a case of fusion middleware - iloug 2013

Lucas Jellema (AMIS – The Netherlands)

IlOUG – Tech Days, Jerusalem, 10 & 11 July 2013

A Case of Fusion Middleware

Overview

• Introducing NOPERU

• Business Objectives

• IT goals

• Architecture

• Technology selection

• IT organization 2.0

• Project roadmap

• Learning experience and conclusions

3

Emissions and Resource Usage

Introducing NOPERU

• National Organization for Permits for Emission and Resource

Usage

• Commercial enterprise, government agency or a private person

requires permit for non-trivial activities (‘fair use’)

• Permit application processing takes from three weeks up to two

years, including appeals

• The process can end with:

– A permit, free of charge

– A permit provided some for of fee or tax is paid

– Rejection

• During the process, NOPERU may require an applicant to

provide additional information

Introducing NOPERU

• NOPERU has five regional branches with three

departments each: commercial, governmental, citizens

• Interactions with NOPERU are on paper or through fax

and telephone; responses are only given during office

hours

commercial

citizen

government

commercial

citizen

government

commercial

citizen

government

commercial

citizen

government

commercial

citizen

government

Introducing NOPERU

• NOPERU has decentralized computer facilities: local application &

database instances with on-site staff

• NOPERU’s applications were developed in the early 90s and have

undergone several upgrades

– Some are Oracle Forms, all run on Oracle Database (11g)

• Each sector has a very similar system for the permit application

process

– they all stem from the same base application

– then after cloning were independently developed

• The applications are unattractive and have a steep learning curve

– They provide a window on data – not a wizard style, task driven UI

7

Business Objectives Go Forward 2010-2018

• Faster processing of permit requests

• 24/7 availability (the shop is always open for customers)

• Multi-channel (web portal, mobile, …)

• Ban on paper – everything digital

• Self-service (type in yourself, verify yourself, lookup yourself, …)

• Flexible change process with short time to market

• Cost reduction

• Improve Data Quality

• Shorter learning curve for new employees

• Automate as much of the permit application process as possible

8

The Road Ahead

9

IT Objectives

• Work under ‘enterprise architecture’: structured, planned, controlled

• Consolidation

– Data

– Applications

– Infrastructure

• Leverage industry standards and open technology components

– Use standard applications (COTS) whenever possible (buy before build)

– Never build generic, non-business specific components

• Work with a small number of strategic vendors (that take responsibility)

• Setup Master Data and Information Lifecycle Management

– Data integrity

– Archival procedures

10

Architecture

• Enterprise Architecture and High-level Information Architecture design

• Mid-term architecture roadmap

• Reference Architecture

– Patterns, decisions, guidelines,

• Domains:

– Documents,

– Finance,

– Permits & Applications,

– CRM,

– Expertise (Legal, Scientific,…)

CRM Finance

Expertise Documents

Permits & Applications

11

Layered Architecture

Data

Business

Interface

12

Focused Layered Architecture

Data

Business

Interface • Modern

• Volatile

• Customized

• Variety

• Visible

• Reuse

• Consolidation

• Slowly

evolving

• Long lasting

13

Decentralized Silos to central, consolidated Layers

14

Decentralized Silos to central, consolidated Layers (2)

Data

Business

15

Service Oriented Architecture

Interface

CRM Expertise Docs Finance P&A

Data

Business

16


Interface


elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

Data

Business

17


Interface


elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

Data

Business

18


Interface


business

process

presentation

service

presentation

service

composite

service

composite

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

Utility

service

Data

Business

19


Interface


business

process

presentation

service

presentation

service

composite

service

composite

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

Utility

service

Decision

Svc

Business

Data

Central Event Facility

20

Events for decoupled interaction

Interface


business

process

presentation

service

presentation

service

composite

service

composite

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

Utility

service

Decision

Svc

Content Repository

Email

Service Bus

DWH LDAP

Bulk Data Integration

BPM & Workflow

Internal UI

Applications

Portal

Web Applications

BAM

External Web

Services

Data

Integration

Process

orchestration

Identity

Manag

em

ent

& S

ecurity

Citizens, Companies,

Government, Agencies

Internal Staff B2B

Mobile

User Interface Application Interface

Web Sites & Content

Business Rule

Service Orchestration

Technology Adapters

Content & Document

management

Ad

min

istr

atio

n, m

oin

torin

g, co

nfig

ura

tion

CRM Know ledge P&A Finance

Required components

Event Handler

22

Vendor & Technology Selection Vendor Requirements

• Vendor and Technology/Product are a package deal: you select one and the other

• Small number of strategic, committed vendors

– Ideally taking responsibility for results

• Proven technology with verifiable references

• Products that are strategic to the vendor

• Vendors with enough substance

• Products that are open and support industry standards

– And run on common platform

• Products with substantial community support

– Partners, specialists, books and educational resources, active forums, social media

activity, user groups and conferences

23

Vendor & Technology Selection Process

• Phase 1

– RFI

– Market Analysis

– Peer investigation

• Screening => Short List

• Phase 2

– Proposal and plan – what, how, (creative) conditions

– Presentation of Customer References and Product strategy & roadmap

– (Reference Visit)

• Selection

• Negotations => Deal or No Deal

24

Mapping to vendor portfolio

Content Repository

Email

Service Bus: Oracle Service

Bus

DWH LDAP

BPM & Workflow: SOA Suite & BPM Suite

Internal UI

Applications: ADF & Forms

Portal

Web Applications

BAM: Oracle BAM

External Web

Services

Data

Integration

Process

orchestration

Identity

Managem

ent &

Security

Mobile

User Interface Application Interface

Web Sites & Content

Business Rule: SOA Suite

Service Orchestration: SOA Suite (BPEL)

Technology Adapters: SOA Suite

Content & Document management:

WebCenter Content

Ad

min

istr

atio

n, m

oin

torin

g, co

nfig

ura

tion

CRM Know ledge P&A Finance

Bulk Data Integration:

ODI Event Handler: SOA Suite EDN

25

Open ends

• Portal and Mobile technology selection are kept separate

– The decoupled architecture allows for this distinction

• Identity Management & Security is also deferred

– The OPSS (Oracle Platform Security Services in WebLogic Server) make this a

viable option too

26

IT-Organization 2.0

• Agile Software Development

– Frequent delivery

– Continuous feedback to and prioritizing by business owner

– One team with designers, developers, testers

27

Scrum board

28

Team organization: Focused on technology – specialize on skill

Data

Business

Interface


business

process

presentation

service

presentation

service

composite

service

composite

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

Utility

service

business

process

business

process

29 Team organization: per domain/feature slide and one team cross domain

Data

Business

Interface


business

process

presentation

service presentation

service

composite

service

composite

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

Utility

service

presentation

service business

process

presentation

service

business

process

30

IT-Organization 2.0

• Training & Coaching program

– Bring in experienced consultants to do and show how to do (enabling is key)

– And to apply best practices and to avoid pitfalls

– Set up Competence Centers (virtual expertise guilds)

• The Platform is crucial

– Database and Middleware (Application Server, Enterprise Service Bus, Process

Engine, …)

• Quick time to market requires break down of walls between Development, Administration and Maintenance

• => DevOps

The “Platform”

Hardware

VM

O/S

Application Server

Database

Application

Application

Application

WebLogic & platform-components

WebLogic Server

SOA Suite

& BPM FormServer WC Portlets

OBI EE OSB

SOA

Composite

WS*,

Java/JEE &

ADF apps

Forms App

UCM

OSB

Service

Adapters JEE services++

Cache, Messaging, Timers,

Work Managers, …

BPM

Process

Activities and areas

Prepare Execute (run-time)

design build test monitor modify • urgent • planned

Application

(functional)

Platform

(non functional)

Infrastructure

• operational • analysis

Hardware

VM

O/S

Application Server

Database

Application

Activities and areas Prepare Execute (run-time)


Application

(functional)

Platform

(non functional)

Infrastructure

BPM & SOA Suite/Service Bus, BAM

WebCenter Content (UCM)

WebLogic Java EE Applicatie Server

Database

Operating System

(Virtual Machines)

Network, Storage, Hardware

req UI: ADF, HTML/JS, Java, BAM

Process: BPM(N)

