|
Tool: |
PowerFolder, http://www.powerfolder.org |
|
Version: |
0.7a,
august 2003 |
|
Language: |
Java
JDK 1.3.1; J2EE (BEA, IBM, jBOSS) |
|
Status: |
alive,
beta |
|
License: |
LGPL |
|
Description: |
PowerFolder is an open source workflow studio and engine. It
is easy to install and use. The project team currently provides free email
and phone support. PowerFolder takes your business process and brings it to
life. Applications are easy to create with the web based developer studio.
The script studio draws the process similar to a flowchart and assigns
actions to each state. The web page studio designs the web pages to interface
with the process. XML is integral to the lifecycle of a process and its
instances. The triggering data, process template, and process instance are
all formatted in XML. This makes PowerFolder more flexible and eases
migration to future versions. PowerFolder is flexible. Processes can be
created with as little or as much Java code as desired. A small amount of JSP
scripting can bring a process to life. Likewise, custom Java classes can be
leveraged for more complex functionality. Administration and management takes
place through the PowerFolder console. Applications can be deployed and
undeployed. Process instances can be queried and viewed. PowerFolder follows
the accepted conventions of J2EE programming. No native or threading-specific
code is used. The persistence layer is agnostic and interchangeable. |
|
Tool: |
Open Business Engine, http://www.openbusinessengine.org |
|
Version: |
none,
build from cvs |
|
Language: |
Java,
J2EE |
|
Status: |
alpha/beta;
unclear |
|
License: |
Modified
Apache (do anything, but don’t use their name) |
|
Description: |
Open Business Engine, also known as OBE, is designed from the
ground up to conform to WfMC standards for workflow processors. OBE is still
in development but has already acquired the interest of numerous
organizations who are contributing to the project. Once complete, OBE will
provide support for XPDL for process definition with the ability to plug in
parsers for other definition languages, WAPI for client access, using RMI
initially with XML-RPC and SOAP implementations to follow, a complete
implementation of the WfMC audit specification and support for the Workflow
Interoperability specification. OBE is J2EE compliant, executing on top of
any J2EE application server. OBE will also include an embedded version of the
engine for use directly in Java applications. |
|
Tool: |
jBpm, http://jbpm.org |
|
Version: |
1.0beta,
september 2003 |
|
Language: |
Java,
J2EE |
|
Status: |
active |
|
License: |
Apache |
|
Description: |
jBpm's process definitions are based on UML activity
diagram's. That establishes a clear and effective communication between
process developers and managers. jBpm includes a web-interface that will
enable users to execute in their browser without having to write code. jBpm
has a unique, powerfull mechanism for integrating existing IT-infrastructure
such as databases, ERP-systems, LDAP-systems... : it allows to add
java-classes to your process definition. The java-classes can access the
process instance information as well as the complete J2EE environment. That
feature creates a clear separation between the states of a process and the
interactions with other systems. jBpm supports rich process modeling concepts
such as parallel flows and process composition (=sub-processes). The design
of jBpm is makes it the easiest to learn and use. Design based on van der
Aalst’s workflow patterns. Will not conform to any wfm standards. |
|
Tool: |
Bonita,
http://bonita.forge.objectweb.org/ |
|
Version: |
2.0b4,
August 2003 |
|
Language: |
Java
J2EE, SOAP |
|
Status: |
active,
stable release available |
|
License: |
LGPL |
|
Description: |
Bonita is a flexible cooperative workflow system, compliant to
WfMC specifications, based on the workflow model proposed by the ECOO Team,
which incorporates the anticipation of activities as a more flexible
mechanism of workflow execution. The system provides: Up to date info at http://freshmeat.net/projects/bonita-workflow/ |
|
Tool: |
XFlow,
http://xflow.sourceforge.net |
|
Version: |
1.1,
September 2003 |
|
Language: |
Java,
J2EE |
|
Status: |
stable,
production |
|
License: |
GPL |
|
Description: |
XFlow
is a pure J2EE platform for building, executing and managing business
processes and workflows. It is a basis for building collaborative
applications as well as integrating processes across an enterprise. XFlow has
a small footprint but is extremely powerful. It is designed to be easy to use
from the development, deployment and management standpoints. XFlow
runs within an EJB and servlet container. JBoss 4.0 (with bundled Tomcat) is
the container used in this implementation. The architecture supports
distributed and parallel processes within an organization's firewall as well
as across organizational boundaries. XFlow
is designed for scalability, extensibility and ease of integration with
security models and legacy processes. XFlow's service-oriented architecture
supports both a simple Java API as well as a web-service (SOAP/HTTP)
interface. Documentation
of XFlow appears to be quite complete. However, there no graphical process
editor as of yet. Instead, XML has to be used. |
|
Tool: |
wfmOpen, http://wfmopen.sourceforge.net |
|
Version: |
1.1
RC, september 2003 |
|
Language: |
|
|
Status: |
wfmOpen
can be downloaded as a stable release. The product is an OS version of a
commercial product. |
|
License: |
|
|
Description: |
WfMOpen
is a J2EE based implementation of a leightweight workflow facility (workflow
engine) as proposed by the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) and the
Object Management Group (OMG). The
workflow component is based on a set of JAVA interfaces that define an API
for a workflow management facility. The basic "omgcore" interfaces
follow OMG's Workflow Management Facility Specification, V1.2 very closely,
while making some modifications to adapt the CORBA service to the established
design practices for a Java API. Workflows
are specified using WfMC's XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) with some
extensions. The
workflow component may be used as the core for any process based application
implementation and is thus e.g. suited to provide a solution for BPM
(Business Process Management) related tasks. |
|
Tool: |
OpenFlow, http://www.openflow.it |
|
Version: |
1.2.0 |
|
Language: |
Java;
requires Zope OS application server |
|
Status: |
alive
and stable |
|
License: |
GPL |
|
Description: |
OpenFlow is a workflow engine developped by Icube and released as free software. It is based on an object oriented structure, it has a powerful exception handling system and it supports dynamic redesign. These features make OpenFlow much more flexible than other existing workflow engines. OpenFlow supports the open standards (XML/XML-RPC) and the web standards; it facilitates integration between heterogeneous systems thanks to simple access to most of relational databases. OpenFlow is activity based, multiplatform, web-based, WfMC inspired, built and integrated with the application server Zope, and it is completely free software. note: an Australian commercial workflow tool is also called
OpenFlow. This is a completely different product. |
|
Tool: |
Open for Business, http://www.ofbiz.org |
|
Version: |
2.1.1,
May 2003 |
|
Language: |
Java,
J2EE |
|
Status: |
stable
and alive |
|
License: |
MIT
OSL |
|
Description: |
The Open For Business Project, founded in 2001 by David E.
