Value Stream Mapping [VSM] is a lean concept that helps us improve our processes by focusing on the whole process and making stepwise refinements on smaller parts of the process, to gain improvement for the whole. It is in a sense, "Refactoring" a process.

In an ideal case, a process can be thought of as a workflow, and perhaps we might be able to represent it using the WF Windows Workflow Foundation code delivered in .NET 3.5. It would be nice to show a code example here of how we can represent a process with workflow steps, but I didn't have time to write up an example as of yet.

With VSM, we are trying to improve a process by mapping it into parts, each of which we can study. We can gather metrics on each of the process steps, and metrics on how long things wait between steps. The waiting between steps is usually far more significant time-wise than any of the steps themselves. WF can be instrumental in providing an automated framework for collecting and reporting these metrics.

Indeed there are also other workflow alternatives of course. BizTalk Server 2006 R2 is a fine candidate for workflow representation as well, when adapters are available for systems that interoperate. I have a specific Microsoft focus in my career, but I have used CapeClear as a Java-based workflow system, and there are others in the ESB space which have features that would allow us to collect metrics on an automated representation of our processes.

Automation is key to refactoring, as in any development mechanism. We can't fix what we don't know is broken. With VSM, we focus on the entire process as a whole, so we need to collect measurements on where it is today, and then we can see total improvement on the whole as we make small changes (refactoring the process).

Many enterprises today use Service-Oriented Architecture [SOA] as a design pattern for the construction of enterprise systems. This architecture lends itself well to the use of WF or BizTalk (substiitute your favorite flavor here) workflow components. SOA helps us to map the entire process to blocks of functionality that we can measure and monitor easily, contributing to our VSM overall picture.

My theory is that like with software development, process improvement can also have a test-driven, scientific approach. VSM is a tool that helps us change the right things to improve our overall process, but it typically has measurements in large units - days, even weeks. With the right automation framework contributing to very rapid feedback with the metrics collected on processes, we can write tests that indicate Red or Green for not only each component being analyzed, but for the entire process as well.

Tests don't have to be in the form of an NUnit DLL or test fixture. We can use simple reports actually to give us the feedback we need to make decisions on how we refactor. Think of it as moving test-driven concepts a couple elevations higher in the plan view. From the 500 foot view to the 5000 foot view if you will. It's the exact same concept, just applied at a somewhat higher level of abstraction.

For each of our services we monitor the time taken in the process and the time between processes, and compare them to our initial baseline. We might even be able to get real-time data on a visible dashboard in the best of cirumstances. When we are better than our initial baseline, we are Green, if not, then we're Red. There is no yellow - same result means we haven't improved so it's still red. This concept is brutally simple, but it can be very effective, especially if the Red/Green report is made visible on a web-based report.

Mapping the workflow using WF, BizTalk, or other tools gives us a way to take automated measurements and compare them to our baseline to render a decision on whether our process has improved or not, and whether we are reaching our overall goal of total improvement. Individual portions of the whole can still be red as long as we achieve green for the overall process.

A business process really is a workflow, we just need to map it as such using software and automation. In this way we can apply the fine concepts of test-driven and refactoring to process improvement, once again using automation and measurement as our top key tools for leveraging our own technologies to help us improve them.

Code examples here would be good of course... Stay tuned for future posts with WF code examples of a process flow that has metrics and baseline comparisons for Red/Green.

I have been using IronPython lately, and am having a good time testing code with its built-in unit test framework. Here is a brief example of how to write some unit tests for IronPython (or CPython if that's your flavor). These unit tests leverage the "unittest" module available in Python 2.2 and above.

Here is a short test class:

class TestCode:
    localInt = 1
    @classmethod
    def Method1(self):
        return 100
    def Method2(self, a, b):
        self.localInt = a * b

Here are some sample unit tests for it, using the unittest framework:

import unittest
class UnitTests(unittest.TestCase):
    def testMethod1(self):
        cut = TestCode()
        actual = cut.Method1()
        self.assertEqual(100, actual)

    def teststaticInt(self):
        self.assertEqual(1, TestCode.localInt)

    def testMethod2(self):
        cut = TestCode()
        cut.Method2(7, 4)
        self.assertEqual(28, cut.localInt)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    unittest.main()

This example should illustrate that we can write some unit tests for our Python code fairly easily and quickly. It's nice to have a built-in framework for unit testing. There is also a "doctest" module available for doing more like system testing. I am pretty new to Python, so I haven't got examples of this as yet.

If anyone has any suggestions on tools or experience with integration with Visual Studio those comments would be appreciated.

I posted a simple sample of accepance test code in Selenium and WatiN along with a sample web site to test. You can download the zip file here.

I also have posted a Fitnesse fixture in that zip file that illustrates how we can create a simple test fixture for Fitnesse acceptance testing. The Fitnesse tests aren't in the set, but here is the page wiki code that makes use of the fixture:

!define COMMAND_PATTERN {%m %p}
!define TEST_RUNNER {dotnet\FitServer.exe}
!define PATH_SEPARATOR {;}
!path dotnet\*.dll

Here is an acceptance test using our BusinessObjectTestFixture test class:

!|FitnesseFixture.BusinessObjectTestFixture|
|UserId|Password|Authenticate()|
|administrator|secret0|ADMIN|
|admin|secret0|NONE|
|administrator|secret|NONE|
|user11|secret11|USER|
|user11|secret0|NONE|
|user|secret|NONE|


I also created some STIQ tests, here is the code for the tests and components. Extract this zip file under repository\ProjectRoot folder and it should be able to test the sample site also.

ATDDSTIQ.zip (3.57 KB)

I have been asked recently about tools I prefer to use in my every-day development. Here is a list of tools, and where to get them.

Visual Studio 2008      Development IDE                   Microsoft
TestDriven.net           Test Runner                         TestDriven.net
WinMerge                  Diff / Merge tool                   WinMerge.org integrates with VS and Tortoise too!
nUnit                        Unit Testing Framework          nUnit.org     Also see mbUnit and Gallio
Selenium                   UI test framework                 OpenQA       Also see WatiN
ReSharper                  Integrated toolkit for VS        JetBrains     (OK I don't actually use it but it's good.)
Tortoise SVN              Shell Integration with SVN      Tigris
Ankh SVN                  Visual Studio Plugin for SVN     CollabNet
Subversion (Server)     Version Control System          VisualSVN
Cruise Control.net       CI system                            ThoughtWorks
RhinoMocks                Mock Object System              Ayende
nAnt                         .NET Build Tool                     nAnt
Fitnesse                    Acceptance Test Tool            Fitnesse
STIQ                         Story Test Tool                    Solutions IQ
GIMP                         GNU Image Manipulation Prog. SourceForge
Notepad++                 Smart Text Editor                 SourceForge UK when Visual Studio just won't do...

Not development tools exactly, but extremely handy:
Process Explorer          Smarter Task Manager           SysInternals
FileZilla                      Upload/FTP client                  FileZilla
DivX                          Decoder                              DivX         Because sometimes we need to watch movies...

That's all I can think of at the moment, but am probably missing some things. I'm sure you'll all (please) chime in with what I forgot...