A very different perspective on the BPM role within SOA. I am relatively new to the field and the picture I have been getting from the literature is that BPM is sitting at the top of the stack and it is responsible for tying/orchestrating all the infrastructure services through the ESB/middleware. The picture I am getting from you is quite contrary to that view. What I am getting is that we have two stacks side by side with constant interaction. To me, this view complicates any SOA implementation and might be a recipe for failure. It is already very difficult as it is to get the business and IT sides to even communicate effectively across enterprise. What you are suggesting is a marriage/close coupling between two groups that speak different languages and semantics on the same language. At least, the top down approach describes a broker in-between/marriage counselor.

A very different perspective on the BPM role within SOA. I am relatively new to the field and the picture I have been getting from the literature is that BPM is sitting at the top of the stack and it is responsible for tying/orchestrating all the infrastructure services through the ESB/middleware. The picture I am getting from you is quite contrary to that view. What I am getting is that we have two stacks side by side with constant interaction. To me, this view complicates any SOA implementation and might be a recipe for failure. It is already very difficult as it is to get the business and IT sides to even communicate effectively across enterprise. What you are suggesting is a marriage/close coupling between two groups that speak different languages and semantics on the same language. At least, the top down approach describes a broker in-between/marriage counselor.