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Adobe Brings Document Business Processes to J2EE


By Alan Zeichick
July 1, 2005 — 
Adobe Systems is reinventing its PDF document workflow system, introducing a revamped process designer and server that work by linking reusable workflow components instead of using scripts.

LiveCycle Workflow Designer 7.0, which replaces the Workflow Server 6.2, brings the company’s business process software in line with Adobe’s LiveCycle branding, and also uses a more visual metaphor to control the movement of data through an enterprise.

With Adobe’s LiveCycle system, information is orchestrated and moved in PDF (Portable Document Format) documents, which contain the data and business logic stored in XML format. End users interface with those documents using the company’s Adobe Reader client software.

The software is in beta now, and will be generally available before the end of the year, according to Ashish Agrawal, group product manager for Adobe’s LiveCycle products. Agrawal, who had been vice president of engineering at business process management company Intalio, explained that the previous Workflow Server was based on hard-to-maintain scripts written in JavaScript or VBScript. The new 7.0 product focuses on a visual designer interface, where icons representing workflow components are linked together to form a complete business process.

Those components, which Adobe calls QPACs, or Quick Process Action Components, are written in Java; some are provided with Workflow Designer 7, but others can be written by individual developers or third-party providers using a soon-to-be-released Eclipse plug-in, he said. The QPACs might specify that data is to be extracted from a database or CRM system, that human approval is required for certain types of transactions, that escalation needs to happen if particular parameters are met based on transaction data, or that decision points must be taken at various parts of the workflow.

The differentiators of Adobe’s workflow system, Agrawal said, are that it’s based on a purely visual environment; that it uses those extensible QPAC components written in Java; and that those components can be shared and reused.

Ben Watson, group manager for enterprise developer relations, said that at JavaOne, Adobe would be introducing a developer program for its LiveCycle software; for less than US$2,000, he said, developers would get full licensed development versions of all the LiveCycle software, as well as sample applications and technical support. He predicted that a third-party industry of QPAC components will arise to fill specialized integration or logic requirements.

LiveCycle Workflow Designer 7.0 includes both the visual design client and a runtime system that requires a J2EE application server. Currently, the software supports IBM’s WebSphere 5.0 or later, but after the completion of Adobe’s acquisition of Macromedia, the company will embed Macromedia’s JRun app server, Watson said.


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