流程周期層
This article we'll introduces The Process Cycle Layer as a new BPMconcept that puts BPM Systems into a completely new perspective. Theproposed concept and strategy that we present here fits much better withhow people work in practice. And it will result in a much broaderapplicability of BPM technology. The Process Cycle Layer identifiesthe layer on which business stakeholders, developers and IT operationspeople collaborate. As part of this article, we'll sketch the initialdirection of a concrete tool that supports The Process Cycle Layer.
本文將介紹流程周期層，它將作為一個(gè)新的BPM概念，將BPM系統(tǒng)納入一個(gè)全新的視點(diǎn)里面。提議的概念和策略，非常適合在實(shí)踐上人們是如何工作的。并且它將導(dǎo)致廣泛的BPM技術(shù)應(yīng)用能力。流程周期層識(shí)別業(yè)務(wù)干系人，開發(fā)者和IT運(yùn)營(yíng)人員在哪個(gè)層次上協(xié)作。作為這篇文章的一部分，我們將勾畫出一個(gè)具體的工具，支持這一流程周期層的初始方向
BPM Overlaps With Software Development
BPM與軟件開發(fā)的重疊
One of the most common goals of BPM is to end up with software that supports those core business processes. The scope of managing business processes is of course larger then just building software.It also involves identifying core business processes in anorganisation, filtering out activities that don’t contribute to corebusiness, documenting how people collaborate today, business processreengineering and managing the organisational changes afterreorganisations. Those aspects can all be done without building newsoftware.
BPM最公共的目標(biāo)之一是終止那些只支持核心業(yè)務(wù)流程的軟件。管理業(yè)務(wù)流程的范圍當(dāng)然比只是構(gòu)建軟件要大得多。它也包括確定組織中的核心業(yè)務(wù)流程，篩選出無助于核心業(yè)務(wù)的活動(dòng)，記錄今天人們?nèi)绾螀f(xié)作的，業(yè)務(wù)流程再造和管理重組后的組織變化。這些方面都可以做到而不用構(gòu)建新的軟件。
But still a big aspect of BPM is creating software support forbusiness processes. And BPM suites typically focus on simplifying thetranslation from analysis process models to executable process models.That part of building executable processes is actually softwaredevelopment. At Activiti, dealing with business processes in thecontext of software development is not an afterthought.
但BPM一個(gè)大的方面仍然是創(chuàng)建支持業(yè)務(wù)流程的軟件。BPM套件通常側(cè)重于簡(jiǎn)化從分析過程模型到可執(zhí)行流程模型的翻譯。構(gòu)建可執(zhí)行流程那個(gè)部分實(shí)際上是軟件開發(fā)。在Activiti，在軟件開發(fā)環(huán)境下處理業(yè)務(wù)流程不是可有可無的事情。
Looking at the software development aspect of BPM, executableprocesses (and rules for that matter) cannot be looked at in isolation.They are authored preferably in the developers Integrated DevelopmentEnvironment (IDE). And typical executable business processes are closerelated to other software artifacts like java classes for the domainmodel or java based services, web applications, message queues, servicesand so on. An application can be composed of many of those components.Or the other way round: executable business processes are only oneaspect of an application.
縱觀BPM的軟件開發(fā)方面，不能以孤立的方式看待可執(zhí)行流程（和這個(gè)問題的規(guī)則）。最好在開發(fā)人員的集成開發(fā)環(huán)境（IDE）里創(chuàng)作它們。并且典型的可執(zhí)行業(yè)務(wù)流程和其它軟件工件密切相關(guān)，比如領(lǐng)域模型的Java類，或者基于Java的服務(wù)，Web應(yīng)用程序，消息隊(duì)列，服務(wù)等等。一個(gè)應(yīng)用程序能夠由許多那樣的組件組成。或者反過來說，可執(zhí)行業(yè)務(wù)流程只是應(yīng)用程序的一個(gè)方面。
In practice, both BPM as a management discipline and BPM as softwareengineering both require dedicated solutions. Our conclusion is thatround-tripping only works in very particular niche cases. In general--and that is the market we target-- business process modelers anddevelopers should both work in their own world and the BPM solution mustfacilitate the interaction links to get a good collaboration.
