MSFT: Rules Driven Workflow

Watched this deeper dive today

MSDN Webcast: Developing Rules Driven Workflows (Part 7 of 7) (Level 300)

Same reasons as yesterday (pipeline from clients is very rules focused). Key snippets I got today was:

1. Better Detail. Got more detail on key aspects of rules. In short yesterdays last 20 minutes was covered in 60 minutes.

2. WWF vs BizTalk. They outlined thier view of how WWF plays versus BizTalk in the next release. In short it made me think that in the next release of BizTalk (2008?) they will be more of a premium version of WWF. Might imply that short term tactics with clients should leverage WWF for core and BizTalk only for the tooling / BA support.

3. Better review of editor.I took a snap shot of thier free editor and they covered it a bit more (about a minute). In that time it was clear to me that we should plan on building out on the editor if exposing to the business side. Still very technical in some ways … but not bad for free.

My detail notes are below.

Quote:

MSDN Webcast: Developing Rules Driven Workflows (Part 7 of 7) (Level 300) Pasted from <http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/msdnbpi.mspx&gt; …………○ Jurgen Willis – Program Manager MSFT …………○ 1:00 – Agenda: ……………………§ Why rules ……………………§ Activity conditions ……………………§ CAG ……………………§ Policy …………○ WWF is not a server product … just a framework …………○ Historical ……………………§ Classically – data, app logic, forms ……………………§ Future – data, app logic (code, model driven (services, workflow, rules/policies)), forms …………○ 7:30 – Condition is an expression, rules set on these. 5 key conditions: ……………………§ IF/Else ……………………§ While ……………………§ Replicator ……………………§ CAG ……………………§ Custom ……………………§ Policy Activity (wrapper activity, priority based forward chaining semantics) …………○ 8:30 – Demo – Dynamic Update ……………………§ (same travel booking demo as yesterday) ……………………§ Put in if/else … put in code in each branch ……………………§ Now define condition (code or rule) … do condition ……………………§ Create conditions … why use code vs rule … ability to dynamically update rules ……………………§ In form load … create workflow runtime instance .. Interact with that runtime (so while form is up?) ……………………§ Workflows can wait for events (like leaving a field, etc) …………○ 19:00 – CAG ……………………§ Acitivity that uses rule conditions. Set of activities that are contained in collection (CAG) drives execution and behavior (sequential, asynch, case, etc) ……………………§ Example doc review policy can be very complex … CAG would handle differently based on specific event data … very iterative … very dynamic ……………………§ Child activities … each one has when condition applied ……………………§ CAG has a UNTIL by default (when all whens == false … done) ……………………§ All conditions re-eval when any child activity goes to completed ……………………§ Short Circuit default exit … no new activities, cancelled block …………○ 24:10 – Demo of CAG ……………………§ Drag child activities to top parent ……………………§ Can do code or rule conditions ……………………§ Overall CAG has UNTIL condition (code or rule) ……………………§ Example Book Airline ………………………………□ Employee -> approval – > city info input -> flight detail select -> flight options ………………………………□ Reason use CAG … want the above to chain … even if you edit step 2 (city info) ………………………………□ 34:00 – Shows how it could have been done w/o CAG … 5 to 10 times more logic .. ………………………………□ Key problem is enabling and disabling right fields. …………○ 35:00 – Policy (very rich rules) ……………………§ Movitation – Separation of business logic from application logic … workflow could require richer business logic in synch fashion and come back. ……………………§ Scenarios – Warranty claims, Discount Calculations, Order Validation ……………………§ Asked about BizTalk (who used here) ………………………………□ BizTalk post 2006 will be built on WWF. ………………………………□ Rules will be delivered by WWF. ………………………………□ BizTalk provides premium tooling (BA tools, rules set storage / editing, analysis of rules (errors/gaps in rules), etc) and server infrastructure ……………………§ Policy overview ………………………………□ RulesSet class contains a set of rules ………………………………□ Rules are if/then/else ………………………………□ Expressions are CodeDom based ………………………………□ Priority value can be used to order rule eval …………○ 40:30 – Demo of Policy ……………………§ Create custom activity ……………………§ Example of simple build out ………………………………□ Add activity library .. Call it “discount policy” ………………………………□ Add some properties to activity (order value, discount) ………………………………□ Change default to composite type (makes it a self contained set of logic) ………………………………□ Override create ruleset default … add using for code dump ………………………………□ Create custom RuleSet … use CodeDom to reference properties on rule ………………………………□ About 25 lines ……………………§ Now use the custom activity we created above in workflows …………○ 47:30 – Forward Chaining Example ……………………§ Re-eval impacted rules based on execution of previous rules ……………………§ Chaining behavior by: ………………………………□ Implicit (usage of properties) ………………………………□ Explicit via Update statement ………………………………□ Partially Explicit …………○ 49:00 – Demo Extension ability in WWF ……………………§ Instead of creating solution as above (in method) ……………………§ Use external file … de-serialize ……………………§ Define external file ……………………§ Free external rule editor on MSDN Site … still not a business user tool (references dll’s libraries to associate to and such but could be a good platform) ………………………………□ …………………… …………○ 55:00 – Resources ……………………§ MSDN http://msdn.microsoft.com/workflow ……………………§ Community site: http://www.windowsworkflow.net ……………………§ Forums: http://www.windowsworkflow.net/forums ……………………§ Books: Presenting Windows Workflow Foundation …………○ 58:00 – QA ……………………§ Various ways to store rules.

MSFT: WWF – Rules Based Apps

Watched this webcast today:

Building Rules-Based Applications Using Windows Workflow Foundation (Level 200)

As we continue to get a good grasp of what is possible with workflow options in the solution delivery area. Clients are continuing to assess how workflow and rules engines can make thier work easier. However, we have found that most implement before having a stable basis and then require intervention … let’s avoid that.

The key points I heard came at 48 minutes in:

1. Patience. Patience is key is lesson #1. As I listened to the first part it was interesting but not ‘ah ha’ material. 48 minutes later however, when they started tinkering around with how the rules engine can be exposed to end users … lesson? Patience … there is always insight … smart people take awhile getting to it sometimes.

2. Rules Editable By End Users. They showed examples of how the rule set and the native rules editor can be exposed out to the user base. Very nice.

3. Rules Can Be Live Immediately. Users can edit in thier tools and see the next transaction processed differently (no recompile, no assembly tinkering, just done).

I am still pondering the implications of CAG, Policies, and forward chaining … So if someone wants to vett that out for me feel free. It also continues to elude me on the specific differences between BizTalk and WWF outside of you don’t need to embed it in the application among other infra points. So more clarity there is required.

Here are my detail notes for those interested:

Quote:

