The above is not workflow specific, but a general approach to evaluating components that we need. \u00a0Now for the workflow-specific things:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Process management<\/strong>. \u00a0We don’t have any hard requirements currently, but some use case scenarios include approvals (content publishing, purchasing, registrations, payments, and so on).<\/li>\n
- Versioning<\/strong>. \u00a0Any workflow that is defined and activated will eventually change.<\/li>\n
- Visualization<\/strong>. \u00a0 In the ideal world, we’d have a visual editor to create and edit workflows, but at the very least, existing workflows should be presented in some visual form, like a graph or a chart.<\/li>\n
- Failures and re-runs<\/strong>. \u00a0Workflow runs will fail occasionally. \u00a0The solution should handle failures gracefully. \u00a0More so, it should allow to re-run either the full workflow or a part of it. \u00a0Re-runs should be supported for successful executions too, not just the failed ones.<\/li>\n
- Multiple trigger mechanisms<\/strong>. \u00a0Workflows can be triggered based on time (either on specific dates and times, periodically, or based on time since some conditions). \u00a0Data change (creating a new record, editing an existing one, etc) should be able to trigger a workflow run. \u00a0Also, workflow should be triggerable manually, as in the case above, with re-runs.<\/li>\n
- Flexible actions support<\/strong>. \u00a0Workflow actions should be easy to create, whether it’s a message sending, a webhook\/web request, or something more specific.<\/li>\n
- Parallel execution<\/strong>. \u00a0There might be multiple workflows defined for the same record, and they might be executed in parallel, independently of each other.<\/li>\n
- Logging<\/strong>. \u00a0It should be crystal clear from the logs what triggered which workflow run, what was the status (success, failure), what was changed\/done, etc.<\/li>\n
- Standard compliance<\/strong>. \u00a0If there are any standards in this domain, it’d be nice if the solution was compliant with them, in order to minimize the reinvention of the wheel and to increase the interoperability with other tools.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I think that’s enough for now. \u00a0The above might change as I learn more.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/BPMN.png?resize=420%2C201&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nBefore diving into any specific solutions and comparisons, it’d be nice to have a better understanding of what’s available and to get some terminology right. \u00a0As I said, I’m not an expert in this field, so for now even coming up with Google search terms is a challenge. \u00a0Let’s get some Wikipedia references here (some of these I’ve read, and some of these I’m still chewing up):<\/p>\n
- \n
- Workflow<\/a>\u00a0(WF)<\/li>\n
- Business Process Management<\/a>\u00a0(BPM)<\/li>\n
- Process Optimization<\/a><\/li>\n
- Business Process Model and Notation<\/a> (BPMN)<\/li>\n
- Workflow Management Coalition<\/a> (WfMC)<\/li>\n
- Directed Acyclic Graph<\/a> (DAG)<\/li>\n
- Finate-State Machine<\/a><\/li>\n
- Domain-Specific Language<\/a> (DSL)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
OK, so with the above, I’m starting to build up my terminology vocabulary and it’s easier to find things now.<\/p>\n
From the get-go look at things, it seems that BPMN v2.0 is the standard to consider seriously. \u00a0While there are many workflow and business process management options<\/a> to choose from, BPMN v2.0 engines<\/a> are fewer and more clearly defined.<\/p>\n
That’s more than enough theoretical material for the first time. \u00a0Let’s get a bit more practical. \u00a0What’s out there, especially in the PHP world?<\/p>\n
- \n
- Workflower<\/a> – a\u00a0BPMN 2.0 workflow engine for PHP.<\/li>\n
- Omni-Workflow<\/a> –\u00a0a Workflow Engine for the Web, either as a standalone tool, or as a WordPress plugin.<\/li>\n
- ez Components Workflow<\/a><\/li>\n
- Finite<\/a> – a simple PHP finite state machine<\/li>\n
- lorenzo\/workflow<\/a> – CakePHP 1.x (?) workflow plugin<\/li>\n
- davidsteinsland\/cakephp-state-machine – CakePHP 2.x (?) state machine plugin. Also, the behavior repository<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It’s too early to make a decision yet, but if I had to right now, I’d probably go with Workflower, implementing a BPMN v2.0 approach.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
For a large project at work, we need to integrate or develop a workflow engine. \u00a0I worked a little bit with workflow engines in the past, but the subject is way to big and complex for me to claim any expertise in it. So, I am looking at what’s available these days and what are … Continue reading Getting started with workflows in PHP<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Getting started with workflows in PHP #WebDev #PHP #CakePHP #workflow #BPM","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,18,62,1334],"tags":[3504,1537,38,1117,1330,92],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-27434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-programming","category-technology","category-web-work","tag-business-process-management","tag-cakephp","tag-php","tag-research","tag-web-development","tag-workflow"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
- Omni-Workflow<\/a> –\u00a0a Workflow Engine for the Web, either as a standalone tool, or as a WordPress plugin.<\/li>\n
- Business Process Management<\/a>\u00a0(BPM)<\/li>\n
- Versioning<\/strong>. \u00a0Any workflow that is defined and activated will eventually change.<\/li>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/BPMN.png?ssl=1\")
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