Oracle BPEL, How To Get Ready For It

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Oracle BPEL, How To Get Ready For It

• Collaborate07
• Sunday April 15, 215 430Lagoon H

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Agenda

• Statement of Direction on Oracle Workflow
• What is BPEL
• Skills you need for BPEL
• Conversion from Oracle Workflow to BPEL
• Recommended Direction
• What about AME
• Additional References

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Statement of Direction on Oracle Workflow

• http//www.oracle.com/technology/products/ias/work
  flow/workflow_sod.html
• Some key points from the desupport notice
• Error Correction Support (ECS) ends on
  11-SEP-2007.
• The final version will be 2.6.x.
• The desupport applies to all platforms.
• Oracle Workflow Client and Oracle Workflow Server
  will not be included in Oracle Database Editions
  11g and above.
• Oracle Workflow will only be included in Oracle
  E-Business Suite releases.
• Existing Oracle Workflow customers continue to
  receive error correction support up until the
  same date that error correction support ends for
  product bundle purchased which include Oracle
  Workflow. For example, Oracle Database 10gR2
  customers using Oracle Workflow will receive
  error correction support for Oracle Workflow
  until error correction supports ends for Oracle
  Database 10gR2.

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Additional Facts

• Oracle Workflow will continue to be used and
  supported in R12
• Use of Oracle Workflow is not planned for the
  Fusion product. Oracle Workflow will be replaced
  in the following areas with the following
  technologies
• Process Navigator Flows
• Migrated to ADF Task Flows
• In Oracle AS11 a new feature, Activity Guides, is
  planned to target these use cases
• Page Flows
• Migrated to ADF Task Flows
• Simple Deferred Activities (DML activities)
• Database Events
• BPEL can also be used
• XML Transaction Flows
• Transformations capabilities of E-Business Suite
• BPEL can also be used
• Business Processes
• Orchestration of system services and human tasks
• BPEL can also be used
• Ref 1

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What is BPEL

• BPEL or WS-BPELBusiness Process Execution
  Language
• BPEL is an open industry standardhttp//docs.oasi
  s-open.org/wsbpel/2.0/wsbpel-specification-draft.h
  tml
• Oracle has made supported extensions to BPEL
• Human Workflow Service Engine
• Database Interfaces
• Applications Adapter
• SOA based (Service Oriented Architecture)

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What is BPEL

• BPEL allows for the integration of Web Services
  into end-to-end processes.
• These BPEL processes can themselves be a Web
  Service.
• BPEL is far more powerful than Workflow so keep
  an open mind as we all move through this
  transition.

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BPEL Features

• Supports Async Transactions
• Flow Control
• Compensating Transactions
• Data Manipulation using XPath, XSLT, and XQuery

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Oracles Added BPEL Features

• Human Workflow
• Routing/Assignments
• Notifications
• Nomination, Delegation and Reassignment
• Escalations
• JSP Forms
• Work List Application
• Comments and Attachments
• Audit Trail
• Database Interfaces

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BPEL Process in JDeveloper
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BPEL Process in XML

• The graphic representation you see in JDeveloper
  is not BPEL. BPEL is a standard way to build a
  process description using XML.
• ltShow filegt

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Products Required

• You can try this out now yourself on your PC
• OAS with the SOA Suite
• Runs the BPEL Processes Manager
• Database to save process state information in
• Provides Audit Trails and Process History
• http//www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/web
  services/index.htmlsoa_windows_x86_101310_disk1.z
  ip
• JDeveloper
• Used to design the BPEL Process
• Used to deploy the BPEL Process to an OAS
  Instance
• Saves the BPEL definition as an XML file
• http//www.oracle.com/technology/software/products
  /jdev/htdocs/soft10132.htmljdevstudio10132.zip

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Free BPEL Introductory Courses

• These courses guide you through the installation,
  configuration, and sample development exercises
  using the BPEL Process Manager and the JDeveloper
  tools
• Contact your sales rep for additional information
• Oracle Sales is currently offering free
  introductory course on Oracle BPEL
• These courses guide you through the installation,
  configuration, and sample development exercises
  using the BPEL Process Manager and the JDeveloper
  tools
• Contact your sales rep for additional information

