Applications Enabling BPM with SOA

I just got a "blast from the past" question about applications that are packaged with process models and monitoring (see http://talk.bmc.com/blogs/blog-wiles/van-wiles/PROCESSDOC1).

The new wave of applications are things like Oracle Fusion Applications (http://www.oracle.com/applications/fusion.html), the next generation of SAP Business Suite built on NetWeaver ESOA (http://www.sap.com/usa/solutions/business-suite/index.epx), and even the latest BMC Remedy IT Service Management built on the Remedy Service Process Management platform( http://www.bmc.com/products/products_services_detail/0,,0_0_0_1805,00.html).

The trend then and now (since it’s been almost a year since I posted that) is to build the business logic and rules using tools that business people can understand, then use this business logic to generate the technical implementation required to execute and monitor the processes.  Since I wrote that, many of these companies have acquired additional SOA technology through M&A and partnerships, including the BMC acquisition of RealOps for IT service automation.

Note: for SAP, Oracle and some other packaged business applications, you can get higher-level process models that are application-independent from IDS Scheer AG (http://www.ids-scheer.com).  For business rules, many of these vendors use Corticon (http://www.corticon.com/Partners/Software-Partners.php) or similar Business Rules Engines.