Sandy Kemsley › Comments

An upcoming research paper related to management of multiparty interactions. - Sandy Kemsley

Want the low-down on the new non-interrupting events in BPMN 2.0? Rick Geneva explains the visual syntax, how to merge a non-interrupting flow back into the main flow, and wtf is a non-interrupting start event. - Sandy Kemsley

AIIM's 2009 Industry Watch report on BPM - Sandy Kemsley

Bruce Silver picks up the gauntlet again on BPMN versus BPEL. Interesting thoughts, as always, and a good comment stream too. - Sandy Kemsley

Need BPMN training but just can't get away for a course? Bruce Silver is offering his BPMN Method and Style course in a virtual classroom environment in January. This is live training including interaction, not a one-way pre-recorded broadcast. - Sandy Kemsley

A survey on BPMN understanding by Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin. Undoubtedly going into someone's research, but it gives immediate feedback on your understanding of BPMN. - Sandy Kemsley

Looking at the different views and definitions of BPM. Includes an interesting timeline of BPM. - Sandy Kemsley

SAP is documenting [NetWeaver] BPM use cases on a wiki on SDN. - Sandy Kemsley

One of Dana Gardner's BriefingsDirect podcasts that I joined, discussing business commerce clouds. Includes links to the transcript, if you prefer to read it rather than listen to it. - Sandy Kemsley

Rick Geneva describes event-based gateways in BPMN 2.0. I still think that these have become way too complex for the average non-technical process modeler, although create a more descriptive process modeling language. - Sandy Kemsley

Process data models and perspectives: seeing process data from the point of view of the owner, analyst, participant and builder. - Sandy Kemsley

More detail on the new artifact shapes in BPMN 2.0 - Sandy Kemsley

Bruce Silver on BPMN and BPEL: "If BPEL were adequate to execute processes the way business wants to model them, it would have become the BPM runtime standard. It hasn’t." - Sandy Kemsley

Thomas Allweyer's book on BPMN 2.0, in German. - Sandy Kemsley

Almost 4 years after I first suggest a BPM camp, someone is actually going to do it. Scott Francis of BP3 is planning one that is limited to Lombardi customers, but intended to be a true unconference. I'm very interested in how this will work out, since I think that it could be a model for user conferences and non-vendor-specific conferences in the future, even for enterprise attendees who find this all a bit too new-age-y and weird. - Sandy Kemsley

A "checklist for performing design reviews when building service capabilities that are part of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) initiatives." Some good pointers here. - Sandy Kemsley

SAP releases NetWeaver BPM sample apps, including Approve Sales Order Change Request, Approve Purchase Requisition and Create Purchase Order, Manage Leave Request, Unexpected Returns Handling, and Phase In Equipment. - Sandy Kemsley

This came up in the panel that I was on at BRF last week: I think that PM/BA certifications provide some value by enforcing a standard set of knowledge, but I agree with Jim that it's not the only indicator of whether someone is competent at the job. I see too many people put into the role of BA, especially on BPM projects, who have inadequate experience or skills to properly do the job: is it a surprise that we have such a high failure rate on these projects if the critical link between business and IT is broken? - Sandy Kemsley

Even if you're not automating processes, there's still a lot of potential ROI in modeling them for documentation purposes. Here's 45 places to look for that ROI. - Sandy Kemsley

SnapLogic creates an online marketplace for web-based ETL components. - Sandy Kemsley

Some interesting speculation on what BPM will look like in 10 years. - Sandy Kemsley

A great pointer for process modeling: "as a minimum, put the checks after activities where the free will is clearly visible" - Sandy Kemsley

A video of a process modeler in a virtual 3D environment (think BPMN meets Second Life) developed by the Businees Process Virtual Environment (BPMVE) research theme at the Queensland University of Technology, a key BPM academic research institution. Interesting, but the video doesn't show any real advantages over a classic 2D process modeler. 3D could be used to solve some topology problems present in 2D models, it would be more interesting to see these modeled in this environment. - Sandy Kemsley

I see a lot of companies using (or attempting to use) SharePoint as a front-end to their ECM system, and many don't do it very well. Here's a list of basic principles to start with if you're planning a SharePoint-ECM integration. - Sandy Kemsley

Reasons include "not putting processes first" and "buying an SOA". - Sandy Kemsley

Collection of links on analyst views about Oracle BPM. - Sandy Kemsley

How to create assets in your BPMS that maximize reusability. Good pointers for putting some structure around what you're doing in the BPMS, such as how to provide information about your assets to external calling applications (e.g., another app that invokes a process needs to understand the stateful nature) and alignment with information/data models. - Sandy Kemsley

October release of Lombardi's Blueprint includes more process analysis features, some new properties, and email notifications. Great example of Lean software (reference my other link to Keith Swenson's post), where there are frequent releases with a few new features rather than a big bang once every year or two. - Sandy Kemsley

Anatoly Belychook on dynamic/unstructured processes, including two key patterns: "a little help from a friend", where an ad hoc collaboration is spawned from a step in a structured process, and "process toolset", where a structured (sub)process is launched from an unstructured process or case. - Sandy Kemsley

Keith Swenson on applying lean principles to software development: "Features designed but not coded is a waste of time. Code that is written but not tested is a real liability because there is now a hidden amount of work that must be done to correct problems in the coding. Completed features in the code, but can not be installed are still a waste. Building a bunch of features in parallel multiplies the waste." I would add that services that are created as part of an SOA initiative but not consumed are also waste. Keith highlights the central theme of the book as "Waste is eliminated by a steady flow of product releases, each quickly generated from the last", or specifically in the software world, "the continuous flow of small features allows for much more rapid response to market changes". - Sandy Kemsley