You seem to have figured out the problem, but just for the record, class org.jbpm.persistence.db.DbPersistenceServiceFactory is not in jbpm-jpdl.jar, but in jbpm-enterprise.jar. That is because the JMS message service requires a component that reads the job messages and executes the jobs. Said module is currently provided as a message-driven bean. Non EJB-based job executors could exist, but I don't quite see the point. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4154924#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...