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WebSphere Business Modeler certification exam 990 prep, Part 1 : Model business processes Skill Level: Intermediate Lori Small ([email protected]) Advisory Software Engineer IBM 08 Aug 2006 Prepare for the IBM® Certification Test 990, Modeling Business Processes with IBM WebSphere® Business Modeler Advanced V6. This tutorial covers modeling organizations, roles, resources, and related attributes, documenting the flow of business items through a process and determining the best way to accurately describe a process. In addition, it addresses how to use Modeler within a collaborative environment, define naming conventions to effectively manage a model and understand limitations and restrictions of change management. Finally, you will learn how to import and export model artifacts. It is the first tutorial in a series of five tutorials. Section 1. Before you start About this series WebSphere Business Modeler is the IBM Software business process development platform that allows you to quickly perform organization and resource modeling, analyze and simulate processes, create reports, and build business measures to address productivity and performance management. This series of five tutorials helps you prepare to take the IBM certification Test 990, Modeling Business Processes with IBM WebSphere Business Modeler Advanced V6 to become an IBM Certified Business Analyst. This certification targets intermediate level business analysts and is intended with skills in Business Process Management (BPM) and Business Activities Management (BAM) practices interested in business process design and management using IBM products. Model business processes © Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 1 of 23

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Page 1: WebSphere Business Modeler certification exam 990 prep ...WebSphere Business Modeler certification exam 990 prep, Part 1 : Model business processes ... To start the Modeler tool from

WebSphere Business Modeler certification exam990 prep, Part 1 : Model business processesSkill Level: Intermediate

Lori Small ([email protected])Advisory Software EngineerIBM

08 Aug 2006

Prepare for the IBM® Certification Test 990, Modeling Business Processes with IBMWebSphere® Business Modeler Advanced V6. This tutorial covers modelingorganizations, roles, resources, and related attributes, documenting the flow ofbusiness items through a process and determining the best way to accuratelydescribe a process. In addition, it addresses how to use Modeler within acollaborative environment, define naming conventions to effectively manage a modeland understand limitations and restrictions of change management. Finally, you willlearn how to import and export model artifacts. It is the first tutorial in a series of fivetutorials.

Section 1. Before you start

About this series

WebSphere Business Modeler is the IBM Software business process developmentplatform that allows you to quickly perform organization and resource modeling,analyze and simulate processes, create reports, and build business measures toaddress productivity and performance management. This series of five tutorialshelps you prepare to take the IBM certification Test 990, Modeling BusinessProcesses with IBM WebSphere Business Modeler Advanced V6 to become an IBMCertified Business Analyst. This certification targets intermediate level businessanalysts and is intended with skills in Business Process Management (BPM) andBusiness Activities Management (BAM) practices interested in business processdesign and management using IBM products.

Model business processes© Copyright IBM Corporation 1994, 2008. All rights reserved. Page 1 of 23

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About this tutorial

This tutorial is the first in the series designed to help you prepare for the IBMCertification Test 990: Modeling Business Processes with IBM WebSphere BusinessModeler Advanced V6. This tutorial focuses on the modeling of business processesand associated resources. It highlights features in the product, but does not replacethe knowledge and familiarity that you obtain from using the product on a regularbasis. This tutorial takes a basic approach to using the WebSphere BusinessModeler. It begins with starting the tool and presents modeling basics that simplifyan analyst's day-to-day tasks. After you complete this tutorial, continue with thesecond tutorial, which presents an overview of the simulation environment that isincluded with the toolworkbench.

Prerequisites

This tutorial is written for analysts whose skills and experience are at anintermediate to advanced level. You should have a general familiarity with using anintegrated development environment.

System requirements

To run the examples in this tutorial, you need to install WebSphere BusinessModeler Software V6. Download a free trial version of WebSphere Business ModelerSoftware if you don't already have a copy of it.

The hardware and software requirements for this software can be located at IBMWebSphere Business Modeler System Requirements .

Section 2. Getting started

This tutorial assumes you have installed the WebSphere Business Modeler V6. TheWebSphere Business Modeler product is based on the Eclipse™ workbench. Forthe sake of brevity, the WebSphere Business Modeler Software is referred to asModeler henceforth.

