[ebBP] 11/13/2003: Definitions - Process Action and Step, Role

["Monica J. Martin" <Monica.Martin@Sun.COM>]

David RR Webber wrote:

>Monica,
>
>I'd also like to add some business-centric terms here:
>
>1) Process Action : familar business statement of purpose for a set of steps
>that result in a descreet part of an overall collaboration being
>accomplished.  e.g. Confirm Parts Availability; Place Order Details; Confirm
>Shipment Details.
>  
>
mm1: Dave, couldn't these already held in the Business Transaction / 
Business Transaction Activity? Perhaps you can define what difference 
you see between the Process Action and these defined BPSS terms (and 
their usage).

>2) Process Step : component part of a Process Action expressed as a single
>step that constitutes a binary interaction with deterministic inputs, roles,
>outcomes and outputs.
>
mm1: Same question applies here Dave. This does not appear to be a 
business definition. Do not process and step occur at a lower level that 
BPSS?

>3) Role : business purpose or service of a participant.
>  
>
mm1: This is focused on the role as a service not a trading partner that 
engages in an automated interchange. Same question on business definition.

Here is the definition explained in multiple places in BPSS:
Trading Partners take on shared roles, relationships and 
responsibilities to facilitate interaction with other Trading Partners.  
Each partner plays one or more roles in the collaboration.

Thanks for the feedback. Monica

>The aim here is to have a vocabulary that business users can understand, and
>to have equivalence to the technical IT terms.  e.g. instead of asking
>someone to complete the choreography and orchestrations for the business
>collaboration - we can say simply - the industry workflow for this task, or
>the WalMart workflow for this task.
>
>I'm just offering up some strawman items here - to foster thoughts in this
>area and then hopefully we can agree to formal usage terms as we are
>formalizing the equivalent IT terms.
>
>Thanks, DW.
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Monica J. Martin" <Monica.Martin@Sun.COM>
>To: <ebxml-bp@lists.oasis-open.org>
>Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 11:20 PM
>Subject: [ebxml-bp] [ebBP] 11/6/2003: Defintions for Discussion - Comments
>Please
>
>
>  
>
>>I was asked in Monday's meeting to provide definitions for BUSINESS
>>PROCESS, BUSINESS COLLABORATION and BUSINESS TRANSACTION. We also had a
>>request by Jean-Jacques for definitions for CHOREOGRAPHY and
>>ORCHESTRATION (outside of the purview of BPSS).  I'd like to encourage
>>your comments (and additions/corrections) so we have a common baseline
>>of definitions as we look at them in the context of BPSS:
>>
>>Business Process is a set of activities that are accomplished in
>>operating business practices to achieve a business goal. A Business
>>Process might be either an intra-organizational process or a
>>collaborative business process conducted by two or more parties.   A
>>collaborative process can occur across domains of control.
>>
>>Business Process Activity is a unit of work conducted by one (or more
>>parties in case of a collaborative business process) for the purpose of
>>achieving a business objective and can be conducted with time as a
>>constraint or business rule. Business Process Activities are intended to
>>capture existing or planned business practices.  Business process
>>activities are included in a business process.
>>
>>Business Collaboration is a special type of business process or activity
>>that is conducted by two or more parties to achieve a commonly defined
>>goal or outcome. Accordingly, a business collaboration is a synonym for
>>collaborative business process.  At a high level a business
>>collaboration consists of a set of roles collaborating through a set of
>>choreographed transactions by exchanging business documents.: A business
>>collaboration typically occurs across domains of control. When a
>>business collaboration occurs between business partners, each plays one
>>or more roles in the collaboration.
>>
>>A Business Transaction represents an atomic unit of work in a trading
>>arrangement between two business partners. A business transaction
>>includes a set of business information and business signal exchanges
>>amongst two business partners that must occur in an agreed format,
>>sequence and time period. In this interaction, the two parties playing
>>opposite roles in the transaction.
>>
>>A Business Transaction Activity occurs when the Business Transaction and
>>roles are defined for a specific purpose.
>>
>>The Business Collaboration Choreography describes the ordering and
>>transitions between business transactions or sub collaborations within a
>>binary collaboration (sequencing rules and dependencies).
>>
>>An Orchestration can be a choreography definition seen from a single
>>party point of view (for example, by a conductor) or where the
>>defiinition is executed by the service requester and provider as planned
>>(where centralized control applies).
>>
>>
>>    
>>
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>  
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