Camunda BPM in
Distributed
Applications
Integration, resilience and fault
tolerance challenges
Jörg Sauer /
Camunda Community Days /
17.09.2015

2
© Allianz
Facts:
• German from Cologne
• Currently: Allianz Life Indonesia
Head of IT Application Development
• In Indonesia on and off since 1998
• Working for Allianz since 2011
• Before 17+ years as a freelancer
Twitter: @joergsauer
Mail: joerg.sauer@allianz.co.id
2

3
© Allianz
Indonesia might be known from…
Disasters
Tsunamis
Volcanos
Earthquakes
Bombings
…
Holidays
World Heritage Temples
Postal Perfect Beaches
Bali
Scuba
…
Less Known Facts:
• 4th most populated country on earth
• 252millions, BI estimation, July 2014 – 3.5% of world population
• 10th busiest airport in the world
• 59.7 million passenger (2013)
• 2007 prediction, Indonesia to be 9th economy of the world by 2030
• Angus Maddison Prediction largest economies by GDP (PPP)• In 2007 Indonesia was the 20th economy of the world (IMF)
• In 2013 Indonesia was already the 9th economy of the world (IMF)

4
© Allianz
Indonesia – Demographics
• >17500 islands
• >252 million population
• 58% live in Java
• >28 million live in Jakarta
• 87% Muslim
• 50% population <29 years old
• 60% under 39 years old
• Life expectancy = 71 years
• Fertility rate = 2.35
• >300 ethnic groups
• 40% population lives $4 a day

5
© Allianz
Indonesia - Digitalisation
• In 2012
• 9th world slowest mobile internet speed (Bloomberg, 2012)
• But also world cheapest mobile data plans
• 2013
• Average internet speed 2.4Mbit/s
• 50% increase from 2012
• World fastest growth on IP traffic (2013)
• 62% internet access is only through mobile (2012)
• Forecast 145 million users by 2015
• 4th largest user base on Facebook
• 75% access Facebook from mobile
• Jakarta second world top city by active FB users
• 5th largest user base on Twitter (just after UK)
• 7.5% all tweets on Twitter come from Indonesia (2013)
• 2.5% from Jakarta
• Jakarta world top tweeting city

6
© Allianz
Allianz in Indonesia
2 Companies
• General Insurance #10 market position
• Life Insurance #2 market position
1 IT-Organisation
• Software development: 50 employees

7
© Allianz
Insurance Market in Indonesia
Growth market with high potential
Life Insurance
• Focus investment products – unit linked
General Insurance
• Commercial
• Private: mainly credit/loan risk, e.g. car insurance
• No mandatory car insurance – 3rd party liability

8
© Allianz
Camunda @ Allianz
Itinerary
• Quick Overview
• Historical Development
• Some Key Solutions
• Architecture & Design
decisions
• Where we are
• What comes next
Creative Commons License, some rights reserved by J. Nathan Matias
Aspects: Challenges, what worked and what didn’t,
achievements

9
© Allianz
Before we start
hiroo - Jakarta Kota Station / creative commons CC BY-SA 2.0

10
© Allianz
Disclaimer
Not applicable everywhere!
Do it at your own risk!
Oktiviano taken from Wikipedia

11
© Allianz
2011: Silo
Doc Searls

12
© Allianz
Silo: or more like this
Photo: Chris Harnish

13
© Allianz
Silo: Future?
Adam Quinan

14
© Allianz
Silo: For a Better Understanding
Two Companies
• 8 Core Insurance Systems
• A Zoo full of Supporting Applications
Doc Searls

15
© Allianz
Silo: For a Better Understanding
Cool Technologies:
• Oracle PL/SQL Forms
• .Net 1.1, 2.0
• Powerbuilder
• Gupta
Doc Searls

16
© Allianz
Silo: No Integration
All manual – Export - Import
Jean-Marie Hullot

17
© Allianz
Key Decisions 2011/12
• Lightweight
Technologies
• Open Source
• Java
• 1 Project as an
Incubator
Photo: Alvin Trusty/Flickr/Creative Commons License

18
© Allianz
© Allianz
1st Project: Life Insurance Underwriting
Decisions Challenges Lessons Learned
• Standalone BPM
engine
• UI Integration
into Core System
Technology:
• PL/SQL & Forms
• Oracle 10g
Java 1.4
Project:
• Integrated
applications
• Up to speed in 3
Month
(development)
• Don’t forget the
fail scenarios

19
© Allianz
© Allianz
1st Project: Life Insurance Underwriting

20
© Allianz
© Allianz
1st Project Architecture
Instantiate

21
© Allianz
Missing Links
• Fault tolerance for process instantiation
• Developer awareness of monolithic vs. integrated
Bild: © Markus Roeder

22
© Allianz
Process instantiation
• Error Handling
• Core insurance system
• Challenges
• No framework available
• Sequential processing
• Easy: Retry
• Problem:
• User has to wait
• What if BPM is still not available
• Queueing
• Needs to be implemented
• Generic vs. integration specific implementation
• Database centric vs. other architecture
Solution Design Decisions