An installation directory for the Modeler workbench was specified as part of theinstallation process. Refer to this directory as <WBM_Install>.

This tutorial begins with a description of how to open the workbench. If you installedthe Windows™ version of Modeler product, the Windows Start menu has an entryfor it. To start the Modeler tool from the Windows Start menu, select: Programs >WebSphere Business Modeler > WebSphere Business Modeler.

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Alternatively, open a command window and start it from the installation directory: cd<WBM_Install>

On Windows, execute modeler.exe

The first time you open Modeler in a new workspace location it creates a .metadatadirectory in that workspace location, which is the workbench metadata directory. Inmost cases you should never need to access this directory directly.

After opening a new workspace, the WebSphere Business Modeler Welcome pageopens.

Figure 1. Modeler Welcome page

The Welcome page provides access to various features. The eight icons in thecenter of the page allow access to the Overview, What's New, Tutorials, Samples,Migration, Hints and Tips, Troubleshooting and Support and Web Resourcescontent.

Overview is a must see if you are new to the WebSphere Business Modelerproduct. It utilizes the on-line Help feature of Eclipse and contains a tour of theproduct and links that describe the various features such as process modeling,process simulation, analysis and report generation via the Product Overview. TheOverview also includes a Getting Started subject area with a quick guide to the toolinterface, available editors, helpful samples and how to begin modeling.

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What's New (the star icon next to the Overview icon) highlights new features,documentation updates and known issues.

Figure 2. What's New

Tutorials (click the chalkboard icon next to the What's New icon) contains morein-depth content that describes how to perform process design and analysis tasks.Inside Tutorials, there is a Quickstart tutorial option that includes an overview to theessential tasks that can accelerate your workbench-skill learning curve. TheAdvanced tutorials link directs you to more advanced examples available from theWebSphere Business Modeler on-line library.

Figure 3. Quickstart tutorial

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Samples contains sample projects that illustrate general business processes suchas order and payment processing, a sample automobile insurance company andbasic financial processes. It is definitely worth your while to take the time to see all ofthe additional content that is shipped with the Modeler workbench. A link toadditional samples available from the WebSphere Business Modeler on-line libraryis also provided.

Figure 4. Samples

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Migration content area explains how to migrate data from previous versions of theModeler product including versions 4.2 and 5.1.

Hint and Tips contains many useful ways to support more efficient use of theModeler product.

Support provides access to troubleshooting and support documentation includinglinks to online references.

The last link in the row, Web Resources, takes you to the Web sites oftechnologies, publications, standards, and IBM tools.

Figure 5. Web Resources

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User Interface

As with other Eclipse-based tools, the Modeler uses perspectives to group editorsand other information panes to support specific tasks. Most of the modeling work isdone using the Business Modeling perspective. The Resources perspective can beused to view the underlying physical files, but the project should be managed usingthe Business Modeling perspective to avoid corruption.

The Business Modeling Perspective consists of 4 main areas with one or more views(Figure 6):Project tree

Shows an overview of the project resources.

Editor paneThe editor associated with the targeted model element.

Attribute paneShows the attribute details for the selected model element in the editor paneand includes other views relevant to the target element type (for example,simulation for processes).

Outline viewDisplays all the elements in the assembly diagram that is open in the Editorview. It can be used to easily navigate around the diagram.

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All the model elements for the modeling project are accessible from the Project Tree.The user can select them and execute various operations using the right-clickcontext menu function. As with other Eclipse-based integrated developmentenvironments (IDE), the editors support drag-and-drop operations and most taskscan be accomplished in multiple ways using menus, wizards, etc.

Figure 6. Business Modeling Perspective

Modeling Mode

Modeling modes determine the level of detail to display and ensure the models areready for export. The Modeler supports a number of modes that provide more detailsand capabilities:

• Basic - focus on purely business tasks

• Intermediate - adds input and output details and formal expressions

• Advanced - models that form the basis of software applications

• WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation

• WebSphere MQ Workflow

• WebSphere Process Server

The first three modes are for modeling the processes, business items, resources,organization, and are the main focus for the business analyst view targeted by this

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certification series. The last three modes enable you to define underlying technicaldetails that will be used when the processes are exported for usage in one of thethree products and are more relevant to the IT staff with the specific product andinfrastructure expertise.

