Waldo Smeets .com on Rich Internet Applications

Recently I was asked by a large system integrator about Adobe’s standpoint on the Business Process Modelling Notation (BMPN) specification.

Not many people know that Adobe participates in quite some industry standards and supports their maturity/evolution such as BPMN, BPEL, BPDM and XPDL and that we are voting members of standard bodies such as OMG, OASIS and WFMC. Adobe is represented in all these standards bodies and actively participates in reviewing and authoring of these standards. We take a lot of that knowledge back into the decisions we make when developing our enterprise products, especially Adobe’s LiveCycle Enterprise Suite.

BPMN (Business Process Modelling Notation) is a specification for a couple of things:

• A graphical notation. E.g. How different activities are represented in a process diagram.
• Semantics of the graphical notation. E.g. What does it mean when you connect activities with a line.

From wikipedia:

The primary goal of BPMN is to provide a standard notation that is readily understandable by all business stakeholders. These business stakeholders include the business analysts who create and refine the processes, the technical developers responsible for implementing the processes, and the business managers who monitor and manage the processes. Consequently BPMN is intended to serve as common language to bridge the communication gap that frequently occurs between business process design and implementation.

Using the Process perspective in LiveCycle Workbench, one can visually create process maps that define and control your automated business processes. Since Workbench implements the main constructs for the graphical notation and the semantics of that notation as specified by BPMN, business analysts can create process diagrams using swimlanes, activities, events and associations following common modeling methodologies (we still have a gap to cover when it comes to modeling of Gateways).

To summarize: if you have been trained in BPMN, you will find it easy to model a process using LiveCycle Workbench.

If you want to read more on Adobe’s comments on BPEL and general standards, you should read this article on de LiveCycle DevNet:

ps: One should know that the current BPMN spec (v1.1) does not specify how a process diagram should be persisted by a modeling tool. There is no XML schema for example. However, there is another specification - XDPL - which does provide this and the BPMN v2 specification currently in review also has a defined schema for persistence. Since standards have not been defined or widely accepted, LiveCycle Workbench currently persist that process definition using custom XML for which Adobe has publish the XML Schema (which after installation can be found under the LiveCycle SDK/schema directory).

Tags: bpmn, business process modelling, livecycle es, workbench

[from my DrFlex blogpost]

Disease:
You have built an amazing cool and data intense Rich Internet Application with Adobe Flex and expect many users to work with your application. Suddenly you get concerned; how will the server behave when hundreds or even thousands of users visit your site?

Prescription:
Some more background on this problem first; You probably know that a server in production will behave differently when interacting with a RIA than compared to serving traditional HTML apps that you have been building before.  This is mainly because UIs are not generated on the server any more. Though on the other side, there is probably increased data exchange between the client and server and most of all…. ideally you use the ActionScript Message Format (AMF) and Data Management cause it is easier to develop or faster on the client.  But how does it impact the server, can it handle the load and do traditional load testing tools still work?

Adobe currently hosts the LiveCycle Data Services Stress Testing Framework on Adobe Labs which addresses lots of these questions. The framework helps developers that use LiveCycle Data Services ES 2.6 to load test the server-side implementation of their LCDS applications. The page is stuffed with information on how to use the Framework so definitely spend some time going through all the details. The Data Services Stress Testing Framework is currently in beta form, but available for testing and evaluation. You can download and test the framework and we obviously hope you will provide us your feedback through the Adobe Labs page.

Tips to stay healthy:
The stress / load testing problem itself has been around for long, and many software vendors have created solutions to help web developers test their servers for large rollouts. However, most of these solutions are still based on the traditional HTML web metaphor and do not work well with AMF. Also, the Data Services Stress Testing Framework currently does not support BlazeDS or other AMF server implementations. Adobe is currently working with a number of testing tool vendors to implement all of the data transport protocols available in Flash. It seems that Borland’s SilkPerformer is one of the first to have AMF3 support. I have not worked with it myself and would love your feedback. Obviously if you know of other tools that are useful for load testing your Flex applications, feel free to leave a comment!

ps: I heard internally that we are working on a new Capacity Planning Guide for LiveCycle Data Services ES 2.6 whitepaper, but it has not yet been finalized. I assume it will be posted in the coming weeks on the LiveCycle Development Center so stay tuned.

