Connectors in Activiti BPM

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votes

Currently we evaluate Activiti as a possible Open Source Business Process Engine. One important requirement is an easy integration of external systems (ECM, CRM, SharePoint, SAP...) within the processes. During research I found some articles claiming that there are no build-in connectors to other systems. The only way to interact with external systems is to invoke java classes (see http://forums.activiti.org/content/how-create-connector and http://books.google.de/books?id=kMldSaOSgPYC&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=Bonita+Open+Solution+connectors&source=bl&ots=uwzz5OSten&sig=h2wf0q5J3xAxwN3AZ7Vondemnec&hl=de&sa=X&ei=uwBYUtehHoTqswacrYHgDQ&ved=0CIUBEOgBMAc4Cg#v=onepage&q=Bonita%20Open%20Solution%20connectors&f=false)

How complex is the integration of external systems in Activiti processes? Is it true that there are no bulid-in connectors? This would be a showstopper-criteria for us.

best regards and thanks for you reply Ben

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open-sourceactivitibusiness-process-management
If you are looking for ready to use connectors, you should have a look at Bonita BPM. – ttoine
Activiti only has connectors for Alfresco, otherwise you are pretty much on your own. If you don't want to code anything then Activiti is the wrong BPE, but if a bit of coding does not scare you then it is IMHO much more pleasant to work with Activiti than with Bonita. – Leonard Brünings

1 Answers

2
votes

Currently (as version 5.14) Activiti has direct connection to

  • Alfresco for document repository
  • Drools for rule tasks
  • LDAP for groups and users
  • Mule for sending messages
  • Camel for sending/receiving messages

To integrate any other external system you need to use Java Service Task, where you can use Java classes to delegate workflow to your external system. These Java classes can take variables from your workflow, can direct to one of its outgoing flows and of course you can use any capability of your external system.