Building Rules-Based Applications Using Windows Workflow Foundation (Level 200) Pasted from <http://www.microsoft.com/events/webcasts/calendar/MonthView.aspx?stdate=4/1/2006&audience=Developer&series=Business%20Process%20Integration:%20Integrate%20Workflow,%20Messaging,%20and%20Services&product=0&presenter=0&tz=0&gt; Rules can be powerful business tools when combined with workflow. This webcast examines the rules engine capabilities in Windows Workflow Foundation, and shows how you can use rules to drive workflow execution. Learn how rule policies facilitate the description of sophisticated behavior in an integrated and flexible way. We also discuss the extensibility mechanisms in Windows Workflow Foundation that enable you to leverage the rules engine in any Microsoft .NET-connected application. Presenter: Jurgen Willis, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation Pasted from <http://www.microsoft.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?CMTYSvcSource=MSCOMMedia&Params=%7eCMTYDataSvcParams%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ID%22+Value%3d%221032293933%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ProviderID%22+Value%3d%22A6B43178-497C-4225-BA42-DF595171F04C%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22lang%22+Value%3d%22en%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22cr%22+Value%3d%22US%22%2f%5e%7esParams%5e%7e%2fsParams%5e%7e%2fCMTYDataSvcParams%5e&gt; Jurgen Willis . Program Mgr (MSFT) on WWF Team …………○ 1:00 Overview ……………………§ Long Running Stateful ……………………§ Flexible Flow ……………………§ Business Logic Transparency ……………………§ Visual Designer ……………………§ Host Process: Service, Engine, Activity Library ……………………§ In WinFX and O12 ……………………§ Custom Activities and Base Activity Lib …………○ WWF = Rules Engine …………○ 6:00 – Workflow Rules ……………………§ 4 out of box activities ………………………………□ If/Else ………………………………□ While ………………………………□ Replicator ………………………………□ Conditioned Activity Group (CAG) ………………………………□ (CUSTOM Activities You Build) ……………………§ Forward Chaining Rules ……………………§ Rules can be used outside of workflow …………○ 8:00 – Demo 1 – Build Travel Book App ……………………§ Create runtime (can execute in Windows Form) ……………………§ This one will support a form ……………………§ Show If/Else and How Objects Maps to Methods ……………………§ Condition could be code in properties of condition box … or launch condition edition editor … code like field for evaluting condition expression … generates a xml ‘rules’ file ……………………§ Use declarative rules to enable add / remove rules on running process … …………○ 17:30 – Conditioned Activity Group (CAG) ……………………§ Controls sequence of activities ……………………§ Collaborative activities sequence can be determined via CAG (like order approve) ……………………§ Default CAG = When (once) + Until (all children done and when == false) ……………………§ Can do custom Until (override CAG waiting for children) … no new activities, cancelled blocked activities …………○ 22:30 – Demo of CAG ……………………§ Could do what CAG does w/ multiple listeners … but this simplifies …………○ 26:30 – Policy Activity ……………………§ Activity that references a rule set (.rules file) ……………………§ If/then/else expressions that eval op and workflow members ……………………§ Future BizTalk will build on WWF …………○ 29:00 – Demo of Policy …………○ 31:00 – Forward Chaining ……………………§ Implicit dependencies between rules (set a field used in a 2nd rule eval) ……………………§ Example ………………………………□ If < 100 disc = 10% ………………………………□ If > 100 disc = 15% ………………………………□ If amt > 0 total = total + disc ………………………………□ Will execute 1, 3, 2 ……………………§ Priority value can be used to order rule eval ……………………§ Chain on 3 diff things ………………………………Implicit (based on property usage) ………………………………□ Explicit ………………………………□ Partially Explicit (attributes on method, ruleread,rulewrite, ruleinvoke) ……………………§ Limit Chaining ………………………………□ Halt, RuleSet Chaining Behavior (full, explicit, none), ReEvaluation (always, never) …………○ 37:30 – Externalizing Rules ……………………§ RuleSets stored in DB example ……………………§ Define a custom policy activity ……………………§ GetRuleSet method ……………………§ When execute policy .. Gets handle on ruleset service that calls get ruleset svc … do exec of service … ……………………§ Default RuleSet Editor … versions available … editors can be used outside of VS (KEY POINT) ……………………§ Can define workflows to pickup latest version of RuleSet or use a specific version ……………………§ No recompile or touching of assemblies …………○ 45:00 – Rules Extensionability ……………………§ Manage rules from workflow ……………………§ Create custom activities ……………………§ Re-use editors in VS outside ……………………§ Create a custom tool for authoring rules (use objects of rules editor to create custom editor) ……………………§ Leverage rules from any MSFT .NET application …………○ 47:00 – Summary ……………………§ Integrated rules and workflow ……………………§ Rules engine flexible around forward chaining ……………………§ Combination of rules … control of workflow definition ……………………§ Many rules out of box …………○ 48:30 — Resources ……………………§ SDK Samples ………………………………□ IfElse ………………………………□ Changing Rules dynamic update ………………………………□ Simple and Advanced Policies ………………………………□ Tracking Event Sample ……………………§ http://windowsworkflow.net ………………………………□ Travel demo ………………………………□ External ruleset toolkit ………………………………□ Rules in excel (ops against ruleset) ………………………………□ RuleSet Analyzer ……………………§ MSDN Article http://msdn.microsoft.com/workflow ………………………………□ Introduction to WWF Rules ………………………………□ Couple new points …………○ 51:00 — Q&A ……………………§ Where did CAG come from? Goal combine workflow (model) and rules. In sequential and state workflow … so workflow needs a flexibility point … CAG. ……………………§ Rules can execute other rulesets (custom rule action)

MSFT: BTS – End to End Scenarios

Watched this webcast today

Webcast: BizTalk — End-to-End Scenarios

I was continue to dig into this area as we have a handful of clients that are looking at how they can automate workflows / processes in thier organizations and most of them are MSFT shops. BizTalk is more of the howitzer in this model (versus Windows Workflow Foundation) but relevant. Here are the thoughts I had as I watched it:

1. Nice Sample Apps Now Available So MSFT has pushed out (w/ these scenarios that ship w/ BizTalk 2006) a solid set of actual working examples of client usage of BizTalk. Good baseline for those that are wanting to get thier arms around how this set of products (BizTalk, BAM, etc) can help them. 2. BizTalk 06 Is Mgmt Focused So really BizTalk 04 people are solid … just improving (primarily) the admin of BizTalk w/ the 06 release. Some unique items (like calling orch from orch). 2. Tribal CommunityInteresting how they talked at length in the Q&A about how there are limited resources on how it works, training, etc. Limited resources means client struggles to ramp up on this product and/or find help is to be expected. Self taught people is to be expected.

Here are my detail notes:

Quote:

BizTalk Server 2006 — End-to-End Scenarios: SOA …………○ Richard Seroter – Tech Specialist …………○ http://blogs.msdn.com/RichardBPI ………… …………○ 2:30 – Agenda ……………………§ Design Patterns ………………………………□ Service Intfc ………………………………□ Recipient List ………………………………□ Aggregation Design …………○ …………○ BTS 2006 – Released 3/27/2006 …………○ Level 300 discussion …………○ 4:30 – How BizTalk Works ……………………§ Pub / Sub Arch ……………………§ Receives Msgs in many ports … ways a msg acan physically be received (file, xml packet, etc) ……………………§ Do an orchestration and/or push to another send port …………○ End-to-End Scenarios ……………………§ Three in box (SDK) 2006 ………………………………□ BPM (interrupt pattern, etc) ………………………………□ SO (EAI, drill into that today) ………………………………□ B2B (EDI, trading profiles) ……………………§ Built separate from product team. Real life scenarios. Put on 28 server farms. Got good performance #’s. …………○ 7:30 — SO Scenario ……………………§ Situation ………………………………□ Bank gets credit request from multiple sources ………………………………□ Call multiple systems ………………………………□ Aggregate responses ………………………………□ Single message back to requestor ……………………§ 8:30 — Design Requirements. ………………………………□ Most sub second latency ………………………………□ Integration via Host Integration Server, MQ, SAP ………………………………□ Implementation testing options (stubbed, adapter, inline) ………………………………□ SSO for …………………………………………¨ line of business system SOAP wraps LOB access …………………………………………¨ Configuration data ……………………§ 13:00 – SO Design Patterns ………………………………□ Service Intfc ………………………………□ Content Based Routing (route by data in msg) ………………………………□ Recipient list to back-end system ………………………………□ Message Aggregation ………………………………□ Configuration caching (use the business rules engine for configuration data, but if secure data might be concern since not encrypted … use this for common meta data .. Use SSO for secure data) ………………………………□ Translator ………………………………□ Pipeline-from-code (call pipelines from Orchestration … do a receive pipeline from another pipeline … new) ……………………§ 16:25 – SO Scenario Arch ……………………………… ………………………………□ ……………………§ Flow ………………………………□ ……………………§ 17:30 Service Intfc Pattern ………………………………□ Façade defining an appl boundry (general pattern) ………………………………□ This focus is in tiel in the photo ………………………………□ ……………………§ 19:00 – Demo ………………………………□ In VS, define template response msg ………………………………□ Use wizard to publish as schemas ………………………………□ Create project, compile, deploy ………………………………□ 24:45 – Nothing biztalk focused yet (creating svc layer ………………………………□ Now in BizTalk tie to svc ………………………………□ In VS create orchestration to deal w/ msg ………………………………□ Name of orchestration must = svc name … debug by look at hub of biz talk … you will see all subscriptions (and assoic methiods and names) ……………………§ 31:00 – Demo Summary ………………………………□ Easy to show orchestration as svc. Could build the svc first … then the orch ……………………§ 32:00 – Recpt List ………………………………□ ………………………………□ 32:30 – Demo …………………………………………¨ Parallel processing thread example …………………………………………¨ Way to do multiple reciptients but hard to maintain (hardcoded) …………………………………………¨ Another option get set of recpients and loop … bad sequentila …………………………………………¨ Another option two loops (send / rcv) …………………………………………¨ Another option .. Send to msg msg box and listen to the msg box … good example of human workflow … have orch listening for next participatnt ………………………………□ 38:00 – Demo Summary …………………………………………¨ Synch or Asynch …………………………………………¨ 3 ways – parallel, loop , etc ……………………§ 39:00 – Aggregation ………………………………□ Build on last example ………………………………□ Use functionality in ‘transform’ shape ………………………………□ Build many to one map (bauer – nice example) ………………………………□ Works well if all svcs must come back … but what if they don’t come back ………………………………□ Create XMLDoc …………………………………………¨ Blank output msg list …………………………………………¨ Keep outputing to XML doc ………………………………□ Summary …………………………………………¨ Combines responses …………………………………………¨ Synch responses doesn’t require correlation …………………………………………¨ MQ does require token even w/ request response ……………………§ 46:00 – Demo SO ………………………………□ Simple rqst / response ………………………………□ Customer svc orch is where all processing occurs ………………………………□ This example uses BAM APOI …………………………………………¨ Nice way to use helper class to write to BAM API ………………………………□ Pull data from config store … don’t embed in orchestration ………………………………□ Orchestration Inline example (calling another pipeline from another) ………………………………□ Multiple use requests will increase Biztalk spped due to orchestration being loaded inmemory ……………………§ 54:15 – Features shown ………………………………□ MQ, HTTP, SOAP ………………………………□ Web Svcs Wiz ………………………………□ SSO ………………………………□ Orch ………………………………□ Custom Pipelines ………………………………□ BAM ………………………………□ BAM Portal Alerts ………………………………□ Scalabilitiy ……………………§ Resources ………………………………□ www.microsoft.com/biztalk ………………………………□ http://msdn.microsoft.com/biztalk ………………………………□ Newsgroups: www.microsfot.com/technet/comunity/newsgroups/server/biztalk.mspx ………………………………□ Richard’s – Blog: http://blogs.msnd.com/richardbpi ……………………§ Q&A ………………………………□ How does improve improve w/ inline orchestration? Removes redundant adapters (remove latency hit of going to svc and db hit) ………………………………□ Secure Rqst/Response? WCF foundation adapter will be basis moving forward. Could use certs and sigs as well. ………………………………□ BizTalk 06 Exams? 3-6 months after product release (q3 of 06?) ………………………………□ Response time reduce w/ different values? Stubbed interface isn’t doing anything w/ the data … so example didn’t show. Depends on caching models in orch. ………………………………□ Specific to 06? Solutions in SDK is unique to 06. ………………………………□ Books on Dev / Admin? 2 books in process … 1 is jeffer’s … next year. Webcasts and whitepapers. biztalk 04 unleashed is still valid given 06 is a mgmt focused release (so not much changes) ………………………………□ Liscensing? Enterprise is better than STD. So STD cant be high availability over over 2 CPUs. Definition of app in 06 (drives pricing). Limited in STD # of applications. ………………………………□ Use CHM file in 04 … great resource

