There's been quite a bit of confusion and controversy over the role Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) plays in gluing business processes together with an SOA context. Some analysts even say that BPEL is not a language, it's not a about the business, and it has nothing to do with process.
In this TechTarget article, Daniel Rubio addresses some of these questions and connects the dots between Business Process Execution Language and business process execution.
Rubio reminds us that business processes are created in the minds of business managers, with technology being a secondary consideration.
When the specifications are handed down to IT folks to make the vision happen, this is where BPEL comes into play. "In the same technical context as SOAP, WSDL and WS-* standards play a role in creating individual Web services," Rubio relates, BPEL "focuses on the technical requirements needed to materialize a business process made up from Web services."
Prior to BPEL deployment, however, "a business process be broken down into manageable units of work, allowing each unit to be owned, developed and tested separately," Rubio observes. This serves not only to increase "manageability through the classical divide-and-conquer development approach, but also simplifies many design issues involved with Web services."
BPEL is then engaged through BPEL engines or business process management tools.
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