JBoss jBPM is a free, open-source, business process management solution. It enables users to create business processes that coordinate people, applications, and services.
A business process is a sequence of activities triggered by a certain input that results in a valuable output. Business Process Management is about analyzing those activities in a structured way and eventually supporting their execution with a workflow application. This allows for the following results:
Better management visibility of their business: improved decision making
Low cost of inputs: de-skilled labor requirements, less waste, standardized components
Better outputs: consistent quality, more customer satisfaction
Businesses have always tried to manage their processes, but software such as jBPM brings the methodology and management theory to practical life.
JBoss jBPM offers the following key features:
Graphical process definition
Flexibility to integrate code into the graphical process definition
A customizable web-based workflow application that runs the process you’ve defined
Easy programming model to extend the graphical process definition
A process-oriented programming model (jPDL) that blends the best of process definition languages and Java.
Easy to integrate with other systems through the JBoss middleware suite.
This book will teach business analysts:
What a business process is and why you would want to manage it
How to map your business process
Eliminating waste from the process
How to define roles and responsibilities within the process
Taking your process map into the jBPM toolset
Activities/States and decision points
How to work with process variables
Automating activities/decisions where possible
Setting up business rules: task assignment
Business Activity Monitoring: analyzing process execution data, conducting ongoing process improvement
The book covers tasks that are common to all BPM implementations, but focuses on implementation in the popular and free jBPM.