Migrating a governance process from IBM Business Process Manager V8.0.0

The governance process was redesigned for IBM® Business Process Manager V8.0.1. As a result, governance processes that were developed in V8.0.0 cannot be reused; they must be revised to fit the V8.0.1 design.

About this task

In IBM Business Automation Workflow V8.0.0, you cannot configure governance to use a specific governance process snapshot. Instead, in V8.0.0, Workflow Center always runs the configured governance process from the tip version. In versions later than V8.0.0, you can configure governance with a specific governance process snapshot. This redesign has been accompanied by a number of other modifications. As a result, governance processes developed in Business Automation Workflow V8.0.0 cannot be migrated automatically to newer versions of Business Automation Workflow.

  • In V8.0.0, only two governance processes ran in the Workflow Center, one for installation and one for snapshot status. In V8.0.1 and later, you can have many governance processes.
  • In V8.0.0, governance was applied to one process application or toolkit at a time. In V8.0.1 and later, governance is always running and there is a system-wide default governance process in the System Governance toolkit. However, you can still configure a custom governance process for one process application or toolkit at a time.
  • In V8.0.0, there were services in the System Governance toolkit that the governance processes used. In V8.0.1 and later, many of those services are still used, with the same interface as they had in V8.0.0.
  • The GOV prefix was used on business object names in V8.0.0. The prefix is no longer used in V8.0.1.
  • In V8.0.0, a governance process was started by a message start event bound to an undercover agent (UCA). In V8.0.1 and later, no UCA is used; an associated governance process instance is started directly.
  • In V8.0.0, a governance process was constructed just like any other business process definition (BPD). In V8.0.1 and later, the governance process developer must use one of two governance templates to create the BPD. In V8.6.0 and later, the governance process developer should use one of two governance templates to create a governance process rather than a BPD.

Because of these design changes, you must make a number of manual changes to a V8.0.0 governance process before you can use it in later versions of Business Automation Workflow. You cannot migrate a process instance.

Procedure

To migrate governance process from V8.0.0, complete the following steps:

  1. Export the governance process application that you want to reuse from Business Automation Workflow V8.0.0.
    Because the process application has a dependency on the System Governance toolkit, that toolkit is also exported.
  2. Import the governance process into Business Automation Workflow V8.0.1 or later.
  3. In Process Designer, change the dependency on your process application to use the System Governance toolkit and the System Data toolkit for your current version.
    When the toolkit dependency is upgraded from V8.0.0 to a later version, bindings are revised to reflect the new business object names. The API that displays the custom governance processes that are available for use shows only processes that have a dependency on the current System Governance toolkit.
  4. Create a process for use as a governance process. In the New Process window, give the governance process a name that will be meaningful to potential users, and then click Select. Choose the Installation Requested template or the Snapshot Status Change template. Click Finish.

    You can select the governance templates for use with a process application only when a dependency on the System Governance toolkit has been established. After you save the governance process, you cannot change the input and output variables that have been set by the template.

  5. In your new governance process, delete the start and end events and the system lane.
  6. Re-create the private variables from the original process in the new governance process.
    The ProcessAppInstallationRequest variable and the SnapshotStatusRequest variable are generated by the templates, and they cannot be changed or removed.
  7. Copy your implementation to the new governance process.
  8. Under the start event, add a post assignment that puts the value of the input variable into the private variable that was used previously for the request, or change the governance process activities to use the input variable directly.
  9. Verify the implementation and edit it as necessary.
  10. Save the process application.
  11. Take a snapshot of the process application and change status to Released.