Jones and Andy Zeneski, is an open source enterprise automation software
project licensed under the MIT Open Source License. The goal of the project
is to build a community of end users and developers that work together
directly to create easy to customize business software based on best
practices. The workflow engine in OFBiz is based on the WfMC and OMG Workflow
Standards. OFBiz utilizes WfMC's XPDL spec for process definitions, and our
Entity and Service engines for state and procedure invocations. |
|
Tool: |
Enhydra Shark, http://shark.enhydra.org |
|
Version: |
1.0
beta, september 2003 |
|
Language: |
Java |
|
Status: |
|
|
License: |
LGPL |
|
Description: |
Enhydra
Shark is completely based on standards from WfMC and OMG using XPDL as its
native workflow definition format. Storage of processes and activities is
done using Enhydra DODS. |
|
Tool: |
Galaxia,
http://tikiwiki.org/Galaxia_introduction.pdf |
|
Version: |
|
|
Language: |
|
|
Status: |
|
|
License: |
|
|
Description: |
Galaxia is based on OpenFlow (http://www.openflow.it), and is
aimed at extending the Tikiwiki (http://tikiwiki.org/)
groupware / cms environment with activity-based workflow management
functions. |
|
Tool: |
Open for Business Workflow, http://ofbiz.org |
|
Version: |
|
|
Language: |
|
|
Status: |
|
|
License: |
|
|
Description: |
The
Open for Business initiative aims to provide a development framework from
open source components. OfB contains a custom workflow component, that
depends on other OfB component for persistence and other services. |
|
Tool: |
OSWorkflow, http://www.opensymphony.com/osworkflow |
|
Version: |
2.5.0,
date unknown |
|
Language: |
Java,
SOAP, JDBC or EJB |
|
Status: |
unclear,
seems active |
|
License: |
Apache |
|
Description: |
OSWorkflow is very different from most other workflow systems
available, both commercially and in the open source world. What makes
OSWorkflow different is that it is extremely flexible. This flexibility can
be hard to grasp at first, however. In fact, OSWorkflow does not contain
graphical user interface components. It is up to the application developer to
provide this sort of integration, as well as any integration with existing
code and databases. These may seem like problems to someone who is looking
for a quick "plug-and-play" workflow solution, but we've found that
such a solution never provides enough flexibility to properly fulfill
requirements in a full-blown application. OSWorkflow gives you this
flexbility. Can work with Open for Business framework. |
|
Tool: |
Werkflow, http://werkflow.werken.com/ |
|
Version: |
none,
build from cvs |
|
Language: |
Java |
|
Status: |
slow |
|
License: |
custom
open source |
|
Description: |
The werkflow system is a Petri net based engine for executing
transactional workflows. The design has been heavily influenced by the
academic literature on workflow such as the papers of Wil van der Aalst and
also by suggestions from the diverse community of developers that hang out on
the Werken company's IRC. Given the current immaturity and volatility of
workflow standards, the werkflow project has been architected to be
standards-neutral. The core engine has a layered architecture on top of which
new syntaxes and semantics can easily be built. This approach will alllow
users to avoid vendor lock-in and enable The Werken Company to rapidly roll
out support for the most popular standard of the month. Currently, support
for BPML and BPEL4WS are being built upon the core engine to support current
popular web-services coordination languages. While the current focus is on
web-services specifications, the werkflow system can support most any sort of
process flow |
|
Tool: |
OpenWFE, http://openwfe.org |
|
Version: |
0.4.0,
September 2003 |
|
Language: |
Java,
file system |
|
Status: |
active |
|
License: |
BSD-like |
|
Description: |
Two other things are provided : a worklist and a webclient for
this worklist. The webclient is a standard java web application that you can
deploy in Tomcat or Jetty for example. The 'webclient' as released embeds
Jetty, so you don't have to think about downloading and deploying a servlet
container. The OpenWFE site contains a live demo. |
|
Tool: |
wftk (workflow toolkit), http://www.vivtek.com/wftk/ |
|
Version: |
1.0pre2
(beta); july 2002 |
|
Language: |
C,
SOAP webservice for client |
|
Status: |
slow |
|
License: |
GPL |
|
Description: |
The wftk (open-source workflow toolkit) is a workflow engine
in library form which can be integrated with whatever you need to integrate
with. It's designed on a very flexible adaptor architecture, whereby
interfaces to external functionality are defined and implemented as
independently as possible of the core workflow logic. It makes heavy use of
XML, so that its data structures are always easily inspected. All it lacks
(soon to be rectified) is experience in Real Life. |
|
Tool: |
|
|
Version: |
|
|
Language: |
|
|
Status: |
|
|
License: |
|
|
Description: |
|