Message Brokers and Workflows: Advanced Web Applications Development

Message Brokers and Workflows
Advanced Web Applications Development

Technion CS 236606 Spring 2003, Class 10
Netta Aizenbud-Reshef
Copyright 2002-2003
IBM Corporation
IBM Labs in Haifa
IBM Labs in Haifa
Outline
Message Brokers
MQ Integrator
Workflow
MQ Workflow
The Future?
Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation
Message Brokers
Copyright 2002-2003
IBM Corporation
IBM Labs in Haifa
IBM Labs in Haifa
Message-Oriented Middleware (MOM) - Reminder
Asynchronous communication:
The sender and receiver do not have to be available at the same time in order to
communicate.
Message: a package of business data that is sent from one application to another
over the network. Self-describing contains all the necessary context to allow the
recipients to carry out their work independently
Fault tolerance
Load balancing
Scalability
Transactional support
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Publish/Subscribe Messaging - Reminder

Topic destination (virtual data
channel)
Producer is a publisher
Consumer is a subscriber
Publishers and subscribers are
generally anonymous
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Point-to-Point Messaging - Reminder

Queue: virtual data channel (destination)
Producer is a sender
Consumer is a receiver
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Enterprise Application Integration - Reminder

Legacy
System
JMS
Client
JMS
Client
JMS
Server
Vendor A
JMSJMS
Client
Client
JMS
Client
Internet (http)
Gateway
JMS
Client
E-Mail
gateway
JMS
Client
JMS
Server
Vendor B
JMS
Client
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Message Broker
A broker among one or more target entities (such as a network,
middleware, applications, and systems)
Integrates multiple business activities (applications) whether they are
new, old, legacy, centralized, or distributed
Ties together many different platforms and application development
solutions
Facilitates the integration of business processes
Main goal - provide a simple, central point of integration
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Message Broker - Motivation

Traditional applications no longer have value by themselves
Organizations want to hook new applications/systems (ERP, CRM) to
their traditional applications
No common technological frameworks very costly integration
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Message Broker Advantages

Minimal changes to applications (systems)
Faster implementation and more flexibility
A middleware that adapts to the applications, not vice versa
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Message Broker Structure

Common components of message brokers:
Message Dictionary
Data Translation Layer (DTL)
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Deconstructs messages
Reconstructs data into new message
Rules engine
Content based routing decisions
Boolean logic
Adaptors to external systems
Repository
Stores copies of all exchanged data
Message source, message format, target system, target system
format
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Message Broker vs. MOM
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MOM
Provides basic communication
Message persistence and guaranteed delivery
Solves only part of the problem
Message brokers
Build on top of existing middleware technology
Provides enterprise application integration
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Application B
Messaging API
Messaging Clients
Application C
Application A
Messaging API
Messaging API
Message Broker
Messaging Clients
DTL
Rules
Engine
MOM
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Messaging Clients
Repository
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Message Broker Products
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WebSphere MQ Integrator, IBM

BusinessWare, Vitria
Financial Fusion (Sybase) Message Broker
Helio Message Broker, HelioGraph
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WMQI WebSphere MQ Integrator
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Supports multiple environments

Transforms, augments and applies rules to message-based data
Routes and distributes data between systems
Supports topic-based publish/subscribe functions
Visualizes the application flow through a GUI
Allows message formats to be defined
An open framework which allows the use of built-in components together
with third-party offerings
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WMQI Architecture
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Built on top of MQSeries

Base messaging and queuing capabilities
Supports 35 platforms
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WMQI Architecture
Configuration
Manager
Broker
Control
Center
Message
Flows
Message
repository
MQ Integrator
Layer
Configuration
repository
Queue Manager
MQSeries
Layer
Queues
Client Applications
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WMQI Message Dictionary
Supports messages from several sources

Predefined
Messages that their content and structure is defined in the MRM (Message
Repository Manager)
Supported wire formats
CWF (Custom Wire Format)
XML
PDF
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Self defining
Structure, content and format is within the message
JMS, XML
Undefined
Content and structure is undefined
BLOB
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WMQI Message Definition
Interface to the MRM

Hierarchical Structure
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WMQI Rules Engine
A set of actions, rules

An action is performed by a Message Processing Node
Message Flow
A sequence of message processing nodes
Can be built hierarchically
Provides a particular service
Primitive processing nodes
Receiving and routing messages
Transforming a message to an alternative representation
Selecting a message for further processing based upon the messages content
Interacting with an external repository to augment a message or store the whole
or part of a message
Responding to events and errors
User defined processing nodes

