This morning (Oct 28, 2009) I attended a iLog Business Rules Management System (BRMS) Demo and it gave me an idea.

iLog has a great tool for testing rules. It allows to design test cases using MS Excell that are sent to the Rules Engine in order to determine if a rule set provides the expected decision.

In the past I ave been involved with the difficult exercice of generating test data for Business Processes. Using the iLog testing tool, this could be realized like this :

1. Before the process is designed, use the BRMS to design the process vocabulary.

2. Create some basic rules which from process inputs produce process outputs. In fact these rules simulate the process.

3. Create the rules test cases such that the rule responds the right process output from a given process input. In fact the rules set must simulates the process for the foreseen test cases.

4. Communicate the rules and their test cases to the Process developpers so they can design and build the process using the test cases.

5. For automating the tests, at the end of the process (or at intervals if the process is composed of serveral parts), send the process inputs to the business rules and ask the rules engine to compare process results with the expected process results (this requires a comparison rule which allows to determine of two result sets are considered equivalent).

To illustrate this, I used the opportunity to test gliffy to make a diagram:


http://www.gliffy.com/publish/1872505/

Last twit was to test the del.icio.us / Twitter integration...

icio.us

Testing Business Processes with iLog Business Rules (Illustrated with Gliffy) bit.ly

Discussion: The Enterprise Architecture Network | LinkedIn "Linking Information Systems to Business Performance" bit.ly

Had a nice lunch with an ex-colleague ;-)

I have installed Polaris....http

@Bleebot The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes

It's autumn in Tombeek : bit.ly

Vlerick now 10th MBA School in the world ! bit.ly

I lauched a linked in group and I now see them all connecting with each other. Funny. ..

Just lost a long text I had written on an internal IBM blog... GRRR

@roulive Merci, je suis super impatient de voir ca... C'est direct ou faut attendre ?

@roulive J'en veux toujours bien une (cfr Direct Messages) :-)

@ddossot it's called "Turtles all the way down" : bit.ly

@ddossot and after : how to generate code on the fly which makes use of the on the fly generated global static values...

@Ulrichfr Pourquoi pas OpenERP ? bit.ly

I love this web site : The Big Picture. This time : Pictures of Saturn. bit.ly

LOL : First customer for Windows 7 looks exactly as you'd expect bit.ly

bX-59cppw : that's the error I get me when I try to see my blog bit.ly

A typical approach when thinking about Business Process Management is to try to draw two types of diagrams:

• the AS-IS Diagram: represents how the process is executed today
• the TO-BE Diagram : how we would like to execute the process in the future

The TO-BE diagram aims at improving the business efficiency by for example automating certain tasks. The Business Process Modeling Notation is the standardized notation for such Process Diagrams. Once the process is modeled in BPMN it can be implemented using the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL).

BPMN seems to be the way to go to manage a company's business process.

So the question is : Is BPMN the panacea (a cure to all pains) for Business Process Management ?

I dont think so. Here is why...

If the BPMN approach sounds logical, it has nevertheless some drawbacks:

• How to get non architects draw their processes, they prefer natural language = to talk about it. Drawing and agreeing the right process is a painful exercise in most companies.
  
  
• Some of the Process Drawing tools like ARIS, MEGA, System Architect require some training before they can be properly used. They are perceived as complex.
  
  
• BPMN diagram don't represent the reality. It's sometimes very difficult to draw the reality because there are numerous exceptions to the process (exceptions are the rule...)

Alternative approaches to BPMN are than very useful. One can find at least 2 types of alternatives : Middelware and Applications.

Middelware (other than BPEL Engines) allow businesses to manage their processes. Here are some examples:

• Business Rules Engines allow to determine what is the best next step to be executed in a process (decision), or determine how an activity should be performed (planning). At IBM this would be the iLOG BRMS.
  
  
• Business Activity Monitoring and Complex Events Processing allow to monitor a process though relevant events (product purchased, payment completed...). At IBM we implement this with Websphere Business Monitor and Websphere Business Events.
  
  
• Business Intelligence tools allow to create reports and dashboards which help Business Managers to lead their teams to execute the processes in the right way.

Companies have also been managing their business processes without modeling them. They have purchased applications or frameworks which contained ready to use processes:

• Horizontal Applications like ECM solutions include standard document flows for publication and approval of information
  
  
• Vertical Applications Packages like SAP, Temenos T24 or PTC Windchill include pre-canned business processes that "just" need to be customized to the company needs.
  
  
• Industry Specific Frameworks include Business Processes. For example IBM proposes the Insurance Process Acceleration Framework. I the Media sector, IBM proposes the Media Hub.
  

