My project currently uses Oracle Application Server with SOA (BPEL/Human Workflow) components.
Due to the end-of-life for this product we are evaluating both commercial and open source alternatives that provide similar functionality.
In terms of Human Workflow – specifically, we need to be able to:
- Assign
- Reject
- Retract
- Delegate
- Escalate
- and list items assigned by/to specific users (inbox/outbox of tasks)
NOTE: the solution does NOT need to provide a UI for these functions, they just must be available through the framework library / API. We have our own UI to present these functions to the user.
Oracle OFM (WebLogic) and IBM (WebSphere) have mature equivalents that provide all of the required functionality. License costs are a consideration that we need to be aware of.
jBoss (jBPM) is another option available as open source solution.
WSO2 looks like a promising collection of open source components (mostly Apache stack) but the Human Workflow component will not be available until June of this year.
What other alternatives, that provide ALL of the above functionality, do you have experience with? Which would you recommend? What, if any, shortcomings have you encountered with a specific solution?
You can use WSO2 middleware stack to achieve your requirement except for WS-HumanTask support which will be available in the next release. We have already implemented the main functionalities of WS-HumanTask spec in the trunk. If you need to try-out we can point you to a snapshot build from our builder machine – http://builder4.us1.wso2.org:8888/bamboo/artifact/WSO2CARBON-PRODUCTS/JOB1/build-51/BPS/wso2bps-3.0.0-SNAPSHOT.zip.
Personally I do not believe jBPM is a good solution since it is not portable (i.e no compliance with WS-BPEL spec or WS-HumanTask spec.). You better go for a Workflow engine which is compliant with standards so that you get the benefit of open standards.