Experiment on BPM and SOA transformations

“Experimental” transformations between Business Process and SOA modelsAkira Tanakaview5 LLChttp://www.view5.co.jp/e/

AgendaBackgroundProblem statementExampleStrategyModeling and model transformationDSL design, modeling, template design, and model transformationFrameworkFindingsSummary and future work2

BackgroundTwo major architectural styles exist in today’s distributed enterprise IT system designs:Business Process-oriented architecture (e.g. using BPMN)Business Service-oriented architecture (e.g. using SOA)Business Rule…..Business ProcessBusiness ServiceBusiness Event3

Background: Business Process“business process is a defined set of business activities that represent the steps required to achieve a business objective.” (BPMN specification)4

Background: BPM and distributed systemBPM related standardsBPDM, BPMN, UML, Workflow, IDEF, … and Enterprise Architecture such as FEA, DoDAF/MODAF, TOGAF5

Background: Business Service“A service is a mechanism to enable access to one or more capabilities, where the access is provided using a prescribed interface and is exercised consistent with constraints and policies as specified by the service description.” (SOA Reference Model)Add business context to the services definition above.6

Background: SOA and distributed systemSOA related standardsSOA-RM, SoaML, SCA, WS-* as implementation standardsServiceServiceServiceServiceService7

Background: Process & ServiceEach one may be implemented using the other. Business ProcessBusiness ServicesuseService AuseStep NuseexecuteuseService CService BuseimplementService XBusiness ProcessEither style can be used for enterprise IT system development.8

Problem statementBoth can be used to build distributed enterprise IT systems, and each can be dependenton the other.Are they essentially the same? If not, how similar/different are they, and where does the difference come from?Should they be used at the same abstraction level? If not, which one should be positioned over the other?Including but not limited to process and service relationship,How can we compare models of different architecture styles?How can we measure the similarity/difference between models of different architecture style?9

ExampleBuy-Sell-Ship business process and business serviceE.g. when you buy a book from online book store, or when a company buys office goods from online retailerNotationsBusiness Process in RM-ODP Enterprise Language (extension of UML Activity)Business Service in SoaML10

The strategyAssumption:if model A (conforming to metamodel MA) is successfully mapped to model B (conforming to metamodel MB), and the model B is successfully mapped back to the model A, thenA and B are semantically equivalent, andMappings can be defined between MA and MB as well.Examine how much:BPM based model can be transformed to a Service based model, andService based model can be transformed to a BPM modelMethod:By creating essential models, andBy applying model transformation to other type to measure the matching rate13

About MD*Model Driven Engineeringis a filed of Software Engineering, where models are considered as important resources in software development processes.MD*: Model Drivenengineering (MDE), design (MDD), development (MDD), software development (MDSD), architecture (MDA®), …Popular termsModel(ling), metamodel(ling), domain specific language (DSL), model transformation, model validation, … 14

About DSLDomain specific language“a computer programming language of limited expressiveness focused on a particular domain.” (M. Fowler’s Domain Specific Languages book)Could be internal (dependent on hosting programming language) or externalCould be graphical or textual15

Modeling and model transformationModelingAs a first step, used domain specific language for the purpose (“ProcessDSL” and “ServiceDSL” based on eclipse/Xtext) [to avoid the complexity UML may introduce at the next step]Model TransformationUsed “Model to text (M2T)” rather than “Model to model (M2M)” to get flexibility in model navigationM2M: MOF Query View and Transformation, ATL. …M2T: Xpand, JET,MOF M2T, …Used Xpand/Xtend template language/engine, a part of eclipse/Xtext16

The work flowDomain Specific Language developmentCreated a grammar for each domain (process modeling and service modeling)Modeling with generated DSL model editorGenerated a textual editor for model developmentCreated models that reflects sample process and sample servicesTemplate developmentCreated “process->service” and “service->process” model transformation templatesExecuted model transformationsGenerated text or model for evaluation17

Domain Specific Language design*partial grammar18

Template designImport generated process metamodelCreate output fileCreate service interfaces from crossing lane actionsCreate participants from non-artifact lanesCreate messages from artifact laneCreate contracts from consumer and provider20

Generated text from the processThis text conforms to ServiceDSL21

Domain Specific Language design22

Template designImport generated service metamodelCreate output fileCreate process from SOA collaborationCreate role from SOA participantCreate step Request and Receive from messagesCreate artifact roles from messages24

Generated text from the serviceThis text conforms to ProcessDSL25

Model transformation frameworkTextualrepresentation26Source code, XML, text, …

Results overviewModel TransformationSample ProcessDSL based Model& lines of textGenerated ServiceDSL based Model& lines of textCompareSample ServiceDSL based Model& lines of textGenerated ProcessDSL based Model& lines of text27

Sample ProcessDSL based Model227Generated ServiceDSL based Model8838.7%17.6%(~9%)Compare70.4%(~35%)Sample ServiceDSL based Model125Generated ProcessDSL based Model4032%29

FindingsSomething internal to a specific lane in a process will be lost when transforming process to service, and theywill not be generated from a set of services when transforming service to process.Orchestration of all the participants in process model will be lost when transforming process to service, and they will not be re-created from service models when transforming service to process.30

FindingsAbstraction levels/target audience do not match completely.Process models are at end users or business analysts level.Service models further include software architects or developers perspective (e.g. service interface definitions).If required, placing process model over service model will work better than the other way.Model TransformationModel transformation is not always possible.Published cases are successful cases.Even with unsuccessful cases, model transformation works as a tool for measuring how close two models are.31

FindingsModel ComparisonDSL for software architecturecan be used as a tool to create architecture based models.Model transformations can be applied to compare models. Two way model transformation could be a means to analyze the similarities of the two models. Matching rate of “process to service” transformation is higher than “service to process” transformation.ToolingOpen source Eclipse/Xtext is good enough tool for the experiment.M2T transformation can be used to generate other DSL based model.32

Problem statement (again)Both can be used to build distributed enterprise IT systems, and each can be dependenton the other.Are they essentially the same? If not, how similar/different are they, and where does the difference come from?Should they be used at the same abstraction level? If not, which one should be positioned over the other?Including but not limited to process and service relationship,How can we compare models of different architecture styles?How can we measure the similarity/difference between models of different architecture style?33

SummaryProcess-oriented and service-oriented architectures have some commonality but with different focused area. [i.e. not exactly the same]Similarities and differencesGenerated service model / hand-written service model = 70.4% (max)Generated process model / hand-written process model = 17.6% (max)Differences: internal activities, orchestration, service interface etc.Process-oriented model should better be positioned over service-oriented model if both need to coexist.This method can be used to compare architectures, and matching rate can be used as a metrics for comparison.34

Future WorksMechanisms to verify essential DSLsto generate DSLs from UML modelsto measure model transformabilityto make currently lost internal information in a lane visible (by e.g. introducing local controller?)to introduce orchestration into service architecture (as annotation?)More experimentsuse ODP model, including computation model, as a source process-based modeluse M2M to improve formality/transformability of the method35

Questions?NoteProcessDSL and ServiceDSL with sample models are available on the web (http://sites.google.com/site/xtextusersjapan/files).36

Service vs. generated service…Example pieceCreated with ServiceDSL editor (by hand)Generated from ProcessDSL model…38

Process vs. generated processExample pieceCreated with ProcessDSL editor (by hand)………Generated from ServiceDSL model39

Experiment on BPM and SOA transformations

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