Note: Switching from one mode to another does not change the underlying model. Itdictates only the display level.

Section 3. Business process management

Every business is unique and requires custom management policies. Defining thebusiness objectives, and how to execute them, is critical. Another important aspectof business management is managing change, because a company's policies evolveover time. Effective business process management needs to be a disciplinedpractice that includes:

• Modeling processes

• Enabling workflow

• Defining business measures

• Monitoring performance results

Ideally, you want to automate the management process as much as possible. It'salso desirable to generalize the language so the process can be modified withoutaffecting the underlying IT implementation. Business process management is thelogical marriage between workflow and application integration. It moves the processflow from the application or IT level to a more abstract business level.

The WebSphere Business Integration family of products can help you with allaspects of the process definition life cycle to model, integrate, connect, monitor, andmanage business processes in an enterprise environment. For more information onthe WebSphere Business Integration product family, go to WebSphere BusinessIntegration Information Center and the WebSphere Business Integration Zone .

What is business process management?

Business process reengineering focuses on streamlining and automating processesto achieve business goals more efficiently. The steps for process redefinition are to:

1. Model and simulate the existing or as-is process

2. Model and simulate the proposed or to-be process

3. Generate reports of process comparison metrics to prove value of the

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reengineered process

To make improvements, one must be familiar with the existing, or as-is, processsteps. First, the analyst captures the current process in a model with the relevantsupporting data so that it can be simulated and, later, compared to the reengineeredprocess. Modeling the as-is process lets the business analyst identify and quantifythe existing process pain points.

Once the as-is process is analyzed and documented, the business analyst can startto redefine subprocesses by automating user-centric tasks, such as replacingpaperwork with business applications and integrating applications to preventredundant data entry.

Business process management (BPM) leads to business optimization byimplementing business strategy through modeling, developing, deploying andmanaging business processes throughout their entire lifecycle. This concept ofcontinuous process improvement is illustrated in Figure 6 with the relevantWebSphere products designated at each stage in the cycle.

Figure 7. Continuous process improvement

For an overview of the importance of business process management, read the whitepaper, "Delivering on demand business agility with business process management",along with the other Business Process Management references in the Resourcessection. Also, the Redbook entitled "Business Process Management: Modelingthrough Monitoring Using WebSphere V6 Products" gives an in-depth overview ofthe process cycle as illustrated in Figure 7 including a detailed case study.

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Section 4. Defining business processes

There is a difference between simply modeling the process flow and actuallycapturing the business process. The analyst must also understand all the associatedbusiness models in order to truly monitor and manage the entire business process.This includes adding resource values that can be calculated and measured againstthe goals of the business assuring that the business is meeting the definedobjectives.

The analyst must record all the key aspects of the process:

• What is the process flow?

• What are the resources used in the process?

• What business items acted upon by the process?

• What organizations and locations are involved?

As the analyst studies the process and gathers data, he records the following:

• Activity inputs and outputs

• Task variations and when those variations occur

• Alternative tasks

• Complete task descriptions

• Roles associated with tasks

The WebSphere Business Modeler allows you to model each of the elementsrelevant to the business. These include business items (such as documents, workproducts, or commodities), notifications (such as alarms), and resources (such aspeople, equipment, and materials). In addition, each of the items used in thebusiness to perform a process or task (such as personnel, equipment, or materials)can be modeled for use in process diagrams. You can also model roles, which addadditional characteristics to resources, and timetables, which model the availabilityof resources or roles.

Furthermore, you can create a model of each organizational entity and location thatexists in a business. Examples of organizational entities include enterprises,companies, departments, and teams. Examples of locations include geographicareas, offices, factories, and sales regions. You can then associate them withelements in your process diagrams or use them to create structure diagrams tomodel the organizational relationships between your model elements.

In summary, the multidimensional business models involved in a robust process

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definition include:

• Process Model - a pictorial representation of the process.

• Resource Model - identifies the resources types and instances associatedwith the process.

• Information Model - defines the data used within the process.

• Organization Model - definition and structure of the associated resources.

• Analysis Model - key process values in static analysis and processsimulation results in dynamic analysis.

• Collaboration Model - supports collaboration on the process model atmodel and deployment time.

