Just in case it helps anyone, here's the configuraiton. a) Configuration in jbpm.cfg.xml <service name="persistence"> | <factory> | <bean class="org.jbpm.persistence.db.DbPersistenceServiceFactory"> | <field name="isTransactionEnabled"><false /></field> | </bean> | </factory> | </service> | b) Configuration in hibernate.cfg.xml (for MySQL datasource) <property name="hibernate.dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLDialect</property> | <property name="hibernate.connection.datasource">jdbc/jbpm</property> | <property name="transaction.manager_lookup_class">org.hibernate.transaction.WebSphereTransactionManagerLookup</property> | | <property name="hibernate.transaction.flush_before_completion">true</property> | <property name="hibernate.connection.release_mode">after_statement</property> | <property name="hibernate.transaction.auto_close_session">true</property> | | c) There is no need to set the connection from datasource on the jbpmContext. Just follow the doucumentation in section "Managed Transactions" of Peristence chapter View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4019686#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...