jBPM

1.1. What is jBPM?

jBPM is a flexible Business Process Management (BPM) Suite. It's light-weight, fully open-source (distributed under Apache license) and written in Java. It allows you to model, execute and monitor business processes, throughout their life cycle.

A business process allows you to model your business goals by describing the steps that need to be executed to achieve that goal and the order, using a flow chart. This greatly improves the visibility and agility of your business logic. jBPM focuses on executable business process, which are business processes that contain enough detail so they can actually be executed on a BPM engine. Executable business processes bridge the gap between business users and developers as they are higher-level and use domain-specific concepts that are understood by business users but can also be executed directly.

The core of jBPM is a light-weight, extensible workflow engine written in pure Java that allows you to execute business processes using the latest BPMN 2.0 specification. It can run in any Java environment, embedded in your application or as a service.

On top of the core engine, a lot of features and tools are offered to support business processes throughout their entire life cycle:

• Eclipse-based and web-based editor to support the graphical creation of your business processes (drag and drop)
• Pluggable persistence and transactions based on JPA / JTA
• Pluggable human task service based on WS-HumanTask for including tasks that need to be performed by human actors
• Management console supporting process instance management, task lists and task form management, and reporting
• Optional process repository to deploy your process (and other related knowledge)
• History logging (for querying / monitoring / analysis)
• Integration with Seam, Spring, OSGi, etc.

BPM makes the bridge between business analysts, developers and end users, by offering process management features and tools in a way that both business users and developers like it. Domain-specific nodes can be plugged into the palette, making the processes more easily understood by business users.

jBPM supports adaptive and dynamic processes that require flexibility to model complex, real-life situations that cannot easily be described using a rigid process. We bring control back to the end users by allowing them to control which parts of the process should be executed, to dynamically deviate from the process, etc.

jBPM is also not just an isolated process engine. Complex business logic can be modeled as a combination of business processes with business rules and complex event processing. jBPM can be combined with the Drools project to support one unified environment that integrates these paradigms where you model your business logic as a combination of processes, rules and events.

Apart from the core engine itself, there are quite a few additional (optional) components that you can use, like an Eclipse-based or web-based designer and a management console.