Ten years ago, groupware bundled with email and calendar applications helped track the flow of work from person to person within an organization. Workflow in today's enterprise means more monitoring and orchestrating massive systems. A new technology called Business Process Management, or BPM, helps software architects and developers design, code, run, administer, and monitor complex network-based business processes

Sound complicated? It is. But it's downright frustrating when you have to search the Web for every little piece of information vital to the process. Essential Business Process Modeling gathers all the concepts, design, architecture, and standard specifications of BPM into one concise book, and offers hands-on examples that illustrate BPM's approach to process notation, execution, administration and monitoring.

Author Mike Havey demonstrates standard ways to code rigorous processes that are centerpieces of a service-oriented architecture (SOA), which defines how networks interact so that one can perform a service for the other. His book also shows how BPM complements enterprise application integration (EAI), a method for moving from older applications to new ones, and Enterprise Service BUS for integrating different web services, messaging, and XML technologies into a single network. BPM, he says, is to this collection of services what a conductor is to musicians in an orchestra: it coordinates their actions in the performance of a larger composition.

Essential Business Process Modeling teaches you how to develop examples of process-oriented applications using free tools that can be run on an average PC or laptop. You'll also learn about BPM design patterns and best practices, as well as some underlying theory. The best way to monitor processes within an enterprise is with BPM, and the best way to navigate BPM is with this valuable book.

BPM replaces those sketchy flowchart diagrams that business analysts draw on whiteboards with a precise model that uses standard graphical and XML representations, and an architecture that allows it converse with other services, systems, and users.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 11 Ratings

what he says doesn't work does, what he says does doesn't - 2006-06-08
Reviewer Rating:
Gregor Hohpe should have read past the first 100 pages. This book is good on theory, poor on practice (does that remind you of any other SOA book?).
The examples Havey provides of "non-trivial" systems in the back are, in fact, quite trivial. What's worse is that when he ventures into the territory of "advanced" features, he gets lost. For example, on p.270, he provides an eventHandlers section, but comments it out saying that it doesn't work. I was able to get it to work as written with just a minor tweak, but he slags off the vendor instead (p.284) and proposes an awkward hack for a workaround (p.277). Then, on p.308, he presents us with a piece of parallelism that depends for its success on the use of a correlationSet. This is supposed to be clever, but is, in fact, just poor programming practice. Not only that, but it doesn't work! It can't possibly, not the way it's written. He just sent it off to the publisher without testing. We're not talking about simple syntax errors here... this is a fundamental conceptual flaw in what he's proposing. Pretty basic stuff for him to be stubbing his toe on.

The book is a bit of a misnomer - it should be essential business process modelling for technicians - 2008-02-10
Reviewer Rating:
A key factor for BPM is the capturing and effective expression of a business process in a way that enables a shared understanding between both the business community and the technical community. I had thought that this book dealt with this aspect in detail, but not really.

What it is, however, is a very clear overview of the technical architecture of a BPM solution and the related standards that support that architecture. The book gives a very clear theoretical background (Petri Nets etc) which is helpful as well. Whether it should have spent so much time and space on the description of proposed or stillborn standards efforts I guess is open to question.

So get this book if you want a solid description of what a BPM solution should look like, that is clearly based on experience that is informed by a correct appreciation of the appropriate theory.

Don't get it if you want advice on modelling techniques or best practises in developing business process models.

Good for understanding the technology and standards - 2007-05-12
Reviewer Rating:
This book is about Business Process Management, and its technical and standards sides. The book explains almost all the technical standards, who creates it and for what purpose.

So, I think the title of the book is not correct. I think it must be "Understanding the Business Process modelling technology and standards". With this title in mind I gave five stars. If you want to know what is BPM, BPEL, BPMN,BPML, WSDL, XLANG, WS-CDL, BPDM and other standards and want to know who creates it and why, buy this book.

People who search a "cookbook" for BPM wil be certainly disappointed.

Best Practice - 2006-07-31
Reviewer Rating:
Excellent combination of history, standards and methodolocical material related to BPM. On my wish list: a book of corresponding quality related to the business side of BPM.

Application Architecture relation - 2009-04-19
Reviewer Rating:
Admittedly my own fault for not looking deeper into the purpose of the book, I found myself lost in the various programming languages. I was looking for a book on process flows/mapping, not an application oriented one. If you are like me, I would recommend PROCESS IMPROVEMENT ESSENTIALS by James R. Perse.

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