DBMS_SCHEDULER is a newer, more complex job scheduling engine released in 10g, intended to replace DBMS_JOB going forward. DBMS_JOB, the older job scheduler, as of now is still available for quick and easy DB based job scheduling.

Job scheduling comprises the core of the functionality of DBMS_SCHUDULER, however here are some additional benefits available to DBMS_SCHEDULER:

• Logging of job runs (job history)
• Simple but powerful scheduling syntax (similar to but more powerful than cron syntax)
• Running of jobs outside of the database on the operating system (see below)
• Resource management between different classes of jobs
• Use of job arguments including passing of objects into stored procedures
• Privilege-based security model for jobs
• Naming of jobs and comments in jobs
• Stored, reusable schedules

I am excited about BPEL’s proliferation. But for some organizations (specifically, IT shops), BPEL is being used in areas it is simple not well-suited. For example, some places where IT has gotten ahead of the business, it is used as a process modeling tool. True, BPEL “represents” a process, it is my opinion that proper business modeling tools be used prior to orchestration being defined in BPEL.

Another scenario I continue to find is that people are using BPEL for just about every piece of logic that goes into a business process being executed. The fact is, BPEL does very well at integrating with other services where complex — and more importantly, “fast-changing” — logic is executed. So, my advise is to not throw away every other tool in the belt in the face of BPEL. Fast-changing decisions are better handled outside of BPEL, especially as you consider the deployment process for BPEL, and most especially if you have long-running processes. Business rules engines, databases, and external services that perform specific logic/functions should continue to be leveraged in these cases. I’d be interested in hearing from others who are concerned about this challenge or maybe have already faced it.

I had the age-old requirement today to build a data-driven, dynamic form…only this time with my RIA written in Adobe Flex. It was just as fun as normal, and this time it looks very nice with the RIA feel.

This article is part of the recent work short blurb series.

The Challenge

M&S was engaged by ABC, a publically traded company, for a multi-national Oracle initiative. Upon joining, M&S recognized the need to easily share, collaborate, and centrally publish information.

The Solution

The value of Web/Enterprise 2.0 social software was no longer a secret reserved only for the most cutting-edge — or as some might have labeled them, “bleeding-edge” — organizations.

The Results

Within two weeks of deciding to implement the M&S solution, the application was available to the customer, hosted by M&S Consulting.

Oracle Corporation has recently published a white paper written by M&S Consulting, where we take the opportunity to outline an integration approach to Salesforce.com using Oracle BPEL.

A Technical Case Study – Creating an Oracle BPEL adapter to integrate with Salesforce.com - Feb 2009

Below is the introduction to the article, which goes on to detail (with step-by-step screenshots) how to achieve integration with Salesforce.com…

SOA Labels

Among their many characteristics, all too often SOA projects have been labeled in their worst moments as:

• Overly complex in architecture, design, and communication to the organization
• Lacking the ability to control costs during implementation and maintenance
• Difficult to attract and retain talent with valuable experience, deep skills, and real success

It’s Not SOA’s Fault

Guess what. None of these are characteristics of SOA, but instead…

I have just had a heck of a time with installing BPA (Architect) Evaluation on a Windows Server 2003 machine. There were no inherent issues with the product itself, but some gotchas that I thought I might point out. For the following, I assumed you are installing on a single machine for testing/evaluation purposes like I was.

For one, if you were familiar with BPA 10.1.3.3, there is no longer an auto-installable olite database option. You must use Oracle XE Universal (or better) and you should have it installed locally prior to installing BPA. Note: You should use XE Universal specifically so you get the AL32UTF8 character set that is expected by the BPA install.

After I got the character set squared away, I continued to receive a database connection error

You lie in wait, looking for your prey, it approaches, and looks around. You spring the trap and
find the spoils of war…the dreaded %20

Ok, maybe not all that exciting, but it brings up an important problem in data conversion and in
application development projects. Namely the importance of input data trapping and input
validation.

Oracle has made some great strides with their BPM and SOA offerings. For M&S, combining process and technology has become even more exciting with Oracle’s tools. For the first time, Oracle has made it possible for our consultants to more easily bring together best of breed solutions (IDS Scheer’s ARIS and Oracle SOA) and leading industry standards (BPMN, BPEL, and BPEL4People) to our implementations, which typically involve some level of process management/improvement and technology automation (workflow and reporting).

Following is a quick image of how each person in an organization fits into our approach when combining process with technology using Oracle technologies:

Oracle BPA Suite 10.1.3.4 is now available from Oracle and has some excellent enhancements, especially in the way of transformation and integration with Oracle BPEL:

Oracle BPA 10.1.3.4 Download for Windows
Oracle_BPA_Suite_10.1.3.4_download.zip

The download comes with:

• Oracle Business Process Architect (Windows)
• Oracle Business Process Publisher (Windows)

Important Note: Unlike the previous Oracle BPA downloads on oracle.com, the 10.1.3.4 download does NOT contain the Oracle Business Process Repository Server (Windows and Solaris).