DMN 1.1 is the first implementable version of the standard. The spec is done, but won't be released to the public until mid-2016. A lot of work went into it, so people are surprised at all the things that are not in it: Business glossary. Howls of anguish went out online when it was revealed that DMN would not specify a Business glossary, a business-maintained data dictionary for decision models. Actually, all of the elements that go into the glossary - the element's name, description, datatype, allowed values, etc.
By:
Bruce Silver
December 29, 2016
dmn
Read More
One of the singular successes of BPM technology is a common language - BPMN - used both for process modeling and executable design. At least in theory.... In reality, the BPMN created by the business analyst to represent the business requirements for implementation often bears little resemblance to the BPMN created by the BPMS developer, which must cope with real-world details of application integration. That not only weakens the business-IT collaboration so central to BPM's promise of business agility, but it leads to BPMN that must be revised whenever any backend system is updated or changed.
In the most significant enhancement to its BPMS since the Lombardi acquisition, IBM revealed at Impact this week that case management functionality will be a native feature of BPM 8.5.5, the June 2014 release. I hesitate to say IBM "announced" it, because it was barely mentioned at Impact. In fact, far more attention was paid to IBM Case Manager, aka Filenet P8, even though nothing new was announced for that product, which has had integration with BPM since the version 7 BPEL offering!
Merging BPMN and CMMN standards in OMG is, for the moment at least, a dead issue. The question remains how best to visually represent logic formerly known as case management, which I will henceforth refer to as responsive processes. Responsive processes are driven forward by events (including ad-hoc user action) and conditions, rather than by sequence flow. In a responsive process, an activity is enabled to start when its preconditions are satisfied.
I am happy to announce a brand new class, DMN Method and Style Basics, based on the Trisotech DMN Modeler, tailored for business users. The training includes 60-day use of the Trisotech Digital Enterprise Suite and post-class certification. Click here to register. Until October 31, we are offering it for the special price of $295, after which the price will revert to the standard price of $695. By the end of the year, I plan to add a follow-on DMN Method and Style Advanced class, for more technical decision modelers.
By:
Bruce Silver
December 29, 2016
dmn
Read More
If you're like most people trying to find out about DMN by reading the spec, you focus on the diagrams and examples. And you probably come away thinking, Yikes, what a mess! The thing that elicits this response from most people is the proliferation of business knowledge models (BKMs), those rectangles with clipped corners that seem to be stuffed in every nook and cranny of the DRD. But here's the thing: Unless you want to expose that bit of decision logic for reuse, BKMs are unnecessary.
By:
Bruce Silver
December 29, 2016
dmn
Read More
I've been heads-down for a while working on a new book and training: DMN Method and Style. The Decision Modeling and Notation standard now promises to transform the world of proprietary decision management software in the same way that BPMN upended the world of workflow, EAI, and business process analysis software a decade ago. Do we even use those terms any more?? DMN is a business-oriented graphical language that is both descriptive and executable.
By:
Bruce Silver
December 29, 2016
dmn
Read More
bpmNEXT 2016 just concluded its fourth event this week in Santa Barbara, and it was even better than ever! One highlight for me was the rapid pace of progress in DMN implementation. Before this event I was beginning to despair that tool vendors would implement only the barest outlines of DMN, nothing that could fulfill the promise of a business-friendly, model-based, executable, tool-independent decision language. Instead I come away energized and excited!
By:
Bruce Silver
December 29, 2016
dmn
Read More
Since my last post on the current state of the DMN tools market, I've learned a bit more from a few vendors... Sapiens Decision The Decision Model, on which the Sapiens offering is based, can be viewed as a progenitor of DMN, but I was unaware of Sapiens' intent to support the DMN standard in their offerings. That is significant. Where most DMN tools start with barebones decision modeling, Sapiens enters the market with all the bells and whistles needed to support production use today in decision-intensive industries such as global banks: business glossary, intensive role-based governance and audit trail, and of course the "
By:
Bruce Silver
December 29, 2016
dmn
Read More
It's still early days for DMN, but a number of tools are available or have been publicly demonstrated. Here is my impression of where we are at the moment. DecisionsFirst Modeler James Taylor's free DecisionsFirst Modeler was one of the first DMN tools available. It allows a business user to draw DRDs and enter a wealth of business context behind each decision node. Instead of providing a DMN native decision logic editor for decision tables and literal expressions, it links to "
By:
Bruce Silver
December 29, 2016
dmn
Read More