• Business Measures Model - definition of key performance indicators(KPIs) and business metrics.

IBM Global Services provides a comprehensive set of courses for the businessintegration suite of products. Refer to the IGS training site for more information.

Modeling organizations and related attributes

In addition to capturing what work needs to be done, who is doing the work andwhere the work is directed, it is also important to understand who is responsible forthe each task from an organizational and geographical perspective. This can beaccomplished by modeling the association between individual tasks, and theresources, roles, organization units, and locations involved.

There are four types of organization elements:

• Organization catalogs

• Structures

• Organization definitions

• Organization units

An organization catalog performs the function of a folder, allowing you to group arelated set of organizations, locations, and structures. Each time you create aproject, two organization catalogs are created for you. The first, calledOrganizations, is available for storage of your own elements. The second, calledPredefined organizations, contains a default organization definition that you can useto create organization units without creating definitions for them first.

Structures allow you to create a reusable template and define a set of attributes thatcan be used across multiple organization definitions. Each organization definitionyou create using the template inherits that template's attributes. In addition, anychanges made to the template are inherited by all the other organization definition

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templates, organization definitions, and organization units that refer directly orindirectly to the changed template.

Organization definitions define specific organization units. Every organization unitmust refer to an organization definition. After you create your organizationdefinitions, you can use them to create organization units, as well as structuredefinitions.

Organization units represent the specific organizational groups inside of anorganization. Each organization unit must be based on an organization definition,which defines the attributes of the unit.

In addition to organization elements, the Modeler tool supports location elements.Locations model specific places of interest to your organization. As withorganizations, each location is based on a location definition, which dictates theattributes used to define the location. Unique location instances are created byproviding values to the attributes defined within the location definition.

Refer to the Modeler online Help and the other Business Process Managementreferences in the Resources section for more details on organization and locations.

Modeling business items and related attributes

Business items represent objects such as business documents, work products, orcommodities that are used by the business operations. They undergo changes andare passed from one process step to the next and they form the basis for theunderlying process data or information model.

As with organizations, data catalogs can be used to group business item templates,definitions and instances. Similarly, business item templates provide a means ofcapturing a set of attributes in a reusable structure which is then leveraged by theitem definition. Business item definitions are then instantiated as business items byproviding specific values for the relevant attributes.

Refer to the Modeler online Help and the other Business Process Managementreferences in the Resources section for more details on business items.

Modeling resources and related attributes

Each time you create a project, two resource catalogs are created for you. The first,called Resources, is available for storage of your own elements. The second, calledPredefined resources, contains default resource definitions that you can use tocreate resource instances without creating definitions for them first.

Resources are different from business. As described in the previous section,business items are the entities on which the work is directed. Resources representwho is doing the work or the required prerequisites and include people, equipment,or material. There are two types of resources: individual and bulk. Individual

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resources are those where a specific instance is required, whereas bulk resourcesare used where random instances from a pool can be used. Examples of individualresources include people and computers, and bulk resource examples includepower and water.

Bulk resources can represent the material used to perform a project or a task. Theycan be non-consumable (such as employees, vehicles, or equipment) orconsumable (such as fuel or printer paper). Consumable resources are diminished,or perhaps even used up, during the process.

You can define bulk resources as resources that are not uniquely identified, butwhether resources need to be identifiable may depend on how they are being used.The modeling of a resource therefore depends on the viewpoint within the processbeing modeled and its purpose.

Resources may have specified periods when they are available. To specifyavailability, you can use an existing timetable or create a new timetable thatindicates the periods of availability. If you do not specify the availability of aresource, it is assumed that the resource is always available. You can also addcosts and qualifications to resources. The qualifications are specific roles that thisresource must fulfill.

Once defined, resources can be associated with individual tasks within the processflow. Resource definition templates are also available to allow template creation anddefine the attributes just once. This is useful for resources that share attributes andsuch resources represent values or instances of resource definitions. In addition,resource catalogs, as with organizations, are containers that can be used to holdresource definition templates, resource definitions, resources.

Roles and timetables add additional characteristics to resources. Roles are used todefine a set of capabilities for a particular resource. Timetables model the availabilityor when a particular cost is applicable for resources or roles.