實(shí)踐上，作為管理學(xué)科的BPM和作為軟件工程的BPM，都需要專門的解決方案。我們的結(jié)論是，雙向工程只適用在非常特殊的好的場(chǎng)景。一般情況下 -這是我們的目標(biāo)市場(chǎng) - 業(yè)務(wù)流程建模和開發(fā)人員都應(yīng)該工作在自己的世界。BPM解決方案必須提供便利的互動(dòng)連結(jié)來取得了良好的合作。
Problems With Traditional Approaches
傳統(tǒng)方法的問題
Traditional pure-play BPM vendors have 2 major problems:
傳統(tǒng)的純BPM供應(yīng)商有2個(gè)主要問題：
· 1) Traditional BPM systems are focussed solely on the non techbusiness users. Less or even no focus is given to IT development teams.And yet most the software support that is being build to supportbusiness process is part of a larger software application. So despitethe ambition of some BPM leaders to bypass technical developers, inpractice that approach turns out to fail. The only viable path is tofacilitate a proper collaboration between non tech business people andIT development teams. So BPM should not be looked at in isolation from aprocess only perspective. For IT teams, BPM should actually be a partof their normal software development work. Traditional vendors don’tfocus enough on embedding BPM as part of the normal software developmentwork.
·傳統(tǒng)的BPM系統(tǒng)是完全集中在非科技企業(yè)用戶。較少甚至沒有關(guān)注開發(fā)團(tuán)隊(duì)。但大多數(shù)正在建設(shè)以支持業(yè)務(wù)流程的軟件是一個(gè)更大的軟件應(yīng)用程序的一部分。因此，盡管一些BPM的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)廠商的野心企圖繞過技術(shù)開發(fā)人員，這種做法在實(shí)踐中失敗。唯一可行的道路是促使非技術(shù)業(yè)務(wù)人員和IT開發(fā)團(tuán)隊(duì)之間的合作。因此，不應(yīng)當(dāng)孤立看待BPM只是流程的觀點(diǎn)。對(duì)于IT團(tuán)隊(duì)，BPM實(shí)際上應(yīng)該是一個(gè)正常的軟件開發(fā)工作的一部分。傳統(tǒng)的供應(yīng)商不注重能夠嵌入BPM的能力作為正常開發(fā)工作的一部分。
· 2) All BPM vendors focus start with a focus on the non techbusiness users. But then they end up with self-contained, monolithicsystems on which those business processes have to run. To interact withother systems, they then build communication capabilities. In thatcontext, BPEL found it's origin as it is assumed that any other systemis addressable via a web service. The capability of just havingcommunication between BPMS and other applications is just too limited. BPM Systems must be able to run *inside* applications. It should beeasy to combine application updates and BPM updates into a singletransaction. From the application data, it should be easy to accessthe process instance and also the other way round. The capability torun business processes as part of an application greatly reduces thethreshold to start using BPM technology.
·所有的BPM供應(yīng)商一開始，都把重點(diǎn)集中在非高科技企業(yè)用戶。不過，他們終止于那些業(yè)務(wù)流程必須運(yùn)行在自包含的，單一系統(tǒng)上。為了和其它系統(tǒng)交互，然后他們構(gòu)建了通信能力。在這種情況下，BPEL能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)它的起源，因?yàn)樗羌俣ǎ魏纹渌到y(tǒng)通過網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)尋址。在僅僅具有BPMS和其他應(yīng)用程序之間的通信能力實(shí)在是太有限。BPM系統(tǒng)必須能夠在應(yīng)用程序*里面*運(yùn)行。它應(yīng)該很容易將業(yè)務(wù)流程的更新和應(yīng)用程序更新結(jié)合到一個(gè)單一事務(wù)里面。從應(yīng)用程序的數(shù)據(jù)的角度，它應(yīng)該可以簡(jiǎn)單地訪問流程實(shí)例，反之亦然。作為應(yīng)用程序的一部分的運(yùn)行業(yè)務(wù)流程能力大大降低了開始使用BPM技術(shù)門檻。
In summary the traditional BPM approach focusses on forwardengineering from the Analysis phase. In those solutions, developmentand deployment are typically limited to a process-only world and limitedto the self-contained tooling from the BPM vendor itself.
