Process applications
A process application is a container for process models and their supporting implementations; it is stored in the repository. After the artifacts have been authored or otherwise created, they are assembled into a process application.
- One or more process models, also called Business Process Definitions (BPDs)
Cases Note: Case management functions are only available if you have IBM BPM Advanced with the Basic Case Management feature installed.- References to toolkits
- The services required to implement activities or integrate with other systems, including Advanced Integration Services
- One or more tracks
- Service Component Architecture (SCA) modules
and libraries (authored in IBM® Integration
Designer)
- An IBM Business Monitor model for monitoring business performance
- Any other items required to run the process
For an introductory video about iterative process application and toolkit development with tips, snapshots, and tracks, watch "Iterative Process Application and Toolkit Development", available on YouTube or in the IBM Education Assistant collection under IBM Business Process Manager. A transcript of the video is available.
Process application tip, snapshots, and tracks
Any changes you make to a process application are dynamically saved to the Process Center repository at the tip, which is the current working version of the process application. You can use playback sessions on the tip to instantly test and manage the current working version of the process application.
By default, each process application has a single track, called Main. If you want to allow parallel development on a process application, you can create additional tracks. These optional subdivisions in the process application keep changes isolated. For example, imagine your company is in the process of rebranding; during this transition, the current process applications must be maintained while new versions are being developed based on the updated corporate identity. In this situation, one team might be making minor fixes on the current version of a process application (in the Main track) while another team is building a new version of the process application in a separate track.
Toolkits for process applications
Toolkits are containers that store library items (for example, BPDs) for reuse by process applications or other toolkits. Process applications can share library items from one or more toolkits, and toolkits can share library items from other toolkits. If you have access to a toolkit, you can create a dependency on it and use that toolkit's library items in your process application.
Process applications and business level applications
A process application has a business level application (BLA), which acts as a container for the process application and its assets (assets include things like monitor models, SCA modules, toolkits, and libraries). Each process application snapshot has its own BLA. Many of the administration tasks for a snapshot (for example, stopping or starting it on a production server) are done at the level of the BLA, allowing for quicker and simpler administration of the snapshot and all of its assets.
Versioning in process applications
The lifecycle of a process application begins with the creation of the process application and continues through a cycle of updating, deploying, co-deploying, undeploying, and archiving the process application. Versioning is a mechanism used to manage the lifecycle of the process application by uniquely identifying the individual versions of the process application.
The process applications and toolkits that you deploy to a runtime environment from the Process Center are, by default, versioned.