Refer to the Modeler online Help and the other Business Process Managementreferences in the Resources section for more details on resources.

Modeling the process flow

Processes are representations of real-time business processes. Processes arecomposed of individual steps or activities, the conditions that dictate when thesesteps and activities occur, and the resources required for the performance orexecution of the process.

Both processes and tasks represent activities that are performed in a business.Processes are more complex than tasks, however, and can be represented as asequence of activities that are linked by flows of control and data. This sequence asa whole is known as a process flow. By contrast, tasks are atomic activities thatcannot be divided into smaller actions.

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There are two types of processes: global and local. Global processes are displayedin the Project Tree and can be used across multiple processes within the project.Local processes (or subprocesses) are displayed only within the process diagram oftheir parent process.

Processes may contain the following local elements:

• Processes

• Tasks

• Repositories

• Start, stop, and end nodes

• Connections

• Decisions

• Forks

• Joins

• Loops

• Maps

• Merges

• Notification broadcasters

• Notification receivers

• Observers

• Timers

• Annotations

The use of decisions in a process allows the process to be executed in a number ofdifferent ways, depending on the outcome of each decision. Each possible path ofexecution is known as a case.

The definition of a process has the following parts:

• The process diagram, which is a visual representation of the process flow

• The specification, which defines the inputs and outputs of the process.You can also define the costs and duration, as well as the organizationunit that is responsible for this process. Note that there is no relationshipimplied between the responsible organization unit and the requiredresources to perform the tasks within the process.

Global processes must be opened from the Project Tree for editing. For example,you can drag a global process onto a diagram and then create connections betweenit and other processes or tasks in the diagram, but only if the global process contains

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the appropriate inputs and outputs. Otherwise, you must open the specification forthe global process and make the changes.

You can display labels for all processes in a diagram, so that you can see certaincharacteristics at a glance. You can specify up to two labels, one above and onebelow and can choose from the following content:

• Description

• Processing cost

• Startup cost

• Revenue

• Processing time

• Organization units

• Locations

• Classifier values

Process connections

Connections specify the chronological sequence of activities in a process. Eachtask, subprocess, decision, or other element passes control to the next task orelement along a connection.

If the process that you are creating starts when it receives input, you will not need touse the start node that was added by default when you created your diagram.Instead, you will indicate the input to your process by connecting directly to theborder of the diagram. Similarly, you will connect to the right-hand border to indicateprocess output is expected. Stop nodes can be utilized in your diagram to indicatethat the process is finished for specific decision flows.

Finally, you need to associate a business item with each connection that requirespassage of the business item between elements in the process flow.

Classifiers

If you desire to categorize tasks and other process elements in order to optimizeyour processes and easily recognize elements with a particular set of characteristics,you can use classifiers. There are several predefined classifiers or you can defineyour own classifiers and classifier values. Within a process diagram, classifiers allowyou to quickly view the elements that have certain characteristics. For example, youcan see which tasks in your existing process are dedicated to quality control, orquickly identify all the tasks that add no real business value to your process.Classifiers enable you to categorize elements that share a common characteristicand then assign a color to that characteristic.

Each time you create a project, two classifier catalogs are created for you. The first,called Classifiers, is available for storage of your own elements. The second, called

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Predefined classifiers, contains default classifier definitions that you can use tocreate classifiers without creating definitions for them first.

Layout

There are two process layouts available: swimlane and free-form. Swimlane layoutenables you to display your process activities according to particular attributes,helping you to visually identify activities with certain characteristics. Free-form allowsyou to place elements anywhere on the editor surface.

The swimlane layout lets you adjust attributes by moving activities to differentswimlane rows. It also displays the elements in your diagram according to categoriesthat you specify. After you have created a number of elements in your diagram, itcan become difficult to recall particular attributes of those elements without selectingeach element individually and examining its attributes. By switching to the swimlanelayout, you can quickly display your activities according to certain characteristics,such as resource definition, role, or location.

Hints and tips for modeling a process

The Modeler Help system provides links to the following topics with ideas andshortcuts that can make using WebSphere Business Modeler easier or quicker.

• General hints and tips - contains general tips for using WebSphereBusiness Modeler.

