OCEB 2 - Technical Intermediate

OMG Certified Expert in BPM™ 2 (OCEB™ 2)

Technical Intermediate

The Technical Intermediate Exam covers characteristics and capabilities of BPM suites; advanced BPMN modeling; workflow patterns; aspects of business rules; architecture topics including SOA and MDA; IT infrastructure and Business Processes including industry frameworks; and monitoring and managing of processes.
 

This page starts with the Coverage Map for the OCEB Technical Intermediate Examination - a list of the topics and subtopics covered, and the percentage of the exam that each occupies. Following the Coverage Map is the list of references, along with suggestions for study.

COVERAGE TABLE - TECHNICAL INTERMEDIATE

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OCEB TECHNICAL INTERMEDIATE EXAM - REFERENCE LIST

This is a list of suggested references that is neither required, nor complete. It is not expected that anyone accumulate this exact library of references to study for the exam. We realize there are a few topics listed in the Coverage Map above that are not represented by explicit book or page references in this Study Material section, but we know that the capable Intermediate Level BPM Practitioner can find them, either in one of the listed references, or in a source of its own.

About Wikipedia: In general, we have found Wikipedia articles to be good sources of basic knowledge about topics covered by the OCEB examinations, but we have not listed any Wikipedia articles as sources here. We do not feel right about referencing an article that can change from minute to minute – making it possible for an article that reads perfectly well when one person studies it, to be incorrect (or, at least, inconsistent with an OCEB examination question) when another person studies from it later that day, or the next. We expect that many candidates will find Wikipedia a useful starting point for their study, although we expect those at Intermediate and Advanced level will look beyond Wikipedia for material on many topics.

Books:

The BPM experts who mapped the coverage and wrote the questions for the OCEB examinations found that no single book covered the range of material that a well-rounded BPM practitioner needs to know. In our lists for the different examinations, you'll find the books that we used to write the questions, but we don't think it's necessary to study this exact set in order to do well on the exam. In the entry for each book, we've listed the topics we covered from it; if you have another book that covers the same topics, or can find an alternate source somewhere else (such as on the Web), we suggest you use it instead of investing in a book that nearly duplicates it.

• Applied SOA: Service-Oriented Architecture and Design Strategies
  Michael Rosen et al - Wiley, 2008
  Reference on SOA basics including the architecture itself, the roles of BPEL, WSDL, and SOAP; the Enterprise Service Bus; Web Services; and other basic concepts.  
  Note: Programming in these languages is not covered on the examination.
• Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design
  Thomas Erl - Prentice-Hall, 2005
  Note: A good alternative to Rosen’s book above.
• Business Process Management Practical Guidelines to Successful Implementations, Second Edition
  John Jeston and Johan Nelis - Elsevier, 2008. 
  Metrics Analysis
  Chapter 16, Step 4, starting at p. 140
  Note: Although we prefer OMG’s BPMM to measure maturity of an organization, the section and listing on p. 325 under “Methods” is a good way to analyze the steps of a process as it develops.
• Principles of the Business Rule Approach
  Ronald Ross - Pearson, 2003
  Chapter 5 (Terms, Facts, Fact Models) (Alternatively, see the next reference, also by Ross.) 
  6
  7 (Business Rules and Business Processes)
  10 - or another reference on types (categories) of business rules
• Business Rule Concepts: Getting to the Point of Knowledge, 2nd edition
  Ronald Ross - BRF, 2005 (available here) 
  Chapters 1
  2
  4 - 6
  Note: Alternative to the book above.
• Business Process Change, Second Edition
  Paul Harmon - Morgan Kaufman, 2007
  Chapter 6 (Measuring Process Performance)
  pp. 455 ff (BPMS and BAM)
• Service Oriented Enterprises
  Setrag Khoshafian - Auerbach Publications, 2006
  Chapter 7, Section 7.4. 
  Note: This is an alternative reference to Chapter 6 of Harmon (just above) on Measuring Process Performance.
• Smart (Enough) Systems
  James Taylor with Neil Raden - Prentice-Hall, 2007
  Chapters 4 - 7 (concentrating on Decision Models)
• Building the Agile Enterprise with SOA, BPM, and MBM
  Fred Cummins - Morgan Kaufmann/OMG Press, 2009 
  Chapter 3 (Business Process Management, sections on Processes in SOA, and Choreography)
  4 (Business Rules)
• The Microguide to Process Modeling in BPMN
  Tom Debevoise and Rick Geneva - Tipping Point, 2008
  Chapter 4 (Gathering Requirements with BPMN)
  Note: or another reference covering Requirements Gathering from a Use Case, Process, and Business Rule point of view.

Books and articles about GRC are listed in their own section, below.

Papers (All downloadable free):

For many topics, we’ve included multiple references. You may decide not to study both, figuring that one will cover enough material (although you’re the one making the decision on which reference to use, and when to stop), but if you read more than one, and especially if you browse the web for additional material, you’ll get a better picture of the range of opinions and possible solutions on that topic – a wider point of view that will serve you well when you’re in a responsible position and have to pick a solution, or defend your solution choice as consistent with industry best practice.

