Provides a high-level description of the sequence
of the manual and automatic actions that occur when you install, configure,
and use Business Process Choreographer.
If you use Business Process Choreographer, having a high-level understanding
of the internal logic sequences and dependencies can help you diagnose and
solve problems faster.
Runtime logic sequence
To get your first business
process running on an application server and to have users working with a
browser to access the Business Process Choreographer Explorer to process work
items, the necessary tasks and subtasks are performed in the following sequence:
- Configure a business process container:
- Create the database and tables.
- If using WebSphere® MQ
as the (Java™ Message Service) JMS provider, create the queue
manager and queues.
- Install and configure the business process container application, using
either:
- The installation wizard
- Sample scripts provided
The following resources are configured:- Java database
connectivity (JDBC) provider
- JMS provider, queue manager, and security mappings for the roles of business
process administrator and business process monitor
- Create or reuse JMS resources: connection factory and queues
- Install the Business Process Choreographer Explorer
- If you installed the business process container on a cluster using the
business process container installation wizard, the business container is
configured on all application servers in the cluster to have identical connection
factory properties. These properties must be customized manually according
to whether you are using a central queue manager for intra-process workload
sharing or a cluster of queue managers for failover.
- The name of the business process container application depends on where
you installed it. The name has the prefix BPEContainer_ followed
by the InstallationScopeIdentifier value.
- If you installed the business process container on a single application
server, the application is named BPEContainer_nodeName_serverName.
- If you installed the business process container on a cluster, the application
is named BPEContainer_clusterName.
- Configure a human task container:
- Install and configure the human task container:
- Using the human task container installation wizard, the following resources
are configured:
- The human task container uses the same JMS provider and queue manager
that is used by the business process container.
- Security mappings for the roles of task administrator and task monitor
are defined.
- The JMS resources for the connection factory and queues can either be
reused or created.
- If you installed the human task container on a cluster using the human
task container installation wizard, the task container is configured on all
application servers in the cluster to have identical connection factory properties.
These properties must be customized manually according to whether you are
using a central queue manager or a cluster of queue managers.
- The name of the human task container application depends on where you
installed it. The name has the prefix TaskContainer_ followed
by the InstallationScopeIdentifier value.
- If you installed the human task container on a single application server,
the application is named TaskContainer_nodeName_serverName.
- If you installed the human task container on a cluster, the application
is named TaskContainer_clusterName.
- Activate the business process container and human task container (if installed)
by restarting the application server. On a cluster, you must restart all of
the application servers.
- To ensure that the business process and human task container applications
started successfully, verify that no error messages exist in the SystemOut.log file
for the application server. On a cluster, check the log for all application
servers in the cluster.
- Using either the administrative console or the wsadmin command,
install an enterprise application that contains business processes, human
tasks, or both.
- If you do not have your own application to try, you can install the travel
booking sample from the Samples gallery.
- Errors will occur if the Business Process Choreographer database cannot
be accessed, because all business process and task templates are stored in
the database. These problems can be caused if the database system is not running,
if any database clients are not correctly configured, or if errors were made
defining the data source, for example, entering an invalid user ID or password.
- After the enterprise application is installed, it is in the state stopped,
and any process and task templates that it contains are in the state started.
No process or task instances can be created until the application is started.
Select it and click Start to start the application. When the application
server is restarted, the enterprise applications on it are started automatically.
- At this point, the input queues are read for the first time. Errors will
occur at this stage if the queue manager is not running, or if any mistakes
were made defining the JMS provider or JMS resources.
- Configure the WebSphere Process Server security environment for
secured applications, including assigning users and groups to roles defined
in business process applications and configuring authentication mechanisms.
- If you did not install the Business Process Choreographer (BPC) Explorer
when configuring the business process container, you can install it by running
the clientconfig.jacl script.
- Start the BPC Explorer, using a Web browser, by opening the page http://app_server_host:port_number/bpc.
- If the BPC Explorer application BPCExplorer_Installation_Scope_Identifier is
not installed you will get an error.
- Enter a user ID and password on the log on screen.
- If the user ID is known to the system, and the password is correct, any
existing work items will be displayed in the To Do list.
- If your user ID is authorized, you can start an instance of a process
template, enter any input message parameters.
- If the business process contains an activity that requires human interaction,
a work item is added to the To Do lists of all the potential owners. If you
are one of these potential owners, you can display your My To Dos page to
work with the work item.
- If the process instance is a microflow (that is not a BPEL-based process
implementing a one-way operation) it will display an output message when the
process ends.
- Reaching this point means that your Business Process Choreographer system
is fully functional. Most users will either use the standard BPC Explorer
or a customized version of the BPC Explorer work with work items, process
templates, process instances, and tasks.
- At the end of the Business Process Choreographer life-cycle, if you want
to remove Business Process Choreographer from your machine, you must stop
delete, and uninstall things in a particular order:
- Uninstalling enterprise applications that contain business processes requires
the following actions:
- To prevent the creation of any new process instances, you must stop all
process and task templates in the enterprise applications.
- Log onto the BPC Explorer as a process administrator and make sure that
all process and task instances have stopped and are deleted.
- Stop all enterprise applications that contain business processes. This
step will fail if any task or process instances belonging to the application
still exist.
- Uninstall the enterprise applications that contain business processes.
- Uninstall the business process container, as described in Using a script to remove the Business Process Choreographer configuration.
- Manually delete the database, queue manager, and any other resources that
will not be reused.
People involved
To get Business Process Choreographer
fully operational can require the following people:
- Administrators for:
- WebSphere Process
Server - using the administrative console. Includes installing, starting,
and stopping business application that contain business processes.
- Business Process Choreographer administrators - using the Business Process
Choreographer (BPC) Explorer to manage administer process instances, tasks,
and work items.
- If the external JMS provider is used, then the WebSphere MQ administrator - running
the scripts to create the queues and making sure that the queue manager is
running.
- Database system administrator - running the scripts to create the database
tables, making sure that the database system is running, and performing periodic
performance tuning.
- Business process modelers who define the business processes in the BPEL
language using a tool, such as WebSphere Integration Developer.
- Programmers for:
- Writing the programs that make up the model's activities.
- Customizing the BPC Explorer or portal client
- Users to perform the human interaction with long-running processes, using
a customized BPC Explorer or a custom application that uses the Business Process
Choreographer APIs. The default BPC Explorer is only intended for testing,
and as a functional sample to act as a starting point for customization.