What's new in IBM Business Process Manager V8.5.5

IBM® Business Process Manager V8.5.5 introduces many new features.

Installation and configuration

New options for installing
  • Install IBM Business Process Manager on Ubuntu Linux LE for Power.
  • You can install IBM Business Process Manager on Linux for Power.
  • For AIX operating systemFor Linux operating systemFor Solaris operating systemYou can install IBM Business Process Manager in IBM Installation Manager group mode so that a group of users can share and manage packages by using only one instance of Installation Manager.
New commands and graphical tools for configuring
  • You can export configuration properties from an existing deployment environment to a new configuration properties file by using the -export parameter for the BPMConfig command. See BPMConfig command-line utility.
  • The IBM BPM Configuration editor is a browser-based interface for configuring a new deployment environment. In this editor, you can graphically edit the configuration properties file that was exported from your source environment and then create a new deployment environment that is based on the modified file. For an example of how the configuration properties file is used in migrating, see Configuring your environment graphically with the IBM BPM Configuration editor.
  • You can validate the configuration status of the deployment environment and configured components and generate HTML reports by using either the -profile and -de options for the BPMConfig -validate parameter or by using the new Component Health Center in the administrative console. The associated resources for every component are checked to determine whether they are usable. The security configuration is checked to determine whether the essential requirements are met. Process Server, Process Center, and Performance Data Warehouse are checked to determine whether they are usable. Several checks, such as to determine whether the associated applications and message engines have started, are performed at run time. You can also check the database connections, whether applications are installed and started, whether bootstrapping is performed, and whether authentication aliases are created. See Verifying the status of your environment using the Health Center and Verifying the status of your environment using the BPMConfig command.
  • You can update the Process Server configuration and modify connection properties, such as the properties for connecting the server to a different Process Center or changing it to an offline server, using the new Process Server Settings panel in the administrative console. See Using the administrative console to customize the Process Server settings used to connect to Process Center.
  • You can upgrade an existing IBM BPM Standard deployment environment to an IBM BPM Advanced deployment environment, including the context root prefix and virtual host, by using the -de option on the BPMConfig -upgrade parameter. See Upgrading a product installation from IBM BPM Standard to IBM BPM Advanced and Upgrading a deployment environment from IBM BPM Standard to IBM BPM Advanced.
  • You can update the virtual host for all web modules in the deployment environment using the -virtualHost option for the BPMConfig -update parameter. See BPMConfig command-line utility.
  • You can update the database name, database server name, database server port, and data source tuning parameters for the deployment environment by using the -datasource option for the BPMConfig -update parameter. See BPMConfig command-line utility.
Administer IBM BPM custom properties
Use the following new commands to administer IBM BPM custom properties in the configuration repository:
  • deleteBPMProperty deletes an IBM BPM custom property from the configuration repository. For predefined IBM BPM properties, the command only removes any customization and resets the custom property value to the factory default. In stand-alone environments, such as and the unit test environment of , the custom property is deleted immediately when you run the command. In network deployment (ND) environments, the custom property is deleted when the next node synchronization occurs. See deleteBPMProperty command.
  • getBPMProperty gets the value of a custom property from the configuration repository. See getBPMProperty command.
  • setBPMProperty sets the value of a custom property in the configuration repository. In stand-alone environments, such as and the unit test environment of , the value of the custom property is set immediately when you run the command. In network deployment (ND) environments, the value of the custom property is set when the next node synchronization occurs. See setBPMProperty command.