總之，傳統(tǒng)的BPM方法集中在從分析階段的前向工程。在那些解決方案里，開發(fā)和部署典型地限制在只有流程的世界，并且限制在從BPM供應(yīng)商自身提供的自包含工具。
The Process Cycle Layer
流程周期層
We took the starting point that business processes are part of yourapplications and we looked at how people work in practice today. Thatgives a completely new and interesting perspective. As you are probablyaware, it can be time consuming to sync business people with the ITteam. A lot of meetings typically take place and the result is mostlikely a set of text documents. Keeping those text documents andabstract process models in sync with the actual developed software is achallenge.
我們把業(yè)務(wù)流程是應(yīng)用程序的一部分當(dāng)作是出發(fā)點(diǎn)，我們看到今天人們?cè)趯?shí)踐上是如何工作的。這給了一個(gè)全新的，有趣的觀點(diǎn)。正如你可能知道，它可以是同步業(yè)務(wù)人員和IT團(tuán)隊(duì)所耗費(fèi)的時(shí)間。通常召開很多會(huì)議，其結(jié)果很可能是一個(gè)文本文件集。保持與實(shí)際開發(fā)的軟件同步的文本文檔和模型的抽象過程是一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)。
From our practical experience, we know that trying to automate theupdating of analysis documents, processes and software in all directionsjust doesn't work. Some try to achieve this with round-trippingsolutions. We've concluded that can only work for very specific casesand hence it doesn't fit the ubiquity that we're after. So we concludethat we have to live with distinct sets of documents. Businessdocuments are owned by the business people, software artifacts aremanaged by the development team and deployed software applications aremanaged by the IT operations people.
從我們的實(shí)踐經(jīng)驗(yàn)來看，我們知道嘗試在所有目錄下自動(dòng)化更新分析文檔，流程和軟件是行不通的。有些人用雙向工程的解決方案來完成這項(xiàng)工作。我們已經(jīng)得出結(jié)論，只有那些非常特殊的案例才能工作，所以它并不適合我們后面無處不在的案例。因此，我們得出結(jié)論，我們不得不忍受不同的文件集。業(yè)務(wù)文檔由業(yè)務(wù)人員所有，軟件工件由開發(fā)團(tuán)隊(duì)管理，已部署的軟件應(yīng)用程序由IT運(yùn)營(yíng)人員所管理。
As an indicative example to give you a more concrete feel about theactual artifacts, imagine a manager maintaining a text document with therequirements and a visio diagram of the process flow. The developermanaging an executable process and a bunch of Java source files. Andthe IT operator to managed the .war files on a Tomcat installation andset of deployed processes in an Activiti DB.
作為一個(gè)例子來指示給你一個(gè)更具體的實(shí)際感受工件，想象一個(gè)經(jīng)理保持文本文件的需求和對(duì)流程的Visio圖表。開發(fā)者管理可執(zhí)行流程和一大推Java源代碼文件。而IT操作人員管理在Tomcat安裝之上的.war文件和在Activiti數(shù)據(jù)庫里的一系列已部署流程。
Instead of trying to automate artifact synchronization over teamboundaries, we'll facilitate collaboration by enabling link, discussionsand notifications on all artifacts managed by the different groups.
代替在團(tuán)隊(duì)邊界上自動(dòng)化工件同步，我們將通過使用鏈接，討論和由不同組管理的所有工件上通知來提供協(xié)作。
Taking a step back, you can see that we'll basically apply the socialweb to the BPM lifecycle. The social networking features provide amore structured and persistent replacement for those volatile and closedmeetings. In that whole social web experience, colleagues are allpeers. On the one hand, that encourages newcomers to get involved. Andon the other hand it keeps established co workers on their toes andactive as they will be challenged.