The drawbacks and the alternatives of BPMN, demonstrate that BPMN isn't the Panacea for Business Process Management.

So, If you are interested in BPM, I would recommend you the following :

If you want to be closer to the business…

When thinking about BPM

Don’t think immediately BPMN, AS-IS and TO-BE

Rather, think

• Natural Language
• Business Intelligence
• Business Events
• Business Activities

Bordeau-Bayern Mireille says 1-1, I say 2-1

Madrid-Milan tonight, Mireille predicts 3-1, I say 3-2.

What to do when there is nothing on TV ? Play with your WII.

I did that yesterday but not as you would expect.

I tried to develop web pages for my WII opera browser in order to:

• play web radios on the WII. I developped the page thanks to some hacking pages but... on the same pages they explain there is a memory leak in the WII flash player that makes that the music stops after a few minutes. I also tried http://www.wiihear.com/ but it seems also to suffer the memory management problem.
  
• Display photos on the WII. This works great thanks to Picasaweb.

I also tried iGoogle and Netvibes and it works, except when there is too much Flash.

Too bad there is this Flash memory leak because otherwise the WII could become a really great platform. My experience is that much of the new technology seems to have some glitch somewhere.

I just hope Adobe and Nintendo will upgrade Opera with a new flash player soon.

Some IBM customers have a lot of assets on "older" (or shouls we say more mature) platforms as zSeries or iSeries. Traditionnally those applications have "green screens".

Rational Host Access Transformation Services allows to easilly convert those 5250 or 3270 screens into Web pages exposing exactly the same functionality.

This allows to extend the reach of the i or z code.

End users also have an easier way to switch between their different screens. They can do that by:

• having several browsers and using ALT-TAB to switch between them
• having a browser with Multi-tab (like FireFox or IE7)
  
• toggle between web applications in a page using javascript and iFrames for instance

I have built a small demo to show the last possibility.

By showing or hiding a div containing an iframe, one can easilly navigate between different web apps and stay logged in and in context (the hidden iframe just stays on the same page, until i is shown again).

You can test it here in 2 different flavors:

• Explicit show/hide
  
• Show one application at a time

Of course this is a very simple and cheap solution, the ultimate way to do this would be to use Lotus Mashup Center.

Entreprise Modernization with IBM HATS : Switching between Web Applications with JavaScript bit.ly

@lowett le site de Jean-Marc Morrandini ? bit.ly

Si un #Twelge est un Twitter Belge, ok. Mais twelge veut dire autre chose en anglais...

Dans Paris à vélo... bit.ly via Blogasty09

Hier matin (jeudi 15 octobre 2009) sur Europe 1, dans la Polémique Culturelle de Olivier Faugiel, il y avait un débat sur l'ebook, intitulé l'e-book m'a tuer. Vous pouvez le revoir sur le site de Europe 1.

Yann Queffelec y a détruit l'ebook :"Le livre sera toujours là lorsque l'ebook sera 6 pieds sous terre". D'après Mr Queffelec rien ne peut remplacer de sentir un bon vieux bouquin et le plaisir de le toucher d'une main à 5 doigts.

Mr Laurent Picard, co-fondateur de Booken a bien essayé de le défendre mais j'aurais voulu mieux défendre cette technologie face à un comportement qui me semble un peu trop fermé.

Si j'avais été présent, j'aurais voulu poser à Mr Queffelec les quelques questions suivantes :

• Quel plaisir y a t-il à sentir, ou plutôt à porter au container, les tonnes de publicité papier et journaux que l'on reçoit a la maison toutes les semaines ?
  
  
• Quel plaisir y a t-il a chercher à la main les spécifications d'une pièce d'avion dans un manuel de 5000 pages ?
  
  
• Quel plaisir y a t-il de stocker dans son grenier 10 mètres de classeurs de nos cours d'université qu'on ne relit jamais car on a aucune chance d'y retrouver le petit bout de théorie dont on a besoin et dont on ne se souvient que vaguement ?
  
  
• La lecture lire un sketch de Raymond Devos sur un écran d'ordinateur ou dans un livre ne procurent-elles pas le même rire ?
  
  
• Les mots sont-ils différents quand ils sont sur papier ?
  
  
• Quel plaisir y a t-il à porter un Harry Potter de 1/2 Kg à bout de bras dans son lit, qu'on finit par en avoir mal au poignets ?
  
  
• Quel plaisir a t-on à lire un livre avec une loupe car notre vision ne sait plus de lire la police de taille normale ? (Dans ce cas, on voudrait peut être tout de même 10 doigts...)
  
