I have difficulties finding out the main target of BPMspace today
and in the future. Maybe you can comment on my impression so far
reading the available documentation:
1. mITSM is AFAIK the first company using a open source ITIL tool
for hands-on demonstration of ITIL processes in their ITIL trainings,
which is a great idea and probably helps people understand ITIL philosophy.
This initially was the main target for starting BPMspace procject, right?
2. BPMspace is based on common open source software like jBPM, MySQL, Eclipse, etc.
Especially jBPM seems to be the key building block. Is BPMspace a thin layer
glueing these components to a full application or is (will it be) an application
massively extending basic functionality inherited from jBPM?
3. BPMspace is targeting all 5 ITIL service support management disciplines. This
is very ambitious! It is hard to find a commercial, expensive product providing
all this (if you find one at all...). At present, I see a long way from today
to achieving this goal. I'd like to know more about the roadmap on how you are
planing to get there.
4. In Question 3., I assumed, that BPMspace is NOT intended only for training
and process modelling purpose, right?
5. Dealing with open source, I'm sure you are aware of other available open
source tools (which I am not going to list here...). Are you willing to compare
BPMspace to selected tools you think you are targeting the same functionality?
(my background: I have sucessfully installed BPMspace on debian Sarge Linux,
ITIL/ITSM awareness, but I am not a Java or a jBPM expert.)
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I would like to provide these missing answers to your perfectly fair question one by one. Each one is kind of complex...
So, what had been our motivation to start the BPMspace project?
Yes, one of our motivations was to have a demonstration- and excercise-tool for our ITIL trainings. However, this is not the primary driver for BPMspace, just a side effect.
The primary reason was to provide our training (and consulting) customers with a "real" tool component, to help them implementing "real" processes in their organizations (more on this in my reply to your question 3). As training and consulting providers, we feel a responsibility to offer advice to our customers all the way - not stopping at the point where the ITIL books end.
We started BPMspace to fill the gap between ITIL theory and "real" process practice.
Today we view BPMspace as the "missing link" for many requirements in the "business process" domain, as well as in the "IT process" domain.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
it was actually jBPM with its fantastic combination of workflow engine and process designer which gave me the final kick to start BPMspace.
jBPM appealed to me because it promised to shorten the path to the goal of "BPM" in its full extent (define + operate + improve), because it already contained a couple of required features. Hot-depoyment and co-existence of process definition versions were key to this. Furthermore, the jBPM workflow engine is of production quality.
However, the User Interface for process execution was not so brilliant. Obviously jBPM was not targetted by Tom Bayens / jBoss Inc. as a production application framework.
So I decided to start with jBPM as process designer (GPD) and process engine, and defined following additional high-level features:
a) a web GUI with a few HTML controls to render (and capture input from) lists, radio buttons, dates...
b) a way for relating process instances (process instance A references process instance B), which not only supports (nested) sub-process relations but also chained process relations and, most importantly intertwined process relations (process A starts process B, process A terminates, then process B terminates).
c) some (mostly generic) handlers in order to automate some process activities
d) interfaces to export and import process data (for bulk operations, release handling and backup)
e) a concept to store "master data" (german: Stammdaten) and let them reference and be referenced from other process instances (one application of the relational concept)
f) an authorization concept
g) a concept for modelling actor/group relationships, both for authorization as well as for handling group tasks
We have hand-crafted 1.2 MB of .java, .jsp, .xml and .xsl sources, which is equivalent to 80% of the jBPM codebase. By this figure, BPMspace is more than a thin layer on top of jBPM.
When you look at the extra value for BPM, I would consider BPMspace a full product of its own (built on top of jBPM).
And yes, we will continue to improve BPMspace, in order to make it more usable in many aspects, driven by industry demand.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
thank you for your detailed answer. I did not know much about jBPM and was reading a bit today. I already found out that there is no authorization concept in jBPM and - as it is just a Framework - probably a lot of other things are missing to build a full blown application from that, as you pointed out in your answer.
I'm also sure there are a lot of features within BPMspace not visible for a first time user, so we will see how this thing develops and maybe have some more documentation on the underlying concepts some day...
Regards,
Jens.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I agree with you that the goal of implementing "real" ITIL processes is an ambitious one.
From our training (and consulting) perspective, I would say that it takes three ingredients to achieve it:
1) People
2) Processes
3) Products (Tools)
When you compare different IT organizations, you will find that their (ITIL) processes are the same only at very abstract level. At the level of "real" executable tasks, most (ITIL) processes differ in most organizations. Therefore, you need different "final" tools in order to implement these different processes. Therefore, you cannot find a single (ITIL) tool which fulfills every organizations' process requirements.
Exceptions to the statements above are "Incident Management" / "Service Desk", where the majority of all organizations can agree on very similar processes. That's why there are some very decent products available in that area.
For the reaminaing (ITIL) processes, where do you find such a "final" tool? It seems like a classical "make or buy" decision. Unfortunately, neither option is attractive: Few products that you can buy fulfill all your process requirements, and making a tool which fulfills them all could be expensive.
