WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 1

Playback 1: Controlling
process flow with business
data

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Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data

This unit describes how to manage the variables and data flow. It covers the implementation of
the intermediate timer event, gateways, and routing tasks.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 2

Unit objectives
• Describe the differences between process flow data and business flow
data
• Add variables to a process
• Implement gateways to control process flow
• Describe teams and process lanes
• Implement routing for tasks
• Assign an expert group to an activity
• Expose a process application to a team

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

After completing this unit, you should be able to:

• Describe the differences between process flow data and business flow data
• Add variables to a process
• Implement gateways to control process flow
• Describe teams and process lanes
• Implement routing for tasks
• Assign an expert group to an activity
• Expose a process application to a team

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 3

Topics
• Managing variables and data flow
• Implementing the intermediate event: Timer
• Implementing gateways
• Routing tasks

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

This unit covers the following topics:

• Managing variables and data flow
• Implementing the intermediate event: Timer
• Implementing gateways
• Routing tasks

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 4

Key concepts in this unit

• Playback 1: Controlling process flow: To demonstrate that the
process is following the correct flow out of the gateways, the developer
sets the value of the process flow variables
• Flow data: Data elements that decision points use on process and
service diagrams, and are used to determine the next paths to take
• Business data: Provides the context of the activity to all participants
and what it is that they are working on
• Variables: Capture the business data that the activities use in a
process
• Timer: Intermediate event that is implemented per the business
requirements
• Team: Represents the groups of users in your enterprise that can be
assigned a task in a swimlane or assigned directly to an activity

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

This slide lists some key concepts discussed in this unit.

• In Playback 1, to demonstrate that the process is following the correct flow out of the
gateways, the developer sets the value of the process flow variables
• Flow data are data elements that decision points use on process and service diagrams, and
are used to determine the next paths to take
• Business data provides the context of the activity to all participants and what it is that they
are working on
• Variables capture the business data that the activities use in a process
• A Timer is an Intermediate event that is implemented per the business requirements
• A Team represents the groups of users in your enterprise that can be assigned a task in a
swimlane or assigned directly to an activity

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 5

Playback 1: Controlling process flow

• Set the process flow variables and
watch the process follow along the
correct path on your decision
gateways
• Gather all the process
stakeholders
• Validate the process that

1
was created
▪ Demonstrate that the process
is following the different paths
that are flowing from the
exclusive gateways on the
processes
▪ Demonstrate that the tasks are
being assigned and created in the
Portal inbox corresponding with the
correct lane and assignment settings

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

Playback 1 focuses on enabling the model that is created during Playback 0. To demonstrate that
the process is following the correct flow out of the gateways, the developer sets the value of the
process flow variables.
It is important to gather all the process stakeholders to validate the process and to verify that it
meets the business needs outlined in Playback 0. Verify that the process works as modeled and
as expected. Set the process flow variables and watch the process follow along the correct path
on the decision gateways. Two items to demonstrate include:
• Demonstrate that the process is following the different paths that are flowing from the
exclusive gateways in the process.
• And demonstrate that the tasks are being assigned and created in the Process Portal
inbox that corresponds with the correct swimlane and assignment settings.
If it is necessary to change the high-level process, the project development team can move back
and redo Playback 0. After they receive buy-in that the model meets the goals of the current
release, the project development team is ready to move on to the next stage of Playback 1.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 6

Managing variables and data

flow

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

Managing variables with data flow

Data flow management is an essential part of working with services and processes. As part of
Playback 1, developers create process data variables to control and demonstrate the process
flow. Later in the next stage of Playback 1, developers create business data variables for their
processes.
Variables represent the data that provides the business and process context to a running
process. Using variables, the business process passes the data from one process step to
another. This passage is called the data flow.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 7

• Flow data
• Business data
Activities

Inputs Outputs

Business data
Task 1

Business data
Task 2

Business data
Task 3

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data

To distinguish the different types of data that flow through the process, you can categorize data
into two different types of process data: business data and flow data. These are covered in more
detail in the next two slides.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 8

What is flow data?

• Data that is used to determine:
▪ Which activities to complete
▪ Who completes each activity
▪ The time an activity is due or when an activity is to be escalated

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

Flow data moves the process along. The most obvious examples of flow data are the data
elements that decision points use on process and service diagrams. When a token is at a
decision gateway, the value of each of the data elements is used to determine the next paths to
take.
Flow data elements go beyond just the data that is needed to drive process decision points. Flow
data includes all of the data to determine:
• Which activities to complete
• Who completes each activity
• And when an activity is due or when an activity is escalated
Flow data must be identified early in the implementation process. Generally, by the end of this
stage of Playback 1, your flow data is identified and implemented. Flow data gets the right
activities to the right participants at the right time. Without flow data, the process cannot work.
Flow data elements are initialized as soon in a process instance as possible.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 9

• Business data provides the context of the activity to each participant

Activities

Inputs Outputs

Business data
Task 1

Business data
Task 2

Business data
Task 3

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data

The business data is a bit more problematic to define than the flow data. In general, the business
data provides the context of the activity to each participant. The data is used to make it clear to
participants what it is that they are working on.
For example, customer service representatives know; based on the activity that was assigned,
that they are working on an insurance claim. From the business data, the representatives can tell
which claim they are working on by claim type, claim number, customer, and claim description.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 10

Business objects, variables, and data mapping

• Business objects
▪ In Process Designer, business objects are complex objects that are created
from simple business objects or other complex business objects
▪ Define the business data
• Variables
▪ Instantiate business objects that activities use in a process or by steps in
services, such as service flows or human services
▪ Capture and store the business data
▪ Each has its own type and scope
▪ Must be declared before you can start to use them
• Data mapping
▪ In Process Designer, you map the input and output data to pass variables to
an activity or a step
▪ You must set the input and output mapping for each activity in a process
▪ Map variables in the parent process to the variables received and generated
by nested processes and services

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

In Process Designer, business objects are complex objects that contain other simple or complex
business objects. An example of a business object is Customer.

Variables instantiate business objects that activities use in a process and store business data.
Variables must be declared before you can use them.

In Process Designer, you map the input and output data to pass variables to an activity in the
process. You must set the input and output data mapping for each activity in the process.

More on data mapping is covered in the next unit.

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Slide 11

Business objects
• Supports two types of business objects: simple and complex
Stock
• Simple business objects
▪ Composed only of scalar properties Number of shares

Stock symbol

• Hierarchical business objects

▪ Composed of attributes that reference nested business object definitions

Customer
Stock

Name Number of shares

Customer ID Stock symbol

Stock

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

This slide displays an example of a hierarchical business object called Customer. The Customer
business object, in this example, contains two simple objects and one complex object. The Stock
complex object is further made up of two simple objects.

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Slide 12

Example of business objects and variables

• Business object defines the

type
• Variable is the instantiation
of the business object

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

This slide contains example business objects. Looking at the parameters that make up the
Person business object, you can see that it contains simple objects such as lastName and
firstName. Other example business objects listed include: Candidate, Position, Qualifications, and
Requisition.
When you want to use the business object in your process or service, you create a local input,
output, or private variable of this type.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 13

Create the business objects in the lab exercise

• You create a few business • Hiring Requisition business object

objects during the lab has some parameters
• Example of business object • For example:
requisitionNumber(String)
– HiringRequisition dateOfRequest(Date)
requester(String)

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

As stated, in the next lab you create some business objects. This slide shows an example of the
instantiation of the Hiring Requisition business object. You can see in the screen capture, the
HiringRequisition business object has both simple objects and complex objects as parameters.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 14

Example of data mapping

• Variables define the inputs and outputs of an activity
• Mapping data moves the data that is stored in variables that are
defined at the process-level into and out of the activity

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

In this example, the Submit Hiring Request activity has one input and two output variables. At the
process level, you map the tw.local.requisitionDetails variable to the input variable for the human
service and map the two output variables from the service to the process variables.
As mentioned, more on data mapping is covered in the next unit.

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Slide 15

Declaring three kinds of variables

• Input: Defines the
variables that are passed
into the current process
or service

• Output: Passes variables

out of the process or
service to a parent
process or service

• Private: Any variables

that are not passed in or
out of the process or
service

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

Variables in a process or service can be declared in three different ways:

• Input variables refer to values that you can pass into the current process or service.
• Output variables refer to values that are passed out from a process or service to a parent
process or service.
• And private variables refer to values that the current process or service needs, but which the
parent process or service does not know or need. The value of a private variable can still be
of interest to any nested processes or nested services though.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 16

Standardizing variable names

• Create variable names that begin with a lowercase letter
▪ Capitalize the first letter when creating a variable type (business objects),
but use camel case for the instantiation of the variable (for example,
employeeId)
▪ Camel case refers to a word or string of letters that has no space and has
an uppercase letter in a position other than the first letter
• If the variable name you choose consists of only one word, spell that
word in all lowercase letters
• If the variable name consists of more than one word, capitalize the first
letter of each subsequent word
• Variable names are case-sensitive

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

To standardize variable names, create variable names that begin with a lowercase letter. This
good practice makes it easier to distinguish between a variable and its variable type, which
begins with an uppercase letter.
Capitalize the first letter when creating a business object but use camel case for the variable
instantiation. For example, the variable employeeId uses a lowercase first letter to signify that it is
an instance of a business object type Integer, which starts with an uppercase letter. The standard
business object types (Date, String, Integer, and other types) all follow this same naming
convention.
If the variable name you choose consists of only one word, spell that word in all lowercase letters.
If the variable name consists of more than one word, capitalize the first letter of each subsequent
word. For example, a variable that contains an employee ID number has the variable name
employeeId.
Variable names are case-sensitive.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 17

Understanding namespaces

Namespace Description

tw The top-level namespace

tw.local Access and update process-local and service-

local variables

tw.system System features and functions

tw.object Used to initialize complex IBM Business

Automation Workflow objects

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

All variables in IBM Business Automation Workflow are JavaScript objects. IBM Business
Automation Workflow uses namespaces to organize these objects, and their functions and
methods. An example of some of the methods is shown in the slide.
When typing out variable names, you can use the content-assist capability in IBM Process
Designer to aid in identifying the correct namespace.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 18

Implementing the intermediate

event: Timer

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

Implementing the intermediate Timer event

Although you modeled timer events in Playback 0, you have no control over the functions of the
timer. In this topic, the timer is implemented to fire according to the business requirements.

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Slide 19

Timer intermediate event

• Use a timer intermediate event to specify a time before or after an
activity occurs
• Timer intermediate events, which are used to model escalation paths
or delays in the process, can occur either between activities or
attached to an activity

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

Use a timer intermediate event to specify a time before or after an activity occurs. Timer
intermediate events are also used to model escalation paths or delays in the process.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 20

Attached timer intermediate event

• When a running process instance reaches an activity with an
attached timer intermediate event, a timer starts
• The interval for the timer is calculated according to the configuration
that you specify in the implementation properties for the timer
intermediate event
• When the specified interval elapses, the process follows the path
from the attached timer intermediate event to the subsequent activity

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

Timer intermediate events, which are used to model escalation paths or delays in the process,
can occur either between activities or attached to an activity.
The attached timer intermediate event has a unique set of properties that differ from the
sequence flow timer. These properties exist because the task that it is attached to the timer
intermediate event directly affects the event. Attached intermediate events are also called
boundary events.
Two properties specific to the boundary event include:

• The Interrupt Activity option enables the interrupting of the attached activity after the
specified amount of time elapses
• The Repeatable option resets the timer to count again after the specified amount of time
elapses

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 21

Timer intermediate event implementation (1 of 2)

Implementation details:
• Trigger On: Specifies when a timer event starts
• Custom Date: Use JavaScript to calculate and specify a date
• Before/After Difference: Amount of time
• Tolerance Interval: If work is in progress, this setting specifies an extra
delay
▪ Measures only one time
• Use the activity work schedule: Limits the timer activity to the period
specified

Two options are available only when configuring an attached timer event:
• Interrupt activity: Closes the attached activity after time elapses
• Repeatable: Resets the timer to countdown again after time elapses

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

A developer implements an inline, or sequence, timer intermediate event through the

Implementation tab in the properties section of the component. The implementation properties
include:

• Trigger On: which specifies when the timer event should start.
• Custom Date: which uses JavaScript to calculate and specify a date.
• The Before/After Difference option identifies the amount of time to wait before allowing the
token to continue on the flow line.
• The Tolerance Interval specifies an extra delay that is measured one time. For example, if
users accept a task during the delay, they are allowed the tolerance time to complete the task
before the token continues on the sequence flow line.
• The Use the activity work schedule option limits the timer activity to the period specified.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 22

Timer intermediate event implementation (2 of 2)

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

In this screen capture, you see an example of the event properties of a Timer intermediate event.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 23

Implementing gateways

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

Implementing gateways
To control the path that a process takes, the developer implements the decision logic that each
gateway uses.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 24

Implementing a gateway

• Define conditions that control whether a path is followed during the

running process
• Test the newly functioning gateways with the process inspector

• Once the gateway is implemented, the

conditional flow is flagged with a
diamond at the point at which it exits the
gateway. The default sequence flow is
depicted with a slash.

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

• During the Playback process, it is necessary to demonstrate each path that can be taken, but
the logic on how that decision is reached is implemented in a later Playback.

• When you specify the implementation for a gateway, you define conditions that control
whether a path is followed during the running process. After creating the rules and integrating
the data, make sure that you test your newly functioning gateways with the process inspector.

• A good practice for Playback 1 is to avoid the use of Boolean (true or false) variables to
implement exclusive gateways to accommodate more flows that might be added in the future.
Use simple variables such as String or Integer to drive all your exclusive gateways.
Developers can then set the default value of the process variables and show the different
paths that are taken during Playback 1.

• Document the gateway logic to help in troubleshooting the process later.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 25

Routing tasks

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

Routing tasks
This stage of Playback 1 completes the goal of getting the right tasks to the right people at the
right time. Variables were built, and those variables were used to drive decision gateways. When
a task is created for a process participant to complete an activity, the system assigns the task to
the right individual who can complete the work.
In this topic, teams are introduced and then process routing and assignment are examined.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 26

Creating a team

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

A team represents the groups of users in your enterprise that can be assigned a task in a
swimlane or assigned directly to an activity. To create a team and add users to that group:

• In the Designer view, click the (+) plus sign next to Teams and select Team from the list of
components.
• In the new Team window, enter a name and click Finish.
IBM Process Designer then displays the property settings for the team.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 27

Team and team members

• A team contains the users or participants who complete the runtime
activities that are modeled in each lane

• When you create a lane,

each lane is assigned a
default team that is called
All Users
• If a new lane is supposed
to be a system lane,
select Is System Lane

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

A team contains the users who complete the runtime activities that are modeled in each lane.
Team lane assignments ensure that any activities that are not routed to a specific user have an
automatic default assignment.
Creating lanes:
When you create a lane, each lane is assigned a default team that is called All Users. This default
group contains all of the users of IBM Business Automation Workflow to allow for testing of your
processes. If a new lane is a system lane, select the Is System Lane option and add the System
team in the Behavior section. System lanes are shaded a different color so that they can be easily
recognized.
Subscribing to a Blueworks Live process:
If you subscribe to a Blueworks Live Process with preassigned team lanes and no matching
teams exist, IBM Business Automation Workflow creates a team for each lane. IBM Business
Automation Workflow automatically attaches the team to the corresponding lane.

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Slide 28

Routing activities
• For any activity with a service (task) implementation, you can designate
the users who receive the runtime task by using the Assignments option in
the property tab of the activity
▪ This implementation designates whom to route or assign the activity to
and how it is to be distributed
• By default, Assign to is set to Lane
• The two lane assignment selections are Lane and Team
• User distribution is most commonly set to None or Last User

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

When routing activities developers might not want an activity to go to the default team, or they
might need a more dynamic solution.
For any activity with a service implementation, developers use the Assignments option in the
property tab of the activity to designate the users who receive the runtime task. Developers
control how the runtime task is distributed to designated teams and members.
To assign a task, developers select the activity that they want, and then select the assignments
section to display the assignment properties for that activity.
The Routing options allow the developer to designate whom to route the activity to and how it is
distributed
By default, Assign to: is set to Lane, indicating that tasks are assigned to the team for that lane.
The two most commonly used lane assignment selections are:
• Lane: which routes the runtime task to the team that is assigned to the lane in which the
selected activity is placed.
• And Team which routes the runtime task to any team that the developer wants to designate
the task to. This assignment overrides the default team that is bound to the lane. This
function provides a dynamic layer of routing for a particular task in a process.
By default, User Distribution is set to None, meaning that no specific team member distribution
is applied to the routed task. The task is assigned to the pool of potential team members, allowing
individual members to acquire tasks that are assigned to the pool.
The Last User setting routes the runtime task to the team member who completes the activity
that immediately precedes the selected activity in the lane. Set this option for the first activity in
the lane when the process is started from the process portal and the activity is the first activity
after the start event. In this case, the runtime task is routed to the user who started the process.

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Other advanced user distributions available in IBM Business Automation Workflow allow the
system to assign tasks to individual team members. In practice, User Distribution is most
commonly set to None or Last User.

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Slide 29

Team filter service

• Are used to filter down a team to a subset team
• The new filtered down subset team is returned as a Team object

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

Team filter service

Sometimes a developer does not want the whole team to be assigned to a task, but rather a
subset of the team. To do this, a developer creates a team filter service to implement assignment
policies. The team filter service takes the initially resolved team as a parameter and then returns
the filtered team as a Team object. If necessary, the developer can add extra input parameters
that are required to filter the team.
For example, to implement a separation of duties policy, the developer must remove the user who
completed the previous activity from the list of users who can complete the next activity. In that
case, the filter service needs an input parameter for the user ID in the service that is set to be
removed from the input team.

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Slide 30

Team retrieval and filter service templates

• Team retrieval and filter services are used to dynamically determine
who is eligible to complete a task
• The templates ensure that the minimum required parameters are met
• They are implemented as service flows

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

• Developers use the team retrieval service and the team filter service to dynamically
determine who is eligible to complete activities. These services take parameters from
environment variables to influence the team selection.

• Developers select a template for the team retrieval and team filter service when they create a
service flow. Using the templates ensures that the minimum required parameters for the
services are met. Service flows are covered in more detail later in this course.

• You get a chance to work with team filter services later in this training.

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Slide 31

Identifying expert users for an activity

• Business users who are working with your process applications can
collaborate or request assistance from a set of expert users who are
associated with a particular task or activity
• This list of experts is displayed in the Experts panel in the Process
Portal environment
• An expert group can be explicitly identified by using the Experts Team
selection in the Assignments menu in Process Designer

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

Business users who are working with the process applications can collaborate or request
assistance from a set of expert users who are associated with a particular task or activity. This list
of experts is displayed in the Experts panel in the Process Portal environment.
An activity must be associated with a human service before it can be assigned experts.
The experts who are listed for an activity are defined in two ways:

• Users who completed this activity in the past, which is based on historical analysis. This list is
limited to a small group of users who completed the activity most frequently.
• And users belonging to a team, which is explicitly specified as an expert group for this
activity.
Your server administrator can configure the teams at run time to ensure that the correct set of
users is identified as experts for the activity in the Process Portal.

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Slide 32

Unit summary
• Describe the differences between process flow data and business flow
data
• Add variables to a process
• Implement gateways to control process flow
• Describe teams and process lanes
• Implement routing for tasks
• Assign an expert group to an activity
• Expose a process application to a team

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

You have completed this unit. This unit described how to manage the variables and data flow and
covered the implementation of the intermediate timer event, gateways, and routing tasks. Having
completed this unit, you should now be able to:

• Describe the differences between process flow data and business flow data
• Add variables to a process
• Implement gateways to control process flow
• Describe teams and process lanes
• Implement routing for tasks
• Assign an expert group to an activity
• Expose a process application to a team

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 33

Review questions
1. ______ are the three types of variables that are used in Process
Designer.
A. Private, Input, Output
B. Shared, Input, Output
C. Input, Output, Business Objects
D. Business Objects, Parameters, Variables

2. ______ define conditions that control whether a path is followed

during the running process.
A. Activities
B. Events
C. Pools
D. Gateways

3. True or False: To model an escalation, the intermediate event must be

attached to an activity.

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

Notes:
Write your answers here:
•

34

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WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 34

Review answers
1. A: Private, input, and output.
2. D: Gateways define conditions that control whether a path is followed
during the running process.
3. True.

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2020

35

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Course materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written permission of IBM.
WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 35

Exercise: Playback 1:
Controlling process flow with
business data

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2019

Exercise: Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data

In this exercise, you create assets that are required during Playback 1. You create variables,
implement timer intermediate events, establish routing, and implement exclusive gateways.

36

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Course materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written permission of IBM.
WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

Slide 36

Exercise introduction
• Create simple variables in a process
• Implement timer intermediate events in a process
• Implement gateways for a process
• Implement routing for an activity

Playback 1: Controlling process flow with business data © Copyright IBM Corporation 2019

After completing this exercise, you should be able to:

• Create simple variables in a process

• Implement timer intermediate events in a process
• Implement gateways for a process
• Implement routing for an activity

37

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Course materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written permission of IBM.
WB835 Unit 5 Transcript

38

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2021

Course materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written permission of IBM.