Open Source: JBoss – State of Union (2006)

Watched this webcast this morning … as always, there were some interesting points:

1. Partnership with MSFT So it seems they have setup a partnership with MSFT along the same lines (guessing) that Fujitsu has (helping clients move to the MSFT OS potentially). I wonder if that partnership sours now that they have been bought by RedHat? Probably but I will check on it.
2. Tons of Releases Last year Last year they defined what a certified JBoss developer was (so that isn’t commoditized .. yet). They also matured thier service offering in many ways. Not surprising the spike in interest in them over last year.
3. Nice overview / visual of product I didn’t expect it, but the majority of this presentation was focused on overviewing thier products and stance in the market … looking back and looking forward … a good primer. I snagged a visual (see bottom) for those amused by such things.

The webcast (webex — so no fast forward) is here:

http://www.jboss.com/services/online_education (look for the one title “State of the Union”)

Here are my rough notes:

Quote:

Shaun Connolly – VP Product Management ………….○ Agenda ……………………..§ Jboss Focus ……………………..§ 2005 Year in Review ……………………..§ 2006 Year Ahead ……………………..§ Conclusion / Q&A ………….○ MARKET DYNAMICS ……………………..§ 3:30 — Problem Jboss is Focused on …………………………………□ Cost of Infrastructure …………………………………………….¨ Multi-Vendor …………………………………………….¨ Isolated Information …………………………………………….¨ Business Continuity, Availability …………………………………………….¨ Shortage of Skilled People ……………………..§ 5:00 — 2005 Ton of Companies Embraced Open Source …………………………………□ Information Week (Linux) …………………………………□ SabreHoldings …………………………………□ Continental Airlines (Jboss/MySQL) …………………………………□ Walt Disney (JBoss) ……………………..§ 7:00 — Survey of CIOs on OSS …………………………………□ App Svr, DB, Virtualization, File Mgmt, Msging, Dir Svcs, Other …………………………………□ Likelyhood of considering –> 13% to 70% (right to left ascending). ……………………..§ 8:00 — SOA …………………………………□ Due to OSS nature … SOA stance is required. 30 products in opensource stance at this time to enable tight integration w/ loose coupling during development ………….○ JBOSS FOCUS ……………………..§ 3 Focuses …………………………………□ Better Software …………………………………□ Better Service …………………………………□ Better Value ……………………..§ Peer Review …………………………………□ Thousands (that have no bias to muzzle) see the code ……………………..§ Accelerated Software Evolution ……………………..§ 12:42 — JEMS …………………………………□ Made up of –> …………………………………………….¨ App Svr, Tomcat, Hibernate …………………………………………….¨ Portal …………………………………………….¨ Jboss jBPM (workflow engine) …………………………………………….¨ Jboss Cache (cluster) …………………………………□ Coming late 2005 early 2006 …………………………………………….¨ Jboss Rules (Drools project) …………………………………………….¨ Jboss Transactions (Arjuna -sp? – TS) …………………………………………….¨ Jboss Messaging (JMS, Jboss MQ Break Out into Standalone so you don’t need to prune out from app svr) ……………………..§ 17:39 – JEMS Arch …………………………………□ J2ee 1.4 svcs as JMX Beans …………………………………………….¨ JSP / Servlet (Tomcat) …………………………………………….¨ EJB (Jboss CMP) …………………………………………….¨ JMS …………………………………………….¨ JDBC …………………………………………….¨ JAAS (JBossSX) …………………………………………….¨ JTA (ArjunaJTA) …………………………………………….¨ JNDI (Jboss NS) …………………………………………….¨ RMI-IIOP (Xerces) …………………………………………….¨ JAXP (Xerces) …………………………………………….¨ JAX-RPC …………………………………………….¨ JAF …………………………………………….¨ SAAJ …………………………………………….¨ JACC …………………………………………….¨ JavaMail …………………………………………….¨ DeploymentAPI …………………………………………….¨ MgmtAPI …………………………………□ Svcs Beyond J2ee …………………………………………….¨ Clustering …………………………………………….¨ Caching (JBossCache) …………………………………………….¨ Persistance (Hibernate) …………………………………………….¨ JTS (Jboss Transactions) …………………………………………….¨ WS-Tx(Jboss transactions) …………………………………………….¨ Workflow (Jboss jBPM) …………………………………………….¨ Rules (Jboss Rules) …………………………………………….¨ APOP (Jboss APOP) …………………………………□ Above sits on JBOss 4.x App Svr ……………………..§ 20:00 – Components in Action …………………………………□ Presentation (Portal, AS, Cache, Tomcat) …………………………………□ Business Process (jBPM, Rules) …………………………………□ Business Services (AS, Hibernation, Cache, Tran, ESB, Msg) ……………………..§ 22:00 – What Subscription Model Does …………………………………□ Right Incentives … not trying to move software … focused on providing great service …………………………………□ Transparency … http://jira.jboss. …………………………………□ Consulting is 10% of their business …………………………………□ Training is 20% of their business ……………………..§ 25:00 — JBOss Subscription Componinent …………………………………□ Tech Support …………………………………………….¨ Knowledge base …………………………………………….¨ Case mgmt …………………………………………….¨ Registration of enivr …………………………………………….¨ Silver/Gold/Plat (2hrs 24by7 for plat) …………………………………□ Jboss Ops Network …………………………………………….¨ 2005 Introduced Tools for IT Ops …………………………………………….¨ Monitor JEMS …………………………………………….¨ Rollout Patches / Upgrades …………………………………………….¨ Provision New Envir Easier …………………………………□ Certified Software ……………………..§ 27:18 — Better Value …………………………………□ Automatic Amoritization (bauer comment — good point ) …………………………………□ Plug and Play will always be focus no lock in ………….○ 2005 – Year in Review ……………………..§ 29:00 – Momentum …………………………………9/21/2005 …………………………………□ JBoss 38% usage, WAS 21%, BEA, 20% …………………………………□ Jboss up six points. All else static or slipping ……………………..§ 30:00 – Key Milestones …………………………………□ JEMS launched q4 2004 …………………………………□ Customer support portal q12005 …………………………………□ Alliance w/ MSFT q32005 …………………………………□ Portal q2 2005 …………………………………□ Jboss Cert Professional q2 2005 …………………………………□ Drools, Arjuna acquired q42005 ……………………..§ 33:45 – JBOSS Ops Network …………………………………□ JBOSS ON for short …………………………………□ Inventory, Config, Mgmt, Monitor, Provision, central cluster mgmt …………………………………………….¨ Monitoring – Hardware/OS, JVM, App, JEMS …………………………………………….¨ Group metrics dashboard …………………………………………….¨ Reports by role/user …………………………………………….¨ Historical views …………………………………………….¨ Metrics baseline …………………………………□ Phased introduction through 2006 …………………………………□ Alert capability …………………………………………….¨ SMTP TRAPS …………………………………………….¨ Ability to dampen alert (not continue to notify) or reduce frequency ………….○ 2006 – Year Ahead ……………………..§ 37:30 – OSS Market Penetration …………………………………□ Middleware focus …………………………………………….¨ Developing (Stds Not There to Validate Against) ………………………………………………………..◊ BPM …………………………………………….¨ Possible Targets ………………………………………………………..◊ Integration ………………………………………………………..◊ MsgSvr …………………………………………….¨ Easy Targets (mature) ………………………………………………………..◊ Portal ………………………………………………………..◊ WebSvr ………………………………………………………..◊ AppSvr ………………………………………………………..◊ OS ……………………..§ 39:30 – JEMS Today and Tommorow …………………………………□ Jboss Web (new project) …………………………………………….¨ High performance web serving capabilities …………………………………………….¨ Not apache replacement but if doing low end apache … could simplify ……………………..§ 41:30 – What pieces for SOA …………………………………□ Presentation – Portlet / Web Containers …………………………………□ Business Layer – EJB (3), POJO, Servlet Contrainers …………………………………□ Intermediary – JBI Container …………………………………□ ……………………..§ 44:00 – JEMS 2006 Roadmap ……………………..§ 45:00 – Roadmap for Jboss AS 5 …………………………………□ Is focused on java ee 5 …………………………………□ Targeted q2/q3 ……………………..§ 47:25 – Drools …………………………………□ Business Rule Engine (conditional policies ..sophiscated if/then policies) …………………………………□ Isn’t this jBPM? No procurement process for example you want less nodes … append business rules to define low level logic on nodes in the process … could use just business rules … but ideal is as above …………………………………□ 48:41 – Features and Differiantors …………………………………………….¨ Drools is plugabble (java, groovy, jython, excle) ……………………..§ 49:20 – Transactions …………………………………□ ArjunaTx – Guaranteed delivery of messages …………………………………□ Distributed transactions …………………………………………….¨ Billing / shipping …………………………………□ Disparate DBMS (sqlserver / oracle) …………………………………□ Logical transaction sets (rollback) across databases … no commit to all records confirmed in all targets …………………………………□ Leading technology focused on only java ……………………..§ 52:00 – Resources …………………………………□ Jboss Subscription www.jboss.com/services/profsupport …………………………………□ JEMS Website www.jboss.com/products …………………………………□ Jboss Roadmap Page www.jboss.com/products/roadmap …………………………………□ Project Websites labs.jobss.com …………………………………□ Public issue/feature tracking jira.jboss.com ……………………..§ 54:00 – Summary

