Business Process Model Overview

A Business Process (BP) is a collection of actions that take place in your company, revolving around a specific business practice. These processes can involve a variety of participants and might include internal and external computer systems or personnel. In Sun Business Process Manager (BPM), you create a graphical representation of the BP called a BP model. The model defines each component in the process and the flow of data through those components.

The BP model indicates the flow of data from start to end, and can include activities performed by the software, decision points, and any business logic used to transform and transfer the data. A BP can also contain activities that must be performed by a user, meaning that the flow of data is paused until the specified user performs the required activity.

Business Process Components

BP components, or modeling elements, include activities, branching activities (decision points), intermediate activities, and links, as well as the business rules that define the logic of how data is transformed and moved. You can create sub-processes that can then be incorporated into a main BP.

The modeling elements you add from the Business Process Designer are standard BPEL elements, and are described in detail in Business Process Activities.

By default, the Start and End activities appear on the blank Business Process Designer as soon as you create a BP. There is only one starting point for any BP model. There can be multiple end points.

Java CAPS Components

In addition to the standard BP components, you can also drag and drop other Java CAPS component activities from the Project Explorer directly into the Business Process Designer. Java CAPS component activities include the following:

• Adapter activities, such as read and write

• Object Type Definition (OTD) activities, such as marshal and unmarshal

• Java Collaboration Definition activities

• Java Message Service (JMS) activities

• Visual Page Designer page and page flows

• Mater Index Java methods

• Business Activity Monitor activities

• Integrator activities

Java CAPS Component Activities

When you define certain Java CAPS components, one or more activity is added to that component in the Project Explorer. You cannot drag and drop a Java CAPS component, such as a Collaboration or OTD, directly into a BP. Instead, you drag and drop an activity defined by the component into the BP. For example, when you create a Java Collaboration Definition or OTD, activities are added to the Collaboration node in Project Explorer. Activities appear as yellow rectangles, similar to the Business Process Designer activity icons.

JMS Activities

When you publish messages from a BP using a JMS send operation, the default message type specified in the JMSMessageType field is a text message. To publish bytes, stream, or map messages, you need to explicitly define the type in the message type field by defining a Business Rule for the send operation link (see Incorporating Business Rules for more information about using business rules).