Tim Bauer’s Running Thoughts

Watched this webcast today due to my ongoing desire to understand how MSFT is positioning the integration of BizTalk Server (BTS) and Sharepoint (SP).

People Ready Processes

It was a nicely done deck w/ a mix of MSFT’s angle on why the two (SP and BTS) go together in solutions. I recommend watching it. The keys I took away were:

1. People Ready Processes Interesting angle here. Hanging off the overall marketing blitz of people ready software coming out of MSFT. Basically they are saying that bringing BTS (system focused process automation) and SP (people focused process automation) together creates people ready processes. Not bad. Amusing how they pointed out (not exactly true) that BPR was about removing people. People Ready Process automation is about enabling them (not true entirely either). Still nice spin.
2. There is that System Analysts Modelling Processes Live Again. To do this they focused on a demo by one partner showing how the System Analyst can push processes to BTS and not stomp the definition that was evolved, in there, by the developer. So a custom solution (implied by earlier webcasts) is not the only means to achieve this.

Again a solid presentation. Worth watching regardless of camp. For those amused here are my detail notes:

• BTS & Office Sharepoint Server
• Agenda
………….○ Overview of BPM
………….○ Office Sharepoint + BTS
………….○ Partner solutions
• 1:30 - BPM Overview
………….○ Strategy / Org Design / Processes
………….○ Enable via tech
• BPM = People Ready Business
• 4:00 - Why Process Matters
• 4:30 - Next Era of Automation
………….○ Old - Replace paper (doc scan)
………….○ Old - System centric auto (EAI)
………….○ New - Both (People Ready Processes)
• 7:30 - People Ready Process
………….○ BPR Removed People
………….○ People Ready Processes Enables them
………….○ Steps
……………………..§ Model/Design - same tools
……………………..§ Develop/Deploy - same tools
……………………..§ Manage/Interact -
……………………..§ Analyze/Optimize - Drill down
• 10:30 - Breadth of Processes
………….○ Spectrum - Collab to Transactional
………….○ Spectrum - Adhoc, (two in middle) to Fixed
………….○ Spectrum - Individual, Team, Cross Team, to Cross Division
• 14:00 - Tool Layer
………….○ Spectrum - Sharepoint to Process Svr
………….○ Common tools (design, monitor, run)
• 17:00 - Customer Example
………….○ OHA (Oncology Hematology Assoc)
………….○ Clinical Medical App.
………….○ End to end … unstructured team enablement to connection to backend systems
………….○ Tablet PCs used for capture. Sharepoint for teaming. VS & BTS for system integration.
………….○ www.microsoft.com/customerevidence
• 19:30 - Loan Approval Demo
………….○ From unstructured to structured
………….○ Process
……………………..§ Website to
……………………..§ Sharepoint to
……………………..§ WWF to
……………………..§ BTS to
……………………..§ End Tran systems
………….○ Infopath form in webpage
……………………..§ [bauer comment - very slow - claimed vpc issues]
……………………..§ [bauer comment big push to move forms in sites to be infopath based]
………….○ Save to SP
………….○ BTS picks up transaction on save to SP
……………………..§ Checks credit
……………………..§ Reviews customer history etc
……………………..§ Credit score wait, when receive decides what to do
……………………..§ 27:00 - Creates (BTS) a word doc w/ a credit report that someone should review (based in Sharepoint) … put information panel @ top to enable the workflow in the document.
………….○ Want to analyze the workflow in aggregate and see where optimization of workflow (auto approvals, time per step, etc)
……………………..§ BTS can provide inform from BAM in SP what the key statistics being tracked (like loans requiring loans requiring human review)
………….○ If a very system focused process maybe just BTS … if human exception processes tied for notable volumes SP is viable
• 33:00 - Partner Solutions
………….○ BPMS Partners
……………………..§ ITP
……………………..§ ProActivity
……………………..§ ProForma
……………………..§ Semtation
……………………..§ Simul8
……………………..§ K2.net
……………………..§ Captaris
……………………..§ Skelta
……………………..§ inRule
……………………..§ RuleBurst
………….○ 35:00 - ITP Commerce - Process Modelling Solutions
……………………..§ Product - Process Modeller for Visio …
…………………………………□ BPMN syntax in visio
…………………………………□ BPEL, XPDL, XLANG mapping
…………………………………□ Word integ / excel integ
…………………………………□ Team repository
…………………………………□ Model analysis
……………………..§ Show Visio w/ their BPMN stencil … How KPI go to excel
……………………..§ Export to BTS (from Visio). Include BAM KPI definition file.
…………………………………□ Creates instrumented orchestration in BTS
……………………..§ Import BAM data to Excel (BAM data). Via Process Modeller (their tool)
……………………..§ 42:00 - Summary
…………………………………□ Model in Visio
…………………………………□ To BTS via XLANG
…………………………………□ Push BAM def to BAM AddIn for Excel
• 44:00 - Roadmap
………….○ BTS 2006 release (3/06)
………….○ Next - o12, .NET 3.0, BTS r2
………….○ Beyond - Modelling, WWF integration, Commoditization of low level integration
• 48:00 - References
………….○ WWw.microsoft.com/BPM
………….○ Partners list –
……………………..§ www.microsoft.com/biztalk/solutions/bpm/partners
……………………..§ [bauer comment - are we on that list]
• 50:00-Q&A
………….○ How developer in BTS takes visio and imports?
……………………..§ Use the BPEL lang or the tool demo’d. Superset of BPEL is XLANG (their partner supports that too).
………….○ Integration of BAM to BI capabilities in o12 (business scorecard and forms point)?
……………………..§ Easy BAM is based on sqlserver analytics cube. So any BI client can hit.