Analysis and simulation of business solutions in a service-oriented architecture

Abstract

Modeling and simulation of business processes is a powerful capability for analysis of business solutions in a service-oriented architecture (SOA). In this paper, we describe analysis techniques that are applicable during the design-time and runtime development of business solutions to estimate business process performance. During the design phase, our analysis framework converts the business process model, which is annotated with additional information, into a more granular model by using an underlying middleware model that describes all the middleware components in an SOA. The resulting model can then be evaluated in terms of performance and cost. We discuss a prototype implementation that uses WebSphere® Business Integration (WBI) Modeler and present the results of a case study. After the design phase, several services required to support the business process execution may exist, but others may need to be newly developed. Our runtime simulation framework supports this by allowing users to simulate implementation models consisting of real and simulated services for function and performance testing. Furthermore, when new services are available, they can be easily included in the analysis by switching from the Simulator to the new service. We discuss a prototype implementation for this capability that uses the Process Choreographer of WBI Server Foundation and present results of a case study. © Copyright 2005 by International Business Machines Corporation.