V6.1 includes several new features to improve interoperability with other products in the WebSphere BPM family, as described in the following sections.
Traceability
When modeling a business process for the purpose of exporting to WebSphere Integration Developer, previous versions of WebSphere Business Modeler could perform the export. However, if changes were made to the technical implementation model in WebSphere Integration Developer, there was no way to trace those changes back to WebSphere Business Modeler.
Modeler V6.1 and WebSphere Integration Developer V6.1 (Integration Developer) provide a new feature that enables traceability between the two tools. If a business analyst changes the business model after it has been exported, an integration developer can see an outline-based merge-and-compare of the two models, enabling them to merge the changes into the technical implementation model. Likewise, if an integration developer makes a relevant business change to the implementation model, a business analyst can see a report listing the changes, so that they can make the appropriate adjustments to the business model. Not all changes to the technical model in Integration Developer result in changes to the business model. If, for example, a technical attribute that is not part of the business model is updated, there's no need to report this change back to the business analyst.
If an integration developer makes changes, he or she can export a ZIP file from Integration Developer that contains the changes. As shown in Figure 3, if you right-click on a modeling project, you'll see the new Analyze Model Implementation Changes option. You can select the change file to analyze the relevant business changes.
Figure 3. New menu options
A new view appears in the lower right pane showing a list of items that have changed in a process, as figure 4 shows. When you select one of the changed items, the details of the change to that item are shown.
Figure 4. Change analysis
You can double-click on an item from the list to open it in the appropriate editor. After making any necessary changes, you can right-click the element and mark it as change applied or change ignored, as needed. You can click Save at any time, and resume the change analysis later.
Best practices export pattern
When exporting to Integration Developer, previous versions of Modeler placed all of the generated artifacts into a module. The best practice is to place potentially reusable items, such as business objects and interfaces, into a library project, the process into one module, and components like business rules and human tasks in another module. Modeler V6 required manual work to apply this best practice. With V6.1, the best practice pattern is suggested when you perform your export as shown in Figure 5, although you still have the option to use a single module, a library, or a module and a library.
Figure 5. Export to WebSphere Integration Developer
Integration with Rational Data Architect
Modeler V6.1 integrates with Rational® Data Architect to enable the synchronization of business items with the logical data model. You can use an existing logical data model to define a new business item, or use business items to define a new logical data model.
Business services search ontology support
WebSphere Business Modeler V6.0.2 introduced the ability to search for business services from WebSphere Service Registry and Repository. Modeler V6.1 enhances this capability by adding ontology support. An ontology is a classification system. Services in WebSphere Service Registry and Repository can be tagged with different classifications. Modeler can include these classifications in the search criteria. For example, if a company has several different lines of business, each with their own services, a business services search might return dozens of potential services to use. Adding an ontology classification to the search criteria can reduce the results to make it easier to find the service you're looking for.
Process definition enhancements
Modeler V6.1 provides new modeling constructs to enhance the capabilities of WebSphere Business Modeler, as described in the following sections.
Local human tasks
WebSphere Business Modeler V6 allowed you to specify that a given task was a human task. Role information from the business model was used when generating the technical model for export. Modeler V6.1 enhances this capability by introducing a new dedicated human task, as well as a reusable global human task, to the pallette. Figure 2 shows local human tasks in a process. A local human task corresponds to an inline human task in the generated WS-BPEL process, and enables the business analyst to specify far greater detail about the human task. People assignment criteria enables you to define detailed staff assignment criteria, corresponding with the people assignment criteria in Integration Developer (formerly known as staffing verbs), as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6. People assignment criteria
The Escalations tab for a local human task enables business analysts to define details of how escalations are to be defined for the business process, as shown in Figure 7. Analysts can define the criteria for when escalation needs to occur, who is to receive the notification, and other details that could only be specified in Integration Developer in previous versions.
Figure 7. Escalation tab
For existing models, local tasks can be converted to local human tasks as follows.
- Right-click the local task.
- Select Convert to => Local Human Task.
- Confirm the name, then click OK to convert the task.
