SPA Conference session: Business process orchestration, posthaste!

One-line description:Learn how to quickly orchestrate sophisticated business processes in a service-oriented environment
 
Session format: Tutorial (150 mins) [read about the different session types]
 
Abstract:All businesses revolve around the processes they have evolved over time. In the past, analysing and automating these processes has proved to be time-consuming and costly. This session will introduce you to a light-weight, visual approach to orchestrating business processes in a service-oriented environment that is fast, fun and flexible.

Our chosen technology platform is a combination of Apache Axis2 for robust web services and a BPEL-based business process engine called 'ActiveVOS', from Active Endpoints. We will use the ill-fated Heathrow Terminal 5 as our case study to design, implement and test a handful of processes.

By the end of the session, you should have a grasp of the mechanics of process automation and a background in the following topics and where they fit into the process automation puzzle:

- WSDL and XML Schema for contract-driven services.
- Synchronous and asynchronous SOAP web services, based on the WS-Addressing standard.
- An overview of BPMN for process visualisation and communication.
- The basics of BPEL 2.0 and why it is useful for process automation.
 
Audience background:A background in the XML technology stable (XML, XML Schema, XPath, XSLT) will be helpful for understanding the technical subtleties but are not essential to get 'the big picture'.
 
Benefits of participating:Participants will gain insight into an increasingly important sphere of IT practice and learn how to tackle the challenges of process automation in a hands-on manner.
 
Materials provided:An Eclipse-based IDE and workspace, pre-configured with the necessary plug-ins, servers and code skeletons to get down to business immediately. This will be made available from a file server and flash disks at the beginning of the session.
 
Process:The session will start with a brief overview and introduction to the key concepts and technologies. It will continue with a series of exercises, led by the presenter, building up in complexity as the session progresses. The presenter will pause the session at pre-defined intervals to answer questions.
 
Detailed timetable:Not available yet.
 
Outputs:Executable business processes and web services.
 
History:None; it's currently 'Powerpoint-ware'. I have been working with these technologies in the financial services industry for some time however and I'm confident I can produce an engaging, enlightening tutorial. I can make a case study available for further scrutiny if the reviewers wish to gauge the depth of my grasp of the topic!
 
Presenters
1. Michael Marconi
Brown Study Ltd
2. 3.