Exclusive: AquaLogic dives deep into the process pool

Reforming enterprise business processes to boost productivity requires isolating pain points through steady focus on the myriad users, partners, customers, and applications proliferating an enterprise.

Free IT resource TechNet: More ways to know it, share it, and keep it running. Sponsored by Microsoft Free IT resource Attend the SOA Executive Forum: Breaking SOA Bottlenecks SOAExecForum.com/may2007 Sponsored by InfoWorld TEST CENTER DAILY BLOG Track the latest product reviews and news from the InfoWorld Test Center. BEA AquaLogic BPM 5.7 BEA, bea.com Very Good  8.2 criteria score weight Capability 9 30% Administration 8 15% Ease-of-use 7 15% Integration 8 15% Performance 9 15% Value 7 10% Cost: $115,000 for Enterprise Server, two Studio seats, five Designer seats; additional Studio seat, $4,995; additional Designer seat, $995; support: 20 percent net licensing Platforms: Enterprise Standalone: Windows 2003/2000, Suse Enterprise 9, Solaris 8+ (SPARC), Red Hat Enterprise 3 (x86), HP-UX 11.11, AIX 5.3; Database: MS SQL Server 2005/2000, Oracle 9i/10g, IBM DB2 8.1; Directory Service MS Active Directory 2000, Sun ONE Java System Directory Service 5.2; Studio and Designer: Windows XP/2003, 2000 Suse Enterprise 9 (x86) Bottom Line: AquaLogic BPM 5.7 is a good all-purpose process management engine, bridging application integration with human event management and offering some good analytical insight along the way. Work remains to be done in simplifying rules creation, although the programmatic approach lends itself to solving complicated use-case scenarios. Workflow would benefit from integrated knowledge management and better collaborative tools. About our Reviews and Scoring Methodology

The latest silver bullet to enter the BPM chamber is BEA’s ALBPM (AquaLogic BPM 5.7) -- an already well-developed platform gained through BEA’s acquisition of FuegoBPM Suite earlier this year.

I found ALBPM offers process engineers the necessary firepower for targeting complex process flows with graphical, drag-and-drop development tools. Features such as good workflow and exception handling, including rollback and compensation, as well as strong dev time simulation features -- key to assessing KPIs (key performance indicators) early in the reorg cycle -- make this one kit with a caboodle of promise in tow.

Don’t be lulled, however, into false hope by the insulating promise of graphical BPM. This package demands a hefty amount of scripting -- done primarily in BEA’s proprietary PBL (Process Business Language). Although not a tough hurdle, it’s not without consequence -- and definitely not drag-and-drop.

And, as opposed to its competitors, ALBPM offers no direct connection with familiar external rules engines, which may be of potential concern in larger enterprise deployments.

BEA has begun reloading this suite with services features -- such as UDDI registry support and samples for integrating with the AquaLogic Service Bus -- and has enhanced dashboard functionality. Otherwise, most enhancements to this release are cosmetic.

Also, compared with human-centric products such as Appian, this package needs stronger workflow usability and on-the-fly rules creation mechanisms; it must also offer content management. But these are relatively minor foibles in an otherwise all-around strong product.

ALBPM makes a logical choice for multi-use case scenarios in which application integration and human event handling can be managed in a single package -- either as a stand-alone application or as part of a larger ecosystem.

And, as acquisitions go, this suite helps round out the grander SOA assault that BEA has been mounting on services platform supremacy. With ALBPM in BEA’s portfolio chamber, this may be the one silver bullet that eventually hits its mark.

Lock and Load

Getting started with both the Enterprise Standalone and BPM Studio editions was essentially an autonomous process with only minor configuration.

The Enterprise engine demands additional configuration for database and directory services requirements and comes in several flavors, including JVM, J2EE, and targeted BEA WebLogic and IBM WebSphere editions.

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The process development and component management side is well covered, with two focused task-based editions available.

The first, BPM Studio, builds a self-contained development environment for creating business objects and developing flows, coding rules, simulation testing, and readying final deployment. The other, BPM Designer, supplies a scaled-back implementation better suited to analysts -- allowing them to design and simulate, while masking the underlying object complexity and framework implementation running behind the scenes. The resulting shared model makes sense to me, offering ready collaborative capability to larger development environments.

There are good features to enhance productivity such as re-skinnable process flows -- allowing them to be depicted in more familiar notation -- say, BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation), UML, and so on. And, PBL code syntax can be changed to read as either VB.Net or Java if it makes your developers more comfortable. ALBPM handles the translation.

The PBL -- formerly the Fuego Business Language -- used for the method code-behind was easy to use. Developers with basic VB or other scripting language experience will not find this a stumbling block, only an added step.

Although based on XPDL (XML Processing Description Language), models can also be imported from a variety of third-party tools, including Visio and Rational Rose, and I was able to design directly in BPEL. Although BPEL design worked well, importing BPEL required all components be pre-cataloged within studio before it would stop throwing errors and import the design -- a process that could be handled more intuitively. Also, I find it easier at times to make certain changes directly in code view -- something I didn’t find in BPM Studio.