退后一步，你能看見我們基本上將社交web應(yīng)用到了BPM的生命周期。社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)提供更多結(jié)構(gòu)化和持久化特性替換那些易變的和封閉的會(huì)議。整個(gè)web體驗(yàn)，同事都是對(duì)等的。另外方面，鼓勵(lì)新來人參與進(jìn)來。而在另一方面，從下到上，它保持建立合作工人的聯(lián)系，并當(dāng)它們?cè)庥鎏魬?zhàn)時(shí)激活。
A tool proposal: Activiti Cycle
提議的工具：Activiti Cycle
Activiti Cycle is a web application that improves collaborationbetween business people and developers by linking artifacts in analysis,development and deployment of software applications. Having a linkbetween an analysis process model in a model repository and theexecutable process model in the development SVN repository is crucial. And still it's possible to include helper tools for forward engineeringand reverse engineering might be supplied. But it's very important thatthose are optional. This way Activiti Cycle facilitates the way peoplecollaborate and it doesn't have a hard dependency on full the roundtrip like typical BPM products have. That is in a nutshell the corevision behind the innovative Activiti Cycle.
ActivitiCycle是一個(gè)Web應(yīng)用程序，在軟件應(yīng)用程序的分析，開發(fā)和部署里面通過連接的工件，提高了業(yè)務(wù)人員和開發(fā)人員之間的協(xié)作。具有在模型倉庫里面業(yè)務(wù)流程模型和開發(fā)SVN倉庫的可執(zhí)行業(yè)務(wù)流程模型是至關(guān)重要的。并且仍有可能包括也許提供的前向工程和反向工程的幫助工具。但是非常重要的是那些事可選的。這種方法ActivitiCycle給人員協(xié)作提供便利。它并沒有像典型的BPM產(chǎn)品具有的全部雙向工程的硬性依賴的缺點(diǎn)。簡(jiǎn)而言之，這是創(chuàng)新的ActivitiCycle幕后的核心愿景。
The main layout of the web application looks like this:
Web應(yīng)用程序的主要布局看起來像這樣：
Artifacts are stored in repositories. The artifact browser can show a range of repositories. Examples:
工件保存在倉庫里。工件瀏覽器能夠顯示倉庫的范圍。例如：
· a network drive containing artifacts like Visio diagrams, images, word documents, spreadsheets
· 網(wǎng)絡(luò)驅(qū)動(dòng)器包含像Visio圖表，圖像，Word文檔，電子表格之類的工件
· a business model repository like Signavio containing abstract BPMN process models
· 像Signavio那樣的業(yè)務(wù)模型倉庫包含抽象的BPMN流程模型
· an SVN repository containing Java source files and executable BPMN processes
· 一個(gè)SVN倉庫包含Java源代碼和可執(zhí)行的BPMN流程
· a maven repository containing business archives
· Maven倉庫包含業(yè)務(wù)檔案
· Activiti instances containing a set of deployed business archive versions as artifacts
· Activiti實(shí)例包含一個(gè)作為工件的已部署的業(yè)務(wù)檔案集
The application will allow to link, watch, get people involved anddiscuss those artifacts. Those base capabilities are provided across allrepositories and all artifact types. Business analysts, developersand operators can now keep working in their own world with their owntools and organise their collaboration through Activiti Cycle.
應(yīng)用程序?qū)⒃试S連接，觀看，讓人們介入并討論那些工件。它提供跨越所有倉庫和所有工件類型的基本能力。業(yè)務(wù)分析師，開發(fā)者和操作者現(xiàn)在能夠在他們自己擁有的世界里保持工作。在這個(gè)世界里，通過Activiti Cycle，擁有自己的工具和組織他們的協(xié)作。
Activiti Cycle Example Use Case
Activiti Cycle 示例用例
In this section we'll take you through a scenario that describes howthe Activiti Cycle features support the Process Cycle Layer.
本節(jié)我們將帶您經(jīng)歷一個(gè)如何支持流程周期層的場(chǎng)景（Process Cycle Layer）的Activiti Cycle特性。
Business Manager John Doe starts a new initiative to create a newproduct: an insurance for supercars. First, a meeting takes place withmanagement around the new product. The whiteboard picture of themeeting is stored in a network drive, along with the competitiveanalysis and a description of how the claims will be handled. Thisnetwork drive is available in the plain OS of every employee.
