Profile picture for user uro

My first contact with Software AG was more than four years ago. At this time we discussed how we could integrate our Products (CentraSite and ARIS) based on a partnership. But for different reasons we did not start with the implementation and for some time there was only limited contact (in this time Software AG acquired WebMethods). End of 2008 our boards started again discussions about a partnership and in spring 2009 we began to talk about concrete use cases how to integrate our products.

 With the acquisition of IDS Scheer by SAG these discussions become all of the sudden very important and got a high priority. Of course we started as soon as it has been allowed from legal point of view different working streams to check what product integrations makes sense. One of these streams is the integration of ARIS and webMethods to exchange process information between the tools. Because we already started with this topic a couple of months ago we can now announce that the first step of product integration has been finished.

The use case we support with this first integration looks quite similar to the classic ARIS SOA use cases. The first target was to be able to start with high level business processes (EPC), to transform them into a more technical process (BPMN) in ARIS and to export these processes into the implementation environment (webMethods Designer). The following picture shows this approach, the Service Development use case is not in the focus at the beginning but will be included later.





Basis of the new functionality are two new transformations, implemented with our new pattern based transformation technology. The first transformation runs on an EPC and creates a BPMN diagram in ARIS. Relevant for the transformation are the sequence flow elements (Functions, Events, Rules), Organizational Units, KPI’s and Business Services. Business Services are only considered if they have a realization as Software Service and an implementation as Web Service. All Functions from EPC which are connected with the same Organizational Unit or with the same Business Service are placed in a separate lane. For every EPC (business) Function a new (technical) Function in BPMN is created. The new functions are connected with the same Organizational Units and KPI’s, but not with Business Services but the Software Services instead.



The BPMN diagram can be detailed or changed in ARIS or directly exported into a XPDL file. This file can be imported into webMethods Designer and will be used for the process implementation there. The following pictures show an example EPC, the according BPMN diagram and the process after import into wM Designer.

 

 



Of course this first integration is not the end of the development. We are now one company and we will show that our modeling environment and the implementation tools have the strongest possible integration (but of course the integration of our tools with other technologies remains important.) With the next steps we will move forward to provide real round-trip capabilities, a better UI integration and a CentraSite based federation of the different repositories which are relevant for our use cases around service development/management and process automation.

 

by Ivo Velitchkov
Posted on Tue, 11/10/2009 - 22:47

Good news! Two comments:

1. Wasn't it the strategy to keep integration with other platforms competitive. Now this "better integrated" is a different tune. Or not?

2. It's strange to see XOR rule following an event.

Cheers

Ivo

0
by Uwe Roediger Author
Posted on Thu, 11/12/2009 - 09:12

Hi Ivo,

of course the integration with other platforms will be kept competitive. But I think you agree that an integration between tools of one vendor is always better than between tools of different vendors. We can use standards to integrate ARIS with other tools, but this works depending from the standard not always in an optimal way. If we have a partnership with the vendor of the other tool (as we have e.g. with Oracle) things work better, but also the partnership based integration sometimes reaches limits. Only because ARIS, webMethods and CentraSite are belonging to one company we are able to integrate on a really deep level and I believe this is what our customers are expecting.

For the semantically not correct EPC I have to apaologize, I was a little bit in hurry but this is not an  excuse, I will correct it.

Regards

Uwe

0
by M. Naci Akkøk
Posted on Fri, 11/13/2009 - 14:13

Hi Uwe.

I can understand your optimism related to the level of future integration between ARIS + webMethods + CentraSite. And it is only natural that Software AG beleives in Software AG.

But what exactly do you mean when you say "... but also the partnership based integration sometimes reaches its limits"?

I cannot see any hinders in the integration between (for example) Oracle and ARIS except possibly a lack of will to maintain it. In my mind, a partnership-based integration is as good as the will that maintains the partnership itself.

IDS Scheer has always been very explicit and insistent in being impartial. I sincerely hope that the will to be impartial (and hence as tightly integrated with any partner that wants to be tightly integrated) is maintained somehow also in the future.

Best regards,

Naci.

0
by Uwe Roediger Author
Posted on Fri, 11/13/2009 - 14:59

Hello Naci,

I agree with you that the potential of a partnership based integration depends from the will of both sides. But the will alone is not enough. The decision, how deep an integration will be implemented is a decision about resources too and also both sides have to care for other influencing conditions around the topic. The experience shows, that it is easier to create optimal basic conditions for a tool integration if both tools are owned by only one company.

But that does not mean that we reduce the generic positioning of ARIS in the future and this generic approach needs a good integration to other platforms. And the best way to integrate ARIS with tha other important technologies in the market is to have partnerships. For that reason our partnerships, e.g. with Oracle, remain very important for us. Our challenge is now to create a strong integration between the SAG and IDS products on the one hand and to improve the existing integration of ARIS with other technology platforms on the other hand. To be impartial of course will remain important for us.

Regards

Uwe

0

Featured achievement

Rookie
Say hello to the ARIS Community! Personalize your community experience by following forums or tags, liking a post or uploading a profile picture.
Recent Unlocks

Leaderboard

|
icon-arrow-down icon-arrow-cerulean-left icon-arrow-cerulean-right icon-arrow-down icon-arrow-left icon-arrow-right icon-arrow icon-back icon-close icon-comments icon-correct-answer icon-tick icon-download icon-facebook icon-flag icon-google-plus icon-hamburger icon-in icon-info icon-instagram icon-login-true icon-login icon-mail-notification icon-mail icon-mortarboard icon-newsletter icon-notification icon-pinterest icon-plus icon-rss icon-search icon-share icon-shield icon-snapchat icon-star icon-tutorials icon-twitter icon-universities icon-videos icon-views icon-whatsapp icon-xing icon-youtube icon-jobs icon-heart icon-heart2 aris-express bpm-glossary help-intro help-design Process_Mining_Icon help-publishing help-administration help-dashboarding help-archive help-risk icon-knowledge icon-question icon-events icon-message icon-more icon-pencil forum-icon icon-lock