ibm case foundation overview

02 February 2014 © Susanth Kurunthil 2014

IBM Case Foundation

Overview

© Susanth Kurunthil 2014 2

IBM Case Foundation

• An integrated enterprise content and process management platform

• Provides robust and secure content management capabilities

• Allows automation of content enabled business processes

• Formerly known as FileNet Business Process Manager

• Current version is P8 5.2

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IBM CASE

FOUNDATION


Enterprise Content Management

AIIM DefinitionEnterprise Content Management is the strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization's unstructured information, wherever that information exists.

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Why Manage Content?

• 80% of an organization’s information is unstructured

• Could be scattered in paper, desktops, shared drives, emails etc.

• Lots of time and effort spent in locating information

• Litigation or disaster risks high if unstructured content is not properly managed

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?


Business Process Management

• Automates business process flows• Presents information to user or systems to

make business decisions• Routes work from one processor

(user/system) to the next one• Uses defined business rules to evaluate

outcomes• Enforces SLAs and monitors deadlines

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RR


The ECM Umbrella

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Capture Process Management

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Man

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Content Analytics Web Content Management

Dig

ital A

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Emai

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t eDis

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Activity Monitoring

Rendition Management

Adap

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Case

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ECM Benefits

• Cost reduction• Improved productivity• Efficient decision making• Faster turn-around times• Enhanced customer experience• Better litigation readiness• Improved disaster recovery capability• Higher degree of compliance adherence• .. and a lot more …

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C


Important Notes

• The term FileNet is used interchangeably with IBM ECM

• The information is current as of April 2014 • Based on IBM Case Foundation 5.2 • Information presented is based on the

author’s understanding of the platform• No warranties

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!


Content Management Features …

• Metadata– System metadata

• Creation date• Mime type• ...

– Custom metadata– Metadata type

• Classes• Properties

2013/05/112

Invoice Number

ACME Corporation

Vendor

24-May-2013

Date

ACME Invoice May 2013

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• Storage– Metadata

• Database

– Content• Database• File system• Fixed content device

2013/05/112Invoice Number

ACME Corporation

Vendor

24-May-2013

Date

ACME Invoice May 2013

File SystemDatabaseFixed Content DeviceDatabase

Metadata Content

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• Security– LDAP authentication– Authorization

• Content security• Process security

• Versioning• Events• Content life cycles


DRAFT

REVIEW

APPROVE

PUBLISH

CLOSE

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• Content indexing• Search• Classification• Entry templates• Retention & holds• Auditing

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43

2

15 6


System Organization …

• Domain– Highest abstraction level– Boundary for all components to interact

with each other• Site

– Geographical location within a domainFILENET DOMAIN

Site 1: New York(default)

Site 2: Tokyo

Site 3: Melbourne

Site 4: Bangalore

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• Virtual server– Logical service point for the clients– One or more physical servers

• Server instance– Provides a set of content and process management

services to a client application– Referred to as a Content Platform Engine (CPE)

• Database Connection

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• Object store– Content management repository– Independent container that holds various objects – Boundary for its metadata definition and security

models– Highly scalable repository and can hold billions of

objects– Has a database associated with it– Can have multiple storage and index areas

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Object Store

Object Store

OBJECT STORE

OBJECT STORE


STORAGE

AREA

STORAGE

AREA


• Index area– Container for one or more indexes– Indexes used for full-text searches

• Storage area– Container for content storage– Configured for file storage, fixed storage, or

database storage• Content Cache Area

– Caches recently accessed content through CPE

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CACHE AREA

INDEX AREA

INDEX AREA



• Fixed content device– Storage device provided by an independent

software vendor• Add-on Feature

– Contains custom metadata and data that support extensions to CPE features

• Marking Set– provides an additional layer of security on CPE

objects

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FIXED CONTENT

DEVICE


Object Stores

• Object store is a repository that stores objects• Objects : virtual representation of entities

with definitive states and behaviors• Two types of objects

– Versionable– Non-versionable

• All objects have metadata• Metadata can be system or user defined

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Object Store

Object Store

OBJECT STORE

OBJECT STORE

Object Store

Object Store

OBJECT STORE

OBJECT STORE


Objects

• Three types of objects– Documents– Folders– Custom objects

• All three types of objects– Have metadata– Are independently securable– Instance of a class

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Docum

ent

Folder

Custom Object


Classes

• Definition of an object type• A template to create an object• Defines the metadata structure of an object• Multiple pre-defined classes including

– Document class– Folder class– Custom object class

• Define own classes • Derive from existing ones

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CLASS .