Implement a supplied Interface
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WMQI - Message Flow Example
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Stock Market
NYSEtrade message contains date, company symbol, company name,
quote price and total value traded
FTSEtrade message contains the same information as NYSEtrade in the
identical format
AMEXtrade message contains date, company name, quote price and
amount traded
The information that applications want to acquire
Rationalized trades - all trades in a consistent data format. These are
needed for known trading analysis application A
Major trades - rationalized trades with netvalue greater than $100,000.
These should be logged in the message warehouse and delivered to
application C, which connects intermittently to perform historical analysis
PE Update - triggered by earnings reports, computed and added to earning
report data and delivered to application B which analyses PE changes
The stream of major trades should be published
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WMQI - Message Flow Example
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WMQI Message Flow Development
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WMQI Message Flow Deployment
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WMQI - Topics and Publish/Subscribe configuration
25
Workflow
Copyright 2002-2003
IBM Corporation
IBM Labs in Haifa
IBM Labs in Haifa
Workflow Definition
Workflow is a term used to describe the tasks, procedural steps,
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organizations or people involved, required input and output information,

and tools needed for each step in a business process
A workflow engine is the component in a workflow automation program
that knows all the procedures, steps in a procedure, and rules for each
step. The workflow engine determines whether the process is ready to
move to the next step
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Workflow Example Purchase Order
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The Key Benefits of Workflow

Improved efficiency - automation of many business processes results in
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the elimination of many unnecessary steps

Better process control - improved management of business processes
achieved through standardizing working methods and the availability of
audit trails
Improved customer service consistency in the processes leads to
greater predictability in levels of response to customers
Flexibility software control over processes enables their re-design in
line with changing business needs
Business process improvement - focus on business processes leads to
their streamlining and simplification
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Workflow Management Systems
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Lotus Workflow, IBM Lotus

WebSphere MQ Workflow, IBM
FLOWer, Pallas Athena
Staffware Workflow, Staffware
Verve Workflow, Verve inc.
i-Flow, Fujitsu
InConcert, TIBCO
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Workflow Definition Languages
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BPML Business Process Modeling Language, BPMI.org

WSFL Web Services Flow Language, IBM
XLANG extension of WSDL, Microsoft
UML Unified Modeling Language, Rational
BPEL Business Process Execution Language, Based on WSFL and
XLANG
XPDL XML Process Definition Language, WfMC
WSCI Web Service Choreography Interface, BEA, SAP, Sun
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The Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC)

A non-profit, international organization of workflow vendors, users,
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analysts and university/research groups.

Mission - to promote and develop the use of workflow through the
establishment of standards for software terminology, interoperability and
connectivity between workflow products.
Contribution - Workflow reference model
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Workflow Basic Architecture

Workflow systems provide support in the following function areas
Build time functions defining and modelling the workflow process
and its constituents activities
Runtime control functions managing the workflow processes in an
operational environment and sequencing the various activities to be
handled as part of the process
Runtime interactions with human users and IT application tools for
processing the various activity steps
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IBM Labs in Haifa
Workflow Basic Architecture
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IBM Labs in Haifa
Workflow Build Time Functions
35
Business Process Definition

Translation from the real world into a formal definition
Use of analysis, modelling and definition techniques
Result
Process Model
Process Template
Process metadata
Process Definition
Comprised of
Discrete activity steps
Associated computer and/or human operations
Rules for the progression of the process through the various activity steps
Can be expressed in text, graphical form or formal language notation
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Workflow Runtime Control Functions
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Interpretation of the Process Definition

Creation and Control of operational instances of the process
Scheduling various activity steps within the process
Invoking human and IT application resources
Act as the linkage between the process as modelled by the Process
Definition and the process as it is seen in the real world
The core component is the workflow management control software
Can be distributed across a number of computer platforms
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Workflow Runtime Activity Interactions
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Human operations
Invoke application tools
Information processing operations
Pass appropriate data
Transfer control between activities
Ascertain the operational status of a process
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Workflow Reference Model

Process Definition specifications for process definition data and its
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interchange with the workflow execution environment

Workflow Interoperability interfaces to support interoperability between
different workflow systems
Invoked Applications interfaces to support interaction with a variety of
IT application types
Workflow Client applications interfaces to support interaction with user
interface desktop functions
Administration and Monitoring interfaces to provide system monitoring
and metric functions to facilitate the management of composite workflow
application environments
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Workflow Reference Model
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IBM Labs in Haifa
WebSphere MQ Workflow
Supports multiple environments
Supports long-running business process workflows as they interact with
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systems and people

Provides integration processes with rich support for human interactions
Allows to bring systems and people into a managed process integration
environment for EAI, B2Bi, and BPM solutions
Built to a service-oriented architecture based on standards
Offers deep application connectivity to leverage WebSphere MQ, XML,
Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and Web services
IBM Labs in Haifa
WebSphere MQ Workflow Architecture

