IBM has pinned the fortunes of its business process
modelling tool to an emerging web services standard.
Version 5 of IBM’s WebSphere Business Integration Modeler can
export models in Business Process Execution Language (BPEL), which
is expected to become an XML-based standard for implementing
business processes using web services.
IBM's director of WebSphere Business Integration Rachel Helm
said the BPEL support meant, for example, that different
departments could share business process models.
"It is one of the first modelling tools to be producing a BPEL
file type, and that’s strong because we think is and will be the
dominant business process orchestration description language," said
Meta Group analyst Janelle Hill. "As the style for developing
applications increasingly moves to web service-oriented
architectures, BPEL will be the standard by which a programmer
describes how to sequence the web services themselves."
Helm said the IBM tool provided a view of the network execution
of business processes such as customer service, claims processing
or supply chain management, allowing users to look for
efficiencies, detect slowdowns and respond faster to customer
demand and changing market conditions.
"It is focused on enabling line-of-business users to model their
business processes and do simulations," she said.
Because the program is built on top of the Eclipse workbench, it
supports services such as source code management, with users
checking model assets in and out. Hill said IBM was using Eclipse
to provide a consistent look and feel for its tools.
Version 5 can also import Visio diagrams that document business
processes, as well as middleware-generated and Unified Modeling
Language (UML) 2 models.
However, Hill added that Meta had had a lot of trouble finding
anybody actually using the program and said IBM had failed to
supply a demo of the product, as promised, showing film clips
instead.
According to IBM, there are 250 customer sites worldwide using
WebSphere Business Integration Modeler.
Paul Krill writes for IDG News Service