Properties

• Class is a collection of properties• Property is a definition of a field type• Property has names, data type, cardinality etc.• Property is an instance of a Property Template

Invoice class

Invoice Number Text 25 X1

Invoice Date Date X2

Comments Text 99 4

Vendor Text 50 X3

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Property Templates

• Master definition of a property• Defines attributes of a property• Identified uniquely by a symbolic name• Can be added to multiple classes• Can be added to a class only once• Some of the attributes may be overridden

while adding to a class. Eg. The length of a text property could be changed in a class property

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Choice Lists

• Predefined sets of values for a property

• Enforces data value integrity• Forces users to choose from a set of

values• Can be hierarchical• Assigned at the property template

level

- Cash

- Cheque

- Credit card

- Master card

- Visa

- American Express

- Debit card

- Maestro

- Interlink

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Documents

• Versionable objects with one or more versions• Have metadata• Instances of document classes• Secured independently• Can have content -Zero or more content elements• May be filed in folders• Can have a lifecycle• Actions on documents could trigger events• Can be linked to other documents

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Document

Document


Versions

• An item in a version series• Preserves the content as created• Content cannot be altered• Have metadata • Metadata can be edited• Cannot be independently secured• Created as part of check-out/check-in• Supports major and minor version numbers

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Version 1Version 2

Version 3


Content Elements

• A version can have zero or more content elements

• Represents an electronic file (an image, pdf, office document, audio etc.)

• Can add multiple files to a version as different elements in a content element list

• Content element cannot be edited/replaced in a version

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Folders

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• Like container objects• Non-versionable• Have metadata• May contain other objects including folders• Independently securable• Instances of folder classes• Same object can be filed under multiple

folders


Custom Objects

• Represents a set of metadata• Instances of custom object classes• Non-versionable• Independently securable• Cannot have content• Can be looked at as a row of data in a

relational database table

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2

1


Securing Objects

• Objects have an Access Control List (ACL)• ACLs contain multiple ACEs• Each ACE is a combination of a grantee and a

privilege• Grantee can be an LDAP user of group• Privileges are granular or grouped• Multiple avenues for setting security on

objects

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Process Management Features …

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• Modeling– Process designer– Browser based application– Used to design, validate & transfer workflows– Workflows stored as objects in the Object store– Allows workflow versioning– Option to use MS Visio BPMN models



• Execution– CPE process service

• Workflow– Running instance of a process definition– Any number of workflows can be launched– Runs through a series of steps– Is a set of tasks & routing mechanisms amongst

the steps– Contains work items

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• Work management– defines how work will be distributed amongst

participants– Participants could be users or the system itself– Work items held in Queues for processing– There are private queues, public queues, and

system queues– In-baskets filters work items in queues and

present to users

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• Rules management– Used in workflow routing– Rules can be embedded in workflow definitions– Can be leveraged from a BRMS

• Orchestration– Multiple systems work in tandem in a process

• Integration– Component integrator– Web services

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• Event-based triggering– Workflow subscriptions

• Monitoring– IBM WebSphere Business Monitor

• Analytics– IBM Case Analyzer

• Simulation– FileNet Process Simulator

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System Artifacts …

• Process database– Stores workflow data and definitions– Stand-alone or co-located with the content

databases• Isolated region

– Logical division within the process database– Contains process definitions and data– Boundary for all artifacts within

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Process Database



• Workflow definitions– Made up of maps– Each map contains steps and routing logic– Stored in an object store– Built using process designer

• Work items– Contains data as workflow properties– A workflow has at least one work item

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• Roster– Container for workflow data– An isolated region has at least one roster– Workflow is associated with a roster at design

time• Queue

– Work items available to processors in queues– User queues, system queues, and component

queues

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• In-baskets– Queue filters

• Roles– Tie users or groups to an in-basket

• Application spaces– Group roles for a specific business application

• Event logs– Container for event data– Can be queried for history and audit information

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HOLD

IN


Conclusion

• A content and process management platform• Highly scalable content management

capabilities• Used to automate content enabled business

processes• Provides the building blocks for enterprise-

wide content and process automation

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ibm case foundation overview

Software

susanth kurunthil

content management features

process management features

system organization

system artifacts

enterprise content management

business process management

content elements