[For more DrFlex and DrLiveCycle related posts check www.drflex.eu and www.drlivecycle.eu.]

I received an email (in Dutch) from one of the members of the Dutch Flex user group FLUGR with a call for papers (sorry, Dutch only). If you have cool ideas to present during the Flex Camp they’d love to receive your submissions!

Op 13 november 2008 vindt een “Flex Camp” plaats, met onder andere grote sprekers als Christophe Coenraets en James Ward.

Vanwege het speciale karakter en de grote sprekers, hebben we er voor gekozen de reguliere meeting van 13 november te “upgraden” naar een FlexCamp. Dit houdt in dat de dag gevuld is met veel korte sessies over een concreet onderwerp, met veel ruimte voor interactie. Naast presentatie-sessies is er ook ruimte voor zogenaamde “un-conference” sessies waar over een specifiek onderwerp gediscussieerd kan worden. De dag wordt zo opgezet dat er op elk moment voor iedereen iets interessants te doen of te beluisteren is.

Naast de bekende namen vanuit Adobe, willen we als Nederlandse usergroup laten zien wat we in huis hebben. Naast de al geplande onderwerpen hebben we de mogelijkheid gecreëerd voor een aantal kortere, specifieke sessies. Voor jou dé kans om een Flex gerelateerd onderwerp uit te diepen voor collega Flex ontwikkelaars. Denk daarbij aan sessies van 20 minuten tot een half uur over onderwerpen als “Offline Reporting in Rich Internet Applications”, “High Performance Data Manipulation & Visualization with Flex” of “Financial Portals with Flex: challenges and solutions”.

Het publiek bestaat uit ervaren en beginnende Flex ontwikkelaars. Hoe concreter het verhaal des te interessanter. Kennisdeling is door veel FLUGR leden opgegeven als reden om zich aan te melden. Grijp deze kans en vertel anderen wat je weet.

Denk je er over om een sessie voor je rekening nemen? Meldt je aan met de volgende gegevens

• Titel van de sessie
• Naam / namen van de spreker(s)
• Korte omschrijving van de sessie (minimaal 100 woorden)
• Niveau (beginner / intermediate / advanced)

Twijfel je of je een sessie voor je rekening wilt nemen? Laat het ons weten. Misschien kunnen wij je in contact brengen met een andere twijfelaar zodat je gezamenlijk een interessante sessie kunt neerzetten.

Stuur je aanmelding uiterlijk vrijdag 17 oktober 2008 naar sieto-apestaart-flugr.nl. Wij verzamelen de inzendingen en nemen vóór woensdag 22 oktober contact met je op.

Adobe Benelux Sales Engineers will be sharing more and more of their knowledge publicly this year. Next to the DrLivecycle initiatives I announced yesterday, we’ll also be hosting some LiveCycle Up2Date seminars which provide more background information on specific Adobe LiveCycle ES modules.

This Thursday (Netherlands) and next week (Belgium) we’ll be hosting the first seminar, this one is on Document Security. From the site:

Document control and digital signatures protect electronic documents

The Adobe suite of security solutions delivers document control and digital signature services that simplify the process of protecting sensitive electronic documents and forms. Organizations can easily integrate Adobe document security solutions into current business processes and enterprise infrastructure to support a wide range of simple and complex processes. Adobe solutions dynamically protect electronic documents inside and outside the network, online and offline to provide persistent, end-to-end protection throughout an electronic document’s lifecycle.
June 12th 2008, Adobe Offices, Amsterdam
Agenda:
10h-11h: Presentation by an Adobe Systems Engineer
11h-12h: Adobe forms within the financial world, Tim Binsted, Atos Origin

June 19th 2008, Adobe Offices, Diegem
Agenda:
10h-11h: Presentation by an Adobe Systems Engineer
11h-12h: How to use e-ID and Adobe Reader and PDF technology to electronically sign
documents in a web based application? Hugues Dorchy, The e-ID Company

Register for the event at the Adobe Up2date seminars page.

Hope to see you there!