Forms
Another new aspect to local and global human tasks is the ability to define a form for input and output. Process Server V6.1 includes integration with Lotus® Forms. A local human task has a Forms tab that you can use to specify the form used by that step in the process, as shown in Figure 8. If the input and the output for the human task are the same, you can select the check box to use the input form as the output form. You can browse for existing forms, or click New to define a new form. The form appears in the project tree, and can be edited. This enables business analysts to specify the look and feel of the screens for human tasks.
Figure 8. Forms tab
Business rules
In Modeler V6.0, you could use the Implementation tab in the Technical Attributes view to specify that a task should be exported as a business rule group. V6.1 enhances this capability by adding a local business rules task, as well as a global business rules task, to the pallette. The local business rules task has additional tabs to specify which rule to apply. If you click Add, you can define the details of the rule. You can definie if-then rules, as shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9. If-then rule
When a similar series of tests are required for a rule, a rule template is used. You can define rule templates by selecting the Rules Template tab, as shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10. Template rule
When exported to Integration Developer, the details of the rules are used to generate the business rules for use in Process Server.
Predefined business measures
A new feature in Modeler V6.1 enables you to create predefined business measures for common requirements such as durations, times and state. As shown in Figure 11, you can add these predefined business measures to objects like tasks, services, and processes, which are exported to WS-BPEL.
Figure 11. Predefined business measures
To add a predefined business measure:
- Right-click an object in the process.
- Select Create Business Measure => Predefined.
- Select a measure such as Elapsed Duration from the menu. The business measures details dialog displays with default values set.
- Make any necessary updates and click OK to add the business measure to the model.
Figure 12. Predefined measure dialog
FileNet Business Process Manager mode
Support pac BA77 - FileNet Integration for WebSphere Business Modeler V6.0.2.1 provides the capability of exporting processes in a FileNet compatible XPDL format. V6.1 incorportes this capability directly into the product. In addition, the FileNet BPM mode supports the use of business items with complex data types, a function that is expected in a future release of FileNet. Modeling for FileNet export is similar to modeling for Integration Developer export, except that different constructs are used due to the content-centric nature of FileNet processes.
Analysis improvements
V6.1 provides new dynamic analysis options. Resource allocation summary and resource usage summary analyze resource utilization across all simulated process instances. Previous analyses focused on a single simulated instance. For cases where you're trying to understand the resources required for a process, these new capabilities enable you to more quickly analyze the simulation data. The process cases summary has been updated to enable this functionality.
Model management improvements
Modeler V6.1 adds a new capability to improve the management of your models. In previous versions, each project was an island unto itself. There was no way for items in one project to be referenced by another project. V6.1 enables sharing of global elements between projects. For example, you can now set up a library project holding your common business items, role definitions, global tasks and so on. When creating a new project, you can reference the library project, rather than having to redefine each of the elements again in the new project.
To add a reference to another project:
- Right-click your modeler project in the project tree.
- Select Edit reference group.
- Select one or more projects to reference from the list of available projects, then click the >> button to add those projects to the reference group.
- Click OK to add the reference to the other project.
Other new features and functions
Following are some additional new features provided in V6.1:
- Global tasks can now be converted into global processes.
- Windows Vista is now supported.
- The Eclipse framework has been upgraded to 3.2.
- In an error view, you can double-click an error to display a detailed description.
- When importing a .mar file created in V6.1, the project is automatically created during the import process.
WebSphere Business Modeler Publishing Server enhancements
The new V6.1 release WebSphere Business Modeler Publishing Server (hereafter called Publishing Server) streamlines and simplifies the installation process for Publishing Server. The number of prerequisite products has been reduced, and each of these can be automatically installed and configured by the InstallShield® wizard.
In V6.1, Publishing Server is bundled with DB2® rather than Lotus® Domino to improve scaleability. The bundled WebSphere Portal® is now Version 6, which improves performance by only refreshing portlets when necessary. Clustering is also now supported to further enhance scalability for Publishing Server.
Summary
In this article you learned about the new features in WebSphere Business Modeler V6.1 that enhance business user productivity, support BPM interoperability, and improve business modeling. You also learned about improved analysis, model management, and improvements to the WebSphere Business Modeler Publishing Server.
Resources
About the author  | 
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Marc Fasbinder is a BPM Integration Solution Architect at IBM with the WebSphere Technical Sales team in Southfield, Michigan. You can reach him at mfasbind@us.ibm.com. |
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