Connecting Systems With ASAP Keith D Swenson Fujitsu

Connecting Systems With ASAP Keith D. Swenson Fujitsu Software Corporation Workflow Management Coalition OASIS June, 2004

Overview n Motivation for a Standard l. Home Purchase Scenario n Key Concept: Plug & Play Processes l. It is not the wires, but the plug n ASAP interaction patterns n Wf-XML interaction patterns n Interoperability Demo n Summary

Home Purchase Scenario

Home Purchase Scenario Buyer’s Agent Appraiser Mortgage Company Buyers Geology Report Escrow Company Toxic Report Title Company Sellers Seller’s Agent Bank Credit Report Assessor

This is a perfect workflow scenario …. Very common transaction Large value Mistakes are expensive Only thing moved is information Why isn’t this business automated? No dominant player to set standard No fixed standard – differences are competitive advantage Many varied local laws Companies involved are small and can not afford development toward complex interactions

Requirements n While companies are automated internally, what is needed is a quick and easy way to link their data: l Without getting bogged down in complex processes l Without needing a programmer l Without having to change the way they work now l Without requiring that every partner be identical n ASAP offers a plug-and-play approach to linking data of long term processes

Essential Connectivity Telephone Company Connection wired by an electrician.

Essential Choreography System Developer /System Integrator WSDL BPEL WSDL System A SOAP XML System B C# System Developer /System Integrator

Empowering the Less-Technical Telephone Company Connection can be made by non-technician

Connections via A. S. A. P. BPEL System Developer /System Integrator WSDL System A SOAP XML System B C# System Operator System Developer /System Integrator

Home Purchase Scenario with A. S. A. P. Buyer’s Agent Appraiser Mortgage Company Buyers Geology Report Escrow Company Toxic Report Title Company Sellers Seller’s Agent Bank Credit Report Assessor

Making a connection with ASAP Escrow Company Mortgage Company 1. Enter the URL for the mortgage service n Escrow system retrieves schema from the mortgage system for exchange. 2. Map escrow system fields to mortgage system fields using graphical data mapping tool No programming required!

Interstage BPM implementation (1) Factory URL (2) Mapping from field to field

Not just a single round trip Context Data Escrow Company Appraisal Result Company Data time Set up connection Initial Create. Instance message C Receive background info & start planning Notify Data message Need to check on status Assign appraiser Notify Data message Schedule Changed R R Make appointment & estimate due date Set. Properties message Get. Properties message C Completed message Receive report, allows other things to go forward C R R Final report ready

The Basic ASAP Pattern Create. Instance Factory Observer Instance Context XML Data Completed Result XML Data

What is a Factory? n A factory represent a ‘class’ or type of asynchronous service. l e. g. “Loan Application” for a mortgage company n A given organization may have any number of factories for difference services they offer. n Each factory is a “Resource”. It has an address l Specify the factory address, you specify the asynchronous service, in the same way that a web address specifies a document n Factories can be introspected directly to discover how to interact with them.

The Full ASAP Pattern Create. Instance Factory Observer Get. Data Instance Set. Data Notify Completed Context XML Data Result XML Data

What is an Instance? n An Instance represents an ‘instance’ of a class. n The “Create. Instance” command is like the “new” operator in an oo programming language. n It is also a Resource, it has an address, and can be accessed with SOAP requests. n “Context Data” is the data supplied (as an XML structure) to the instance upon starting it. n “Result Data” is the data returned (as an XML structure) when the service is complete

What is an Observer? n An observer MAY be a resource with a web address. l It must be a resource in order to receive notifications from the instance. l If it is not a resource, it must use polling techniques to discover when the service instance is done. n Additional observers may register to receive notification events at any time.

Wf-XML Extension Patterns List. Factories Container Create. Factory Observer Factory List. Instances Instance List. Activities Get/Set. Data Activity

Interoperability Demo n June 23, 2004 n Hosted by the Brain. Storm Group at their BMP Conference in San Francisco n All clients/servers on internet n Demonstration client has a simple UI to invoke the asynchronous services from a web form. n Each implementation exposes a factory that can be called with a specified context structure, and returns a specific result structure a few seconds later. l The delay demonstrates asynchronous behavior

Observers n organizations (selected from over 2200) have expressed interest in demo: AFLAC AG Edwards Agfa Health. Care Agile Software AIAI, University of Edinburgh AT&T Banamex Bank for International Settlements Bankers Systems, Inc. Bearing. Point Bombardier Aerospace Budapest University of Technics & Economics Capgemini Citigroup Computer Associates Computer Sciences Corporation Deloitte&Touche Ethiopian Airlines Fed. Ex Trade Networks France Telecom R&D Intel Corp. Johnson & Johnson Lockheed Martin Lucent Technologies Maersk Data Microsoft Business Solutions Nortel Networks North Wiltshire District Council Northrop Grumman Information Technology NSW Police Sandia National Laboratories Schlumberger Scotia. Bank Sears, Roebuck and Company The Associated Press The Bank of East Asia The Undersecretariat of Treasury The Vanguard Group U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission United Nations Office for Project Services Wellington City Council Westpac Banking Corp.