The Adobe Netherlands and Belgium presales team has started the “dr Flex & dr LiveCycle” weblog. Combined with the blog we are hosting a series of small consult-style meetings over the next few months. The idea is to be available one day per month for enterprise level questions and discussions on Adobe LiveCycle ES and Adobe Flex. So if you are an enterprise user of the Adobe software, feel free to drop by at one of these meetings. Please note that we won’t cover generic support questions, Adobe already has some good channels to address those

“During these sessions “Dr Flex & Dr LiveCycle”, observe your common Flex & LC symptoms. They advise on how to implement Adobe Enterprise Software and work in a healthy IT environment by giving you a FREE ‘health check’ session.”

The blog has a bit of a broader scope, including less enterprise specific tips and tricks about Flex and LiveCycle, but as times goes by we hope to add a nice Benelux taste to the content!

ps: We are starting the blog and the consults very low profile, but personally I have the hopes that finally these types of discussions will move into an Adobe Enterprise Developers usergroup, so let’s see where we get. I know a discussion about this topic is already ongoing at a few Adobe partners with the founders of the Adobe Flex User Group, so let’s see where things end. We definitely plan to leverage the usergroups as much as we can (some of us will be attending the first Flugr meeting later this week).

Check out www.flugr.nl (love the name!) and join the Dutch Flex User Group  aka Nederlandse Flex User Group.

This is supposed to be a true community where Dutch speaking Flex developers are sharing all relevant information with each other. I am looking forward to some real technical deep sessions coming from them, without the sales pitch I always mix in when I present

First meeting is scheduled for friday 13th (no kidding) june. I know the guys behind this initiative and they are truely talented and very passionate so I hope you will join them and share the love!

[Note: this job opening has been filled per March 1st. Welcome Klaasjan Tukker to Adobe ]

We have a new position open in the Adobe Benelux offices, namely a Business Development Manager for the Creative Pro Market. You will be joining a new-formed team of sales and creative people that spans across the Benelux. Even though the BDM role sounds extremely business focused, it actually requires that you have a fair amount of knowledge of the creative industry and have a deep understanding of what our customers are using our products for, and last but not least… you know how to use them yourself!

So if you have that unique combination of creative skills enabled by Adobe products and would like to evangelize them in a business oriented matter, then we are looking for you.

I have posted the official job description below - I haven’t seen it posted on the Adobe Jobs site yet. If you have interest, feel free to send me your résumé by email and I will forward it to the appropriate people.

ps: If you know Serge Jespers, the role we are looking for is similiar to his (obviously it’s also up to you to fullfil the role the way you envision it). Serge has been promoted and will be joining the platform evangelist team under Mike Downey and Ben Forta, being one of the leading evangelists for Europe and probably traveling across the entire world! Obviously we are looking for a new talent to fulfill his role in the Benelux, but you might realize that it’s not easy to par up with what Serge has been doing

A focused, technical, business savvy, Business Development Manager for the Creative Pro market. Based in BeLux this BDM will evaluate and manage new strategic business opportunities, initiatives, and partnerships. Oversees market analysis, monitors competitive activity, and identifies customer needs. Provides leadership in planning, designing and implementation of strategic business objectives. The successful candidate will be an experienced and polished presenter with extensive knowledge of the Multi Media landscape.

Main responsibilities

• Working with channel Sales, M&P Account Managers and Marketing on sales opportunities for the Creative Pro key product offerings with a specific emphasis on Multi Media solutions.
• Presenting at customer briefings/ tradeshows /user groups sessions/train the trainers sessions etc.
• Doing coop EU visits together with resellers and partners.
• Create vertical solution targeted business plans which align with the Adobe corporate objectives.
• Evangelize overall Creative Pro product offering within associated verticals.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Good industry knowledge in design, print and web publishing, ability to communicate with different levels of people, articulate and credibly discuss industry issues, trends and business solutions with customers/prospects would be a key asset.
• At least 5 years of progressive experience in selling software and proven track record in meeting/exceeding the sales quota strong ability to influence people and align remote teams to achieve agreed goals and objectives, establish good working relationship with channel partner & customer able to work under pressure in fast changing environment.
• Thorough understanding of the Creative Pro sector.
• Experience in evangelizing solution offerings within the Multi Media industry having been involved in sales at some level.
• Excellent presentation (demo) skills.
• Business planning enabled/motivated.
• Highly motivated individuals with good written, spoken and presentation skills.
• Language skills: Fluency in English, French and Dutch.
• Demonstrated leadership skills and excellent interpersonal skills.
• Outgoing personality and be a self-starter.
• Confidence, mature, aggressive and results-oriented.
• Degree in computer science, business or related disciplines.