With "BPMspace for ITIL" we have created a product which supports five "real" ITIL processes for the following purposes:
a) demonstrate how the processes could work
b) use it "as is" if it happens to suit your needs
c) use it as a starting point for process improvements, additions, or changes
... where purpose (c) is the most likely for most organizations (see explanation above).
In our experience we have found that it takes _many_ (twenty to one hundred) release iterations until the "final process" is finally usable in real life.
The classical release cycle used to be:
1) draw a Visio / Powerpoint / WordArt plan of your process idea
2) order an implementation or customization from a consultant or software manufacturer
3) wait 6 weeks and pay x0,000.- (several ten thousand currency units)
4) let users test
5) start next iteration until you run out of time or money
With BPMspace, we are saving time and money by accelerating this cycle to the following model:
1) draw the process diagram in jBPM's graphical process designer (GPD)
2) ask a "Process Analyst" to add some logic and automation
3) wait some minutes (release early, release often)
4) let users test
5) start next iteration
By the end of a workshop day, you will have a pretty good process design and implementation for any given process requirement (assuming that you have a pretty good Process Analyst).
We are not planning to create an "ITIL tool out of the box" because we do not beleave that it is possible. Some vendors promise that, but all that you _really_ get is an invitation to lock into their customization cycle.
We will continue to improve BPMspace (which is the generic BPM product) and "BPMspace for ITIL" (which is our tool for an ITIL solution), so that you can take it to the "final" trip and customize it according to your process requirements.
Of course we are happy to assist you either in becoming a Process Analyst or with the help of our expertise.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Correct, the application scope of BPMspace is more than training.
The scope is rather full "Business Process Management" with a strong bias to "Rapid Process Prototyping", which is key to achieve high-quality process definitions. That includes "process modelling" as an integral part (see also my answer 3).
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Yes, we are planning to put together a comparison chart - but the question is what to compare...
a) ITIL process coverage
b) ITIL process compliance
c) semantic workflow features (decisions, splits, joins)
d) basic features like Email Notification, Authorization details
If anybody could give us hints about what type of comparison would be of most interest, then we could start such a comparison sooner.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
can you please tell us, what Kind of Error (Message) you get?
For a Basic Installation you only need the BPMspace Starters Kit and the BPMspace Binary Database.
This two Packages contains everything you need for using it.
The Installation Docs are available here: http://sourceforge.net/docman/index.php?group_id=174010
Only the Source Code is not included in this Packages.
But they are in CVS and available as Download Package (they are not up to date).
King Regards,
Christian
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I have difficulties finding out the main target of BPMspace today
and in the future. Maybe you can comment on my impression so far
reading the available documentation:
1. mITSM is AFAIK the first company using a open source ITIL tool
for hands-on demonstration of ITIL processes in their ITIL trainings,
which is a great idea and probably helps people understand ITIL philosophy.
This initially was the main target for starting BPMspace procject, right?
2. BPMspace is based on common open source software like jBPM, MySQL, Eclipse, etc.
Especially jBPM seems to be the key building block. Is BPMspace a thin layer
glueing these components to a full application or is (will it be) an application
massively extending basic functionality inherited from jBPM?
3. BPMspace is targeting all 5 ITIL service support management disciplines. This
is very ambitious! It is hard to find a commercial, expensive product providing
all this (if you find one at all...). At present, I see a long way from today
to achieving this goal. I'd like to know more about the roadmap on how you are
planing to get there.
4. In Question 3., I assumed, that BPMspace is NOT intended only for training
and process modelling purpose, right?
5. Dealing with open source, I'm sure you are aware of other available open
source tools (which I am not going to list here...). Are you willing to compare
BPMspace to selected tools you think you are targeting the same functionality?
(my background: I have sucessfully installed BPMspace on debian Sarge Linux,
ITIL/ITSM awareness, but I am not a Java or a jBPM expert.)
Dear JPS,
I would like to provide these missing answers to your perfectly fair question one by one. Each one is kind of complex...
So, what had been our motivation to start the BPMspace project?
Yes, one of our motivations was to have a demonstration- and excercise-tool for our ITIL trainings. However, this is not the primary driver for BPMspace, just a side effect.
The primary reason was to provide our training (and consulting) customers with a "real" tool component, to help them implementing "real" processes in their organizations (more on this in my reply to your question 3). As training and consulting providers, we feel a responsibility to offer advice to our customers all the way - not stopping at the point where the ITIL books end.
We started BPMspace to fill the gap between ITIL theory and "real" process practice.
Today we view BPMspace as the "missing link" for many requirements in the "business process" domain, as well as in the "IT process" domain.
Dear JPS,
it was actually jBPM with its fantastic combination of workflow engine and process designer which gave me the final kick to start BPMspace.
jBPM appealed to me because it promised to shorten the path to the goal of "BPM" in its full extent (define + operate + improve), because it already contained a couple of required features. Hot-depoyment and co-existence of process definition versions were key to this. Furthermore, the jBPM workflow engine is of production quality.
However, the User Interface for process execution was not so brilliant. Obviously jBPM was not targetted by Tom Bayens / jBoss Inc. as a production application framework.