Migration

New tools to make migration easier
Support for Express-to-Express migration

Process Designer and Process Center

New Process Designer web editor
  • In previous releases, you worked with artifacts in IBM Process Designer on your desktop. Now, you can work with artifacts that are in the Process Designer web editor and in the Process Designer desktop editor.
  • To create process applications that contain business process definitions (BPDs) and client-side human services, you must use both the desktop editor and the web editor because there are some Process Designer capabilities that you can access only on the web and some that you can access only on your desktop. To learn where you can edit artifacts in Process Designer, see Where to edit Process Designer artifacts.
WYSIWYG view of coaches and coach views in the web editor
  • When you build coaches and coach views in the new web editor, the configuration options that you set for properties such as formatting, visibility, and presentation style are reflected at design time so that you can see the effects of your configuration without having to run the human service that contains the coach or coach view. See Defining coach view behavior.
Build coach views that adapt to different screen sizes
  • You can build user interfaces that are responsive to the user's runtime environment by using the new responsive settings for coach views. You can configure properties such as visibility, formatting, or presentation style for different screen sizes so that you can design one interface that changes in appearance and behavior that is based on the user's screen size. See Responsive settings for coach views.
Heritage human services and client-side human services
  • You can use two types of human services to manage your process work in web-based applications such as IBM Process Portal.
    • Heritage human services are the human services that were available in IBM BPM versions earlier than V 8.5.5. You can create and edit heritage human services in the Process Designer desktop editor, run them on the server, and supply user interfaces to web-based applications.
    • Client-side human services are the human services that are added in IBM BPM V8.5.5, which extend the user interface support offer a more flexible support for process management. You create and edit client-side human services in the Process Designer web editor, run them entirely in the web browser, and use them to call the server for data when necessary. For information about the features that are provided by client-side human services, see Modeling client-side human services
    For a summary of the main differences between the two types of human services, see Difference between client-side human services and heritage human services.
Improved support for Service Component Architecture interaction with processes
Improved performance for straight-through processing of processes
  • When Optimize Execution for Latency is selected, the business process definition (BPD) cannot release its execution thread back to the pool of threads that are shared between activities. As a result, the BPD has a scheduling priority that is higher than the default priority, which improves the performance of processes that require low latency. See Optimizing BPD execution for latency.
Guided workflow enhancements to strengthen and refine the implementation of business processes that contain SAP transactions
  • Validate new SAP transactions before you export them to SAP Solution Manager.
  • Use smart folders to handle the tagging of business process definitions (BPDs) that are generated after you import SAP projects as process applications into IBM BPM.
  • Use the new Advanced Integration Service (AIS) integration pattern to facilitate the implementation of Advanced Integration services that are based on existing service interfaces.
  • Experience extended web browser support and stronger encryption for communication between IBM BPM and SAP Solution Manager.
For more information, see Using guided workflows.
This topic applies only to the IBM Business Process Manager Advanced configuration.

Basic Case Management Feature

Include cases directly in process applications
  • IBM Business Process Manager Advanced V8.5.5 provides an add-on feature for including case management capabilities in process application. You can use a combination of structured workflows, ad-hoc tasks, and document processing to deliver process-oriented solutions that require case handling. See Building cases.

Process Portal

Improved appearance and functionality
  • Get all the information about a process instance in one place from the new Processes page.
  • If you have the Basic Case Management Feature installed, you can seamlessly work on process and case instances from the new Processes page.
  • For information about the Process Portal changes, see Process Portal: What's new in IBM Business Process Manager V8.5.5.

Process Admin Console

Process Monitor improvements
  • Improvements to the aggregation and display of information:
    • The cluster member to which the information belongs is displayed in the Process Monitor console.
    • The duration reported for a process instance and its steps also includes the duration of services.
    • The task type (for example, Script) is displayed beside the task execution time.
    • JMX: ProcessMonitor MBean improvements:
      • The MBean is bound to a fixed scope (ENVIRONMENT_SERVER); it was previously bound to the class loader hash key.
      • The MBean has four new operations to return the set of monitor data for process instances and stand-alone services, including methods that return filtered data in XML or JSON format.
      • The MBean has two new methods; haltProcess() to halt a process and haltService() to halt a service.
      For more information, see ProcessMonitorMBean.
  • Instrumentation enhancements:
    • You can save the instrumentation XML for further analysis by clicking Save in the Instrumentation page.
    • You can track service requests per process application.
    • JMX: InstrumentationManager MBean improvements:
      • The MBean is bound to a fixed scope (ENVIRONMENT_SERVER or ENVIRONMENT_PERFORMANCE_SERVER), where previously it was bound to the class loader hash key.
      • The MBean has four new operations to return an XML and JSON document with the set user-visible instrumentations or all instrumentations.
      • For more information, see InstrumentationManagerMBean.
  • Improved documentation that includes example scripts on connecting to Process Monitor from JConsole, and information about interpreting Process Monitor data. See Process Admin Console: Monitoring processes and services (Process Monitor).

Integration Designer

This topic applies only to the IBM Business Process Manager Advanced configuration.Improved SCA import generation
  • When you drag a business process definition (BPD) from the Business Integration perspective to the Assembly editor canvas, you can select any interfaces from all available request-response and one-way interfaces.
  • You can drag a BPD from the Business Integration perspective directly into the BPEL editor.
  • For more information, see Creating an import to start a business process definition.