Oracle BPEL,

How To Get Ready For It

Collaborate07
Sunday April 15, 2:15 4:30
Lagoon H
Agenda
Statement of Direction on Oracle Workflow
What is BPEL
Skills you need for BPEL
Conversion from Oracle Workflow to BPEL
Recommended Direction
What about AME
Additional References
 Statement of Direction on Oracle Workflow
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/ias/workflow/workflow_sod.html

Some key points from the desupport notice:

Error Correction Support (ECS) ends on 11-SEP-2007.
The final version will be 2.6.x.
The desupport applies to all platforms.
Oracle Workflow Client and Oracle Workflow Server will not be included
in Oracle Database Editions 11g and above.
Oracle Workflow will only be included in Oracle E-Business Suite
releases.
Existing Oracle Workflow customers continue to receive error correction
support up until the same date that error correction support ends for
product bundle purchased which include Oracle Workflow. For example,
Oracle Database 10gR2 customers using Oracle Workflow will receive
error correction support for Oracle Workflow until error correction
supports ends for Oracle Database 10gR2.
 Additional Facts
Oracle Workflow will continue to be used and supported in R12
Use of Oracle Workflow is not planned for the Fusion product. Oracle Workflow
will be replaced in the following areas with the following technologies:
Process Navigator Flows
Migrated to ADF Task Flows
In Oracle AS11 a new feature, Activity Guides, is planned to target these use cases
Page Flows
Migrated to ADF Task Flows
Simple Deferred Activities (DML activities)
Database Events
BPEL can also be used
XML Transaction Flows
Transformations capabilities of E-Business Suite
BPEL can also be used
Business Processes
Orchestration of system services and human tasks
BPEL can also be used
Ref 1
What is BPEL
BPEL or WS-BPEL
Business Process Execution Language
BPEL is an open industry standard
http://docs.oasis-open.org/wsbpel/2.0/wsbpel-specification-draft.html

Oracle has made supported extensions to BPEL

Human Workflow Service Engine
Database Interfaces
Applications Adapter
SOA based (Service Oriented Architecture)
What is BPEL
BPEL allows for the integration of Web
Services into end-to-end processes.
These BPEL processes can themselves
be a Web Service.

BPEL is far more powerful than

Workflow so keep an open mind as we
all move through this transition.
BPEL Features
Supports Async Transactions
Flow Control
Compensating Transactions
Data Manipulation using XPath,
XSLT, and XQuery
Oracles Added BPEL Features
Human Workflow
Routing/Assignments
Notifications
Nomination, Delegation and Reassignment
Escalations
JSP Forms
Work List Application
Comments and Attachments
Audit Trail

Database Interfaces
BPEL Process in JDeveloper
BPEL Process in XML

The graphic representation you see in

JDeveloper is not BPEL. BPEL is a
standard way to build a process
description using XML.
<Show file>
Products Required
You can try this out now yourself on your PC
OAS with the SOA Suite
Runs the BPEL Processes Manager
Database to save process state information in
Provides Audit Trails and Process History
http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/webservices/index.html
soa_windows_x86_101310_disk1.zip

JDeveloper
Used to design the BPEL Process
Used to deploy the BPEL Process to an OAS Instance
Saves the BPEL definition as an XML file
http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/jdev/htdocs/soft10132.html
jdevstudio10132.zip
Free BPEL Introductory Courses
These courses guide you through the installation, configuration,
and sample development exercises using the BPEL Process
Manager and the JDeveloper tools

Contact your sales rep for additional information

Oracle Sales is currently offering free introductory course on
Oracle BPEL

These courses guide you through the installation, configuration,

and sample development exercises using the BPEL Process
Manager and the JDeveloper tools

Contact your sales rep for additional information

Skills You Need For BPEL
JDeveloper Knowledge
SOA Knowledge (Service Oriented
Architecture)
Oracle Application Server Knowledge
XML (JDeveloper is essentially creating a
structured XML Document that defines the
BPEL Process)
Java/J2EE
Your PL/SQL and SQL skills are still useful
Additional BPEL Resources
OAUG Middleware SIG
BPEL is a component of the Oracle Application Server

Intro to BPEL
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/ias/bpel/pdf/orabpel-BPEL101.pdf

Oracle BPEL Process Manager,

Developer's Guide 10g (10.1.3.1.0),
B28981-03, January 2007
http://download-east.oracle.com/docs/cd/B31017_01/integrate.1013/b28981/toc.htm

Oracle BPEL Process Manager Site

http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/ias/bpel/index.html

More at the end of this presentation

Converting from Oracle Workflow to BPEL
This information is still fairly immature.
It was collected from many Oracle ML
Notes and some unreleased white
papers.

It is meant to provide you with a rough

outline of what we as users might
expect.
Converting from Oracle Workflow to BPEL
Metalink Note: 394387.1
How To Migrate Workflow Processes To Oracle
BPEL Process Manager
There will be no automated migration of
business process from WF to BPEL, as these
are two very different technologies.
Standard workflow processes defined in EBS
will be migrated as part of the upgrade
process.
Converting from Oracle Workflow to BPEL
WF processes will have to be migrated
manually by orchestrating business services
available. Underlying PLSQL code can be
reused in some cases to implement a
business service.
Converting from Oracle Workflow to BPEL
There will be guidelines on how to migrate
customizations on top of workflow standard
processes and custom defined workflow
processes from WF to BPEL. These
guidelines are not ready yet to customers.

The best document so far is reference 1 at

the end of the presentation.
Recommended Direction
Two categories for this decision:

Existing Oracle E-Business Suite Workflows

Standalone Oracle Workflow Processes

Existing Oracle E-Business Suite Workflows
Continue to develop Workflow customizations as required
Oracle Workflow will be around for many of us, for years to come
We dont know exactly how BPEL will be used at the functional level yet
Design customizations keeping in mind BPEL
Separate API calls from functional processing
Functional Processing should be usable with BPEL
Keep API calls in one section of code so you just have to call a new API
wrapper
Know what functionality will be in BPEL and what will be in other Tech Stack
products
Document customization
Why is this customization required? Exact gap being filled.
Document code design so it is obvious where API calls are and exactly what
they are doing
Document Notification requirements
Standalone Oracle Workflow Processes
Provided that the Workflow Process does not use Oracle E-
Business Suite functionality consider development in BPEL.
Workflows built using Oracle E-Business Suite functions (Account
Generators, E-Business Suite Processes, etc.) probably should
remain in Workflow
Keep in mind the requirement to have a recent OAS instance
running to support Oracle SOA Suite
Contact your sales representative to ensure you are in license
compliance
What About AME?
Will AME be replaced by the Oracle
Rules Engine found in the SOA Suite?
AME will not be replaced by the Oracle
Rules Engine, there will be a successor
which will use BPEL and the Human
Workflow components.
Robert Wunderlich, Oracle
References
1) Migrating to BPEL from Oracle Work Flow
January 2007, Manoj Das
2) How To Migrate Workflow Processes To Oracle BPEL
Process Manager
Metalink Note:394387.1
3) BPEL Service Orchestration Hands-On Workshop
Guide to Labs, Oracle Sales Class
4) Oracle Application Server with Oracle E-Business Suite
Release 12 FAQ
Metalink Note:415007.1