Incorporating Workflow Into Sun Portals With Sun Java Composite Application Platform Suite

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Traditionally, performing tasks on multiple portals is tedious and inefficient as enterprises adopt back-end business processes and must then continually manage them. Hence, demand has steadily mounted for the capability to perform tasks on just the portal itself instead of on multiple sites with a single-point solution; that is, a solution that not only handles the process interactions but also enables end users to seamlessly perform tasks as "hooks" in the process.

Bear in mind that automation of business integrations requires human steps on portals, often accomplished through proprietary applications. By integrating human workflow into portals, you ensure that all the tasks, whether performed by humans or by software, occur in one place. Toward that end, an integration of Sun Java System Portal Server (henceforth, Portal Server) and the Sun Java Composite Application Platform Suite (Java CAPS) delivers an effective solution.

Portal Server, part of Solaris Enterprise System, enables efficient, identity-based, and cost-effective deployment of enterprise portals. Among Portal Server's many robust capabilities are services for building community portals and tools for content development. Portal Server is free for download.

With Java CAPS, enterprises can build and deploy a service-oriented architecture (SOA) platform for integrating and reusing applications and for developing Web services. Included in Java CAPS are the Java Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Suite and Java Business-to-Business (B2B) Suite. Java CAPS will soon be available for free download.

Through an example, this article describes how to automate human workflow by integrating Portal Server with Java CAPS. It is assumed that you are familiar with Portal Server and Java CAPS components, such as Enterprise Designer, eInsight, eVision, eWays, and Worklist Manager (WLM). For details, see the related documentation.