  
• Quel plaisir a t-on a imprimer des documents dont on sait qu'on va les jeter dans une semaine ?
  
  
• Quel plaisir a t-on à lire ses extraits de comptes ?
  
  
• Quel plaisir à avoir une valise 5 Kg plus lourde dans l'avion car on lit beaucoup en vacances ?
  
  
• Quel plaisir à partir chez un client avec seulement 10 brochures papier alors qu'on a 100 produits à vendre ?
  
  
• Quel plaisir à imprimer des codes barres sur des papiers qui ont une durée de vie de 2 jours (produits frais), ou même 1 minute (tickets de caisse) ?
  
  
• Quel plaisir ont les écoliers à porter un cartable de plusieurs kilos chaque jour ?

Il est évident que le livre électronique ne remplacera pas intégralement le papier. Mais l'ePaper en général et l'ebook en particulier présentent cependant pas mal d'avantages par rapport au même contenu au format papier.

Et puis il y a certains eBook qui fonctionneront tant que le soleil sera la et n'iront pas 6 pieds sous terre. L'eBook solaire de LG, par exemple..

L'eBook m a tuer : Réponse à Yann Queffelec : bit.ly

And he (Marty) falls also after 10 minutes 20sec

Mountain Bike, Ossendrecht, my colleague Marty falls of his bike after 41 seconds : bit.ly

National Botanic Garden of Belgium we visited last night... bit.ly

Yesterday night we visited the national plant garden in Meise twitgoo.com

Question for later : will I find my blue ocean ?

Thomas peint par Ward Lernout , avec le bon lien : bit.ly

Peinture par Ward Lernout, à la suite d'une action du Kiwanis de Overijse.

J'ai acheté le cd de Dany Brillant - Puerto Rico - aujourd'hui et j'adore - Exemple: "On verra demain" bit.ly

Tonight I have been learning for growth...

Thomas peint par Ward Lernout bit.ly

Working on IBM's Media Solutions : Digital Workflow Transformation, Media Hub, Digital Consumer, Meta-Data Mgt... bit.ly

Working while listening Salsa : Dany Brillant - Puerto Rico.

Pictures of our Balloon Trip we did this summer bit.ly

Picture of Mireille and me at the Samsung Corby Event on Sept 30th : bit.ly See all pics : bit.ly

How to teach your son to swim ? bit.ly

How to teach your son to bike ? bit.ly

Le cours qui nous a manqué lors du MBA : Facteur Chance par Philippe Gabilliet - bit.ly Merci @mulkers

Cette aprèsm, on a vu Le Petit Nicolas à Imagibraine : Marrant et mignon. bit.ly

Have your ever bought tickets on kinepolis.be ?

It's my worst Internet Shopping Experience ever:

1. You have to re-type your name and email address each time you change movie or schedule. If only flash was not used for that my browser could fill it for me...

2. You have to do the complete process before finding out the session is fully booked...

3. The payment process is scary, you have to pay without being sure it's the right cinema, movie and schedule.

4. In the payment process you are all a sudden required a ING password that you never use. Hopefully there was a forgotten password procedure that worked.

I have never liked the Kinepolis website because of its poor performance (Flash abuse). Now the content delivery seems to be faster, they managed to screw the next step : the shopping experience...

My Worst Web Shopping Experience Ever : Kinepolis.be bit.ly

I'm going to test Evernote bit.ly

My thesis was about BPMN and @mulkers'one was about Open Source.

My thesis defense was today and it was appreciated : I received a bottle of wine as award. @mulkers got the other bottle.

Coaching and Transition ! Si ca ne marche pas, essayez de voir la vid?o sur le site de PME KMO TV.

Quel projet pouvons-nous mettre en place pour un futur dirigeant ? bit.ly

Google doit-il avoir peur des applications Web d'IBM ? - Actualité sur Journal du Net Solutions bit.ly

Mon père à la TV ! Entreprendre et réussir : Declercq & Associés - Philippe Declercq bit.ly

@andypiper thanks !

@andypiper can you invite me for google wave ? (ibmer)

Friday we wen to Kinepolis to see "The Ugly Truth" - bit.ly - Good Film.

Video: Justin Timberlake read 100 ebooks on his Sony eReader bit.ly

I updated my "Social Networks I use" list sorted by order of preference. Twitter has become first, facebook second... bit.ly

Collaborative Business Process Modeling : SAP Gravity featuring Google Wave : bit.ly

Biking in the wind this afternoon

Nice musical mashup: Destiny's Child - 10cc = Independent Women Part 1 (A Capella) - Dreadlock Holiday bit.ly

@carmelo pic.gd lol

Letter from Oracle to IBM... bit.ly