# Presentation: 758716

## U. S. FEDERAL CIO COUNSEL’S

*A presentation to:*
**The **
**U. S. FEDERAL CIO COUNSEL’S**
**XML WORKING GROUP **

*16 AUGUST, 2000*

**Joseph J. Rogowski**
*JCALS Advanced Concepts Office*

**Cliff Alligood**
*Computer Sciences Corp*.

## Overview

- JCALS Demo
- Article  Published by *IEEE*
- Wf-XML Introduction
- Wf-XML Development Process
- What is XML?
- XML Design Goals
- What the XML Specification Does
- What is Wf-XML?
- Wf-XML Revisions and Direction
- Wf-XML Business implications

## Workflow Interoperability Standards for the Internet May/June 2000

_**Written by WfMC members:**_
- Jim Hayes, CSC
- Effat Peyrovian, (Formerly with JCALS), ECC Consulting
- Sunil Sarin, TIBCO Software
- Marc-Thomas Schmidt, IBM UK Ltd.
- Keith D. Swenson, MS2 Inc
- Rainer Weber, SAP AG

## Wf-XML Development Process

- Part of WfMC Working Group 4
- Consensus based – industry involvement
- Participants use WfMC list server
- Telephone technical conferences
- E-Mail between members
- MS Access database to track and resolve comments
- Status presentations at WfMC meetings
- WfMC members vote on key issues raised and approve
-        Wf-XML versions for release
- Current Version is Version 1.0 dated May 8, 2000
- Available on web WfMC page for industry comment
- JCALS and CSC are the coordinating editors

## What is XML?

- eXtensible Markup Language =XML
- Evolved from SGML Editorial Review Board under the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
- SGML Specification - 155 pages,  circa 1986
- SGML - Document Oriented
- Developed under the XML Special Interest Group
- XML Specification - 32 pages, Version 1.0, 1998
- XML- Data Exchange Oriented

## XML Design Goals

- XML Shall:
- Be straightforwardly useable over the Internet.
- Support a wide variety of applications.
- Compatible with SGML
- Be easy to create
- XML documents should:
- Be human-legible and reasonably clear.
- Be prepared quickly
- It shall be easy to write programs which process XML documents.
- The number of optional features in XML should be kept to a minimum, ideally zero.
- The design of XML shall be formal and concise.
- Terseness in XML markup is of minimal importance.

## What the XML Specification Does

- Prescribes the syntax for tagging documents.
- Defines the behavior of a software module called the XML processor.
- Prescribes how XML data is read.
- Prescribes the information the XML processor must pass to the application.

## What is Wf-XML?

- Is an application specification designed to define how the XML language is used to communicate workflow related processes and data between different workflow applications.
- Is derived from the Simple Workflow Access Protocol (SWAP) which had it’s origin in early WfMC work.
- Uses the WfMC abstract specification that defines ***what*** needs to pass between workflows.
- Specifies ***how*** to use the XML language to make it happen.

## Interoperability Abstract

- Defined by Workflow Reference Model
- Specifies models of interoperability: chained, nested and parallel synchronized
- Describes basic interfaces and functions required for interoperability, as well as event data for audit trail

## Wf-XML Version 1.0

- Rapid Approval - Introduced to WfMC in April 1999
- De-scoped and Simplified to Foster Rapid Adoption
- Provides a Subset of Functionality Specified in the Abstract Specification
- Supports Chained and Nested Models, Synchronous or Asynchronous Over Any Transport
- Contains Only Four Basic Operations

## Wf-XML Specifics

- Request - Response Model
- Message Structure: Transport, Header, Body
- Operations:
- CreateProcessInstance
- GetProcessInstanceData
- ChangeProcessInstanceState
- ProcessInstanceStateChanged
- Context-specific Application Data
- Also - Provides a Framework for Making Necessary Business Agreements

## Example Request

- <?xml version="1.0"?>
- <WfMessage Version=”1.0”>
-    <WfMessageHeader>
-       <Request ResponseRequired=”Yes”/>
- 	   <Key>http://www.XYZcompany.com/wfprocess/foo</Key>
-    </WfMessageHeader>
-    <WfMessageBody>
-       <CreateProcessInstance.Request StartImmediately=”true”>
- 	      <ObserverKey>http://www.ABCcompany.com/wfprocessor</ObserverKey>
- 		    <ContextData>
- 		       <Vehicle>
- 		          <VehicleType>Car</VehicleType>
- 		          <Specification>
- 		             <Manufacturer>Mercedes</Manufacturer>
- 		             <Model>450SL</Model>
- 		          </Specification>
- 		       </Vehicle>
- 		       <Customer>John Doe</Customer>
-          </ContextData>
-       </CreateProcessInstance.Request>
-    </WfMessageBody>
- </WfMessage>

## Example Response

- <?xml version="1.0"?>
- <WfMessage Version=”1.0”>
-    <WfMessageHeader>
-       <Response/>
-       <Key>http://www.XYZcompany.com/wfprocess/foo</Key>
-    </WfMessageHeader>
-    <WfMessageBody>
-       <CreateProcessInstance.Response>
-          <ProcessInstanceKey>http://ABCcompany.com/bar</ProcessInstanceKey>
-       </CreateProcessInstance.Response>
-    </WfMessageBody>
- </WfMessage>

## Real-World Application

- Wf-XML predecessor (SWAP) prototyped at GD Electric Boat - Groton, Connecticut USA
- JCALS Workflow Manager and IBM Flowmark demonstrated interoperability for the DARPA SHIIP Project
- Existing JCALS SWAP module being used in Defense Logistics Agency’s (DLA’s) 339 Exchange Project
- JCALS Workflow Manager and Documetrix in production
- Wf-XML version 1.0 being deployed at the U.S. Army’s CECOM
- JCALS Workflow Manager and Auto-trol’s CENTRA 2000 will interoperate via Wf-XML

## CECOM  PDM Integration

## Wf-XML Revisions and Direction

- Addresses New Core Functionality Not Included in Version 1.0
- Enhanced Support for Asynchronous Processing
- Includes Support for Batch Processing/Enveloping
- Leverage and Coordinate with XML Industry Initiatives and Input

## Wf-XML Business Implications

- Continued Interoperability during “Merger- Mania”
- Preserves Existing WF Product Investments
- Provides B2B Interoperable WF Functions
- Not Rocket Science
- Can Use Available XML Skills
- Reduces Integration Costs
- Automates an Essential Business Function