RIA: Ajax

Watched this webcast

Building a Next Gen Web Experience w/ AJAX, XBAP, & Windows Presentation Foundation

today not so much that there is a pipeline around it now but because I think this will be a change catalyst for us in 2007. We are seeing strong client interest in UX as they begin to take their 1st generation browser applications and legacy systems to the next level … these technologies will dramatically change the options that UX professionals can offer to achieve a user goal.

With that said a few key thoughts:

1. Reach and Fidelity. I always watch how MSFT positions thier efforts … perhaps it is because they probably have a score or more marketing mbas running around per area … has to be some 100 watt bulbs in that group. Anyway, while the theme is always hidden a bit (marketing is far removed from these web casts) you can always pick it up (especially when the angle changes). Here I suspect they have decided that Rich Media, Usability, Rich Client experiences (2005 and before ways of positioning these types of tools) as angles aren’t getting business justification. However the balancing act between getting greater reach (everyone wants more people to use thier system) while not sacrificing experience (2nd driver) rings more strongly. Nice play on thier part. See below for more details on what this means.
2. Still weak examples. The demos and examples provided are still weak from a business perspective. Clients will need to appreciate the balance of keeping the reach they have today but desire the additional Fidelity these technologies could bring to those user groups. UX is that vechicle for defining value. Not an easy journey … but a worthy one.

Here are my rough notes:

Quote:

MSDN: Next Gen Web Experience w/ AJAX, XBAP, & Windows Presentation Foundation …………○ Gerald Walsh – Dev Evangelist …………○ Web 2.0 Focus ………… …………○ 1:00 Agenda ……………………§ Application Reach and Fidelity ……………………§ Tech Choices ……………………§ Web Platform ……………………§ ASP.NET 2.0 ……………………§ Atlas merging to ASP.NET ……………………§ Windows Presentation Foundation (XAML, WPS-E (beta), etc) …………○ 3:00 ……………………§ Reach. ………………………………□ Windows Apps. High Fidelity. Not High Reach ………………………………□ Web Apps. Low Fidelity. High Reach …………………………………………¨ (bauer comment-mentioned flash, flex, etc but dismissed) ……………………§ Options ………………………………□ Today: DHTML, HTML, Client Scripting, ASP.NET 2.0, Windows Forms (GDI+ based so there are limitations not vector based, 32 bit, etc) ………………………………□ Tommorow: ATLAS, AJAX, XBAP (Xaml Browser APps), WPF/e (WPF Everywhere .. Browser independant, avail in beta in coming months) …………○ 7:00 – Nice Chart of Reach vs Fidelity ……………………§ WPF/e will require download similar to flash ……………………§ XBAP requires windows platform for client (WinFX libraries) ……………………§ WinForms requires install (GDI+ libraries) …………○ 10:00 – Goals of Web Platform (according to MSFT) …………○ 11:00 – ASP.NET Features ……………………§ Services & APIs: Membership, Role Mgmt, Profiles, Config, Site Maps, Health Monitoring, etc ……………………§ Page Framework: Master Pages, Themes/Skins, Client Script, Compilation & Localization ……………………§ Controls: Data, Login, WebParts, etc …………○ 14:30 – ASP.NET “Atlas” ……………………§ In beta. New web server controls just released ……………………§ Not new. Based on AJAX. Avail since IE version 5.0 (ajax, allow client app to comm asynch). ……………………§ Simplify via: Client script libraries, webcontrols, etc ……………………§ 17:45 – AJAX Arch ………………………………□ Data island (reduce trips to server) ………………………………□ Behaviors (available in new set of controls from ATLAS) ……………………§ 21:10 – Demo of Atlas ………………………………□ GIS Mapping Service Example (ESRI for personal use if free) ………………………………□ (error) ………………………………□ 1st show browser version ………………………………□ 2nd show ATLAS version …………………………………………¨ Floating toolbar w/ data island …………………………………………¨ Show smooth zoom in w/o refresh ………………………………□ To do the conversion above 2 lines of code. Rest was ATLAS controls ……………………§ 27:00 – Example of Coding in ATLAS ………………………………□ Script manager (add to page) ……………………§ 29:30 – Another Example of ATLAS ………………………………□ Http://Local.live.com ………………………………□ (bauer comment ala google map) …………○ 31:00 – Windows Presentation Foundation ……………………§ Examples (could go over web) ………………………………□ Northface demo ………………………………□ MSFT Max (upload pictures and share) ………………………………□ Medical Sample ………………………………□ netFlix ……………………§ 32:30 – Overview ………………………………□ Leverages GPU (currently uses CPU) ………………………………□ Standard design lang (XAML) for designers which developers work from ……………………§ 34:00 – Approach ………………………………□ Unified UI, Docs, Media ………………………………□ New Infra (Vector, d3d, dev frameworks) ……………………§ 35:15 HTML to DHTML to WinFX ……………………§ 36:00 Arch Review ………………………………□ Windows current does work (OS) ………………………………□ Based on DirectX ………………………………□ Presentation Framework (sits on top) ……………………§ 38:00 – XAML ………………………………□ Tools: XAML Pad, Expression Interactive Designer, Visual Studio Code Name “Orcas” ………………………………□ XAML Example ……………………§ 40:00 – Media Mania (WPF website download) Demo ………………………………□ XAML based (buttons, animation effects, fades, etcs) ……………………§ 44:00 – XAML Pad Demo ………………………………□ (bauer comment: doesn’t look powerful like adobe) ……………………§ 45:30 – MSFT Expression Interactive Designer Demo ………………………………□ End of June/Early July other pieces coming out in BETA ………………………………□ HyperBar (like Mac) ………………………………□ http://www.microsoft.com/expression for downloads ……………………§ 49:00 – XBAP Overview ………………………………□ XBAP – XMAL Browser Application ………………………………□ Combines best of Web and Rich Client Apps ………………………………□ Deployed via click once ………………………………□ 51:00 – Demo …………………………………………¨ httP://www.mobiform/demos …………………………………………¨ Msft partner …………………………………………¨ Need winfx installed and .net framework …………○ 55:30 – Resources ……………………§ Atlas.asp.net ……………………§ http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/building/presentation/ ……………………§ http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/ ……………………§ www.asp.net …………○ 57:45 – QA ……………………§ How atlas interacts with page viewstate? Same ……………………§ WinXP can run XBAP but not native. ……………………§ How does windows GLASS get … Tim Smitths (sp?) BLOG talks about how

MSFT: Sharepoint – Workflow, Wiki/Blog, Personalization

Whew, this MSFT ‘partnercast’ (my name for a webcast done by a 3rd party vendor, in this case MSFT, for it’s employees and partners only) to show Beta 1 of Sharepoint was a journey. They had technical issues galore and the presentors didn’t have a tight story. However, I was intrigued in that we do see clients beginning to poke at what SP and o12 can do for them.