業(yè)務(wù)經(jīng)理John Doe啟動(dòng)一個(gè)新措施來建立新產(chǎn)品：為超級(jí)跑車保險(xiǎn)。首先，召開了一個(gè)圍繞新產(chǎn)品的管理會(huì)議。這次會(huì)議的白板圖片存儲(chǔ)在網(wǎng)絡(luò)驅(qū)動(dòng)器，伴有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)分析和如何處理索賠的描述。該網(wǎng)絡(luò)驅(qū)動(dòng)器從每個(gè)員工的普通OS上獲取。
In Activiti Cycle, the artifacts are now visible in the ‘SharedFiles’ repository under directory /Shared Files/Products/SuperCarInsurance
在Activiti Cycle里，從目錄/Shared Files/Products/SuperCar Insurance下的‘共享文件’倉庫里，可以看見這些工件。
Business manager John Doe can now start to involve people. Eachartifact and directory can have people associated to it. John Doe addsthe business analyst Joe Smoe as a person linked to the directory. Thiswill enable easy traceability. And if afterwards new people getinvolved, they will be able to read up on the whole story that will givethem the necessary context and background.
現(xiàn)在業(yè)務(wù)經(jīng)理John Doe能啟動(dòng)參加的人員。每個(gè)工件和目錄能讓人們和他關(guān)聯(lián)。John Doe增加業(yè)務(wù)分析師Joe Some作為連接到目錄的人。這將可輕松跟蹤。如果以后新的人參與進(jìn)來，他們將能夠閱讀整個(gè)故事，這將為他們提供必要的環(huán)境和背景了。
Business analyst Joe Smoe will then produce an abstract BPMN 2.0process model with Activiti Modeler and it's saved in the modelrepository. Also the model repository is available in Activiti Cycle soJoe Smoe can then link the new process model with the directory /SharedFiles/Products/SuperCar
業(yè)務(wù)分析師Joe Some然后會(huì)用Activiti建模器創(chuàng)建一個(gè)抽象的BPMN 2.0流程模型并將它保存在模型倉庫里面。在Activiti Cycle里面也有模型倉庫，所以Joe Some然后能把新的流程模型和目錄/SharedFiles/Products/SuperCar連接起來。
Here's a mockup of what the tool could actually look like:
這里是工具實(shí)際上看起來像的樣品：
In order to keep up to date, the business manager now decides towatch the /Shared Files/Products/SuperCar directory and the processdiagram. That way, he’ll be notified of all actions and changes to thoseartifacts.
為了保持更新，業(yè)務(wù)經(jīng)理現(xiàn)在決定觀察/Shared Files/Products/SuperCar目錄和流程圖。這樣，那些工件的所有動(dòng)作和變化都要通知他。
Next, the developers get involved. They create a new softwareproject in their svn repository. That repository is also mapped inActiviti Cycle. That way, the abstract business process can be linkedwith the executable process model. Developers can also easily traceback to the people behind the requirements. They can see the fullcontext of the initial discussions. Eventually, when the softwareproject is released, it becomes available in a maven repository. Theapplication is composed of 2 parts: a web application archive (/SoftwareComponents/supercar-webapp/1.0/SuperCar.war) and a business archive(/Software Components/supercar-process/1.0/SuperCar.bar)
接下來，開發(fā)者參與進(jìn)來。他們?cè)赟VN倉庫里建立一個(gè)新的軟件項(xiàng)目。那個(gè)倉庫也和ActivitiCycle映射。這樣，抽象的業(yè)務(wù)流程能夠和可執(zhí)行的業(yè)務(wù)流程相連接。開發(fā)者也能夠輕松地追溯需求背后的人物。他們能夠查看到初始討論的所有上下文。最后，當(dāng)軟件項(xiàng)目發(fā)布時(shí)，它在maven倉庫中變得可見。應(yīng)用程序包含2部分：一個(gè)web應(yīng)用程序的檔案（Components/supercar-webapp/1.0/SuperCar.war）和業(yè)務(wù)檔案（/SoftwareComponents/supercar-process/1.0/SuperCar.bar）。
Next, The IT operations admin can take the deployable artifacts fromActiviti Cycle and deploy them to the Activiti instance and the Tomcatinstance respectively. This completes the cycle because now there istraceability from the deployed artifacts in production, all the way downto the original requirements documents. And all that with links to thepeople involved.
