Is it advisable to develop custom UI for BPMN in camunda

Question

Should we use the forms generated by camunda and the tasklist and admin screens by camunda or we should develop custom UI.

If we develop custom UI, benefits are we will get screen layout similar to our other enterprise applications. Also, we will at times integrate the flow in our existing systems Eg: HR can login in enterprise HRM application and shortlist applications instead of login in camunda and do shortlisting.

However, demerit of developing custom UI is that, if i change the process flow in diagram to add one new user task, i will also have to modify the custom UI application .

Advantage of using Camunda forms and UI is that, any process modelling change is immediately implemented. However disadvantage is that screen layout becomes different from other enterprise applications. Also all users will have to login in camunda to do their tasks.

What are the best practices followed in BPMN space in regards to UI. Is it advisable to develop custom UI or is it advisable to use forms and screens created by camunda?

This question may apply to any other BPMN opensource alternative for camunda also.

Answer 1

It is totally possible to create a complete human workflow process application using just the camunda tasklist and the (embedded) forms they support. The main disadvantage to consider here is that you wont be able to complete a task and modify domain data in the same transaction (the camunda rest call is one transaction, the domain modification is another).

However, in my project life, we always had customs forms because they where a better fit for the business needs.

But even if you use custom forms, you could use them as "external forms" while still sticking to the camunda tasklist.

If you want to create a custom tasklist, this is not a big deal using javascript and the rest api. There is a great blog article available here.

Summary: As always: it depends! If your user management can be done via camunda/identity, your forms do not require a high level of interaction/external data and your users are ok working with the camunda tasklist, you can get good results very quick. If you have complex forms that also do transactional interaction with domain models, you are better of using external forms at least and if you need to meet a defined ci and maybe use a different user management/security or display custom data with your tasks, you will be better of using a custom task list as well.