The presenters covered workflow (1hr), wikis/blogs (15 min), and mysite/personalization (15 min). I have to admit (as you could infer from the above i didn’t take too much away from this — outside of getting to see SP 2007 for the 1st time) but here were some keys:

1. I see the sizzle, where is the steak. The presenters went through alot of stuff but didn’t convey the powerful reason for clients to leap to this. While they spent an hour on workflow (where I suspect the compelling event is) they didn’t achieve any momentum in my view of why this could help businesses more than what they have today around workflow

2. They have fixed alot. For our clients using SP 2003 it is much improved so an upgrade is compelling. Search is supposedly relevant now. Wiki’s and Blogs are a nice add. Ability to synch any SP item to outlook for office usage is nice (fixes problems when the network goes down), etc.

3. BETA 1 Performance DOESN’T Rock!. Man oh man was beta one chugging in this demo. Hears to them improving that.

For those still curious, I uploaded the webcast to here:

https://grip.gr.com/sites/SPDC/Internal%20Training%20Itiatives/SPS_2007_p1.wmv

Here are my detail notes:

Quote:

• BETA 1 Load of Sharepoint (aka MSFT Office Sharepoint Server – MOSS) • • Chris Fox – Portals TS North Central ………..○ 6:30 – Search, CM, Workflow ………..○ Use case demonstrating that ………………….§ Create PPT, route for approval, goto records ………………….vault after demo ………………….§ 9:12 – Tech difficulties. ………………….§ 10:00 – Windows Workflow Foundation ………………….§ 11:00 – ToDo Bar in o12 2007 (tasks and calendaer hybrid). Moves date to date … allows allocation of time to accomplish them. ………………….§ 12:30 – MOSS 2007 (SPS new name) ……………………………□ Better UI ……………………………□ UI is more secure / personalized (only see links that have access to) ……………………………□ Recycle bin now in Sharepoint (so delete you can restore in doc libs) ………………….§ 14:30 – WSS Site ……………………………□ Content Types … central to ECM story. Template of a doc ……………………………………..¨ meta pre pop ……………………………………..¨ Workflows defaulted ……………………………□ Permission available at item level (woot) ……………………………□ Default workflows (via right click on doc) … pulled from content type template ………………….§ 20:00 – Into o12 ppt ……………………………□ Review of ribbon and why designed that way ………………….§ 23:00 back to wss ……………………………□ Search tool same on SPS and WSS sites ……………………………□ Search scopes (default filters) ……………………………□ Business data catalog … lets you hit or crawl another system … define viaxml and return via search ……………………………□ Review of navigation (new) ……………………………□ Breadcrumbing now available ……………………………□ (bauer comment – notable speed issues) ………………….§ 26:30 search example (find content) ……………………………□ Example of how to put search filters into the search field (ie suffix filetype:pptx) ………………….□ 28:30 – Collegees lists created by default (find contributors to help) ……………………………□ lOoks at who is subscribed to docs, sites, security lists as you are ……………………………□ Nice people finder function ………………….□ 30:00 – PPT Slide library (build ppt) ……………………………□ Reuse decks, assembling to a new one. Trouble both decks open. Each slide can be an item in a list .. Don’t need to open the doc (can drag the pieces) ……………………………□ See a screen of slides shots and can do a insert to the open PPT from the SPS Slide Lib w/ one click ………………….□ 36:30 – Workflow Example (now that ppt is done) ……………………………□ Kick off workflow from workflow area … ……………………………□ See integration of Forms Services (infopath). MOSS allows rendering of infopath forms in any browser. See the fields availlable in the browser. ……………………………□ Workflow is more of a template … then at run you can tweak on unique run needs (more people, more steps, etc) ……………………………□ WWF is focused on managing content, moving information (docs) between people. Biz talk is more about transactions (overlap is there) ………………….□ 41:03 – Receive email that automatically goes to his task list. ……………………………□ Email links to SP ……………………………□ Also could update item in outlook (no need to go to SPS) ……………………………□ Tasks rollup to ‘mytasks’ in his ‘mysite’ so that is where the aggregate task list of all sp sites goes to. ……………………………□ ?. Do workflows run in the WSS thread or separate? Not sure. Believe its separate. ………………….□ 52:30 – Now that approved ppt (above) … archive ……………………………□ Records vault (doc lib type) ……………………………□ Send to there via rick click … it will then sort, in vault, automatically into folders by on content type (get different policies). ……………………………□ Unique copy is made (so it could be change control related). ……………………………□ In a standard doc lib you can get policies but you wont get the detailed auditing, or integration of expiration of content and destroy, that you get in a vault (special doc lib type) ……………………………□ They believe this is ‘records management’ … ……………………………□ Same functions in records vault in WCM ……………………………□ You can (force?) associate (?) to a doc all the policies of the records vault when its downloaded ……………………………□ 58:00 – Discussion of policies on documents (example) ……………………………………..¨ Any interaction you have w/ the doc you can tie auditing to. Barcodes (on docs) is supported ……………………………………..¨ Discussion of how to destroy (options). Time frames that can be managed. • 1:01 — Blogs, Wikis ………..○ High level overview … South Central. ………..○ Wiki, blog is being requested by clients. ………..○ Beta 1 refresh. ………..○ Easy to create blog or wiki … same path as site creation ………..○ 1:04 – Blog example. Create categories is possible. Blog is typically serial (date) however in their model ………..○ WSIWYG editors tied to content. ………..○ RSS is tied to this (so you can get subscribers) ………………….§ Show how blog rss feeds will be in o12 native. ………………….§ Will also auto update (you will see the ‘new’ # count in outlook). This functionality is also possible w/ any list or doc lib in SP. ………..○ 1:12 – WIKI ………………….§ Still using camel case (surprised, expected wysiwyg) • 1:19 – Personalization / MySite ………..○ David 4 slides ………………….§ Search component. 2007 better integrated people information in search (to find resources). Relevance ranking more honed in 2007 ……………………………□ Transparency (why items hit the result list) ……………………………□ People search (dedicated tab for any item in a doc … see who has contributed to a doc) ………………….§ MySite. My point of aggregation in SP. Blogs (may have a teamsite blog, but typically here), Wiki, Aggregation of tasks to mysite, ………..○ 1:24 — Demo ………………….§ Ability to login as another user and then grant them powers. ………………….§ Search page review … look at it in a new way .. Click on people tab … people tied to search results … then refine people results by job types … etc … then toggle back to search and only see items by that person (?) … goto mysite of person you found ………………….§ Ability to add people to your colleagues list ………………….§ KPI webpart shown … amusing ………………….§ Better ability to manage your information … some of which could be out of active directory. ………………….§ Can control by personal attribute (ie home phone) what user groups can see what on my site ………………….§ 1:31 – Offline story? Use o12 for sp content offline. ……………………………□ Go into a doc lib … can open that doc lib in outlook. Bring those docs into the outlook environment. View docs in disconnected model. • 1:33 – Q&A ………..○ Blogs and Wikis seem bland. Options to jazz up? ………………….§ Can change background colors. Can modify as you do SP sites. SP designer. ………..○ Import profiles from AD (occurs once a day). So it is synching … not getting them real time.

Open Source: JBoss – Modernization

Watched this webcast today

Lowering Enterprise Costs via Legacy Modernization and SOA: JEMS – Open Source Platform for SOA.

I started digging around due to conversations yesterday with Randy Bielby and Chris Jackson on tactically and strategically where are we going w/ our java solutions team (outside of staff supp). One core theme that is backed by our client activity locally (example Am Fam) is the consideration in the market for re-assessing if systems truly need all the 3rd party tools (IBM, BEA, etc) versus open source models. The leading player in that space is JBOSS (recently acquired by RedHat). So we are starting to look at how we might support that type of discussion with our clients here and if it makes sense.

In that vein, I was intrigued by this webcast … given our focus Nationally on this ‘Legacy Modernization’ concept as well. Truth be told I didn’t get much on that topic but I did take away a few keys:

1. JBoss Pushes Partners. That was clear. The partner on this call is based out of the east coast but it was a nice demonstration of joint work. 2. The partner (Amerex?) focuses on Mentoring. It was interesting to note how much the partner in this discussion hammered mentoring as thier delivery model. It was rather robust … mixture of classroom and project based ‘coaching’. Something G&R has done for some clients w/ our training and delivery teams but not a formal go to market angle. They were focused on that as thier difference. Not bad angle. 3. Case Studies were all toe, dive in In all the case studies the clients seems to start playing with a piece of the JBOSS puzzle and then started expanding.

I will continue to dig around in this area as I am intrigued by the value proposition for our middle market clients in WI. What I really want to get to the brass tacks on is the pricing differiantials coupled with the organizational and people change consideration (what is the true cost / savings of switching any piece).