接下來，IT操作管理員能夠從ActivitiCycle里取出可部署的工件并將它們分別部署到Activiti實(shí)例和Tomcat實(shí)例里。因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)在產(chǎn)品環(huán)境下存在已部署工件的可追溯性，所以這就完成了整個(gè)周期。所有的方法下載到原始的需求文檔里。并且所有那些和參與的人們相連接。
Goals
目標(biāo)
Non intrusive
非侵入式
Activiti Cycle lets people work the way they work now. The tool can be introduced gradually without a big investment upfront.
Activiti Cycle讓人們以現(xiàn)在工作的方式進(jìn)行工作。工具能夠被逐漸引入，而不需要預(yù)先投入巨大的投資。
Context
上下文
People that get involved into an initiative later in the game can getfull context immediately without people having to explain everything inendless emails. This extra context information will turn employees intoknowledge workers and let them work more effectively.
人們不必用沒完沒了的電子郵件來解釋所有的事情，參與到游戲里面的人物立即能夠得到全部的上下文。這個(gè)額外的上下文信息將員工轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橹R(shí)工人并讓他們工作更加有效。
Governance
治理
Since all artifacts from business documents over analysis toproduction deployment are linked, a very high level of traceability isobtained. Which process is deployed on which system? Who was involved inthe requirements for that process? and so on.
因?yàn)樗衼碜杂诋a(chǎn)品部署的分析的業(yè)務(wù)文檔的工件是連接的，所以可以獲取一個(gè)非常高級(jí)的可追溯性。那個(gè)流程部署到哪個(gè)系統(tǒng)？誰參與那個(gè)流程的需求？等等。
Social BPM
社交BPM
Create communities around company initiatives. Social BPM ensuresthat everyone remains engaged. Building communities requires thatpeople expose themselves vulnerable. It's normal that people makemistakes. That can be a challenge to accept for people that have sincelong been used to their ivory tower. Inside an organization, thesocial aspect of Activiti Cycle will encourage both established and newmembers to share knowledge and work more effectively.
建立圍繞公司倡議的社區(qū)。社交BPM確保每個(gè)人都能參與。構(gòu)建社區(qū)需要人們暴露他們自己的脆弱。每個(gè)人都會(huì)犯錯(cuò)誤，這很正常。接收那些長(zhǎng)期習(xí)慣于象牙塔的人們是一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)。在一個(gè)組織里面，Activiti Cycle的社交方面將鼓勵(lì)已有聯(lián)系的人員和新成員共享知識(shí)并且更加有效地工作。
Realistic BPM
現(xiàn)實(shí)BPM
Traditional solutions focus on the business users and then try toavoid relying on IT with automagical transformations. Instead ActivitiCycle facilitates the collaboration between business people and IT in away that fits with how they work in practice.
傳統(tǒng)的解決方案?jìng)?cè)重業(yè)務(wù)用戶，而嘗試采用automagical變換避免依賴IT。相反，Activiti Cycle以一個(gè)實(shí)踐上適合他們工作的方式加強(qiáng)了業(yè)務(wù)人員和IT人員的合作。
Broad coverage
覆蓋面廣
Activiti Cycle is an overview tool. It doesn’t allow detailedoperations on all artifacts. Instead if focuses on the overall picture.This means that all aspects of business related content, softwaredevelopment and software deployment need to be taken into account.
Activiti Cycle 是一個(gè)概觀工具。它并不允許對(duì)所有的工件進(jìn)行詳細(xì)操作。相反它著眼于大局。這意味著所有與內(nèi)容相關(guān)的業(yè)務(wù)方面，需要考慮軟件開發(fā)和軟件部署。
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