So as I understand it, running jBPM 3.1 processes cannot be migrated to new process
definitions. This has, ironically, created a situation in which jBPM has become the single
component in our architecture which prevents the evolution of the workflow process
definitions. Allow me to elaborate.
Note: I joined DonorsChoose after this architectural problem was baked into the code, so
I'm searching for a way around/out of it now.
DonorsChoose.org is a non-profit dedicated to funding projects and proposals created by
teachers and funded by donations from the public. A given proposal is instantiated as a
jBPM process instance.
When
DonorsChoose.org first chose jBPM, the idea was that using a workflow library would
make it much easier to modify the workflow process definitions as the needs of the
organization changed. In practice, however, it has made it far more difficult to evolve
the workflow process definitons. In particular, we have frequently had the need to add a
new transition or modify the process definition because of a change in the business
process environment. However, even when we make a change to the process definition that
doesn't delete any existing tokens, etc., old process instances still run using the
old version of the definition. However, our processes often live for months or longer, and
the whole point of changing the process is so we can update all the existing proposals in
place.
Given this, it has made it extremely difficult to modify the jBPM process definitions at
all, and in fact what we've resorted to doing is hacking around this as touching the
jBPM process definitions is unworkable for our application. It seems in retrospect we
would have been much better off manually coding our workflows rather than trying to use
jBPM.
What I'm posting about is --- is there some way to deal with this situation? Is there
a way to hack jBPM so we can do things like add transitions or other nondestructive
modifications to process definitions which would apply to running instances?
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