Services: OSB & SOA Suite; BI Publisher

Database: SQL & PL/SQL

QA,

Gover-

nance,

ALM


Oracle

Enterprise

Manager -RUEI

-FMW Console

-- WLS Console

- Grid Control

FMW Composers

(dt @ rt) -Page Composer

-Process Composer

-SOA Composer

- OSB Console

-WC Content Editor

- Applicatie

voorzieningen

DevOps – to bring together

Prepare Execute (run-time)


Application

(functional)

Platform

(non functional)

Infrastructure

• BPM & SOA Suite/Service Bus, BAM

• WebCenter Content (UCM)

• WebLogic Java EE Applicatie Server

• Database

• Operating System

•(Virtual Machines)

• Network, Storage, Hardware

req • UI: ADF, HTML/JS, Java, BAM

• Process: BPM(N)

• Services: OSB & SOA Suite; BI Publisher

• Database: SQL & PL/SQL

QA,

Gover-

nance,

ALM


Oracle

Enterprise

Manager -RUEI

-FMW Console

-- WLS Console

- Grid Control

FMW Composers

(dt @ rt) -Page Composer

-Process Composer

-SOA Composer

- OSB Console

-WC Content Editor

- Applicatie

voorzieningen

DevOps

36

Automate software engineering

• Code quality control

• Testing:

– Web Services: SoapUI (functional) , LoadUI (load & stress)

– Java and ADF Business Components: jUnit (function & load)

– Web applications: JMeter (functional and primarily load); Selenium (functional) ;

Oracle Application Testing Suite (under evaluation for both functional and load

testing)

– Database: SoapUI, QCTO, DB Unit, SQL Developer

• Build: Ant, Maven

• Deploy: Hudson

• Incident Management and Scrum backlog management: Jira

• Source Control: Subversion (Git?)

• Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing: MediaWiki, Sharepoint, MS Lync (IM)

37

Project Roadmap

• B2B Corporate Sector – automated exchange; central db and replication with regional instances

• Digital Documents (central content server, internal application used from regional offices)

• UI for internal staff – sector Citizens – ADF, CRUD style (central DB)

• Forms 11g upgrade (from Forms 4.5 Client Server); regional instances

• Portal for Corporate clients

• Mobile app for internal managers (developed by outsourcing party)

Future:

• Standard Application for CRM

• BPM for process approach (operational insight through dashboard, process improvement, integrated document flow)

Learning experience & conclusions

• Consolidation has made a huge difference

– Far less administrative effort, much faster upgrades/rollouts, easier

‘cross the board’ reporting

– Central infrastructure becomes a crucial element whose failure impacts

thousands of users => special attention is required

• The transition is scary and overwhelming

– Guidance, reassurance, explanations, and almost spiritual

support are absolutely necessary to motivate and enable staff

in almost every role

• Communication is essential for the success of the kind of rapid

evolution NOPERU is going through

• Database is [still] hugely important (for performance, integrity,

development) – that is sometimes overlooked

Learning experience & conclusions

• Scrum has made a huge difference

– Flexibility, team commitment, real time insight, business link

• SOA requires up-front investments

– Reuse can only happen when there are reusable assets

– Bookkeeping & Project Accounting enters a new realm as well

• Governance of reusable assets should quickly be

established across the teams

• Layered Architecture and Encapsulation ensures that

teams can work in parallel, legacy can be wrapped and

reused and local optimizations can continually be applied

– Chunks of Work can be outsourced fairly easily

Data

Business

40

The glue between teams and components: common data model

Interface


business

process

presentation

service

presentation

service

Common Language

for Interfaces, Messages and Events

composite

service

composite

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

elementary

service

Utility

service

Summary

• Many organization share similar objectives, predicaments and

solutions

• Common requirements:

– Multi-channel, flexible, 24/7, cost efficiency, lower risk, paperless

– Consolidation, standardization, under architecture, decoupling

• Layered, decoupled architecture – upside down piramid

• Common Technology: (for example from Oracle)

– Enterprise Service Bus, BPMN process engine, Digital Content

Management, Enterprise Database

– Tools to quickly create modern UIs for various channels

• Organizational changes:

– Agile software development approach – close cooperation between

business and IT => “embrace change”

• Roadmap: frequent, small steps with business value