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Skills You Need For BPEL

• JDeveloper Knowledge
• SOA Knowledge (Service Oriented Architecture)
• Oracle Application Server Knowledge
• XML (JDeveloper is essentially creating a
  structured XML Document that defines the BPEL
  Process)
• Java/J2EE
• Your PL/SQL and SQL skills are still useful

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Additional BPEL Resources

• OAUG Middleware SIGBPEL is a component of the
  Oracle Application Server
• Intro to BPELhttp//www.oracle.com/technology/pro
  ducts/ias/bpel/pdf/orabpel-BPEL101.pdf
• Oracle BPEL Process Manager, Developer's Guide
  10g (10.1.3.1.0), B28981-03, January
  2007http//download-east.oracle.com/docs/cd/B3101
  7_01/integrate.1013/b28981/toc.htm
• Oracle BPEL Process Manager Sitehttp//www.oracle
  .com/technology/products/ias/bpel/index.html
• More at the end of this presentation

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Converting from Oracle Workflow to BPEL

• This information is still fairly immature. It
  was collected from many Oracle ML Notes and some
  unreleased white papers.
• It is meant to provide you with a rough outline
  of what we as users might expect.

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Converting from Oracle Workflow to BPEL

• Metalink Note 394387.1
• How To Migrate Workflow Processes To Oracle BPEL
  Process Manager
• There will be no automated migration of business
  process from WF to BPEL, as these are two very
  different technologies.
• Standard workflow processes defined in EBS will
  be migrated as part of the upgrade process.

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Converting from Oracle Workflow to BPEL

• WF  processes will have to be migrated manually
  by orchestrating business services available.
  Underlying PLSQL code can be reused in some cases
  to implement a business service.

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Converting from Oracle Workflow to BPEL

• There will be guidelines on how to migrate
  customizations on top of workflow standard
  processes and custom defined workflow processes
  from WF to BPEL. These guidelines are not ready
  yet to customers.
• The best document so far is reference 1 at the
  end of the presentation.

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Recommended Direction

• Two categories for this decision
• Existing Oracle E-Business Suite Workflows
• Standalone Oracle Workflow Processes

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Existing Oracle E-Business Suite Workflows

• Continue to develop Workflow customizations as
  required
• Oracle Workflow will be around for many of us,
  for years to come
• We dont know exactly how BPEL will be used at
  the functional level yet
• Design customizations keeping in mind BPEL
• Separate API calls from functional processing
• Functional Processing should be usable with BPEL
• Keep API calls in one section of code so you just
  have to call a new API wrapper
• Know what functionality will be in BPEL and what
  will be in other Tech Stack products
• Document customization
• Why is this customization required? Exact gap
  being filled.
• Document code design so it is obvious where API
  calls are and exactly what they are doing
• Document Notification requirements

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Standalone Oracle Workflow Processes

• Provided that the Workflow Process does not use
  Oracle E-Business Suite functionality consider
  development in BPEL.
• Workflows built using Oracle E-Business Suite
  functions (Account Generators, E-Business Suite
  Processes, etc.) probably should remain in
  Workflow
• Keep in mind the requirement to have a recent OAS
  instance running to support Oracle SOA Suite
• Contact your sales representative to ensure you
  are in license compliance

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What About AME?

• Will AME be replaced by the Oracle Rules Engine
  found in the SOA Suite?
• AME will not be replaced by the Oracle Rules
  Engine, there will be a successor which will use
  BPEL and the Human Workflow components.
• Robert Wunderlich, Oracle

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References

1. Migrating to BPEL from Oracle Work FlowJanuary
   2007, Manoj Das
2. How To Migrate Workflow Processes To Oracle BPEL
   Process Manager Metalink Note394387.1
3. BPEL Service Orchestration Hands-On
   WorkshopGuide to Labs, Oracle Sales Class
4. Oracle Application Server with Oracle E-Business
   Suite Release 12 FAQ Metalink Note415007.1