• Process editor hints and tips - contain hints and tips for using the Processeditor

• Modeling activity flow - describes commonly used flow patterns, and thesuggested elements to implement them.

• Global and local elements - to create realistic and accurate models, youneed to know when to use specific elements in your models.

• Project Tree hints and tips - contains hints and tips for using the ProjectTree.

• Expression Builder hints and tips - contains hints and tips for using theExpression Builder.

• Simulation and resource hints and tips - contains hints and tips forrunning simulations and allocating resources.

• Reports and queries hints and tips - contains hints and tips for usingreports and queries.

• Import and export hints and tips - contains tips that apply to importing andexporting.

• Keyboard shortcuts and navigation - how to use keys or key combinationsto perform operations that can also be done through mouse actions.

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• Customizing WebSphere Business Modeler - how to customizeWebSphere Business Modeler environment.

It is good practice to define a set of standards in order to maintain consistentprocess models. Process modeling standards provide a common language for theteam. Having a common language enhances project efficiency and reduces theoccurrence of misunderstandings.

Standardization of element names and the level of detail to include arerecommended. Most importantly, keep the model relevant to the business context.Try to choose names and model relationships as they appear in businessoperations. Keep in mind that the model represents the business analyst's view sothat it can be measured against the business goals. The model should be agnosticof the IT implementation.

Process and tasks should follow a "verb object" naming convention such as CreateSales Order. Task names should be concise. Decisions and choices can simplify theprocess diagram and they should be stated as a question such as Loan Approved?.

Finally, scoping is critical to the success of a business process model. You shoulddocument the project objectives and goals, identify the relevant stakeholders andensure they are on board, and clearly define the project schedule and plan tomonitor and track regular progress.

Section 5. Importing and exporting

Importing model artifacts

WebSphere Business Modeler allows you to import information from a variety ofsources to facilitate building business process models quickly.

The information used by WebSphere Business Modeler may already exist in anotherapplication, tool, file format, or another copy of WebSphere Business Modeler.WebSphere Business Modeler provides a wizard to help you import this informationinto a new project or into an existing project. The wizard supports the following typesof imports:

• WebSphere Business Modeler project

• WebSphere MQ Workflow

• WebSphere Business Integration Workbench V4.2.4

• Delimited Text

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• XML Schema

• Microsoft Visio

• WebSphere Business Modeler XML

Once you complete the import wizard, it starts the import process. The importprocess checks whether an imported element has the same name as an existingelement. If there is a duplicate name, the import process renames the importedelement. However, when you are doing a WebSphere Business Modeler Projectimport, you can overwrite the existing elements. If you choose not to overwrite, theimport process does not import the elements with duplicate names.

The import process also validates the content. If it finds a problem such as an illegalcharacter, the process fixes the problem so it can continue the import. When theprocess completes the import, the problems it encountered and fixed are availablefor you to view. After the import has finished, WebSphere Business Modelervalidates the new content.

Exporting model artifacts

After modeling business processes, WebSphere Business Modeler allows you toexport information to another application to, for example, implement the businessprocesses. You can also export a project so that another person can import it to viewor work on it.

WebSphere Business Modeler provides a wizard to help you export this informationinto a format that the other application can read. The wizard supports the followingtypes of exports:

• WebSphere Business Modeler project

• UML Business Modeling Profile

• WebSphere MQ Workflow

• WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation V5.1

• Delimited text

• WebSphere Business Modeler XML

• WebSphere Process Server

Important: Models created in WebSphere Business Modeler are not guaranteed towork correctly in the other tools. When you are converting files, you should be awareof the following:

• If you plan to export FDL, BPEL, or SCA artifacts, you should first ensureyou are working in the appropriate mode (WebSphere MQ Workflow,WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation, or WebSphere

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Process Server respectively) and that your model has no errors. Thesemodes enforce restrictions on the models in WebSphere BusinessModeler to ensure that the model can be imported into the otherapplications and function properly.

• Based on what is specified in the model, it may not be possible togenerate a complete process definition. For example, if the decisionbranches in the model have no formal expressions associated with them,no BPEL or FDL transition conditions will be generated.

• No deployment-related information is generated when you export the files.This information will be generated when you import the files intoApplication Developer Integration Edition, WebSphere IntegrationDeveloper, or WebSphere MQ Workflow.