• OCEB, Definition of Business Process
• Dr. Gopala Krishna Behara, BPM and SOA: A Strategic Alliance.
• Mike Rosen, Orchestration or Choreography?, BPTrends
• Madhat Gala, Center of Excellence: The Path to Process Innovation Success, DM Review Magazine, Sept. 1, 2008.
• Christopher Koch, SLAs: A CIO's Guide to Success, CIO magazine, November 1998
• Glenn Smith, Starting the BPM Center of Excellence, Appian, August 2008 (posted with permission)
• Jay April et al, Enhancing Business Process Management With Simulation Optimization, BPTrends, 
  Note: or another reference on process simulation and optimization.
• M. W. Barnett, Modeling and Simulation in Business Process Management, BPTrends.
• Paul Harmon, Simulation and Business Process Change, BPTrends, 2003.
• Michael zur Muehlen, Risk Management in the BPM Lifecycle, Howe School of Technology Management.
• Business Process Trends, The 2007 BPM Suites Report. 
  Chapter 1: An Introduction to BPM Suites
  Chapter 2: A Detailed Analysis of BPM Suites
• Rich Seeley, Forrester Details “Secret Sauce” for BPM Success
  Note: discusses the positive impact of establishing a BPM Center of Excellence (CoE).
• van der Aalst et al, Workflow Patterns, through Section 2.4 – Pattern 15.  Alternatively, use Russell et al including van der Aalst, Workflow Control Patterns: a Revised View, also through Pattern 15. The treatment of patterns in Chapter 10 of the BPMN specification is also useful.
• F. Leymann et al, Web Services and Business Process Management, IBM Systems Journal, 2002
• Venugopal Jufuru, Business Activity Monitoring – Economic Impact on Industry Verticals, BPTrends, 2007
• WebMethods, Business Activity Monitoring (bam): The New Face of BPM. 2006
  Note: downloadable from BPMinstitute.org; Requires free registration

OMG and other Specifications (All Downloadable free):

• Business Process Modeling Notation specification (BPMN), V1.1 
  Chapter 8 (see note about Attributes)
  9 (Sections 9.3, 9.4, 9.5 - see note about Attributes)
  10 (see note about Attributes)
  Note: Attributes - Only these Attributes are included: For Complex Activity Inputs and Outputs, the Attributes InputSet, OutputSet, and IORules, introduced in Tables 8.7 and 9.18, and then amplified in Sections B.11.10 and B.11.13. For Task or Activity, the Attribute LoopType (Table 9.18), plus additional related Attributes defined in Tables 9.19 and 9.20. Also Task Attribute TaskType (Table 9.25) and the various TaskTypes defined there.
• Business Process Definition Metamodel specification, Beta 2 - 
  Chapter 1 (Scope)
  2 (Conformance)
• Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules specification (SBVR), V1.0.  
  A part of the Business Rules Section 4 of the examination covers SBVR. The SBVR specification enables a widespread enterprise to formally establish a body of shared meanings and representation that express its business rules in a precise and unambiguous manner. At the level of business analysts and modelers, the vocabulary and rules are enabled and enforced by tools, but one level deeper, integrators and administrators establish and maintain the business vocabulary and rules that the tools enforce. If you’re in the former category, you may stop after reading pages 112-113 of Fred Cummins’ book (listed above), and Sections A.2 and A.3 of Annex A of SBVR. If you’re in the latter category, look through these expository portions of the SBVR document: Clause 6.2 (“How to read this specification”), Annexes A, B, C, and possibly D, and Clause 10.
• ebXML Business Process Specification Schema Technical Specification, v2.0.4. 
  Section 3.4.11 (Choreography)
• Web Services Choreography Description Language Version 1.0. 
  Section 1.2 (Purpose)
  Section 2 ( WS-CDL Model Overview Only)
  Note: This examination does not cover programming in WS-CDL.

Industry Frameworks:

Unlike the Fundamental examination which quizzed very broadly, the Technical Intermediate examination focuses on only three GRC frameworks: ITIL, CobiT, and ISO 27001/ISO 27002. There are multiple good sources for all of them; we think our list includes some very good ones but, if you already have a reference, go ahead and use it. Several of these frameworks (CobiT) are covered by definition or description documents which may be downloaded free directly from their sponsoring organization's website, although these source documents may not be a good place to start studying!

• Governance, Risk, and Compliance Handbook
  Anthony Tarantino - Wiley, 2008. 
  This admittedly weighty tome collects information about virtually every GRC topic, and belongs on the bookshelf of every BPM practitioner at mid-level or higher. 
  Chapter 1 - especially through Section 1.5, provides a good overview and introduction to GRC, 
  2 (early sections)
  13 (review CobiT)
  22 (Internal Controls Best Practices, through Section 22.4 Types of Automated Controls
  67 (SOX, and the list of SOX Sections on pp 910-915)
• IT Governance - A Manager's Guide to Data Security and ISO27001/ISO 27002
  Alan Calder and Steve Watkins - Kogan, 2008. 
  Chapters 3-6
• Sarbanes-Oxley internal controls: Effective Auditing with AS5, CobiT and ITIL
  Robert Moeller - Wiley, 2008. 
  Chapter 6 (Using CoBIT framework to improve SOX controls and governance)
  8 (Using ITIL to align IT with Business Processes)

Choreography, And Orchestration Vs. Choreography

You’ll find definitions of Choreography in the ebXML Business Process Specification Schema in Section 3.4, and in the BPDM Specification (Beta 1 version) in Section 1 (with some detail added later in the document). We suggest that candidates review both definitions; this will prepare you both for the examination and for situations you will encounter in your practice. Several authors have written about Orchestration and Choreography, including Mike Rosen in the article cited above.

For more information or questions about the OMG Certification Program, contact  [email protected].

OCUP, OCRES, OCEB and OCSMP are joint programs of the OMG and the UML Technology Institute (UTI).