For those amused here is my notes:

http://www.redhat.com/about/news/prarchive/2006/jboss.html …………○ Lowering Enterprise Costs via Legacy Modernization and SOA: JEMS – Open Source Platform for SOA. …………○ Pierre Fricke, Director Product Management — JBOSS Inc …………○ Amentra – SI Partner on JBOSS SOA ………… …………○ 0:30 — Mark Marcerowicz – Head of Partner Business Development (intro) …………○ 1:00 — Overview of JBOSS History ……………………§ 7 year history …………○ 4:00 — SOA Overview ……………………§ 5:00 — Traditional vs SOA ……………………§ Process focused development vs Cost focused ……………………§ 7:00 – SOA Drivers ………………………………□ Complexity & Costs ………………………………□ Lack of agility ………………………………□ Business Performance (sat, difference, upsell) ……………………§ 8:30 – Tax Calc Example of SOA ………………………………□ In short, each app had tax function w/o SOA … with SOA its one service ……………………§ “Swivel Chair Integration” (bauer thought – amusing) ……………………§ 12:00 — Talk about services making you more responsive ……………………§ 13:12 — Portals are interaction model for SOA (bauer – thought here … not agreeing … portal is a vague term) …………○ 14:00 – JBOSS SOA Vision – JEMS …………○ 14:45 – JEMS is a Service Model ……………………§ Services: Rules (Drools), Transactions, Hibernate, Tomcat, JBOSS App Server, jBPM, Portal, Cache ……………………§ On Jboss Microkernal …………○ 16:30 – SOA Tiers / Components ……………………§ Connecting clients to resources ……………………§ 3 middle tiers ………………………………□ Portlet or web container ………………………………□ Business – EJB, Servlet, Container. Busines Services ………………………………□ JBI Container – Messaging, Rules, Process, Persistence, Transaction, Routing, Transformation. ……………………§ 18:30 products by those tiers ………………………………□ Jboss portal (presentation) ………………………………□ Jboss msg (intermediary) ………………………………□ Jboss app svr (pres, biz, inter) … jsf, ejb3, jboss seam ………………………………□ Jboss cache/cluster (inter) ………………………………□ Tomcat (pres, biz) ………………………………□ Hibernate (inter) ………………………………□ Jboss tran (inter – coming) ………………………………□ jBPM (biz, inter, resource) ………………………………□ Jboss rules (inter, resource -comign) ………………………………□ Jboss esb (biz, inter, resource) …………○ 20:30 – Customer overview ……………………§ Insurance company ………………………………□ ORCL 11i customer ………………………………□ Services via stateless session ejbs ………………………………□ 2 webservices ……………………§ Media company ………………………………□ Enterprise portal (1 million pages a day) ………………………………□ Started w/ 3rd party portal but want low cost integration model ………………………………□ Success there has them looking at replacing portal due to cost reduction (via portal / soa) …………○ 24:15 – Legacy Modernization ……………………§ SOA is understand strong svcs and reuse …………○ 25:10 – Amentra – Mike Lambert (chierf marketing officier) ……………………§ “Mentoring Model” (bauer – interesting angle of offering) ……………………§ Focus on jboss implementations ……………………§ In VA (also NC, GA in 2006). 2000 started ……………………Offerings – bpr, sys dev, ent intg, port design, …………○ 28:00 – Their Mentoring Model ……………………§ Training not in class … integrated to delivery (metnoring model follows) ……………………§ Parts ………………………………□ Formal / Informal Instruction ………………………………□ Skills assessment / evaluation ………………………………□ Ongoing assessments / Report cards ………………………………□ Joint project planning ……………………§ Eliminates consultant vs employee friction …………○ 35:00 – Insurance Case Study ……………………§ Separate functions by area (sales, svc, billing, claims, internet) ……………………§ Unified Underwriting Process ………………………………□ Claims (spans Internet, sales billing) ………………………………□ Internet …………………………………………¨ Sales, Svc …………………………………………¨ Billing ………………………………□ Common business process supports all …………○ 39:00 – Framework for Risk Mgmt ……………………§ Iterative ……………………§ Focus on savings and reduction of effort …………○ 39:30 – Classroom Instruction Agenda (ttypccial) ……………………§ J2ee overview ……………………§ SOA ……………………§ Event driven Arch ……………………§ Jboss app svr instr ……………………§ JEMS ……………………§ Jboss Portal ……………………§ Securing Svcs – Key concern (bauer – waqas focus byi) ……………………§ Iterative Methods (XP, Scrum) …………○ 41:30 – More on mentoring model ……………………§ Meaningful and contextual knowledge transfer ……………………§ Implement and Train ……………………§ No us vs them ……………………§ Safety net …………○ 43:30 – Mentoring includes Stakeholders ……………………§ Education on new methods and timelines ……………………§ Software Analysts in methods (Agile or RUP) ……………………§ QAT impact education on test drive & use case drive development ……………………§ Mentoring for support team (admin disparate systems) …………○ 45:00 – Governance … ……………………§ Common comm structure ……………………§ How to allocate costs of SOA are here ……………………§ Chargeback model is key to SOA (ties value to svcs) …………○ 47:00 – Summary ……………………§ Consulting $ on consulting support (not basic tasks) ……………………§ Avoid employees not liking other taking their opp ……………………§ Risk mitigation …………○ 48:30 – Q&A ……………………§ Experience of JBOSS vs proprietary ………………………………□ Liscensing cost down ………………………………□ Is there a productive penality (ie IDE, Seam Implications)

ECM: Documentum – .NET (2)

Watched Developing with Documentum in a .NET Environment [10959] today which you can also review here:

http://mylearn.documentum.com/mgrCourse/courseSummary.cfm?id_course=10959&id=194419

Other threads in the forum talk about how to get a login onto this site.

I chose it because we continue to have clients talking to us about leveraging ECM investments they have made more fully. Integrating them into the transactional systems where it makes sense. Some of those clients are MSFT focused (two actually).

Note this webcast is a bit dated (6/2004) but the keys I took away was:

1. Old School EMC wins. Documentum had a very robust model at the time (2004) for enabling integration from Visual Studio. Better than what I see today w/ Stellent.

2. New School … Webservices … ?. Documentum was working on (in 2004) webservices. They didn’t have as good as an answer as Stellent had then. However thier strategy is the same (java patterns gen’d to wsdl). I expect Stellent keeps this lead or they are at par at this time.

Not worth listening to directly … my notes should suffice. The speaker didn’t elaborate much from the slides and wasn’t very dynamic either.

Here are the notes.

Quote:

EMC: Developing w/ Documentum in .NET……….○ NOTE GIVEN ON 6/24/04 — So might be dated. ……….○ ……….○ 2:00 — David Folk. Product Manager @ EMC for Documentum ……….○ 2:30 — MSFT Features Considered ………………..§ Support ………………..§ Scale ………………..§ Security ………………..§ API ………………..§ Migration (from MSFT or other platforms) ……….○ 4:00 — Goal is to be native in VS (plug ins, etc) ………………..§ Interop Assembly (Documentum Foundation Classes – DFC) ………………..§ Documentum ADO.NET Services (DAS) ………………..§ 7:30 — Best Practices and examples of .NET integration w/ Documentum is on developer site ………………..§ Business Object Framework ……….○ 8:45 — DFC Primary Interop Assembly (PIA) ………………..§ DFC = Documentum Foundation Class (the layer he is responsible for). Client API’s for accessing server. ………………..§ Java based API’s ………………..§ 100 interfaces about ………………..§ PIA allows seemless access from .NET of DFC ………………..§ Already had a COM library ………………..§ PIA uses COM code (bauer thought — overhead issue?) … layer 1 — DFV (Java), layer 2 — DFJB (COM) — layer 3 DFC PIE (.nET) …………………………□ Says there is no performance impacts from clients yet (bauer thought but PIA is new at this time) ………………..§ 14:00 – PIA .NET 1.1 based at this time …………………………□ Installed in global assembly cache …………………………□ IntelliSense and Object Browser support (bauer thought – sounds ‘simplier’ than Stellent) ………………..§ 17:00 – Full help support w/ intellisense (not the norm for other vendors) ………………..§ 17:30 – Object Browser – Full support. See interfaces in PIA. Methods per intfc. Online help. …………………………□ Without this you would have to translate the java doc ………………..§ 19:00 – Intfc upgrade can be separate (distinct policy file) ……….○ 19:20 – Data Access, .NET and Documentum ………………..§ Documentum ADO.NET Services (DAS) ………………..§ ADO.NET … supports disconnected and connected sessions ………………..§ If you are thinking Crystal Reports … ADO.NET can do more (as shown w/ EMC) ………………..§ ADO.NET is about getting access to data bound controls that can bind to a data structure (so EMC used that) ………………..§ Use widgets to interact with the data store (odbc, dfc, ado.net, jdbc, webDAV, ftp, file share, dfc) ………………..§ Performance (avoid layers mentioned above) … (bauer thought – I thought that wasn’t an issue [wink]) ………………..§ Use for Winforms, ASP.NET, and crystal ……….○ 25:30 – Arch of ADO.Net ………………..§ Shows how Documentum works through this …………………………□ Disconnected (data grid, listbox, combobox) — Data View, Data Table, XML, Data Set, Data Adapter, Connection. …………………………□ Connected — Data Reader, Command, Connection ………………..§ 28:00 – Standard Interfaces of ADO are supported ………………..§ Meta data access simplified here (via DAS) ……….○ 31:10 – ………………..§ ADO.NET will be foundation for reporting services (vs ODBC) ………………..§ Could speed up webpart development ……….○ 32:39 – Static Demo of DAS integration in VS. ………………..§ DocBase command ………………..§ 10 step process walked through ……….○ 35:00 – DAS is a value add (pay extra) product from Documentum ………………..§ Could do DAS functions w/ DFC … just makes it easier ……….○ 36:30 – Other products ………………..§ Webservices infrastructure for accessing business objects ………………..§ Release 5.3 planned – provide patterns implemented in java. Documentum provides tools to register that w/ a run time. (bauer comment — So it’s a wizard–similar to stellent) ………………..§ Important (even w/ java -> wizard -> wsdl) since webservices become the norm ………………..§ Longer term looking to show a library of webservices (versus having to gen from pattersn now). Acknowledge extending webservices will be very complex. ……….○ 41:00 – Looking ahead – Support ………………..§ O12 – xml, research pane, smart docs ………………..§ Webparts ………………..§ Smart clients (avalon) ………………..§ WinFS ………………..§ Yukon ……….○ 43:30 – Resources ………………..§ Developer site – http://customernet.documentum.com/developer/dotNET.html ………………..§ Disc Forums – http://forums.documentum.com/jive3/index.jspa ………………..§ Dev News – http://customernet.documentum.com/developer/newsletters/newsletter0104.htm ……….○ 44:00 Q&A ………………..§ David Robertson – Petro Canada – Liscensing. EMC: Developing w/ Documentum in .NET ……….○ NOTE GIVEN ON 6/24/04 — So might be dated. ……….○ ……….○ 2:00 — David Folk. Product Manager @ EMC for Documentum ……….○ 2:30 — MSFT Features Considered ………………..§ Support ………………..§ Scale ………………..§ Security ………………..§ API ………………..§ Migration (from MSFT or other platforms) ……….○ 4:00 — Goal is to be native in VS (plug ins, etc) ………………..§ Interop Assembly (Documentum Foundation Classes – DFC) ………………..§ Documentum ADO.NET Services (DAS) ………………..§ 7:30 — Best Practices and examples of .NET integration w/ Documentum is on developer site ………………..§ Business Object Framework ……….○ 8:45 — DFC Primary Interop Assembly (PIA) ………………..§ DFC = Documentum Foundation Class (the layer he is responsible for). Client API’s for accessing server. ………………..§ Java based API’s ………………..§ 100 interfaces about ………………..§ PIA allows seemless access from .NET of DFC ………………..§ Already had a COM library ………………..§ PIA uses COM code (bauer thought — overhead issue?) … layer 1 — DFV (Java), layer 2 — DFJB (COM) — layer 3 DFC PIE (.nET) …………………………□ Says there is no performance impacts from clients yet (bauer thought but PIA is new at this time) ………………..§ 14:00 – PIA .NET 1.1 based at this time …………………………□ Installed in global assembly cache …………………………□ IntelliSense and Object Browser support (bauer thought – sounds ‘simplier’ than Stellent) ………………..§ 17:00 – Full help support w/ intellisense (not the norm for other vendors) ………………..§ 17:30 – Object Browser – Full support. See interfaces in PIA. Methods per intfc. Online help. …………………………□ Without this you would have to translate the java doc ………………..§ 19:00 – Intfc upgrade can be separate (distinct policy file) ……….○ 19:20 – Data Access, .NET and Documentum ………………..§ Documentum ADO.NET Services (DAS) ………………..§ ADO.NET … supports disconnected and connected sessions ………………..§ If you are thinking Crystal Reports … ADO.NET can do more (as shown w/ EMC) ………………..§ ADO.NET is about getting access to data bound controls that can bind to a data structure (so EMC used that) ………………..§ Use widgets to interact with the data store (odbc, dfc, ado.net, jdbc, webDAV, ftp, file share, dfc) ………………..§ Performance (avoid layers mentioned above) … (bauer thought – I thought that wasn’t an issue [wink]) ………………..§ Use for Winforms, ASP.NET, and crystal ……….○ 25:30 – Arch of ADO.Net ………………..§ Shows how Documentum works through this …………………………□ Disconnected (data grid, listbox, combobox) — Data View, Data Table, XML, Data Set, Data Adapter, Connection. …………………………□ Connected — Data Reader, Command, Connection ………………..§ 28:00 – Standard Interfaces of ADO are supported ………………..§ Meta data access simplified here (via DAS) ……….○ 31:10 – ………………..§ ADO.NET will be foundation for reporting services (vs ODBC) ………………..§ Could speed up webpart development ……….○ 32:39 – Static Demo of DAS integration in VS. ………………..§ DocBase command ………………..§ 10 step process walked through ……….○ 35:00 – DAS is a value add (pay extra) product from Documentum ………………..§ Could do DAS functions w/ DFC … just makes it easier ……….○ 36:30 – Other products ………………..§ Webservices infrastructure for accessing business objects ………………..§ Release 5.3 planned – provide patterns implemented in java. Documentum provides tools to register that w/ a run time. (bauer comment — So it’s a wizard–similar to stellent) ………………..§ Important (even w/ java -> wizard -> wsdl) since webservices become the norm ………………..§ Longer term looking to show a library of webservices (versus having to gen from pattersn now). Acknowledge extending webservices will be very complex. ……….○ 41:00 – Looking ahead – Support ………………..§ O12 – xml, research pane, smart docs ………………..§ Webparts ………………..§ Smart clients (avalon) ………………..§ WinFS ………………..§ Yukon ……….○ 43:30 – Resources ………………..§ Developer site – http://customernet.documentum.com/developer/dotNET.html ………………..§ Disc Forums – http://forums.documentum.com/jive3/index.jspa ………………..§ Dev News – http://customernet.documentum.com/developer/newsletters/newsletter0104.htm ……….○ 44:00 Q&A ………………..§ David Robertson – Petro Canada – Liscensing.

MSFT: VSTS – Measure Projects

Watched this webcast today

Using Metrics from Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server (TFS) to Manage and Troubleshoot Your Projects (Level 200)

given our current clients that are looking at TFS and/or asking us to help implement it. It was a nice run by of various reports and how MSFT sees them enabling the project management group. The keys I took away, however, were:

1. AVOID THE WORD AGILE? It is interesting to me that they specifically never said agile in this presentation … while the entire basis of thier demo was thier CMMI process (agile delivery approach). They referred to it as “Value Up”. I assume this is coming from thier PM SME group. Stop fighting the religious war over the word ‘Agile’. Take the concept and roll out the parts that make sense. Intriguing. Very intriguing. We are contemplating a similar move on the SCM front and Usability fronts. 2. SINGLE REPORTING VISION? It got me back on my horse that we need to have a singular reporting vision. Recent attempts at TFS rollouts by our teams are going with the angle of one project plan for the delivery team in TFS and allowing the PM group to have a seperate one. Watching this it is very clear with some deep thought the two can be integrated. Allow the dev team to work on infinite granualar tasks that ALL tie to a super set of project tasks (be it CMMI or another delivery method).

Here are my rough notes from the presentation:

Quote:

Tom Patton – Program Manager for Team Foundation Server …………○ 0:30 – Typical measures: Qlty, functionality, resources, time …………○ 1:30 – Two paridigms ……………………§ Work down (up front planning) ……………………§ Value up (iterative, agile) ……………………§ 2:00 comparison of the two (planning, chang mgmt, measure focus, qlty def, variance acceptance, work products, troubleshooting, approach to trust) …………○ 5:30 – Performance impacted by metrics (chart. Focus becomes metrics not ture end goal … in this case … great software. …………○ 7:00 – Friction Free Metrics in Team Foundation ……………………§ Unobtrusive collection ……………………§ Retain full history ……………………§ View metrics as they were in the past ……………………§ Changes as your process changes …………○ 10:30 — DEMO – How metrics are selected in Team System ……………………§ 11:00 Team Explorer control (bugs, issues, task items, customer requirements, dev tasks, migration action status, etc)….see how tasks or work items relate to other items … as program mgr you can see requirements related ……………………§ (they are demo’ing from the CMMI templates) ……………………§ 16:00 — Talk to build functionality, bugs fixed, functionality impacted, test results against that build …………○ 17:00 – Arch Overview ……………………§ Team Foundation DW System ………………………………□ Relational DW ………………………………□ OLAP Cube to render to players on project ………………………………□ Reports built on SQLServer and xls ………………………………□ Pulls from …………………………………………¨ People, Dates, Projects …………………………………………¨ Work Item Tracking …………………………………………¨ Version control …………………………………………¨ Team Build …………………………………………¨ Team Test …………………………………………¨ 3rd Party data sources …………○ 19:00 – Value Up Questions ……………………§ Which requirements have been tested ……………………§ What is the quality ……………………§ Where do rsrcs do need to focus ……………………§ How far can we get in avail time ……………………§ How effective is our outsourced team ……………………§ How demonstrate practices for audit\ ……………………§ How did the team perf trend? …………○ 21:45 – Shipped Reports ……………………§ From team explorer, project portal, doc lib, report mgr …………○ 22:30 – Demo 2 – Reports ……………………§ Team Explorer ………………………………□ Build report ………………………………□ Testing (regression test review) ……………………§ Portal ………………………………□ Various report views ………………………………□ CMMI reports. …………………………………………¨ Iteration comparison page …………………………………………¨ Remaining work (ie number of bugs) ……………………………………………………◊ Open, activations, closures …………………………………………¨ Issue/Task Work Item reporting ……………………………………………………◊ Blocked tasks, versus issues … associate …………………………………………¨ Friction free is just reporting on what goes on day to tday …………………………………………¨ Project Velocity …………………………………………¨ Reactivations. Defects carrying at any time … organge are reactivations (bugs reopened … poor testing) ………………………………□ 33:00 Front Page (Portal) Reports …………………………………………¨ Quality Indicator Report (on builds) ……………………………………………………◊ Test / pass rate, code churn … degree of code change build to build (relative risk), purple line is code statistics. …………………………………………¨ Customization might be to drill down drom one report …………………………………………¨ Files modified by date, by person, by director, by type, by priority, …………○ 41:15 – DEMO – Authoring Reports ……………………§ What can work in XLS ………………………………□ Ability to make reports on the data in xls ………………………………□ PIVOT table ………………………………□ Pull data from Team System DW ………………………………□ Slice by state. Activations. ……………………§ Report Designer ………………………………□ 47:00 – Deploy to reporting services ………………………………□ Show under reports node off team explorere ………………………………□ Its in Team System …………○ 48:00 – Q&A ……………………§ Documentation? ………………………………□ Look in process guidance / template ………………………………□ Team portal. Description of reports from link there ……………………§ Include xls chart in reporting svcs report? ………………………………□ No. Adhoc is xls. Use reporting services ……………………§ Look at changed code in report? ………………………………□ Unknown. Change set is known. Diff tools could help it. It would be work.

ECM: Documentum – Imaging

Digging around in EMC’s ‘myLearn’ site this morning. Decided to watch this webcast around BPM and Imaging given the ongoing activity in pipeline around process automation. You find it by loggin in here:

http://documentum.myLearn.com

searching for “BPM and Imaging – KOPC 2006”. FYI, search the forums for instructions on how to get a working login

http://wis-demo.gr.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=8607#8607

At 10,000 feet the core message I heard was:

Quote:

1. Nice Overview of an ECM solution 7 minutes in. Wove via four areas. We should leverage similar in position of any ECM (Sharepoint, NW, Stellent, Documentum). 2. Excellent example of collaboration integration to thier business process automation efforts 31 minutes in. In short they create workflow steps that create a collobration space (eRoom in thier lingo) that has defined activities that need to be completed at which point the collaboration room rengages the workflow and archives itself into the process with the other docs being manipulated.

Here are my detail notes:

Quote:

• BPM and Imaging – KOPC 2006 Pasted from <http://mylearn.documentum.com/mgrCourse/launchCourse.cfm?id_registrant=193270&id_host=325&id_course=18973&gt; • Solution: Document and Image Processing • 2:14 – Paper Management Problem ………..○ Still see customers w/ this problem ………..○ Manual ………..○ Official files can only be sequentially handles ………..○ Compliance controls are hard on paper ………..○ Customer service issues on paper • 4:00 ROI easy on paper ………..○ Copies ………..○ Filing/Retrieve ………..○ Avg stats – 19 copies of doc, $20 to file, $120 to search for misfiled, lose 1 out of 20 docs, 25 hours to recreate lost docs, $8 to process invcs (70% is doc handling) • 5:12 EMC acquires captiva (capture software). ………..○ Over holidays • 7:00 Imaging Vision – Technology View ………..○ Focuses (industry) ………………….§ Mortgage, Insurance Claims, New Account, Invc Processing ………..○ Process Services ………………….§ Colloboration Workspaces ………………….§ Business Process Automation ………..○ Content Services ………………….§ Docs, Forms, Rich Media, Web, Images, Msgs, Reports ………………….§ Capture / Edit ………………….§ Library ………………….§ Transformation ………………….§ Classification ………………….§ Search ………………….§ Publish/Distribute ………..○ Repository Services ………………….§ Compliance / Retention ………………….§ Policy Mgmt ………………….§ Archival ………………….§ Intelligent Storage ………..○ Integration Services • 10:00 — Acartus Acquired ………..○ That plus Captiva gives them end-to-end focus • 11:00 — Three Focuses ………..○ Capture ………..○ Process ………..○ Archive • 12:00 – Capture ………..○ Captiva Focus – Products – InputAccel (base platform), FormWare, Dispatcher, InputAccel(invcs), eInput ………..○ Devices: Scan, Fax, Multifunction, etc ………..○ Extract / Validate information from the document (OCR) ………..○ Doc Types Handled: Structured (all same), Semi Structured (different by vendor but large groups similar), Unstructured (each doc diff) ………..○ 17:15 – Dtl review of InputAcel ………………….§ 18:30 talk of extracting data from images and how ………..○ 20:00 – ABM-AMRO Customer Example ………………….§ 800,000 images a day processed ………………….§ Multi-Function devices at branch submits to a central solution ………..○ 22:00 – Captiva remains separate, continues to sell for FileNET’s and Stellents of the world • 24:30 – Process ………..○ Real value add is streamlining processes ………..○ They call it “Business Process Management” ………..○ See four steps ………………….§ Model / Simulate ………………….§ Deploy / Execute ………………….§ Monitor / Manage ………………….§ Analyze / Optimize ………..○ Products they offer: ………………….§ Required ……………………………□ Process Engine (model/simulate) ……………………………□ Business Process Engine (deploy/execute) ………………….§ Optional ……………………………□ Business Process Services (Webservices layer) ……………………………□ Collaborative Edition ……………………………□ Formlet user lisc ……………………………□ Process connectors for: iLog (rules eng), IDS Sheer (Simulator), Cognos (Reporting) ………..○ 29:30 – High Volume Process Enablement ………………….§ Queues, Queue management, workflow around queues ………………….§ Part of Documentum 5.3 (10/2005) ………..○ 31:00 – Collaboration Integration ………………….§ Manage collaboration objects as part of record ………………….§ Part of all Documentum areas (web, outlook, etc) ………………….§ Design Business Process … certain steps can be flagged as requiring collaboration. Talk to collaborative edition (eRoom) … create room, add data, add people, trigger alerts back to room, have exits on room that retrigger process. ………..○ 34:00 – Process Specific BPM Templates ………………….§ Use in pre-sales ………………….§ Offer to clients as starting point ………………….§ Loan Origination, Claims Processing, New Account Setup (late 2006) ………..○ 34:30 – Recent Deals (q4) on BPM ………………….§ Auto Insurer. Field adjusters loading content files to HQ. BPS used to receive and route uploads to be processed. ………………….§ Chip MFG. Contract management. ………………….§ Credit Card Operator. Dispute Management Application. Rules engine • 38:00 – Archive ………..○ Store / Archive / Retain ………..○ Focus: End of life transactions and assoc docs, COLD ………..○ Compliance / Retention functionality is top of mind for the business right now ………..○ ILM? Image Lifecycle Management ………………….§ Steps: Create/Capture, Change, Route, Approve, Publish, Retire ………………….§ Claim routing/High availability ………………….§ Large Volume ………………….§ Process focus ………………….§ Clear need for ways for better usage of storage (huge storage keys) ………………….§ Strong compliance / retrieval needs ………..○ 42:00 – Example – Cincinnati Financial ………………….§ Processes Enabled: Underwriting, Marketing/New Product, Legal/Compliance, Policy Creation / Admin, Claims Admin, Customer Service • 44:00 – Key Imaging Applications ………..○ Horizontal Apps (PO, Invc, Mail Room) ………..○ Fin Svcs ………..○ Gov ………..○ Life Sci (Patient, Case Rpts, HIPPA, Product Research/Trial Docs) • 48:30 Competitive Positioning (per EMC) ………..○ IBM – ………………….§ Strong – Viable vendor, MQ ………………….§ Weak – Legacy Platform, Complex, ………..○ FileNET ………………….§ Strong: Well established in FS vertical, strong partners ………………….§ Weak: Not complete, migration to p8 is still a fee and hard ………..○ Mobius ………………….§ Strong: Known COLD vendor ………………….§ Weak: No breadth, imaging, or BPM ………..○ Others (Stellent, Hummingbird, Interwoven) ………………….§ Message: Full ECM platform and EMC vendor. ………………….§ Interesting didn’t talk to Strength and Weakness