Refer to the online Help system for information on the results of exportingorganizations, roles and processes to WebSphere Process Server, WebSphere MQWorkflow, and WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation.

Section 6. Using the Modeler tool in a team environment

Using the Modeler product in a collaborative environment

The WebSphere Business Modeler Publishing Server supports the ability to reviewand annotate models in a collaborative, web-based team environment. Modelpublishing involves sending a consistent model to a publishing server. To achieveconsistency, there must be an integration of model elements from differentWebSphere Business Modeler instances.

The publishing server provides a way for people that do not have WebSphereBusiness Modeler to view and comment upon business process models. It displaysthe models in a Web browser using a set of portlets. The portlets generallycorrespond to the four panes used by WebSphere Business Modeler.

The recommended way to publish a project is to separate the publishing from themodeling. Therefore, publishing a project should involve the following high-levelsteps:

• Modeling, in which a team of modelers combine to create a model.

• Integrating, in which an individual builds a consistent model from thecontents provided by the modeling team.

• Publishing, in which the person acting as the publisher sends theconsistent model to the publishing server.

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To support collaborative business modeling, project versioning allows teammembers to work from a common source and track changes to a model as itevolves. The Repository view supports either Concurrent Versions System (CVS) ora Rational ClearCase®.

Understanding the limitations and restrictions of changemanagement

Conflicts can occur when any changes are made, especially when team membersare making changes to the same version of the project simultaneously. Anyelements with incoming and outgoing changes may result in a conflict. Users canexplicitly overwrite changes when a conflict occurs. They must take care to reviewthe changes carefully to ensure the model is consistent. You must balance the needfor a common repository to share model projects among team members against thecost for managing and controlling changes.

Note that using a shared repository does not guarantee a consistent integratedmodel. The repository contains different versions of model elements that may haveinterdependencies. The differing versions make it difficult to build a consistentmodel.

Using import and export to share projects

You can use import and export to share projects among team members. Thissharing allows multiple people to contribute to the development of the models. Whensharing projects using import and export, the following procedure is recommended:

1. Create a project to be used as a consolidated project. If possible, createall catalogs at this time.

2. Export the project for everyone to work on. The WebSphere BusinessModeler project is the recommended export format. Each team memberimports the project into his or her workspace.

3. Team members work on the project and add their elements, observing thefollowing rules:

• Give each new element or catalog a unique name (to avoid namecollisions).

• Do not rename the catalog or elements exported from theconsolidated project (to avoid identification information collisions).

4. After each team member completes a phase of additions, he or sheexports the models. Other team members and the owner of theconsolidated project import those models.

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5. At each stable phase, back up the consolidated project.

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Resources

Learn

• Get certified as an "IBM Certified Business Analyst". Check out the objectives,sample assessment tests, and training resources for test 990, ModelingBusiness Processes with IBM WebSphere Business Modeler Advanced V6.

• For documentation on the IBM WebSphere Business Integration products, go tothe WebSphere Business Integration Information Center.

• The WebSphere Business Integration Zone provides product information andother references.

• For an overview of business process management, read the white paperDelivering on demand business agility with business process management .

• The Redbook™, Business Process Management: Modeling through MonitoringUsing WebSphere V6 Products, introduces the concepts of business processmanagement, the IBM process integration products that support businessprocess management and examines a detailed case study.

• For more information on training opportunities with IBM products, check out theIBM Global Services Training site .

Get products and technologies

• Download a free trial version of WebSphere Business Modeler Version 6.0.

• Build your next development project with IBM trial software, available fordownload directly from developerWorks.

Discuss

• Participate in the discussion forum for this content.

• Participate in developerWorks blogs and get involved in the developerWorkscommunity.

About the author

Lori SmallLori Small is a member of the WebSphere Portal Content Management developmentteam. Previously Lori worked for the SMB Emerging Technologies group, where sheresearched how development and operational tools are used in the mid-market ofSMB and, prior to that, the IBM Software Group On Demand Solution Center (ODSC)as a solution architect of reference implementations showcasing IBM and its partnerproducts within typical industry scenarios. She has also worked in eventmanagement (IBM and Tivoli), and prior to joining IBM, Lori worked in the telecomindustry.

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