Getting Started With Oracle BPM 11g

In a previous blog post I wrote a step by step guide on how to install Oracle BPM 11g. That was all good and well, but now what?

The first thing I would suggest you do is go and by the book Getting Started with Oracle BPM Suite 11gR1 – A Hands-On Tutorial. Read that book cover to cover and go through the labs. It provides very good information and a great sample application that you build from scratch throughout the book. If you’re like me and you want to first play with the software a little bit before you go reading a 500 and some-odd page book, Oracle allows you download the same application that you create in the book.

To download the sample application, go to:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bpm/learnmore/index.html

Browse down to the Samples and Demos section for the link. The sample application is called the Sales Quote Demo and is a BPM process where sales people enter in a quote into the process system, have the quote go through approvals and reviews, perform some automated routing, and finalize the quote.

Once you download the sample application and unzip it there are two documents to help you set up and run it. The first doc is the ‘Setup Instructions’, it takes you step by step through prepping your environment for the application. It walks you through the steps of creating your schema, setting up the WebLogic server, seeding the LDAP, connecting JDeveloper (or BPM studio if you prefer) to the MDS, deploying the project, setting up the groups, and mapping the LDAP users to the process roles. The guide is very good and I didn’t have any problems following through it step by step and deploying the application.

The second document is the ‘Understand and Run’ guide. This document has two sections. The first section goes through the process design and describes the logic behind it. The second section walks you through actually running the application and the end-user experience. Just like the Setup document, this guide is pretty straightforward and easy to follow. Unlike the Setup document, when you go through this guide you actually learn a little bit about Oracle BPM 11g and how it works.

Downloading the Sales Quote Demo and deploying it isn’t a replacement for reading the book I mentioned above or going to a training course, but it is a very good jumping off point. If you like dry reads you can download the various guides that Oracle has for BPM. The guides are all located at:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E17904_01/nav/portal_booklist.htm

The guides are actually invaluable and for Oracle BPM 11g I would recommend downloading the following and putting them into your library:

• Quick Installation Guide for Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite
• Installation Guide for Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite
• Modeling and Implementation Guide for Oracle Business Process Management
• Administrator’s Guide for Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite
• User’s Guide for Oracle Business Rules
• Business Process Composer User’s Guide for Oracle Business Process Management
• User’s Guide for Oracle Business Process Management

Going through these steps, setting up the Sales Quote Demo application, and reviewing it is a great way to start off learning BPM and I highly suggest it. Good luck!

John Linehan
ImageSource, Inc.