Activiti 1.1 and Alfresco 5.0 integration

[davidgreen]

Is it possible to export a workflow created in Activiti 1.1 into Alfresco 5.0 so that it can be run as a custom workflow within the Alfresco interface?

I managed to do this in the previous version of Activiti by exporting the workflow files from the Eclipse editor, adding these into the Alfresco Folder/File structure and restarting Alfresco. Users then could initiate and manage workflows within the Alfresco environment.

With Activiti 1.1 the deployment process is much simpler however users interact through the Activiti interface, with reduced integration between documents and the associated workflow (i.e. ability to trigger a workflow from a document in Alfresco or track associated workflows related to a document).

[jbarrez]

(Moved this to the enterprise forum).

The workflows created in the tool are BPMN 2.0. They will need some tweaks to run in Alfresco.
Once you've done that, the process to use them is similar.

What kind of integrations are you looking for? We're currently working on Share integration, so all input is welcom!

[davidgreen]

I am able to export my BPMN workflow from Activiti 1.1 into Alfresco 5.0, however that does not include my form definitions. Is there a way to export the form definitions out of Activiti into Alfresco?

Our preference is to be able to create the workflows in Activiti 1.1 (in both step editor and BPMN editor) but run them in an on-premise Alfresco 5.0 as all or workflows are around document management activities.

Some of the features we want are:
1. Document management and business process (for the end user) in one interface only for a more seamless user experience
2. Ability to kick off a workflow from a document - i.e. find a document in your repository and select a workflow to initiate using that document.
3. Ability to identify any current or past workflows a document has been associated with a particular document by looking at document meta data
4. Workflow tracking data to be presented against the document meta data. e.g. if a document is part of a workflow where the SLA has not been met a user would see this information in the document repository

As an example, we have created a document compliance workflow in Activiti where all documents of a certain type are subject to this workflow. To find out the status of documents (compliant or non compliant) and the status of the workflow tasks (compliant checking in progress or completed), the user traces the workflow progress and steps completed. This is fine and makes sense. It would also be very helpful if a user could trace the status of a particular document by going into their document repository and seeing the workflow data against the selected document - compliant/non-compliant and whether the compliant check is in progress or complete. And from there link to the details of the workflow that the document is associated with (whether it is a current or historical workflow). There may also be other relevant data from the workflow that should be available from the document view - e.g. conversations related to the document and people who were involved in the compliance checking for that document.

Hope that helps.


David.

[gagravarr]

[indent]I am able to export my BPMN workflow from Activiti 1.1 into Alfresco 5.0, however that does not include my form definitions. Is there a way to export the form definitions out of Activiti into Alfresco?[/indent]

If you use the workflow in an App in Activiti Enterprise, then you can download that app. That'll give you a zip file, including all your forms in a pretty friendly and clear json format.

Converting that into an Alfresco One workflow model and Share form definition is possible, but slightly more work than you might initially think (types don't quite match exactly, beans like initiator aren't quite the same, things like the taskDueDateBean aren't in Alfresco etc).

We've got the same desire to use the cloud version Activiti Enterprise to build and prototype our workflows, then bring them into our on-premise Alfresco One install to use for production. We've started a converter, which gets you most of the way there, but you'll still need to tweak a few bits afterwards. The code's on github at https://github.com/Gagravarr/activiti-enterprise-to-alfresco

[jbarrez]

> I am able to export my BPMN workflow from Activiti 1.1 into Alfresco 5.0, however that does not include my form definitions. Is there a way > to export the form definitions out of Activiti into Alfresco?

No, form definitions are not compatible with Alfresco One form definitions.

The new connector that will come out soon, will be able to do that. Points 1, 2, 3 will be covered for sure. For 4, it's a bit tricky i think, depending on what you need.

[ante_blaskovic1]

> The new connector that will come out soon, will be able to do that. Points 1, 2, 3 will be covered for sure. For 4, it's a bit tricky i think, depending on what you need.

Is this possible now ?

EDIT:  I guess this is the answer

http://blogs.alfresco.com/wp/another-bpm-step-forward-for-alfresco/
http://docs.alfresco.com/activiti/topics/sc-intro.html