Top 10 wish list for BOP4 fix pack 1.

2011 will be an exciting year!

One of the reasons is the expected major release for Cordys BOP4: Fix Pack 1! (Maybe already in Q1?)

Though already am a “fan” of the current product (See my blog: Why Cordys BOP4) I have my top 10 wish list ready:


1. BPMN 2.0
As the formal release of BPMN 2.0 is due soon, and 99 percent of the standard is stable I hope for a solid support of this standard in FP1.

Especially extension of the event- and signaling mechanisms, and the addition of compensation constructs would be valuable features!

2. Data modeling
Currently it is possible to define data structures in BOP4. Additional UML class diagram-like modeling would greatly support the process of defining and communicating the business object model in a graphical way. Obviously MDM would profit too.

3. BAM Usability
As I already wrote in an earlier BLOG BAM Imperfections there are several possibilities to improve usability and flexibility of BAM. The good news is that Cordys already committed to these improvements, so expectations are high!

4. Document support BPM
Case Management already supports a kind of out-of-the-box document management. It seems little investment to allow documents to be attached to BPM Instances as well. This would prevent the need for a custom solution based on an external DMS or database solution.

5. Simulation
A fair simulation environment would be a welcome extension to the BOP4 stack. It should allow for defining the expected loads and spread, and the characteristics of the resource capacity. Reports over the simulation runs should allow for proper analysis and process optimization.

6. Complex Event Processing (CEP)
In automated environments where decision making is depending on the combination of several (types of) events Complex Event Processing (CEP) is a must-have. Addition of a CEP module would greatly increase the applicability of BOP4.

7. “Hot” business rules
BOP4 offers great facilities of defining business rules and decision tables. The feature of allowing business to “hot modify” the (values/business parameters of) rules without having to republish or redeploy them would increase the flexibility of the concerned business processes.

8. User interface: modeling versus scripting
For some fairly basic UI functions it takes java scripting in BOP4 (Example: the invocation of a business process). It would improve development efficiency to allow developers to model such behavior instead of scripting it.

9. BPM Complex Mapping
The BPM data mapping possibilities in BOP4 are quiet sophisticated. However certain types of mappings are not yet supported in the BPM mapping tool, where the underlying technology XSLT would allow so. Example: the mapping of two lists onto each other. One of the work arounds is to model these mappings in the BPM itself, obscuring the intended business functionality. Extension of the mapping functionality would prevent this necessity.

10. Reporting
Where BOP4 offers fairly advanced BAM functionality, plain reporting functionality is missing.
As the Cordys Process Factory (CPF) offers reporting functionality it should also not be rocket science to get it available for BOP4 too.

As Cordys claims the BOP4 product itself is the most valuable marketing instrument I have great expectations and I hope that (a late Santa) will generously fill my sock!


Harald van der Weel