The ASAP Scenario customer order Customer Retailer customer order confirmation

The Wf-XML Scenario customer order Customer Retailer customer order confirmation manufacturer order Manufacturer manufacturer order confirmation

Committed Participants (as of June 7) Customer Retailer Manufacturer Fujitsu (Java) Demo Client (C#. Net) Staffware Easy. ASAP (Open. Source C++) Handysoft Demo Server (C#. Net)

Demo interaction pattern. Net Reference Client Fujitsu Retailer Staffware Manufacturer Handy. Soft Manufacturer Easy. ASAP Manufacturer

Thanks to Key People n. Net Reference Client/Server l Jeff Cohen n Fujitsu l Keith Swenson – ASAP Chair l Sameer Predhan n Handysoft l Susan Muldoon l Rob Cain n Cisco Systems l Mayilraj Krishnan - Editor n Easy. ASAP Open Source l John Fuller – ASAP Secretary n TIBCO / Staffware l Justin Brunt l Adrian Tonkin n Wf. MC l Layna Fischer l Danielle Smith

What is next? n ASAP l Touch-up the specification with lessons learned during the interoperability demo development. l Advance it through OASIS Process n Wf-XML 2. 0 l Bring Wf-XML 2. 0 to same level of maturity l Challenge process design tool vendors to demonstrate ability to upload and download process definitions using Wf-XML 2. 0 in January 2005 Process Design Tool BPM Engine

How to run a demo for yourself n Visit the. Net reference client l http: //67. 113. 139. 106/asapclient/ l http: //193. 131. 190. 26/asapclient/ (California) (England) n Choose a Factory from the list (or enter your own URI for another factory) n Press create instance n Enter valid XML Data, press submit n Click Refresh until the response is returned n Click Details to see the final results

Summary n Asynchronous Service Access Protocol l designed to meet this need. l XML / SOAP messages l OASIS technical committee http: //www. oasis-open. org/committees/tc_home. php? wg_abbrev=asap n Wf. MC Protocol Wf-XML l Layered on top of ASAP n Demo Site: l http: //67. 113. 139. 106/asapclient/

Relationships Protocol Wf-XML 2. 0 Metadata WSDL 2. 0 ASAP SOAP WSDL

Overlap with other work? n Why not just use asynchronous messaging? l ASAP messages can be sent synchronously (HTTP) or asynchronously (SMTP, MQ, etc). ASAP does not require one or the other, nor does it replace either. l ASAP is more than just delayed response, it is not just asynchronous messages, it includes the ability to check status and update request, even terminate early. l Not a single round trip. Context Data and Result Data can be read/set multiple times over the course of a single “connection”.

Overlap with other standards? n BPEL l programming language, not protocol. Use BPEL to implement ASAP n WS-Security l no overlap: use this for secure ASAP exchanges, n WS-CAF l no overlap: use this for transactional ASAP messages n WS-Reliability, reliable messaging l no overlap: use this so that ASAP messages are reliable n SOAP l No overlap, ASAP messages use SOAP n eb. XML l ASAP interaction pattern can be implemented with eb. XML messaging

Overlap with other standards? n WS-Eventing l Proprietary spec, not a standard, would like to be able to use this in ASAP n WS-Addressing l Proprietary spec, not a standard, would like to be able to use this in ASAP. n WS-Resource. Properties l This group was started in 2004, well after ASAP had announced interoperability demonstration. There is some overlap, you can wait for this is you wish, but ASAP is available today. n UDDI l no overlap: use UDDI to advertise factory operations n WSDL l No overlap, WSDL is used to define ASAP operations

ASAP is not needed? n Why fix a particular choreography, when you could have any choreography? l When a system allows any choreography, then the choreography must be programmed by a programmer. l Message structures must be defined. l Actions to receive messages, transform them, and send them. l ASAP simplifies this by defining a set of specific operations and a specific pattern of interaction that works in 80% of the cases. l There an infinite number of ways to do something. Standards are all about specifying one particular way. l ASAP can be a starting point for further refinement in a more elaborate interaction. It is a step in the ladder.

Evaluating Standards n Do both sides need to be designed to a common schema before connections can be made? l Does the schema has be be specified first? n Can connections be made without redesigning the internal system? l Is a programmer required to make a “connection” n Tight Integration vs. Loose Integration n Progress and Status Reporting l Is there a concept of “Context”?