We released a very interesting dutch magazine on Customer Engagement (request print here) that we created for Adobe Business Exchange - the conference for business and marketing managers regarding Customer Engagement through the internet which takes place in The Hague on October 25th.

The magazine has the subtitle “The challange of customer engagement - stay ahead of the game” and features case studies and background articles on how customers have been using Adobe technology to improve customer (and employee) engagement:

• Philips talks about how and why they used Flex and AIR on top of SAP
• Robeco explains why offering proper product information is a Unique Selling Point and how Flex helps here
• DutchView talks more about video experiences and how they teamed with Adobe to deliver a scalable end-to-end solution for the Dutch market to use
• AXA tells how they used PDF and Adobe LiveCycle to streamline business processes
• Belgacom has a case study on how they used Flex to deliver their Rich Internet TV experience
• Adobe’s own Jeff Whatcott explains the Adobe Engagement Platform
• SAP explains why it partnered with Adobe to deliver better frontends to their business applications
• And more business information articles on Web 2.0 within enterprises, document archiving, and customer self service

Adobe is more and more moving into these business oriented events. The setting is obviously different than the designer and developer conferences: more ROI talks, many case studies, well known managers explaining their vision and last but not least…. more suits! To highlight some of this years visionary presenters:

• Forrester Research - How to build loyalty with every interaction?
• ABN AMRO, Peter Wonder, executive vice president - on digital document workflows
• Philips, Gilles Domartini, VP & General Manager Online Sales and Marketing - on Philips’ online business transformatie strategy
• SAP - on Business Network Transformation
• Adobe, Jeff Whatcott, Executive Vice President - on The Challenge of Customer Engagement

In the afternoon there will by more presentations by Robeco, Johan Enschede Amsterdam, DutchView, Philips Lighthing and many more. You can read more and register through www.adobe-business-exchange.com/nl/ or through this PDF.

Rich Internet Applications are entering the enterprise and get deployed behind the firewall. Philips - one of the worlds leading technology companies - has recently rolled out a Flex and AIR based application on top of SAP (the AIR app was developed by the guys at Apollogic).

The application is used by Key Account Managers and is a new user interface on top of SAP CRM, making those managers more productive when maintaining pricelists for their customers. The application is deployed online - integrated in the SAP pages, as well as off-line as an AIR application. The results are fantastic, because of this new interface account managers have become more productive and increased the frequency with which they maintain customer specific information, which is better for Philips and better for the customers.

Because of AIR they can now also easily access the data, which is normally stuck behind the firewall, in a safe and managed way whilst they are on the road. They can make price change proposals offline, and the AIR application routes everything back to SAP as soon as it gets connected.

This is a true SOA application that combines the best of Flex and AIR with the best of SAP. Rich DataGrids make the data more accessible, Batch Updates (leveraging SAP webservices) keep account managers more productive and Charts help them to better analyze the data. Last but not least they do Enterprise Mashups by pulling data from different backend systems into a single frontend.

Because if the Sence and Simplicity of the application I can not (yet) show you a recording of it, but we have published a case study (sorry, Dutch only right now) in which we interview the manager that came up with this idea. I’m sharing the document below, using Adobe’s new Document Sharing Service (the YouTube for documents?):

Adobe MAX Europe is less than a month away, and we already have more than 100 registrations of designers and developers from Belgium and Netherlands. Whilst MAX is a great event to network across Europe and to meet experts from Adobe, it apparently also is a great opportunity to meet your local colleagues! So if you are from The Netherlands or Belgium and have not registered yet, you have no excuse to go to your boss and get his approval…. you are not the only one going and maybe your competition is, so you should

Given that Benelux is only a small region in Europe, MAX promises to be a gigantic European web developer event!