Model the Business
Process
Build Time
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Manage Workflow
Execution
Runtime
Perform Operations
Worklist
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WebSphere MQ Workflow Build Time

Graphical editor for process definition
Define staff
Register programs
Define data structures
Define process flow
Activities
Logic connectors
Transition condition
Data connectors data to be ready for activities
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WebSphere MQ Workflow Build Time Model
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IBM Labs in Haifa
WebSphere MQ Workflow Build Time Define Staff
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IBM Labs in Haifa
WebSphere MQ Workflow Build Time Register Programs
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IBM Labs in Haifa
WebSphere MQ Workflow Build Time Define Activities
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IBM Labs in Haifa
WebSphere MQ Workflow Build Time Define Activities

Define the program that needs to be executed
Define the responsible person/role
Define the duration of the activity
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A person to notify on delay

Define the data structures
Input data structure
Output data structure
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WebSphere MQ Workflow Runtime

Manage Workflow execution
Navigate through the entire process
Assign individual tasks to the right persons
Start linked applications automatically
Notify administrators of delay
Write every action to an audit trail for evaluation purposes
Performed in the background
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IBM Labs in Haifa
WebSphere MQ Workflow Worklist

A client to perform operations
View the list of activities
Find
Filter
Sort
Start, Interrupt and Resume activities

Transfer an activity from one persons worklist to anothers
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WebSphere MQ Workflow Worklist
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WebSphere MQ Workflow Runtime Monitor
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WebSphere MQ Workflow Application Workflow
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Application Integration
Flow and control of data between different applications
Transactions support
Transform transactions as activities into the workflow model
Integrate CICS or IMS transactions as part of the workflow model
Transaction integrity is guaranteed
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Workflow Patterns
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Intended to examine the expressive power of workflow management systems

Basic Patterns
Sequence execute activities in sequence
Parallel Split execute activities in parallel
Synchronization synchronize two parallel threads of execution
Exclusive Choice choose one execution path from many alternatives
Simple Merge merge two alternative execution paths
Advanced Patterns
Multiple Choice choose several execution paths from many alternatives
Multiple Merge merge many execution paths without synchronizing
Arbitrary Cycles execute workflow graph w/out any structural restriction on loops
Implicit Termination terminate if there is nothing to be done
IBM Labs in Haifa
The future is here?
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An Enterprise Nervous System (ENS) (Gartner Group)

An application-level network that provides unifying connectivity among
people, application systems and devices in different locations and different
business units
Built on the traditional enterprise network
An evolution of the network, providing value-added functions that elevate the
role of the network well beyond that of plain communication
The network is as intelligent as the applications
Application systems and services interact with each other with the
assistance of a high-function ENS network that incorporates inter-mediating
logical engines such as integration brokers and business process
management services, and cross-application information resources such as
operational data stores and message warehouses
Much of the technology is here and the foundation standards are mostly in place
IBM Labs in Haifa
References
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Message Broker
http://www-3.ibm.com/software/integration/wbimessagebroker/
http://www.vitria.com/products/platform/
http://www.financialfusion.com/solutions/
http://www.heliograph.co.uk/so_-_helio_message_broker.html
Workflow
http://www.wfmc.org/
http://www.e-workflow.org/
http://tmitwww.tm.tue.nl/research/patterns/patterns.htm
http://www-3.ibm.com/software/integration/wmqwf/
http://www.lotus.com/products/domworkflow.nsf
http://www.pallas-athena.com/
http://www.staffware.com/products/
http://www.electroactive.com/clients/verve/web/workflow/
http://www.iitgroup.com/index.html
http://www.tibco.com/solutions/default.jsp

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Message Brokers and Workflows

Advanced Web Applications Development

IBM Labs in Haifa

IBM Labs in Haifa

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

IBM Labs in Haifa

Message-Oriented Middleware (MOM) - Reminder

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

Publish/Subscribe Messaging - Reminder

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

Point-to-Point Messaging - Reminder

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

Enterprise Application Integration - Reminder

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

Message Broker - Motivation

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

Message Broker Advantages

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

Message Broker Structure

IBM Labs in Haifa

Message Broker vs. MOM

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

Message Broker Products

WebSphere MQ Integrator, IBM

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

WMQI WebSphere MQ Integrator

Supports multiple environments

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

Built on top of MQSeries

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

WMQI Message Dictionary

Supports messages from several sources

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

WMQI Message Definition

Interface to the MRM

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

WMQI Rules Engine

A set of actions, rules

User defined processing nodes

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa

WMQI - Message Flow Example

Copyright 2002-2003 IBM Corporation

IBM Labs in Haifa