IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Get started with IBM BPM

Release summary


What's new

IBM BPM V8.0.1 provides numerous new product features and various enhancements and improvements to existing product capabilities. See the complete list of new product features and enhanced capabilities for IBM BPM V8.0.1.

What's new in IBM BPM V8.0.1


Improvements

Review the most important improvements and fixes that have been made to existing features in IBM BPM V8.0.1.

Enhanced IBM BPM Process Portal

IBM Process Portal is enhanced so that process participants can work more efficiently and effectively. Process Portal now includes the following features:

  • Ability to bookmark a page to replace the default Process Portal start page

  • Support for IBM Connections integration, which enables the default Process Portal business card to be replaced with the Connections business card
  • Improved logon and dashboard performance

Process Portal: What’s new in IBM BPM
Get started with Process Portal
Enabling IBM Connections integration for business card support in Process Portal

Improved Coach Designer increases productivity and is easier to use for business process authors

In IBM BPM V8.0.1, Coach Designer includes the following enhancements:

  • Improved configuration property pages that group related properties and that more effectively display properties that are business objects and lists
  • Improved support for binding UI components

  • Additional stock controls
  • Enhanced support for validating user data

  • Ability to edit .CSS files when they are added as web files

  • Ability to generate portlet wrappers for human services that are exposed as dashboards. The generated JSR 286 portlets can be incorporated into WebSphere Portal.

Generate portlets for human services exposed as dashboards

Strengthened lifecycle and governance capabilities integrate IBM BPM into the broader Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) processes

You can develop custom governance processes and assign them to individual process applications. Templates provide the basic resources for creating processes that govern installation or provide notifications of a change in the status of a snapshot. Governance processes must be developed using these templates. You can also use the governance services to design a process that installs a snapshot of a process application on a server automatically when the status changes.

IBM BPM includes the following enhanced governance and lifecycle processes:

  • Improved ability to define and select custom governance and lifecycle processes at the process application level
  • Templates that provide default governance processes
  • Sample governance processes to get you started

Applying governance to a process application

Visibility into process data flow enhances productivity for business process authors

  • IBM BPM V8.0.1 introduces data flow visualization that allows you to view how information flows through the business process. Use the new data visualization option in IBM Process Designer to create a visual representation of a selected business process definition (BPD). The visualization is displayed in a new web browser window. It contains the web-based diagram view of the BPD. You can select data variables or tag groups for visualization.
  • Enhanced tagging capability allows you to create custom tag groups with user-defined values. Tag groups provide unique ways to classify a common set of assets. The assets can be rendered in a window that helps you visualize associations between process components.

Visualizing process data

Enriched business processes react to lifecycle events of critical business documents and content in Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems

IBM BPM V8.0.1 delivers capabilities for creating sophisticated business processes that can initiate processes or react in running processes based on content events that occur in an ECM system, such as when documents, folders, or their properties are created, updated, deleted, checked in, or checked out.

Business process authors can accomplish the following tasks:

  • Model content events for detection by IBM BPM processes
  • Graphically define processes that react to the content events

  • Create and configure event subscriptions that subscribe to content events

IBM BPM V8.0.1 provides an event handler that can be installed and configured in IBM FileNet Content Manager V5.1 or later. IBM BPM V8.0.1 also provides documentation on how to create event handlers for other ECM systems.

Inbound events from Enterprise Content Management systems
Use the event handler for FileNet Content Manager
Create an event handler for an Enterprise Content Management system
REST interface for BPD-related resources - ECM Event resource

Linking enhancements integrate IBM BPM with external environments

When you work with process applications or toolkits, you might need to link to related information that is outside of the IBM BPM environment.

You can now create document links that other products, such as IBM Rational Team Concert™, can use to link to process design artifacts.

IBM BPM includes the following enhanced reference link capabilities:

  • Define relationship types between process artifacts and referenced artifacts
  • Define types, such as requirements and defects, for reference links

  • Create document links that other products, such as IBM Rational Team Concert, can to link to process design artifacts
  • Extend the reference linking capabilities to file attachments
  • Provide API to query and report on reference links. To retrieve reference links in the current process application or toolkit, you can use a specialized reference link API in your application.

Linking to external information

Improved web services integration simplifies incorporating web services

Integration improvements between business processes and web services makes incorporating web services easier in IBM BPM V8.0.1.

  • External web services no longer need to update their target namespace each time a snapshot is made of a process application.

  • If you use a Web Service Integration step to call an outbound web service, your step can catch and handle faults.
  • Continued improvements to support BPMN 2.0 error handling mean that web service faults in process applications are easily handled.

Create an inbound web service

Streamlined installation and configuration deliver faster time-to-value

IBM BPM V8.0.1 includes the following features that improve the installation experience and make it easier to get business processes up and running:

  • Simplified and improved response files for installing IBM BPM

  • Added more customization suitable for production topologies with enhancements to the Deployment Environment wizard and configureNode scripted installation

  • Integrated the bootstrapProcessServerData command for deployment environments
  • Enhanced problem determination and serviceability

  • Added z/OS in the Interactive Installation and Configuration Guide

  • Added multiple version support to the IBM BPM for z/OS V8.0.1 extension file for the z/OS Profile Management Tool

Interactive Installation and Configuration Guide


Deprecated features

IBM BPM extends capabilities found in previous versions of WebSphere Integration Developer, WebSphere Lombardi Edition, IBM BPM, WebSphere Process Server, WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus, and other IBM business process management products.

See a summary of product features that are deprecated and removed in IBM BPM V8.0.1:

Deprecated and removed features of IBM BPM:


System requirements

Review the system requirements and ensure that they are met before installing each product in the IBM BPM V8.0.1 suite.

IBM BPM Advanced

IBM BPM Advanced detailed system requirements

IBM BPM Standard

IBM BPM Standard detailed system requirements

IBM BPM Express

IBM BPM Express detailed system requirements

IBM BPM Tools & Add-Ons

IBM BPM Tools & Add-Ons detailed system requirements

IBM Integration Designer

IBM Integration Designer detailed system requirements

IBM Business Monitor

IBM Business Monitor and WebSphere Business Monitor detailed system requirements


Release notes

Check the release notes on the Support website for limitations and workarounds.

IBM BPM Advanced

http://www.ibm.com/support/search.wss?q=ibpma801relnotes

IBM BPM Standard

http://www.ibm.com/support/search.wss?q=ibpms801relnotes

IBM BPM Express

http://www.ibm.com/support/search.wss?q=ibpme801relnotes

IBM Integration Designer

http://www.ibm.com/support/search.wss?q=iid801relnotes

IBM Business Monitor

http://www.ibm.com/support/search.wss?q=mon801relnotes

Process Designer

http://www.ibm.com/support/search.wss?q=pd801relnotes

Business Space

http://www.ibm.com/support/search.wss?q=bsp801relnotes


Additional resources

Use the following resources to access the IBM BPM community links and share knowledge and resources.

IBM BPM Community Wiki

Find and share knowledge about IBM Business Process and Decision Management with other practitioners and users. The IBM BPM Community wiki is also where you find the WebSphere Lombardi Edition and Lombardi Teamworks community content.

IBM BPM Community

Sample Exchange

Find and share sample applications, toolkits, and other code you can use in your IBM Business Process and Decision Management solutions.

Sample Exchange


Service releases

None


Related concepts:
What's new in IBM BPM V8.0.1


Related information:
Deprecated and removed features: