topic Re: Product Strategy for Modelling of executable processes in Alfresco Archive

Product Strategy for Modelling of executable processes

uweheuer — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 08:55:04 GMT

Hi,reading MEAP version of 'Activiti in Action', press arcticles and forum topics I am still not sure what is the strategy related to 'modelling executable processes'. My understanding is:You can only use Activiti Modeler for modelling executable processes if you restrict to BPMN 2.0 elements which

Re: Product Strategy for Modelling of executable processes

trademak — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 09:02:55 GMT

Hi Uwe,

In the Activiti Modeler you have the possibility to restrict the palette to only the Activiti-supported BPMN 2.0 elements.
If you want to use Java classes in your proces model, for example in a service task or with a execution or task listener the Designer is the best way to go.
We have support to import BPMN 2.0 models from the Activiti Modeler into the Designer. And I know the commercial Signavio Modeler also supports importing a BPMN 2.0 XML back into the Modeler.

To answer your questions
- No the Designer will not replace the Modeler or vice versa. The Modeler will be the web-based modeling environment where you can model all non-Java stuff. The Designer is the development tool where you can add Java classes and built your own extensions. Also the Designer provides unit testing and deployment generation capabilities.
- At the moment there's no further development of the Modeler. Although the Oryx project (which is also the foundation for the Activiti Modeler) is still developed, we don't merge back changes from there at the moment.
- Cycle will certainly provide support for this kind of stuff. Camunda leads that component, so it would be best if they can answer your question.

Best regards,

Re: Product Strategy for Modelling of executable processes

jakob_freund — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 08:53:23 GMT

Hi Uwe,

yes it is Cycle's job to bridge that gap, however it is not an easy one, as you can imagine 😉

Also there are different strategies for doing so. The first and rather simple one is already implemented and described here:

http://www.bpm-guide.de/2011/03/22/the-bpm-roundtrip-with-activiti-cycle/

However there is still a lot of work to do, and we have scheduled a couple of Sprints for July/August, so hopefully in September we can present the next stage of Business-It-Alignment with cycle.

cheers Jakob