RE: [ebxml-dev] BPML?

[Rajesh_KumarT <Rajesh_KumarT@infy.com>]

Hi,
	There had been some discussions on this before. I have highlighted the points here...

BPML SOME CLARIFICATIONS

Do BPSS (Business Process Specification Scheme) of ebXML and BPML overlap?

*BPSS and BPML are complementary
*BPSS defines the public process in the context of business transactions
*BPML defines the private process
*BPSS is a layer above Web Services providing business transactions. OASIS is working to align with Web Services
*BPMI.org is proposing a binding between public processes and internal processes to bridge the different protocols"  [1]	
"	* * * ebXML is more worried about "Business Process Collaboration" rather than "Describing the Business Process of an organization and integration with technical implementation" which is the concern of BPML. * * * BPML can be seen (not in entirety) as an evolution of EAI with lot more capabilities. 
There were some useful cross-discussions about BPML and ebXML BP in the summer of 2001.  My impression from those was exactly the same as Rajesh's.  BPML is much closer to an EAI paradigm, albeit extendable across boundaries between trading partners. ebXML is much more concerned with negotiated (versus centrally orchestrated) interactions between independent TPs who wish to synchronize, but without giving up control."[2]

"I must admit that it has been a little frustrating to define a widely accepted articulation between BPSS and BPML. Political issues aside, they should be very complementary." [3]

"BPML addresses the needs of enterprise IT infrastructure. It attempts to provide a process-based view to functionalities addressed by current enterprise IT infrastructure like legacy systems, ERP, EAI and Workflow applications. BPML would have greater visibility into the enterprise applications - handling of application exceptions. This distinction should be good enough to keep us from reducing overlap across standards. An implication of this is that the BPMS would have to support both BPSS and BPML. Given that a significant number of processes would be collaboration based, would the BPMS be better off using the same layer for transaction and collaboration within BPSS and BPML. One of the objectives is doing this is to ensure that the BSI for BPSS and BPML has to interoperate." [4]

"The goal of the ebXML Specification Schema is to provide the bridge between e-business process modeling and specification of e-business software components. The ebXML Specification Schema provides for the nominal set of specification elements necessary to specify a collaboration between business partners, and to provide configuration parameters for the partners' runtime systems in order to execute that collaboration between a set of e-business software components."[5]

The BPSS which specifies the a standard framework by which business systems may be configured to support execution of business collaborations consisting of business transactions should also be supported by a BPMS and hence a binding framework between BPML & BPSS has to be defined. The consortium is currently working toward a precise binding to ebXML. Actually, part of the BPML metamodel is designed to support ebXML BPSS [6]. 

How are XLANG and BPML related or how do they differ?

" XLANG is Microsoft's process modeling language.
  BPML and XLANG share the same mathematical model (pi-calculus)."[1]

Though there were differences between XLANG and BPML, they have started to converge in one aspect, support to Web services. The building block standard that XLANG is most dependent on is WSDL [8]. 

" BPML can be used to implement Web Services.
  BPML can be used to coordinate Web Services.
  BPML can enable secure Web Services.
  BPML can enable transactional Web Services.
  BPML is an enabling back-end technology for Web Services."[1]

But
" BPML offer richer process modeling semantics.
  BPML is closer to the requirements of business analysts.
  A standard process notation will complement BPML. BPMN.
  BPML will be extended by BPQL.
  BPML is totally platform independent."[1]

Moreover, BPMI is working on options of interoperability with various existing standard specifications.


References:

[1] Ismaël Ghalimi, BPMI.orgAntoine Lonjon: "BPML & Related Standards Toward a Comprehensive BPM Stack" presented at BPMSummit, 2001.

[2] James Bryce Clark: in ebxml-dev@lists.ebxml.org mailing list DT 22-Feb-2002. 

[3] Jean-Jacques Dubray: in ebxml-dev@lists.ebxml.org mailing list DT 23-Feb-2002.

[4] Vishwanath Shenoy: in ebxml-dev@lists.ebxml.org mailing list DT 25-Feb-2002.
[5] ebXML Business Process Specification Schema Version 1.01: Business Process Project Team, 11 may 2001.

[6] Jean-Jacques Dubray: BPSS Binding at http://www.ebpml.org/bpss_binding.htm

[7] BPML Working Draft February 12, 2002

[8] Satish Thatte: XLANG Web Services for Business Process Design.

[9] Web Services Description Language (WSDL) 1.1: at http://www.w3.org/TR/wsdl


regards,
Rajesh

-----Original Message-----
From: greg s [mailto:selvin_lists@yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2002 4:03 AM
To: ebxml-dev@lists.ebxml.org
Subject: [ebxml-dev] BPML?


I am exploring whether my company can use an industry
standard language to model our business processes. 
ebXML seems a good candidate,but I have also read
about BPML (being promoted through BPMi.org).  I'd
love it if anyone could contrast ebXML and BPML.  Are
they complimentary or competing (or both) standards?

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