23
© Allianz
Bild: Raindart
Lessons Learned
• BPM Engine is not a problem
• BPM Engine integration easy
• At the first glimpse
• From a pure technical perspective
• Requirements are important
• Non-functional always
overlooked

24
© Allianz
Some Key Decisions 2013
• BPMN 2.0 Workshops
• Middleware
• Open Source
• Java
Photo: Alvin Trusty/Flickr/Creative Commons License

25
© Allianz
© Allianz
Next Project: Policy Administration & Servicing
Decisions Challenges Lessons Learned
• jBoss Module
• JSF Web
Application
• Integration into
Core System
• ESB
• SOA
Architectural:
• Integration Core
System
• Statefulness
Project:
• Requirements
• Process
Consolidation
• No Shortcuts
• Statefulness

26
© Allianz
© Allianz
Next Project: Policy Administration & Servicing

27
© Allianz
© Allianz
Integration Architecture

28
© Allianz
Missing Links
• Fault tolerance in orchestration
• Architecture Patterns
Bild: © Markus Roeder

29
© Allianz
• Integration & Orchestration
• ESB
• Error Handling
• Several locations
• Process, Portal, Core System
• Challenges
• Synchronous vs. Asynchronous
• Statefulness
• Policy Admin System
• Process Instance
• Process consolidation into reusable sub-processes
Solution Design Decisions

30
© Allianz
Some New Ingredients
Baking ingredients by freefoodphotos.com

31
© Allianz
Bild: Raindart
Lessons Learned
• Fault Tolerance isn’t that simple
• Statefulness across systems is hard
• Synchronous integration isn’t
always applicable
• Message Oriented Middleware for
the rescue

32
© Allianz
© Allianz
Next Project: General Insurance Intermediary Portal
Decisions Challenges Lessons Learned
• No additional
engine required
• No processes at
portal
• UI integration in
core insurance
system
Technical:
• PL SQL / Forms
• SOAP API
• Messaging
Project:
• Outsourced
project
• Integration
requirements
• Standardize
Integration
Services

33
© Allianz
© Allianz
Next Project: General Insurance Intermediary Portal

34
© Allianz
© Allianz
Integration Architecture

35
© Allianz
Missing Links
• Architecture Patterns
Bild: © Markus Roeder

36
© Allianz
• Integration & Orchestration
• ESB
• Message Oriented Middleware
• Error Handling
• Several locations
• Portal
• Orchestration
• Challenges
• Integration into core insurance system
• No integration interfaces
• Database layer
• PL/SQL
• Turn-key outsourcing engagement
Solution Design Decisions

37
© Allianz
Bild: Raindart
Lessons Learned
• You have to do things several times
• Learning by experience

38
© Allianz
Key Deciions 2014/15
38
• Javascript SPA
• Mobile Apps
Photo: Alvin Trusty/Flickr/Creative Commons License

39
© Allianz
Some New Ingredients
Baking ingredients by freefoodphotos.com

40
© Allianz
© Allianz
Projects
Decisions Challenges Lessons Learned
• Use existing
Instance
• Further service
standardization
Technical:
• Distributed
applications
• Integration into
multiple core
systems
• Rollback &
Compensation
Project:
• Non-functional
requirements
• One engine still
sufficient
• For how long?
• Technical
architecture in focus
• BPM engine is
another integration
hub component
• Claim Processing
• Process automation & support
• Mobile health claim submission
• Agent tablet solution
• All other projects…

41
© Allianz
© Allianz
Current Architecture

42
© Allianz
© Allianz
BPM is One Integration & Automation Building Block

43
© Allianz
• External Application Integration through services / APIs
• Still synchronous in some areas
• Asynchronous heavily depends on message queues
• Orchestration not consistent
• Some on ESB
• Some in application business layer
Solution Design Decisions

44
© Allianz
Bild: Raindart
Lessons Learned
• Rethink integration patterns
• No “One Solution fits all”
• Consider BPM engine as integration
hub component

45
© Allianz
Scenario: Mobile App electronic submission of insurance application
Submission includes:
1. Data
2. Documents
Mobile connectivity – not reliable
Backend integration
1. Submission Tracking System
2. Core Insurance System
3. Document Management System
4. Notifications
BPM Engine As Integration Component

46
© Allianz
BPM Engine As Integration Component

47
© Allianz
Missing Links
• High Availability
• Scalability
• Best Practices Rollback & Compensation
Bild: © Markus Roeder

48
© Allianz
Future Journey
Itinerary
• Cluster & Load Balancing
• Pattern Catalogue
• CMMN
• DMN
Creative Commons License, some rights reserved by J. Nathan Matias

49
© Allianz
Bild: Raindart
Lessons Learned
• Starting small helps
• Non-functional requirements!!!
• Architects required
• Distributed applications are
challenging
• Practice makes perfect

50
© Allianz
Questions to the Community
Photo credit: untrained eye, Creative Commons/Flickr
Best Practice Integration
Architectures
High Availability
Load Balancing
Mobile App Integration

51
© Allianz
Questions?
Photo credit: untrained eye, Creative Commons/Flickr

52
© Allianz
Impressions from Indonesia