So I decided to start with jBPM as process designer (GPD) and process engine, and defined following additional high-level features:
a) a web GUI with a few HTML controls to render (and capture input from) lists, radio buttons, dates...
b) a way for relating process instances (process instance A references process instance B), which not only supports (nested) sub-process relations but also chained process relations and, most importantly intertwined process relations (process A starts process B, process A terminates, then process B terminates).
c) some (mostly generic) handlers in order to automate some process activities
d) interfaces to export and import process data (for bulk operations, release handling and backup)
e) a concept to store "master data" (german: Stammdaten) and let them reference and be referenced from other process instances (one application of the relational concept)
f) an authorization concept
g) a concept for modelling actor/group relationships, both for authorization as well as for handling group tasks
We have hand-crafted 1.2 MB of .java, .jsp, .xml and .xsl sources, which is equivalent to 80% of the jBPM codebase. By this figure, BPMspace is more than a thin layer on top of jBPM.
When you look at the extra value for BPM, I would consider BPMspace a full product of its own (built on top of jBPM).
And yes, we will continue to improve BPMspace, in order to make it more usable in many aspects, driven by industry demand.
Hello Boran,
thank you for your detailed answer. I did not know much about jBPM and was reading a bit today. I already found out that there is no authorization concept in jBPM and - as it is just a Framework - probably a lot of other things are missing to build a full blown application from that, as you pointed out in your answer.
I'm also sure there are a lot of features within BPMspace not visible for a first time user, so we will see how this thing develops and maybe have some more documentation on the underlying concepts some day...
Regards,
Jens.
Dear JPS,
I agree with you that the goal of implementing "real" ITIL processes is an ambitious one.
From our training (and consulting) perspective, I would say that it takes three ingredients to achieve it:
1) People
2) Processes
3) Products (Tools)
When you compare different IT organizations, you will find that their (ITIL) processes are the same only at very abstract level. At the level of "real" executable tasks, most (ITIL) processes differ in most organizations. Therefore, you need different "final" tools in order to implement these different processes. Therefore, you cannot find a single (ITIL) tool which fulfills every organizations' process requirements.
Exceptions to the statements above are "Incident Management" / "Service Desk", where the majority of all organizations can agree on very similar processes. That's why there are some very decent products available in that area.
For the reaminaing (ITIL) processes, where do you find such a "final" tool? It seems like a classical "make or buy" decision. Unfortunately, neither option is attractive: Few products that you can buy fulfill all your process requirements, and making a tool which fulfills them all could be expensive.
With "BPMspace for ITIL" we have created a product which supports five "real" ITIL processes for the following purposes:
a) demonstrate how the processes could work
b) use it "as is" if it happens to suit your needs
c) use it as a starting point for process improvements, additions, or changes
... where purpose (c) is the most likely for most organizations (see explanation above).
In our experience we have found that it takes _many_ (twenty to one hundred) release iterations until the "final process" is finally usable in real life.
The classical release cycle used to be:
1) draw a Visio / Powerpoint / WordArt plan of your process idea
2) order an implementation or customization from a consultant or software manufacturer
3) wait 6 weeks and pay x0,000.- (several ten thousand currency units)
4) let users test
5) start next iteration until you run out of time or money
With BPMspace, we are saving time and money by accelerating this cycle to the following model:
1) draw the process diagram in jBPM's graphical process designer (GPD)
2) ask a "Process Analyst" to add some logic and automation
3) wait some minutes (release early, release often)
4) let users test
5) start next iteration
By the end of a workshop day, you will have a pretty good process design and implementation for any given process requirement (assuming that you have a pretty good Process Analyst).
We are not planning to create an "ITIL tool out of the box" because we do not beleave that it is possible. Some vendors promise that, but all that you _really_ get is an invitation to lock into their customization cycle.
We will continue to improve BPMspace (which is the generic BPM product) and "BPMspace for ITIL" (which is our tool for an ITIL solution), so that you can take it to the "final" trip and customize it according to your process requirements.
Of course we are happy to assist you either in becoming a Process Analyst or with the help of our expertise.
Correct, the application scope of BPMspace is more than training.
The scope is rather full "Business Process Management" with a strong bias to "Rapid Process Prototyping", which is key to achieve high-quality process definitions. That includes "process modelling" as an integral part (see also my answer 3).
Yes, we are planning to put together a comparison chart - but the question is what to compare...
a) ITIL process coverage
b) ITIL process compliance
c) semantic workflow features (decisions, splits, joins)
d) basic features like Email Notification, Authorization details
If anybody could give us hints about what type of comparison would be of most interest, then we could start such a comparison sooner.
I have a problem to generate the war file, it give errors when executing it.
Three files exist to download, is necessary some module more?
THANKS!!!
Hello Antonio,
can you please tell us, what Kind of Error (Message) you get?
For a Basic Installation you only need the BPMspace Starters Kit and the BPMspace Binary Database.
This two Packages contains everything you need for using it.
The Installation Docs are available here: http://sourceforge.net/docman/index.php?group_id=174010
Only the Source Code is not included in this Packages.
But they are in CVS and available as Download Package (they are not up to date).
King Regards,
Christian